Pioneers Rally From 17 Down to Win the Season Opener in Double Overtime

For three quarters, the Portland Pioneers looked like a team still on summer break. Passes sailed high, tackles slid off and the home crowd spent most of the afternoon in a restless murmur. Then rookie quarterback Cole Ramsey threw two touchdowns in four minutes and the stadium found its voice. By the time kicker Luis Ortega’s 52-yard field goal cleared the crossbar late in the second overtime, nobody in the building was sitting down.

The Pioneers beat the Denver Peaks 34–31 in double overtime on Sunday, the largest comeback in franchise history. It was a season opener that started as a warning sign and ended as a statement, and it came on the back of a blocked punt, a fourth-down throw and a kicker who was out of football a year ago.

A long, quiet afternoon

Nothing about the first half suggested a classic. Denver scored on its first two possessions, a 12-play touchdown drive followed by a field goal, while the Pioneers’ first three series produced a total of 41 yards and three punts. Ramsey, making his first regular-season start after winning the job in training camp, looked every bit the rookie. He held the ball too long, took two sacks and threw behind receivers on a pair of third downs.

The Peaks pushed their lead to 17–0 midway through the second quarter before the Pioneers finally answered. Ramsey settled in on a two-minute drive, finding wide receiver Darius Kemp for gains of 18 and 23 yards before hitting him again on a 12-yard slant for a touchdown with 31 seconds left in the half. It was 17–7 at the break.

I told the guys at halftime: nobody remembers the first half if you win the second.

Head coach Ray Delgado

The message did not land right away. Denver took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards in nine plays, with running back Tyrell Banks scoring from 4 yards out to make it 24–7. The Pioneers’ next two drives stalled near midfield. Some fans began filing toward the exits early in the fourth quarter.

The turning point

Down 24–7 with nine minutes left, linebacker Isaiah Grant blocked a punt and fell on it in the end zone. Grant, a third-year player who had spent most of last season on special teams, came untouched off the right edge as Denver’s protection shifted the wrong way. The ball bounced backward toward the goal line, and Grant chased it down and smothered it.

“I saw daylight and I just kept running,” Grant said afterward. “Once I got a hand on it, I knew I had to find it before anybody else did.”

The play changed the feel of the afternoon. Denver’s offense, so efficient in the first half, went three-and-out on its next possession. The Pioneers responded with a 10-play drive that ended in a 41-yard field goal by Ortega, cutting the lead to 24–17 with 4:47 to play.

Two drives later, Ramsey faced the moment that will define his early career. The Pioneers had a fourth-and-6 from the Denver 14 with just over a minute left. Ramsey stepped up in the pocket, looked left to draw a safety and then turned back to the middle, where tight end Wes Holloway had slipped behind a linebacker. Ramsey found tight end Wes Holloway on a fourth-and-6 to tie it, and the 14-yard touchdown sent the game to overtime at 24–24 with 58 seconds left on the clock.

How the comeback unfolded

• 9:00, fourth quarter: Isaiah Grant blocks a punt and recovers it for a touchdown. Denver 24, Portland 14.
• 4:47, fourth quarter: Luis Ortega kicks a 41-yard field goal. Denver 24, Portland 17.
• 0:58, fourth quarter: Cole Ramsey hits Wes Holloway for a 14-yard touchdown on fourth-and-6. Tied 24–24.
• First overtime: The teams trade touchdowns. Tied 31–31.
• Second overtime, 0:11: Ortega makes a 52-yard field goal. Portland 34, Denver 31.

Trading blows in overtime

Denver won the overtime coin toss and wasted no time. Peaks quarterback Nolan Pierce completed four straight passes, and Banks scored his second touchdown of the day on a 7-yard run to put Denver back in front, 31–24.

The Pioneers, who had looked lost for most of the day, now looked calm. Ramsey converted a third-and-8 with a scramble to the sideline, then threw a perfect fade to Kemp in the back corner of the end zone from 9 yards out. It was his second touchdown pass in about four minutes of game clock, and the stadium, nearly silent two hours earlier, shook. The extra point tied the game at 31–31.

Both defenses held through the rest of the first overtime. Denver missed a 49-yard attempt wide right, and the Pioneers punted twice. The game moved into a second extra period, a rarity that left both teams visibly exhausted.

The kick

Kicker Luis Ortega, cut by two teams last season, hit from 52 yards with 11 seconds left in the second overtime. The Pioneers had driven only to the Denver 34 before stalling, and Delgado chose to send Ortega out rather than risk another play.

Ortega spent last fall working out on his own at a high school field in Sacramento, California, sending video to teams and waiting for a call. The Pioneers signed him in the spring as camp competition. He won the job on the final day of the preseason.

“You think about every kick you missed and every phone call that did not come,” Ortega said. “And then you just try to hit it clean. I did not look up until I heard the noise.”

The kick was the longest game-winner in franchise history and the first overtime win for the Pioneers in three seasons.

What it means for Portland

The win will not erase the problems that showed up for much of the afternoon. The offensive line allowed four sacks, the run game finished with just 71 yards and Denver converted 8 of 13 third downs. Delgado acknowledged as much in his postgame news conference, saying the team “left a lot on the field” before the fourth quarter.

But the comeback offered something the Pioneers have lacked in recent seasons: a young quarterback who did not flinch. Ramsey finished 24 of 33 for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. After a shaky first quarter, he completed 19 of his final 23 passes.

Teammates said they noticed the change on the sideline as much as on the field.

“He did not panic,” Holloway said. “He came to the huddle and talked like it was practice. When your rookie quarterback is that calm down 17, you start to believe.”

Key takeaway: A blocked punt, a fourth-down touchdown and a long field goal from a once-unemployed kicker turned a lopsided opener into the biggest comeback in Pioneers history.

Up next

The Pioneers host Austin next Sunday in their second straight home game. Austin, which won its opener comfortably on the road, is expected to test the Portland secondary early and often.

Delgado said Grant, who left briefly in the fourth quarter after a collision on kickoff coverage, should be available. The team will continue to evaluate Kemp, who was seen with ice on his left shoulder after the game.

For one night at least, the questions can wait. Fans lingered in the stands long after the final whistle, chanting Ortega’s name as he jogged off the field. On a day that began like a lost cause, the Pioneers found a quarterback, a kicker and, perhaps, an identity.