4A GSHL football: Heritage 31, Evergreen 21

The only thing that could slow down Jake Dahlberg was a third-quarter injury.

Up to that point, the Heritage quarterback did plenty of damage to Evergreen in a game for the final playoff spot in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League.

Dahlberg threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 120 yards.

Dahlberg appeared to injure a knee with two minutes left in the third quarter. By then, he had his three TD passes and also drove the Timberwolves into field goal range.

Riley O’Dell filled in for Dahlberg and threw for 34 yards — getting the Timberwolves over the 300-yard mark — and he rushed for a 22-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for some more breathing room.

Evergreen scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Two onside kicks were recovered by Heritage.

The Timberwolves had 234 yards from scrimmage in the first quarter and allowed Evergreen seven yards on its first two possessions of the game.

Dahlberg found Michael Rivers for a 4-yard TD pass to open the game. Andy Bemis, who was huge on offense and defense for the Timberwolves, made it 14-0 on a 33-yard pass from Dahlberg.

Heritage scored first in the second quarter, a 6-yard pass from Dahlberg to Rajheem Carrie, for a 21-0 advantage.

Dahlberg had 243 yards passing in the first half. In the second half, he did a lot with his legs, finishing the night with 120 yards on 14 carries. His passing stats ended up at 19 of 28 for 283 yards.

Bemis caught six passes for 127 yards.

Evergreen quarterback Anthony Thomas was 8 of 18 for 197 yards and three touchdowns.

He hit Artem Konkin on a 33-yard TD pass just before the half. In the fourth quarter, Nemo Beavers made a solid catch-and-run for a 65-yard score. Konkin then ended Evergreen’s scoring on a 49-yard bomb from Thomas.

That made it 31-21 with 2:54 left in the game, but the Timberwolves recovered the onside kick to secure the victory.

Next up: Heritage (3-6, 2-2) at Kentwood, 4A state preliminary round, 7:30 p.m. Friday; Evergreen (1-8, 1-3) ends its season.

Evergreen 0 7 0 14—21

Heritage 14 7 0 10—31

First quarter

Her — Michael Rivers 4 pass from Jake Dahlberg (Garrett Worle kick)

Her — Andy Bemis 33 pass from Dahlberg (Worle kick)

Second quarter

Her — Rajheem Carrie 6 pass from Dahlberg (Worle kick)

Eve — Artem Konkin 33 pass from Anthony Thomas (Timur Zhividze kick)

Fourth quarter

Her — Worle 22 FG

Eve — Nemo Beavers 65 pass from Thomas (Zhividze kick)

Her — Riley O’Dell 22 run (Worle kick)

Eve — Konkin 49 pass from Thomas (Zhividze kick)

Leaders

Rushing — Evergreen: Chase Lawrence 15-41, O’Shay Piper 3-39, Thomas 10-23; Heritage: Dahlberg 14-120, O’Dell 7-30, Carrie 9-29.

Passing — Evergreen: Thomas 8-18-0-197; Heritage: Dahlberg 19-28-0-283, O’Dell 2-2-0-34.

Receiving — Evergreen: Beavers 4-100, Konkin 3-95, Lawrence 1-2; Heritage: Bemis 6-127, Carrie 5-58, Rivers 3-48, Worle 1-29, Randy Etheridge 3-28, Steven Nichols 2-19, Brandon Jorgenson 1-8.