McMINNVILLE – Marist Catholic's defense turned a showdown between two of 4A's best quarterbacks into a one-sided affair Saturday afternoon.
The top-seeded Spartans shut down Scappoose's high-powered passing game, holding the Indians to 149 total yards, and ran away with a 41-7 win in a 4A semifinal at McMinnville High School.
Marist Catholic senior quarterback Nick Hudson turned in his usual productive performance, completing 17 of 28 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns, three to senior Aaron Bidwell. But the defense stole the show, clamping down on Scappoose senior quarterback Max Nowlin, who went 21 of 45 for 132 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
“Oh my goodness. They were phenomenal today,” Bidwell said of the defense. “This was the best I've seen our defense play. I always knew that they could play like this, but they've kind of not reached it the past few games. But this game they came out so strong. This was crazy.”
With the win, the Spartans (11-1) advanced to the state final for the second year in a row. They will play Henley, which not only defeated them 42-28 in the championship game last year, but beat them 19-16 in a nonleague game this year. The Hornets advanced with a 21-14 overtime win over Cascade on Saturday.
"I definitely want another shot at Henley ... we just want to get back at them," Bidwell said. "We just need to play like we did today. When we played them last time, we didn't play as well as we could have. But if we play as good as we did today, I definitely know that we can beat them."
Marist Catholic has been on a mission to return to the final.
“We worked so hard since the second we lost the state championship game last year,” Hudson said. “I'm glad we're back. … I think there's no real gap between the end of last season and the beginning of this season. We kind of just carried it on, got better each week.”
Added Spartans junior linebacker Brody Buzzard, who returned an interception for a touchdown Saturday: “We've been thinking about this next week for over a year. We really hope that we can get the job done, get that gold medal.”
Sophomore running back Conner Harvey, whose brother James was a senior linebacker on last year's team, isn't short on motivation for next week.
“I'm just so excited because last year was just so devastating,” said Harvey, who rushed for 101 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries Saturday. “My brother was a senior, and I really wanted him to win. I was a freshman, so it's really a get-back for me, for my brother.”
Hudson threw touchdown passes of 41 yards to junior CJ Guistina in the first quarter and 72 yards to Bidwell in the second quarter as Marist Catholic took a 14-0 lead. On the second score, the 6-foot-5 Bidwell caught a short slant and ran untouched into the end zone.
“I throw a two-yard pass and he runs 70 yards. It's awesome,” Hudson said.
The Spartans made it 21-0 in the second quarter with a 16-play, 94-yard touchdown drive that ended on a two-yard scoring run by Harvey. Hudson and Bidwell connected for a 13-yard touchdown pass on Marist Catholic's first series of the second half to extend the lead to 28-0.
The Spartans were one yard away from potentially triggering a running clock in the third quarter, but on third-and-goal at the Scappoose one-yard line, Harvey was stripped of the ball by senior Kadyn Nollette, who ran it to the Marist Catholic 12-yard line. Nowlin threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior Brayden Miller to make it 28-7 late in the third quarter.
The Indians stirred to life, but Marist Catholic's defense snuffed any hopes of a comeback. In the fourth quarter, Buzzard intercepted Nowlin and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown, restoring the lead to 35-7.
The Scappoose offense, which scored 83 points in two playoff wins, could not break free of the Spartans. Nowlin was under a steady pass rush, and when he found his receivers, Marist Catholic had plenty of tacklers ready to bring them down.
“We knew they were going to come out passing, so we were ready for the coverages, ready to stop their receivers,” Buzzard said. “We got our D-line to get the pressure on the QB, so we really just stopped them.”
Senior lineman Jackson Christian had both of Marist Catholic's sacks.
“We didn't let up,” Christian said. “On to the next. Just pounded every play, no plays off. Get to the quarterback, hit him hard.”
Nowlin, who entered the game with 35 touchdown passes this season, said Scappoose's struggles were due to a combination of Marist Catholic's defense and lack of execution.
“You've got to take accountability at some point,” Nowlin said. “They're a well-coached team, but we've got to be better in a lot of aspects.”
Hudson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bidwell with 2:40 left to finish the scoring. Bidwell had five catches for 143 yards and three touchdowns, giving him a team-high 17 scoring catches this season.
Bidwell said the team's receivers feed off one another.
“It's not a one-man thing,” Bidwell said. “I think we have the four best receivers in our league, so they have to account for all of us, which always leaves one of us open.”
