They say speed kills, and if you’re part of the Southridge High School football program you certainly hope that’s true.
This year’s Skyhawks return only seven combined offensive and defensive starters, including a single all-league offensive lineman. But what they do have is speed, and that combined with the experience that comes with the second year in what was a new offense in 2023, could and they hope should result in points, points and more points in 2024.
“We have a lot of team speed and the kids have really shown tremendous growth in the second year of a new offense,” Southridge head coach Kevin Bickler said. “I expect us to score a lot of points.”
This season, Southridge returns to the Metro League after spending the last two seasons in the 5A’s Special District 1. Bickler said that despite the challenge of facing off against some of the area’s historically formidable programs, he and his team are excited to again take the field against familiar Metro League foes.
“We are very excited to have our rivalry games back,” the coach said. “It will be an exciting season to look forward to with a new turf field and some old traditional matchups.”
These Skyhawks will be led by returning all-league offensive lineman Dillan Chavez, who Bickler said brings both size and strength to the table, but also a level of experience that will force “defenses to pay attention to him because of his skill set.”
They also return junior quarterback Micah Cobbs, who started last season both under center and in the defensive backfield, and who his coach said made tremendous strides during the offseason that will benefit him significantly this year.
Cobbs will be throwing to a handful of gifted wideouts, including seniors Caden Larson, CJ Sloan and WesLee Steele, along with sophomore Cody Harrington. All of whom Bickler said bring both speed and exceptional route-running to the field.
All of the aforementioned also play in the defensive backfield, and in addition to speed bring a physical nature to the Southridge defense. Bickler said that while they do play with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, they’ll have to at times rein that aggressiveness in in an effort to stay healthy, for depth and, to an extent, experience are not luxuries this year’s team enjoys.
“Defensively we are very fast and aggressive and I expect us to be very physical and play blue-collar style football,” the coach said. “We are young at a lot of spots and lack depth, we will need to stay healthy and our young kids will need to grow up fast.”
The coach also mentioned senior three-year-starting kicker Rowan Miner as a weapon.
Bickler believes Jesuit to be the class of this year’s Metro League due in large part to their experience and depth on the offensive line, and many see Mountainside as a potential challenger to the Crusaders for the conference crown. But while the Southridge coach may not know exactly where his team fits in, he’s undoubtedly happy to again be in the mix with the rest of the Beaverton schools.
“We want to play physical football and compete every day and every week to get better,” Bickler said. “Our kids will play hard and we are looking forward to renewing our rivalries in the Metro. We will take a one game at a time approach and I'm excited for the opportunities that lay in front of us this season.”
Southridge opens the season against Corvallis at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, at Corvallis High School.
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