While most football fans spent Saturday watching the Week 0 college football games, a few High School football games leaked into the weekend. Oregon Ducks fans who wanted to watch some of the commits in action had the chance to watch Hayden Stepp and Bishop Gorman on National TV to start the day before watching Will Mencl and Chandler to close out the night.
Last season, Will Mencl and Chandler saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Basha Bears in the State Championship Game. This season, Will Mencl and his teammates had a chance to instantly get revenge on ESPN against the Bears, who rank 24th nationally to start the season.
Future Oregon QB Will Mencl deals with injury in season opening loss
Will Mencl took his team to Basha as underdogs, looking to get revenge on National TV against the Nationally ranked Bears. As if playing a game on the road wasn't hard enough, Chandler set themselves back several times as Will Mencl threw an interception in the first half while they fumbled 3 times on promising drives, with one amounting to a scoop and score touchdown.
The entire game, Will Mencl was battling through injury as he was shown several times being looked at by the Chandler trainers. Late in the 3rd quarter, everyone held their breath as Will Mencl took a massive hit after throwing deep, which should've drawn a flag for roughing the passer.
After being knocked out of the game for a play, Will Mencl returned looking to lead his team to a massive win. Right after the injury, Mencl instantly got back in the offense and drove his team down the field, throwing his 4th touchdown of the day, but a blocked extra point kept the Wolves from tying the game.
Chandler 15-yard TD catch but extra point blocked. Basha up 27-26 with 11:09 left. pic.twitter.com/JjNXS2WMUr
— AZPreps365 (@AZPreps365) August 30, 2026
Basha converted a 42 yard field goal to take a 4 point lead, giving Will Mencl 6 minutes to march his team down the field for the win. After Mencl tried to squeeze a ball in a tight window, leading to an interception, the defense was unable to keep the ball out of the end zone, sealing Chandler's fate in a sloppy game by the Wolves.
There's plenty that the Oregon staff will look at and love from Will Mencl's first game of the season, starting with the fact that he told his coach he wanted the ball first, and instantly marched down the field for a touchdown.
Chandler strikes first on first drive. Will Mencl 7-yard pass to David Douglas. 5:40 1 pic.twitter.com/jEIDbNS5ds
— Richard Obert (@azc_obert) August 30, 2026
Most young quarterbacks haven't learned to use the hard count, but it was a big part of Will Mencl's game as he drew Basha offsides 3 times. Add in the toughness and resilience that Will Mencl showed the entire game as he was clearly banged up, and it's easy to see why so many are high on his potential.
Where Will Mencl is going to need to clean up his game is with some of the risky throws he made in this game. Aside from throwing a pair of interceptions, Will Mencl took some big risks that will be turnovers at the next level.
The big hope now for Chandler and Oregon is that Will Mencl is able to get back to 100%, and continue his development in his Senior season.
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