Prep Football: Roseburg closes season with 35-6 loss at No. 7 Thurston
SPRINGFIELD — The Roseburg football team saw its season come to a close with a 35-6 loss against No. 7 Thurston in a Class 5A Special District 5 contest on Friday at Thurston High School.
The Colts jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and held Roseburg (5-4, 2-3 Special District 5) scoreless until the fourth quarter. With the victory, Thurston (7-1, 6-0) secured the outright league championship for a second consecutive season.
It was a chilly Friday night with plenty of pregame festivities as Thurston celebrated 21 seniors on the roster. The lengthy procedure didn’t slow down or cool off the Colts’ offense, which shot out of the gates at full speed.
Senior Logan Raube struck first with a 34-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game. Senior Sam Castanza nailed the first of five extra points to put Thurston ahead 7-0.
Roseburg, with the help of some penalties, turned away the Colts on their second drive, but the Indians were forced into their second punt of the night and quickly gave the ball back to Thurston.
Three plays later, Bentlee Davenport took a handoff 50 yards to the end zone to put Thurston ahead 14-0.
Roseburg’s RJ Elliott was harassed by the Colt’s defense all night and threw the first of two interceptions on the first play of the Indians’ next drive. Thurston capitalized quickly as Davenport broke free for another long touchdown run, this time from 26-yards out to put the Colts ahead 21-0.
Quinn Piquette had a 77-yard catch-and-run for a score in the second quarter and Quintin Fisher tacked on a 5-yard touchdown run before the halftime break.
Thurston’s 35-point lead resulted in a running clock in the second half. Roseburg used up the entire third quarter a 10-play drive that ended with a turnover on downs on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The Indians finally found pay dirt on a 1-yard scoring run by Oscar Kostner in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
Roseburg ended the season with a winning record for the first time since 2023, but a four-game losing streak to close out the schedule meant that the Indians missed out on the postseason for a fifth consecutive season.
The Indians will graduate 11 seniors from the roster, including top receivers Emery Hurtienne and Caden Moon and second-leading rusher Eli Rush. The Indians defense will lose a number of big time contributors in leading-tackler Nick Ruiz, Rush, Hurtienne, Graham Fisk, Max Chrisenbery and Kaiden Toscano-Martin.
Available to return next year for Roseburg will be sophomore quarterback RJ Elliott, leading rusher Leto White (who missed half the season with a broken leg), the entire offensive line and tight end Danner Wertz.
Defensively, Roseburg returns starters Wertz, Vai Polamalu and Eli Bell on the defensive line and Asher Crespo and Kit Curry at linebacker.
Roseburg;0;0;0;6;—;6
Thurston;21;14;0;0;—;35
First Quarter
T — Raube 34 run (Castanza kick)
T — Davenport 50 run (Castanza kick)
T — Davenport 26 run (Castanza kick)
Second Quarter
T — Piquette 77 pass from Distefano (Castanza kick)
T — Fisher 5 run (Castanza kick)
Fourth Quarter
R — Kostner 1 run (Kick fail)
