Upstart Aloha improves to 3-0

ALOHA - For the first time in a very, very long time, there's something good going on at Aloha.

The Warriors improved to 3-0 in non-league football play Friday night when they shut out Gresham 20-0 at Aloha High School. They did it behind a defense that held the Gophers (1-1) to just 93 yards in total offense and got 105 receiving yards and a touchdown from senior wide receiver Zak Kokesh.

"We're 3-0. We started this from sophomore year and we're going to keep going," said Kokesh, who finished with five catches, including a 14-yard touchdown reception with 7 minutes, 22 seconds left in the third quarter.

"Our goal this year is to make the playoffs; that's been our goal since freshman year."

Aloha did its best to make that seem a possibility on Friday night, too. Playing before a large home crowd, the Warriors broke a scoreless tie 2-1/2 minutes into the second quarter when senior tailback Mike Shoun (12 carries for 73 yards) bashed into the end zone from a yard out after Kokesh hauled in a Eric Whitley pass for 34 yards to the Gopher 1-yard line.

Aloha scored again on its next possession after Ben Shelton recovered a Gresham fumble at the Gopher 32. This time, senior tailback Jude Graves (17 carries for 63 yards) raced around right end untouched on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line to score with 4:08 left in the opening half.

Kokesh then added his TD catch after Aloha took the opening kick of the third quarter to seal the deal at 20-0.

"It's going to be an exciting year for us," Kokesh said.

For a complete game story and additional photos, please see Thursday's edition of the Beaverton Valley Times.