PLEASANT HILL – “2016.” It’s painted on Pleasant Hill’s locker room wall – a reminder of the last time the Billies had a winning season and made the playoffs in football. And it serves as a goal for this year’s team.

A 28-21 loss to Sutherlin in the season opener was not the way first-year head coach Kenny Koberstein wanted to start the season, but he said he was proud of his team’s effort. 

“Two full classes came through this high school without ever having a winning season, and so these kids are accustomed to a certain style of football around here. We have to, as a culture, kind of break that, and they’ve worked really, really hard to do that. Their effort tonight was tremendous,” he said.

The game delivered only three offensive touchdowns through three quarters, with the Billies leading 14-13. Jacob Neely had scored both touchdowns for Pleasant Hill: a 26-yard interception return in the second quarter and a long touchdown pass where quarterback Steven Bounds threw a 50-50 ball and trusted his receiver to catch it. He caught a contested pass, threw his defender off, and sprinted into the end zone.

Despite the end result, the Billies saw some successful plays on the field on Friday. ALL PHOTOS BY JOSIE HEACOCK

Neely, a first-team all-league player at safety and wide receiver last season, finished with 5 catches for a team-leading 125 yards.

It was a beautiful night for football, with the temperature hovering in the 70s at kickoff, with blue skies and an enthusiastic crowd. The student section had a Hawaiian theme, and together with the band, kept up a steady stream of encouragement for their Billies.

A short touchdown run by Sutherlin’s Tucker Mack and a converted two-point attempt put the Bulldogs up 21-14. On the ensuing drive, the Billies tied the game at 21 on a 53-yard throw from Bounds to Aidan Navarro with 2:55 left in the fourth quarter. This had the touchdown bell ringing, and the Billies crowd and sideline going wild.

Sutherlin had thrown only a couple of passes before starting its final drive, a function of running the Wing-T offense. Three successful runs had moved the Bulldogs near midfield, but with just over a minute left, they weren’t moving quickly enough. On first down from the Bulldogs’ own 47-yard line, the Billies’ secondary bit on a run fake. This left Bulldogs wide receiver Drevan Hoggatt wide open for a long touchdown to give his team a late 28-21 lead. 

Despite moving the ball more consistently than their opponent, an inability to convert in the red zone came back to haunt the Billies. The Billies, averaging 6.4 yards per play, were able to move the ball consistently, but generated zero points from three trips to the red zone. 

After giving up the late touchdown, the Billies had about a minute to respond. Bounds calmly took his team down the field, finding Navarro multiple times on the sideline. “That last drive is such a testament to him as a leader,” Koberstein said of his quarterback. “There’s not a lot of high school quarterbacks, especially at 3A, that are gonna be able to get you down the field as quickly as we did and get in position to make that throw.” 

Bounds finished with 298 yards passing – an efficient 9 yards per attempt. The Billies moved the ball to the 34-yard line with about 10 seconds left. Bounds rolled right and threw toward the end zone. The ball didn’t quite have enough air to reach his receiver, and the Bulldogs intercepted it to seal the game. 

Billies senior running back and linebacker Jamison Davis went down holding his shoulder and did not return. “He’s not afraid to kind of throw his body in there and be a little bit reckless. He plays really, really hard. He loves football and he’s always learning and getting better, and he’s just a joy to coach,” Koberstein said. The severity of his injury is unknown.

The Billies had a 67% pass rate in Friday’s game, which Koberstein said was mostly due to the matchup. “When you’re a wing offense like (they are) and you pound the ball, it’s really, really hard to practice pass defense, right? That’s kind of their weak spot right now, and so, we were able to kind of exploit it and get some big plays in the passing game,” Koberstein said.

Koberstein is already putting his stamp on the Billies program. A fake punt and a “swinging gate” two-point formation were examples of his desire to make special teams fun. 

Senior Landon Dennis said something to the referees, resulting in a penalty. The coaches took his helmet after the play, and he did not return. 

Postgame, the message was positive

 “You guys played your C-, D+ game and came within a blink of beating a team that went 7-3 last year, was a playoff team, and is extremely physical,” Koberstein said.