HILLSBORO As a head coach, Tracy Jackson has been a part of rebuilding a lot of high school football programs.
What he did with Dallas High School’s football program is another level, though.
The Dragons’ 10-7 loss to Lebanon in Saturday’s semifinals of the OSAA Class 5A state playoffs marked the first time Dallas had been that far in 1998.
Dallas’ Caedmon Blair (7) hits the turf in the second half of the Dallas vs. Lebanon OSAA Class 5A semifinal football game at Hillsboro Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. Lebanon won the game 10-7.
For a program that as recently as 2005 played an independent schedule, it was a huge step back to relevance.
At Jackson’s previous coaching stops in his 27 years as a head coach – Woodburn, North Marion, Madison, Hood River Valley and Woodburn again – bringing winning records to the team or making the state playoffs was good enough.
Now going 9-3 and making a deep playoff run is the new standard.
“And a lot of those rebuilding it was me, just me,” said Jackson, who last reached the state semifinals as an assistant coach at Sunset. “Now I’ve got two boys that understand what I want and they aren’t afraid to get it done. And it happens, too, that we’ve got some excellent football men on our staff.
“Somebody told me you can’t do it by yourself, and I refused to believe that, but it’s the truth you can’t. Without them and without Dave Flugum, and Tom Shinn and Mark Hess, and we have three young guys that were on our last playoff team that are helping, too.”
Jackson’s hard-nosed style of football worked wonders on the team this season.
Last year he installed a spread offense to start the season and it was a disaster. The team started the year 1-4 and it wasn’t until he installed the single wing offense that the Dragons are now known for.
Dallas’ Tanner Earhart (24) rushes in the second half of the Dallas vs. Lebanon OSAA Class 5A semifinal football game at Hillsboro Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. Lebanon won the game 10-7.
Dallas rushed for 203 yards on 50 attempts against Lebanon – including 115 and a touchdown on 26 carries by senior running back Tanner Earhart.
The brand of athletes that Dallas has produced into this year’s football team thrived by playing hard-nose football.
They trailed Lebanon 10-0 at halftime and came back to score on Earhart’s run then got the ball back on interceptiosn by Jason Richey and Damon Hodge of Lebanon quarterback Ty Hargis.
“Our seniors are a very good group,” Jackson said. “I really feel like I took us back, I made us worse (to a spread offense) by making that change, so that’s why we went back. Once we got to start a year doing it the way they like and the way we do best then all of a sudden we do decent.
“I’ve told them this 100 ties, I screwed us up last year, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.”
What’s made this run special for Jackson is that his sons have been along for the ride.
Andy Jackson, the defensive coordinator, and Matt Jackson, an offensive assistant coach, played for Jackson in high school then played at Western Oregon.
When Jackson took the head coaching job at Dallas in 2012, having his sons coach with him was part of the deal, and it worked out well for all sides.
“The first thing about my sons is that they’re really good at what they do,” said Jackson, a Silverton graduate. “They’ve played football professionally overseas. They’ve both been all-conference college players and high school players. They’re good. They grew up with it.
“They are very sharp. They’ve made us a way better football team.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Lebanon 10, Dallas 7
DAL 0 0 0 7-7
LEB 0 10 0 0-10
-Second quarter
LEB- Nathaniel Maddox 4 run (Cameron Alley kick) 1:44.
LEB- Alley 31 field goal :03.
-Fourth quarter
DAL- Tanner Earhart 7 run (Aaron White kick) 9:59.