It's already been a breakthrough football season for Crook County, which captured its first league title since winning the big-school state championship in 1984.
Now the Cowboys (9-0), seeded fourth in the 4A playoffs, are looking to take more territory. They can pick up their first playoff victory in 40 years at 6 p.m. Friday when they play No. 13 Tillamook (5-4) in their first home playoff game since 1997.
It's going to be a big event for the Prineville school.
“Sports are a big part of the culture and community here,” said fourth-year head coach Pard Smith, whose great uncle played on Crook County's 1952 state title team. “There seems to be a little buzz going around.”
Crook County has made a dramatic rise this season. The Cowboys, who went 4-6 last year, have not finished a season with a winning record since 2015. The unbeaten regular season is their first since they did it in 1983 and 1984.
“It's just one of those groups that comes through where everything kind of clicks,” Smith said. “They have a high football IQ and they go and apply it. In the past, there have been guys that don't want to be coached or corrected, so they did it their own way. This group's not like that.”
Smith, a Crook County graduate who joined the coaching staff as an assistant in 2008, is seeking inspiration from the 1984 team. Bruce Scanlon, the quarterback in 1984 who went on to play at Linfield College, is set to address the Cowboys at a team dinner Thursday. If Crook County wins Friday, Smith has arranged for Bob Crofcheck, the coach in 1984, to talk with the team next week.
The Cowboys brought back about half of their starters from last season and got a big boost with the return of senior quarterback Gavin Sandoval, who injured his knee before the start of last season and missed the entire year.
A two-time state champion wrestler, Sandoval has been a catalyst for the team this season. He has passed for 1,176 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 13 scores.
“He's done an incredible job,” Smith said. “We didn't have him last year, so that made us a little more one-dimensional. He's a fierce competitor and a tremendous leader. He's a guy that leads by example.”
Improved health has been a factor in the team's success. Last season, not only did Crook County lose Sandoval, but receiver Eddie Freauff – now a freshman on the team at Oregon State – suffered a season-ending injury in the second game.
“By the time we played Marist in the playoffs, we were down seven guys,” said Smith, referring to a 42-14 first-round loss. “This year we're healthy.”
It has allowed the team to deliver on its potential.
“We figured that we're a playoff team, and it was our goal to push deep into the playoffs this year,” Smith said. “The way the team came together and gelled this year, that probably exceeded my expectations.”
The Cowboys spread the ball around on offense. Their leading rusher, junior Emiliano Dominguez, has a modest 570 yards and six touchdowns. Their top receiver, junior Ke'nan Twigg, has 10 catches for 305 yards and four touchdowns. They have controlled the line of scrimmage, led by senior tackles Garrett Stefanek and Preston Duke, both multiple-year starters.
The defense has allowed a 4A-low 103 points, holding all but one opponent to fewer than 20 points. The defensive front has Duke and Dominguez on the ends and 5-10, 295-pound senior Nicholas Rolston in the middle. Sophomore linebacker Andrew Barker has a team-high 11 tackles for loss.
Crook County's only close game this season is a 30-27 home win over Ashland on Sept. 13. The Cowboys led 21-0 in the fourth quarter but needed a 29-yard field goal by senior Gabe Love with nine seconds left to escape with the victory.
Tillamook enters the playoffs with four wins in its last five games. The Cheesemakers have a dynamic playmaker in junior receiver and defensive back Griffyn Boomer, who has 31 catches for 613 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also has six interceptions.
“They scheme stuff up to get him the ball and use his athletic ability,” Smith said of Boomer. “They have a couple other guys, they put them on the same side so you can't double him. And he covers a lot of ground on defense.”
A look at other intriguing playoff match-ups this weekend:
Friday
6A Open bracket
No. 9 Tualatin (6-3) at No. 8 Mountainside (7-2), 7 p.m.: Explosive Tualatin, widely perceived as a title threat at the start of the season, enters the playoffs as a darkhorse after Three Rivers League losses to Lake Oswego, Lakeridge and West Linn. Mountainside, which won its first Metro League title this year, lost at Tualatin 53-21 in the 2022 quarterfinals.
No. 10 Nelson (7-2) at No. 7 Sherwood (7-2), 7 p.m.: Pacific Conference champion Sherwood, a semifinalist last year, has won six in a row after nonleague losses to West Linn and Tualatin. But the Bowmen must contend with the dangerous Hawks, who have a fourth-year starter at quarterback in Avirey Durdahl and a balanced offense that is averaging 42.8 points per game.
6A Championship bracket
No. 23 Westview (4-5) at No. 18 West Salem (5-4), 7 p.m.: West Salem running back Koen Campos has quietly had an outstanding junior year, rushing for 1,307 yards (third in 6A ) and 17 touchdowns. Westview also has an impressive junior in the backfield in 6-1, 205-pound Heath Thompson, who has 14 touchdown runs.
5A
No. 9 Willamette (8-1) at No. 8 Summit (5-4), 7 p.m.: Willamette, 0-9 last year, punctuated its turnaround season under first-year coach Josh Line last week with a 23-15 win over perennial Midwestern League power Thurston. The Wolverines, who haven't won a playoff game since 2007, get a crack at Summit, the state champion in 2022 and a semifinalist in 2023.
No. 10 Lebanon (6-3) at No. 7 Glencoe (7-2), 7 p.m.: Glencoe moved down from 6A this season and ran the table in Special District 1 (first league title since 2007), getting a breakout year from junior Daniel Heninger, who has rushed for a 5A-high 1,705 yards and 16 touchdowns. The Crimson Tide goes after its first playoff win since 2013 against the Warriors, whose three losses have come against teams ranked in the top six of the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll.
4A
No. 9 Stayton (6-3) at No. 8 Estacada (5-4), 7 p.m.: A rematch from Sept. 13, when Stayton won at Estacada 35-21 in a nonleague game, turning three turnovers into touchdowns. The Eagles, battle-tested in the Oregon West Conference, face an improved Estacada team that is on a four-game winning streak.
2A
No. 11 Lowell (6-3) at No. 6 Gervais (7-1), 7 p.m.: Reigning state champion Lowell has taken some lumps this season, entering the playoffs off a 56-13 loss at Lost River in which star tailback JaMar Thurman was held to 16 yards on 13 carries. Gervais, which has recorded five shutouts, suffered its first loss last week, losing at Colton 22-16 in a game that decide the Special District 2 title. A year ago, the Cougars posted their first playoff win since 1951.
Saturday
3A
No. 11 Burns (7-2) at No. 6 Cottage Grove (9-0), 7 p.m.: Cottage Grove went through some dark times after its undefeated 4A champion team in 2017, going a combined 2-34 in the previous five seasons, but has found its footing this season after dropping down to 3A. The Lions' offense, which averages a 3A-high 44.0 points per game, will try to solve a Burns defense that is yielding 9.6 points and has five shutouts.
1A-8
No. 11 Powder Valley (5-4) at No. 6 Dufur (8-1), 1 p.m.: Dufur, which has won 10 state titles under coach Jack Henderson – most recently a four-peat from 2015 to 2018 – has bounced back after going 4-5 and 2-7 the last two seasons. Powder Valley also has rebounded after finishing 1-8 a year ago.
1A-6
No. 10 Alsea (5-3) at No. 7 Echo (6-3), 1 p.m.: Last year, Echo won at Alsea 38-6 in the first round on its way to winning the state championship. Now Alsea will be looking for payback on Echo's home field.
