School News
December 2023
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Lowell Red Devils win 2a Championship
First time to State Finals
Story by Scooter Brown
LOWELL, Ore.
Lowell High School
has won the 2023 2A State Championship.
After last weeks 32-18 win over the Oakland
Oakers, the Red Devils found themselves
playing in their first Championship
game on Saturday 25 November. JaMar
Thurman rushed for 266 yards and scored
five touchdowns on 29 carries and catching
three passes for 30 yards and one score. For
the season, Thurman rushed for a state-
leading 2,958 yards and 44 touchdowns.
The Devils toppled Weston-McEwen/
Griswold 74-42. Led by junior tailback
JaMar Thurman, Lowell steamrolled 618
total yards. “We just had that fire in us.
We really wanted to beat them,” Thurman
said. The first championship for the Devils
was the icing on the cake. Lowell has been
known as a wrestling school, winning 14
team state championships from 1971 to
2013.
Lowell took a 15-0 lead in the first
quarter and never looked back. Weston-
McEwen was close at 22-21 in the second
quarter, then 29-28 in the third, but Lowell
kept up the pressure to 51-28 on three
consecutive touchdowns, a 31-yard pass
from Carter Harris to Rowan Files and runs
Photo Courtesy OSAA
of 63 and 46 yards by Thurman.
Files had three catches for 73 yards and
two touchdowns and senior Justus Thurman,
JaMar’s brother, had four catches for 146
yards and one score.
Carter Harris had been out with a neck
injury, but returned to action and completed
11 of 17 passes for 270 yards and four
touchdowns without an interception. He also
rushed for 83 yards and one score on eight
carries
It is the first title for Coach Ray
Yarbrough, who moved from assistant
Coach to take over when Pat Todd resigned
after 12 seasons as coach. Yarbrough had
previous head-coaching positions at Illinois
Valley (2008-14), Churchill (2015) and
Oakridge (2019).
Last week, after the Oakland game,
Yarbrough said, “We’ve been a wrestling
school here for a long time and it’s awesome
that we have all those state championship
banners,” Yarbrough continued. “I’d love to
hang a football one right next to them.”
Congratulations to the Red
Devils and to Coach Yarbrough and
to that hard earned and well deserved
Championship banner.
Page 13
North Douglas Elementary & Middle Schools
Students of the Month
Kimber Colley, 2nd Grade
Lucy Traylor, 6th Grade
Kimber shows appreciation to
those around her. She is very well
mannered and is a great friend and
classmate to all. -Miss Jo
Lucy is an enthusiastic student. She
is very concerned about doing her
best work, is good to her friends, and
her teachers. -Mrs. Shipley
Congratulations to Wyatt Humphrey who finished in 4th place
and qualified for the state meet! And congratulations to Natalie
and Marley who ran against a field of 1A, 2A, and 3A runners
finishing 17th and 56th respectively. Natalie finished with the
top 1A time!
Highlights from 2023 OSAA 1A State Championship
North Douglas 2nd Round at Adrian High School
Photos by Becky Gerrard
Wyatt Humphrey while competing
in the state XC meet held at LCC a
couple of weeks ago.
Photo by Becky Gerrard