Jack Foley was told that his football playing days were over when his final high school season was months away from kicking off. 

The Mountain View senior wide receiver had lingering stress fractures from weightlifting and training that went undetected and never properly healed. Then, on May 31, he laid out trying to catch a pass at a recruiting camp and he fractured his spine and slipped his L5 disc.

The injury was grim enough that four surgeons in Bend told him that continuing his football career — where he had become one of the state’s top wide receivers on the verge of playing big-time college football — was not safe. 

Foley decided to roll the dice. And in Mountain View’s 55-20 win over Springfield in the season opener Friday night, he was back to being a dominant pass catcher.  

“I took my recovery and PT very seriously,” Foley said. “And God allowed me another opportunity to glorify him on the field.

“We have been waiting for a long time for this,” Foley added. “We wanted to come out with a full head of steam. I was able to put on a show and make some good plays.”

Foley had traveled to Los Angeles where doctors told him that the injury couldn’t get any worse and with the right rehabilitation process, there was a chance he could play again. Because the injury did not require surgery, by the middle of August, the 5A first-team all-state receiver was back to practicing at full speed.

“It was pretty devastating when people tell you that you can’t play football again,” Foley said. “I wasn’t looking for ‘no’ as an answer. The second we got an opinion that we couldn’t make it any worse, we took it head on and started physical therapy and recovery.”

In Mountain View’s win Friday, the 6-foot-5-inch wideout hauled in six catches for more than 100 yards and scored four touchdowns — all in the first half.

“I had no idea what we were going to get,” said Mountain View coach Brian Crum. “One of my better moments of the summer was when I got a text from (Foley) saying the doctor said he would be OK. He is a special athlete. He is a Division I receiver and he plays like it.”

Coming off an undefeated regular season and a berth in the Class 5A state title game, Mountain View (1-0 overall) needed to replace 16 starters from last season. Against the Millers, the Cougars appeared to have picked up right where they left off from last November.

Junior running back Angel Valenzuela started the game with 8- and 16-yard touchdown runs in the first two drives of the game. After Springfield (0-1) fumbled on its first two possessions, the Cougars built a 21-0 lead after Foley’s first touchdown catch.

Springfield turned what appeared to be a blowout into an interesting game, albeit briefly, after Finn Lessner had a long touchdown run, which was immediately followed by a fumble recovery in Mountain View territory.

But then Mountain View senior safety Brady Kennedy came up with an interception, then a few plays later, senior quarterback Mason Chambers hit senior wideout Jordan Best, who made a defender miss and outran the Millers’ defense for a 95-yard touchdown.

“(Best’s touchdown) really got us out of a hole,” Crum said. “If we had to punt there, we might have let them back in the game.”

In the second quarter, the Chambers-to-Foley connection was on full display. Making his first start under center, Chambers found Foley three times in the second quarter for touchdowns of 10, 20 and 32 yards.

Chambers finished with five first-half touchdowns in his debut.

“I know what can happen with all our weapons,” Chambers said. “We got weapons all over. We don’t have a lot of experience, but we got it done. We came prepared, we came into the game confident that we could do it.”

In the first half, the Cougars scored on all but one of their offensive possessions. They recovered two fumbles and grabbed two interceptions. Right before halftime, senior defensive back Eddie Jackson hauled in a spectacular interception in which he ripped the ball away from a Springfield receiver.

Sophomore running back Ryder Carpenter capped off the Mountain View scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Next Friday, Mountain View will play its first road game of the season when it travels to face Lebanon.

“We certainly have some things to clean up,” Crum said. “We were a little sloppier than I would have liked in a few situations. I think part of that is only having two weeks of practice to get ready. But I think we did the things we wanted to do. We got some early turnovers. We know we want to get the ball to our game-breakers, and we got some pretty special ones.”

Other Friday night football scores:

Bend High 44, Gresham (6A) 14

Silverton 35, Summit 12

Thurston 45, Caldera 29

Ridgeview 28, Woodburn 6