When Dan Lever left Tualatin to be the head coach at Silverton after the 2021 season, he knew it was viewed by many as a surprising move. After all, he had just led the Timberwolves to the Class 6A championship game and would be taking over a Foxes program that was coming off a 5A title.

Though Lever has never regretted the decision from a personal standpoint, he earned the validation he sought on the field Friday as Silverton beat Summit 24-14 in the 5A final to deliver Lever his first championship.

“Man, what a great decision for me and my family,” Lever said as he put the last four years in perspective while fighting back tears. “I love this community, I love what we stand for and I love our kids. This group always did the right thing.”

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OSAA Class 5A football state championships 2025: Silverton Foxes vs. Summit Storm

Lever said “people thought I was crazy” for leaving a situation in Tualatin where he had support and success, but after his family bought property near Silverton the commute became difficult to endure:

“I walked into a situation where I’m following a guy (Josh Craig) who won a state title, but these kids worked their tails off and embraced me and my family. So it’s pretty awesome.”

Silverton quarterback Chase Dominguez, who completed 21 of 27 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, said it was “surreal” to realize he was a champion and admitted that the Foxes “had some nerves” early in the game as they turned the ball over on downs in each of their first three possessions, including a fourth-and-goal situation from the 1-yard on their opening drive.

On the third fourth-down failure, which gave Summit the ball at the Silverton 49, the Storm took advantage with a touchdown run by Jude Anderson on the next play to take a 7-0 lead three minutes into the second quarter.

The Foxes stayed the course, though, and responded with a five-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown when Gavin Aguero got open down the right side for a 37-yard catch from Dominguez. The pair transferred to Silverton from McKay before the season.

“We’ve played together since second grade, so our connection is pretty good and I just know where he’s going and where I have to put it,” said Dominguez.

Aguero said it was “huge” to come back with a quick score.

“If we got stopped there, it would have given them even more momentum, but the offensive line gave Chase time and he just made a great throw,” said Aguero.

After Summit pinned Silverton back at its 8-yard line on a punt, the Foxes put together a 92-yard drive that included a 21-yard throw by Dominguez over the middle to Luke Horner and a perfectly placed 40-yard deep strike down the left sideline to Aguero. That set up an 11-yard touchdown toss to Nash Moser to give the Foxes a 14-7 lead at halftime.

“I thought that was big to score right before the half, that really set the tone for the second half,” Lever said. “Then we didn’t score in the third quarter but we did pin them deep and it became a defensive battle.”

Neither team could get much going in the second half until the Foxes finally converted a fourth down on a pass by Dominguez to Nolan Horner down to the Summit 23 midway through the fourth quarter.

Silverton pushed the lead to 21-7 on a third-and-goal play on which receiver Logan Uitto, who had a team-high six catches for 52 yards, lined up as quarterback and picked up a bounced snap and ran around the left edge and into the end zone from 4 yards out with 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining.

After struggling to move the ball after halftime, the Storm marched 74 yards in 33 seconds and scored on a 17-yard run by Anderson to stay alive at 21-14. Anderson finished a strong senior season with 158 yards on 18 attempts.

Silverton’s Michael Orton picked up a bouncing onside kick and returned it to the Summit 21, giving the Foxes a chance to put the game away.

In field goal formation on fourth-and-6 from the 17, holder Nolan Horner pulled the ball away from the path of kicker Caden Druliner and ran around the left edge for seven yards and a first down.

It looked like a perfectly executed fake, but it turned out that Horner had actually mishandled the snap and improvised.

“I wish I could say I called that one,” Lever said. “Sometimes you’re better to be lucky than good.”

Horner quipped that the play “seemed to work out pretty well.”

“Sometimes you just gotta take it and run with it,” he said.

Not only did the heads up play preserve possession, it allowed more time to run off the clock before Druliner booted a 26-yarder through the uprights that ensured Silverton’s third state football title.

When Horner, who led Silverton with 65 rushing yards on seven carries, was asked how his team kept its cool through the early fourth-down struggles through to some nerve-wracking moments down the stretch, he had a simple answer:

“We’re Foxes. We always find a way.”