Tualatin enters the 2026 football season as a top-five team in multiple preseason polls after the first OSAAtoday statewide 6A coaches poll, released last week, slotted the Timberwolves 4th with 125 points and one first-place vote.
The ranking puts Tualatin behind Three Rivers League rivals Lake Oswego (171 points, 10 first-place votes) and West Linn (169 points, six first-place votes), plus Central Catholic (130 points, two first-place votes).
The No. 4 slot follows a 2025 season in which the Timberwolves finished 6-4 before an overtime loss to Jesuit ended their playoff run.
Tualatin is tied with West Linn for the most returning all-Three Rivers League players at 15, split across eight offensive and seven defensive spots.
The roster is loaded at the skill positions.
Head coach Dom Ferraro's backfield features senior Cole Hachmeister, who produced more than 800 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns in just five games last season despite a lingering injury. Hachmeister runs the 100 meters in 10.8 seconds and holds offers from Portland State and Western Kentucky.
"He has big-play capability on every snap," Ferraro said of Hachmeister in an August feature in The Oregonian.
Behind Hachmeister, sophomore Easton Grubb arrives after a staggering freshman campaign: 3,100 all-purpose yards and 42 rushing touchdowns for the freshman squad.
Ferraro called Grubb "explosive, physical and tough to bring down" in the same feature and said the staff expects big things from him on both sides of the ball.
The Timberwolves also return first-team all-league junior running back/linebacker Iden Rule, senior defensive lineman Zane Carley, senior quarterback Carter Powers and junior tight end/defensive lineman Brady Knips.
A Sports Illustrated preseason preview noted Tualatin may deploy a two-quarterback system with Powers and junior Lincoln Keeney.
The coaches poll carries no weight in the OSAA's RPI and Colley ratings used for playoff seeding, but it reflects how opposing coaches view the Timberwolves heading into fall camp.
The 6A season opens Friday, Aug. 28. Tualatin travels to Glencoe on Friday, Sept. 11.
