Parkrose football rolls to first season-opening win since 2014 with 32-12 victory

There’s no way around it: Parkrose High School football has had some tough years on the gridiron dating back to the 2010s.

First-year head coach Paris Penn is hoping to turn that around, and he got the first big milestone out of the way early.

Thanks to a scoring flurry to end the first half and start the second, the Broncos picked up a 32-12 win at home over Cleveland on Friday, Sept. 5, marking the first season-opening win for Parkrose since 2014 when it beat St. Helens 56-19.

“It’s unbelievable, kids have put in a lot of work trying to change the culture, trying to change how we move on and off the field, in the classroom,” Penn said. “For them to start school this week and then see the results on the field, we’re moving in the right direction.”

Senior Tranden Stricker was the star, stepping in at quarterback after the planned starter in sophomore Hayden Bump was injured in the Broncos’ jamboree last week.

Stricker, normally a wide receiver on offense and a transfer from Canby, filled in well though to the tune of a 9-for-19 night passing for 228 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed the ball nine times for 87 yards and two more scores, and had an interception on defense.

“(Stricker is) a playmaker,” Penn said. “I told him before the game, ‘All I want you to do is go have fun and make plays. The expectations aren’t very high just because we know you’re not a quarterback, but you are a playmaker. Go have fun, run around, make a play.’”

The start was a little rough for the Broncos as the first drive ended with an interception from Cleveland senior Sky Philpot on the goal line.

Stricker made up for it on the next drive when he found senior Etrelle Degraffe beat his man on the far sideline and connected on a pass. Degraffe had nothing but open field in front of him to score the 85-yard TD and get the Broncos rolling.

There were still some speed bumps as Stricker threw another interception, fumbled a handoff that was recovered by Cleveland and senior Corinthian Littleton lost a botched punt return to the Warriors.

However, the defense came through each time to stop the Warriors, which included a fumble recovery and the interception by Stricker in the first half.

On what looked like the final drive of the first half, senior Si’Yel Bell caught a pass for 18 yards down to the Warriors 6-yard line and Stricker took it himself for the second score of the game to make it 13-0 Parkrose.

On the ensuing kickoff with three seconds left, the Warriors neglected to grab the football and Parkrose snagged it on the Warriors 2-yard line with two seconds left. Junior Kavion Combs punched it in to send the game into halftime 19-0 in favor of Parkrose.

The Broncos got the ball to start the second half and found the end zone again, this time on a 34-yard run up the middle by Stricker where he ran through two Cleveland tacklers and found open field to make it 25-0 Parkrose.

“I met (Stricker) just this summer and in that amount of time I’ve realized he’s the best guy you could have on your team,” Parkrose senior lineman Kimball Napaa said. “I wouldn’t want him on the other team.”

A couple drives later, it was Littleton getting back at Cleveland by picking up an interception on the Parkrose side of the field. And that possession turned into six when Stricker found junior Jack Fluker on a slant across the middle for a 22-yard TD, helping make it 32-0 Parkrose to end the third frame.

Cleveland got on the board in the fourth on a 10-yard floater from senior QB Sam Ribner to sophomore Apollo Johnson. The sophomore had a stellar night, turning in 10 catches for 134 yards and the one score.

The Warriors got a stop on their 1-yard line and turned that into another touchdown, aided by a 61-yard completion from Ribner to Johnson that set them up at the Parkrose 10-yard line again. This time, Ribner took it himself up the middle for the touchdown, making it 32-12 with less than a minute to go.

Ribner finished the night 20-for-41 passing with 273 yards and a TD, and had three rushes for six yards and a TD.

For Parkrose, getting the opening night win is certainly a good sign for the program that moved back to 5A this year after spending 2023 and 2024 in 4A.

“This is such a huge honor,” Napaa said. “Ever since I was a freshman, all I’ve known is defeat. It’s nice to have a (season-opening) win, first win of many, definitely.”

Other standouts for Parkrose include Combs, who had 14 carries for 90 yards and a TD. Degraffe had two catches for 94 yards, most coming on the 85-yard TD grab.

“I feel pretty accepted from this community coming from where I was from,” Stricker said. “The boys are fun to play with, they’re so nice and they just have a great time with each other. All around, it’s fun to play with them.”

Parkrose will look to keep the good times rolling next week at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 on the road at Southridge. Cleveland will look to bounce back at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 against Aloha at home.