South Medford alum Chase Cota rescues Oregon in Holiday Bowl

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The University of Oregon’s football season ended late Wednesday night, but not without some drama.

In the middle of it all, a former South Medford High School star.

South Medford alum Chase Cota caught the game-winning touchdown last night in a wild come-from-behind win for the Ducks in the Holiday Bowl.

It was a fitting end for not only Chase’s college career but for the entire Cota family as well.

“You could say the Cota’s really left their mark at Oregon, can’t you,” Cota’s South Medford High School football coach Bill Singler said.

In the final seconds of the game on fourth down, Cota caught the game-winning touchdown to cap off Oregon’s fourth-quarter comeback over North Carolina.

It was exactly the impact the Medford native was looking to make when he transferred to Oregon from UCLA before the season.

Cota’s high school coach Bill Singler played in the same conference during his college career and knows what it takes to succeed.

“When you play at the highest level, you really got to work hard at it, and you can see that Chase has. This wasn’t just showing up at Oregon. He wanted to make his mark, he wanted to play, he wanted to really contribute,” Singler said.

And contribute he did.

Despite missing three games to injury, Cota finished second on the team in receiving yards, including his heroic game-winning catch.

“There’s not been a lot of kids from the valley that have gone on and had success in playing roles at the power five level. This is big time college football, and from Medford, Oregon? That’s pretty cool. So, we’re very happy for Chase,” Singler said.

As many know, Chase’s father Chad starred at Ashland High School and then Oregon before playing in the NFL.

Chase Cota finishes his 5-year college career with over 1,300 yards receiving and nine touchdowns.

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Ethan McReynolds is a reporter and weekend anchor for NBC5 News. He grew up in Bothell, Washington and graduated from Gonzaga University with a degree in Broadcasting and minors in Journalism and Sport Management. At Gonzaga, he started his own sports podcast. Ethan loves rooting for his hometown Seattle sports teams, especially the Mariners. He loves playing baseball, basketball, and soccer. He is also an avid Taylor Swift fan.
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