James Millspaugh runs for four touchdowns as No. 2 Clackamas overpowers Oregon City 57-27

CLACKAMAS -- James Millspaugh could have moved to a lot of other places in the Portland area this year. Friday night, he was feeling pretty good about his decision.

The Clackamas senior running back, a transfer from Skyview of Vancouver, broke out with a career game to lead the second-ranked Cavaliers to a 57-27 win over visiting Oregon City in a Mt. Hood Conference game.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Millspaugh ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries as Clackamas (8-0, 6-0) clinched at least a share of the conference title. The performance comes a week after he filled in for injured senior Nick Vaughn and ran for 123 yards and four scores against David Douglas.

"I'm glad I got my opportunity I did today, and I think I did pretty well with it," said Millspaugh, who entered the game with 44 carries this season. "I'm just looking forward to next week, to build off what I did tonight.

"I just love being here. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I made the right choice coming here."

Millspaugh, who played mostly at safety for Skyview, said he was hoping for more chances to carry the ball when he transferred to Clackamas. With Vaughn slowed by an ankle injury, the Cavaliers have been calling his number.

"He's been awesome," senior quarterback Mitchell Modjeski said. "He hits the hole, he knows what he's doing. Everyone on the team has great chemistry with him. It's awesome for everyone to see how good he actually is."

With Vaughn on the mend – he ran eight times for 50 yards Friday – Clackamas will have a deeper backfield heading into the Class 6A playoffs in two weeks.

"We're a good duo. It's going to be pretty good for the rest of the season," said Millspaugh, who has rushed for 620 yards and 14 touchdowns this season.

Clackamas rushed for 346 yards and Modjeski completed 16 of 19 passes for 229 yards. The Cavaliers scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions to build a 50-14 lead and coasted to victory.

It was an important win for Clackamas, which with a loss could have fallen into a three-way tie for first place with Oregon City (5-2, 4-2) and Central Catholic (6-2, 5-1). Now the Cavaliers, who shared the Mt. Hood title with Central Catholic last year, can clinch their first outright title since 2004 with a win at Centennial (2-6, 1-5) next week.

"The kids and the assistant coaches have been talking about that all week, that we don't want to share the league title, we want to win it outright," Clackamas coach Joe Bushman said. "So we'll get an opportunity to do that next week."

A semifinalist last year, Clackamas is hungry to go further this season. The Cavaliers aren't flashy, they just systemically take apart their opponents.

"The confidence thing is just awesome for us," senior receiver Aric Bergers said. "We know we can do things in all phases of the game. Just having that confidence that we can pretty much do whatever we want on the field is what boosts us to where we are now.

"We want to play our game and control every game that we play, and that's what we've done all season long."

With No. 1 Sheldon losing to No. 5 North Medford 31-14 on Friday, Clackamas stands as the only unbeaten team in Class 6A. By defeating Centennial, the Cavaliers can complete their first unbeaten regular season in school history.

"This whole team is full of talented players," junior linebacker Justice Pagan said. "We definitely have what it takes to go all the way this year. We just have to stay focused and keep grinding. We'll be on top."

Clackamas scored three touchdowns in the first quarter to lead 22-7. The first two came on runs by Modjeski and Millspaugh, the third one on a 13-yard, end-around pass from Bergers to senior tight end Chad Bletko.

Bergers, who played quarterback as an eighth-grader after Modjeski got hurt, looked up and saw no Pioneers anywhere near Bletko.

"I knew I could throw the ball, but it was just a matter of getting it there," Bergers said.

Millspaugh added three more touchdown runs in the second quarter, and when senior receiver Cole Turner scored on a three-yard run in the third quarter, it was 50-14.

The Clackamas defense -- which entered allowing a Class 6A-low 8.4 points and 159.3 yards per game -- did reveal a few kinks, however.

The Cavaliers held Oregon City to three rushing yards on 15 carries but gave up some big pass plays. Pioneers senior receiver Teron Bradford caught 10 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns from senior Austin Bonner, who completed 14 of 22 passes for 255 yards.

"There's definitely some holes we've got to fix in practice," Pagan said. "We always want to fix things early before they come and get us in the playoffs."

It was the second loss in a row for Oregon City, which fell to Central Catholic 42-35 last week. Bradford saw some positive signs for the Pioneers.

"I felt at times we proved we could make some statements," Bradford said. "I think we just made too many mental mistakes. It cost us the game. I think we can definitely hang with these teams. Just cleaning those things up, we should be able to make a run in the playoffs."

-- Jerry Ulmer

julmer@oregonian.com
503-816-7323
@jerryulmer