Defense bails out Sheldon in victory.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

BEAVERTON - On a night when Sheldon was held to less than half its season average in points, the defense made sure that was not a problem.

The top-ranked Irish advanced to another quarterfinal matchup with No. 6 Lake Oswego by defeating unranked Aloha 26-13 Friday night in the second round of the OSAA Class 6A football playoffs at Aloha High School.

Sheldon came into the game off a 71-point effort in a first-round win over Tigard, and the Irish were averaging 55.1 points per game but won with a season low in points against the Warriors.

"We're going to have an off night. We're not going to score 70 points every game," said Sheldon senior Jordan Johnson, who threw for 183 yards and a touchdown, rushed for 72 yards and two scores, and had an interception. "It was nice to see that the defense can win games too, and not just outscore everybody."

It was typical Sheldon at the start, as the Irish drove 79 yards on their first possession to score on Johnson's six-yard run. The Irish never trailed, but the game was not secured until Johnson found Curtis White for a 25-yard touchdown pass that put the Irish ahead 26-6 in the fourth quarter.

"You get spoiled and think maybe it's going to be 50 points every game, but when you get to this quality of competition, a win is a win," Sheldon coach Marty Johnson said. "Hopefully this tells us that we have room for improvement. It is hard when you play so well so many times and then you run into a buzzsaw in a real neat environment. My hat is off to Aloha. I don't think it was so much us as they played well on defense, and thank goodness our defense stepped up."

The Irish shut out the Warriors in the first half to take a 20-0 lead and held Aloha, which scored 45 points in a first-round win over Benson, to 231 yards of offense for the game.

"They were a good offense, and we had to play really hard on defense," defensive end Nick Steele said. "We got good play from our inside guys, and that helped against the run."

Cameron Abeene, who ran for 105 yards on 22 carries, gave Sheldon a 14-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown run, and then Johnson had a two-yard touchdown run late in the first half.

Sheldon totaled 360 yards of offense, but one week after scoring 10 touchdowns measuring an average distance of 47.2 yards, Sheldon did not have an offensive play that went longer than 25 yards.

The Irish were without 1,000-yard receiver John Campbell for much of the night as he suffered an ankle injury early and then a knee injury that kept him out most of the second half.

"They moved around a lot and confused us a bit," Jordan Johnson said.

The Warriors got within 20-6 when Caylen Clardy threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jon-Jon Moore midway through the third quarter.

Sheldon drove to the Aloha 10-yard line on its next possession before being stopped on fourth down. The Irish defense forced a three-and-out and Sheldon got the ball back at the Aloha 35. Four plays later, Johnson found White in the end zone to put the Irish ahead 26-6.

Aloha scored last on a one-yard run by Johnathan Shaffer with 1:02 remaining, but Dariano Mancuso recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Irish ran out the clock.

Sheldon will play Lake Oswego in the quarterfinals for the third year in a row, but this time at home after traveling the past two years.

Sheldon won in 2007 and went on to win the state title. The Lakers won last season and lost in the state final to Southridge.

"To win in the second round and qualify for the quarterfinals, we're happy and excited," Marty Johnson said. "Give a lot of credit to Aloha, they played us tough and we made enough mistakes to keep our offense bogged down a bit, but I thought our defense played a lot better."