Here’s a peek behind the scenes at South Salem football’s media day
Here’s a sneak peek at the South Salem Saxon football’s Statesman Journal media day as the season opener nears
- South Salem High School defeated Forest Grove 76-50 in their season-opening football game.
- Senior quarterback Kellen Bowman threw for 575 yards and six touchdowns, a top-five performance in Oregon high school history.
- The victory was the program’s first since October 2024, validating the team’s hard work.
Some stat lines in high school football are hard to believe.
In South Salem’s 76-50 win over Forest Grove in the opening game the 2026 OSAA season Sept. 4, the Saxons produced some of those stat lines.
Senior quarterback Kellen Bowman completed 41 of 47 passes for 575 yards and six touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Ben Greer delivered 209 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 14 catches, while fellow senior receiver Sam Johnson posted 164 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine catches.
Junior receivers Cody Scharer and Jaxon Birt both gained over 50 receiving yards and Scharer scored a touchdown. Junior Mateo Soto and senior Kacedro Rogers scored a receiving touchdown apiece.
Bowman, Greer, Soto and Birt all scored touchdowns from the run game, too.
“Talk about getting your money’s worth, going to see a game where there’s 126 points scored, unless you’re a defensive fan,” South Salem coach Josh Vanlue joked. “But other than that it was an awesome environment, awesome high school football game. If you told me we’d score 76 points in week one I’d say you’re crazy, but it’s just kind of a testament to our kids and our coaching staff and all the preparation that’s gone into it.”
Back in the win column
South Salem’s high-scoring win over Forest Grove was the program’s first varsity victory since Oct. 31, 2024. For several, if not most, varsity athletes on the Saxons’ football team, this was their first Friday night win of their career.
“It’s validation that hard work does pay off. Winning isn’t fair — you can do everything right and still not win. it doesn’t always go your way but if you keep to the process, eventually good things are going to happen,” Vanlue said. “We haven’t had much success on the scoreboard the last couple years, but for them to keep working and keep showing up every day, it was awesome to see their faces after.”
Bowman, for example, is in his third year as the starting quarterback at South. Greer, similarly, has years of varsity football experience.
The Saxons had been the young team gaining experience for some time, but Vanlue said the seniors this offseason and early season have stepped into leadership roles and are ready to spearhead a new campaign.
In the opening game of his senior year, Bowman’s 575 passing yards were the fifth-most ever in an Oregon high school football game.
“Him being a three year starter … he’s thrown over 1,200 balls in football games. His experience is top notch,” Vanlue said. “Anytime you come out on week one and go 41 of 47 with all the different kind of stuff we do was just unbelievable. He knew what he was doing with the football I think before I even did. He just stays calm as can be, painting a picture each play and delivered the ball where it needed to go.”
Greer, who finished second in Class 6A receiving yards last fall with his 117 receptions, second on the state’s all-time list, got back to business in the opener.
“I think Ben lined up at tight end, inside, outside, fullback … the amount of time he’s put in to make himself not only a physically really good football player but a smart football played showed on Friday night. At times (Forest Grove) was doubling him, tripling him and he still found a way to get open,” Vanlue said. “That’s just another day in the life of Ben Greer.”
Prepping for Southridge
South Salem will hope to carry this momentum into its matchup Sept. 11 with Southridge at home.
Vanlue said Southridge possesses a lot of athletic players in the skill positions and size on the lines.
“For us, we’re not very big up front so we’ve got to be disciplined on our o-line and d-line. Our skill kids need to make plays when their number is called,” Vanlue said. “One win was great, and a lot of our kids haven’t been there before. It’s how to respond to being 1-0 and how do we take care of business like we do every single day. We have a great week of preparation and I’m excited to see our guys on Friday night.”
One thing is for sure: South Salem is going to play fast, air-raid football. It’s no-huddle, five-wide offense can cause confusion and chaos for opposing defenses and with the Saxons’ experience, they hope to execute once again.
“On the offensive side of the ball we just have to continue to do what we do; play as fast as humanly possible and throw the ball to the open guy,” Vanlue said.
The 76-point outburst against Forest Grove somewhat distracted from the 50 points given up. But with South Salem’s fast-paced style of football featuring lots of possessions, it’s naturally going to lead to higher-scoring games.
Vanlue said he was proud of the defense’s development even just over the course of the Forest Grove game.
“They scored 39 in the first quarter-and-a-half, then we ended the second quarter and started the third quarter on a 35-0 run. We got a new defensive coordinator, new defense, so I think that start of it was just kind of settling in,” Vanlue said. “We went into halftime, came out and got three or four stops in a row. From that aspect, when you don’t have film on your opponent, you’re seeing new stuff for week one, it’s a new defense, you expect there to be some bumps. But what I was really proud of is they just kept playing and made our adjustments.”
Vanlue hopes to see an even better defense, improved special teams and more of the same on offense Friday night against Southridge, which lost its opener to Century, 39.20.
More Salem-area matchups
Here are the other Class 6A Salem-area schools taking the field Sept. 11 under the lights.
- West Salem (0-1) vs. Mountainside (1-1)
- Sprague (1-0) at Jesuit (0-1)
- McNary (0-1) at David Douglas (0-1)
- North Salem (1-0) vs. Aloha (1-0)
Landon Bartlett covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at LBartlett@statesmanjournal.com or on X, TikTok or Instagram @bartlelo.