Forget about the Drive for Five.
The way Dufur’s football team started the season – with back-to-back lopsided losses – the Rangers would have been lucky to win five games, much less a record-tying fifth consecutive state championship.
Somehow, though, Dufur got off the deck to make the playoffs, and Friday the No. 11 seed Rangers even won a playoff game, going on the road to defeat sixth-seeded Perrydale 22-14 in a 1A eight-man first-round contest.
“This group has grown immensely,” said coach Jack Henderson, who has won a record 10 state championships. “It’s actually been a lot of fun. We did stumble out of the gate, but we’ve gotten a lot better since then. Offensively, we found some stuff we can do.”
Dufur (7-3) entered the season expecting senior running back Asa Farrell – last year’s 1A player of the year and the state champion in the 100 meters -- to carry a heavy load.
But Farrell, the team’s lone senior, has played only two quarters all year and is out for the season, according to Henderson. Farrell missed the start of the year with a leg injury and aggravated it when he returned in the team’s fifth game.
So junior quarterback Cooper Bales, who played end last year, has stepped up. He rushed for 444 yards on 37 carries against Elgin on Nov. 1 and ran for 160 yards against Perrydale.
“We just needed to adjust some things,” Henderson said. “We’re heavier now in the quarterback run game, and that’s worked out really well for us because Cooper has really developed.”
The defense, which gave up 134 points in the first two games, has tightened up. The Rangers are getting stellar play at defensive tackle from junior Josiah Dave (5-10, 265) and freshman August Harvey (5-8, 235).
Since losing to Adrian/Jordan Valley and St. Paul to start the season – teams seeded second and first, respectively, in the playoffs – Dufur’s only setback was a 50-30 loss to No. 8 seed Pilot Rock/Nixyaawii.
No matter what happens in a Friday quarterfinal at third-seeded Crane (9-1), the proud Rangers have corrected their course and have a bright future.
“It wasn’t really fair, the position they were in this year,” Henderson said of his players. “These kids just weren’t ready for that. But they’ve really grown into their roles and stayed the course. They haven’t jumped ship, and it’s been an amazing amount of fun.”
Try, try again
Scappoose coach Sean McNabb had a positive outlook when his team drew a 5A first-round game at Pendleton, which had beaten his team twice this season and four times in the last two years.
“It’s like the best of seven in basketball – you’re bound to win one, right?” McNabb said.
Sure enough. The No. 12 seed Indians (7-3), who had lost at Pendleton 32-14 on Sept. 27 and 41-21 the previous week in a Northwest Oregon Conference divisional crossover game, pulled out a 23-14 win over the fifth-seeded Buckaroos (6-3).
The old adage about it being difficult to beat a team three times seems to hold up in the 5A playoffs. Last year, Churchill beat Thurston twice in the regular season but lost to the Colts 49-48 in the quarterfinals. All three games were played on the Lancers’ field.
“People were saying, ‘You’ve got to go back there,’ but I was telling people, ‘They don’t want to play us again, either,’” McNabb said. “That second game, it was really physical. I knew that in the back of their heads, they didn’t want to have to play us again.”
So what was different about Friday’s game? Scappoose’s defense locked down the Pendleton offense. Senior defensive lineman Tommy McKedy and senior linebacker Slater Smiens helped control the front and the secondary was outstanding, getting interceptions from seniors Blake Morkert and Thomas Greiner.
“The first time we played them, we didn’t stop their run game very well at all,” McNabb said. “We prepared for that, and they came out the second game and just threw the ball all over the place. This last time, we sent a lot more pressure. We had a lot more defensive packages in.”
McNabb sensed the Indians had a shot when he greeted his players for practice early last week.
“Our kids had a meeting to themselves before we came in as a coaching staff,” he said. “I could see in their eyes that they were excited about the challenge.”
Up next for Scappoose is a quarterfinal at fourth-seeded Silverton (9-1).
Tornado watch
No. 10 seed North Medford appeared ripe for an upset Friday night when it trailed No. 23 Reynolds by 13 points in the fourth quarter of a 6A first-round game.
But the Black Tornado, coming off back-to-back 3-7 seasons and seeking their first playoff win since 2014, weren’t going to let their successful season end with a thud.
“We had to make a decision in the fourth quarter, ‘Are we going to fold it in or are we going to go get it?’” coach Steve Turner said. “The kids decided to go get it.”
North Medford (8-2) rallied to force overtime on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Brennan Stults to Jeff Carpenter with 1:16 left. After holding the Raiders (5-5) in overtime, Stults found Bryce Dyer for a 25-yard touchdown pass to win it 55-49.
“We’re a junior-loaded team, so it was good to see those guys respond,” Turner said.
It was a good sign considering the other close games North Medford played this season resulted in its only losses, 28-27 at No. 8 seed Sheldon and 35-33 at No. 6 seed Aloha.
“We lost those two close ones, but we got the third one,” Turner said. “I guess that’s the one you want to win because it’s in the playoffs.”
Stults, a 6-3, 202-pound senior, had a career game, completing 26 of 45 passes for 395 yards and seven touchdowns, three to Carpenter. Much of the buzz afterward was about Dyer, a 6-3 sophomore who joined the team for the playoffs after scoring more than 20 touchdowns on JV this season.
“He’s going to be a really, really good one,” Turner said.
The aerial attack made up for the absence of junior running back Devin Bradd, who had to sit out after being ejected in the regular season finale against South Medford. Bradd, a transfer from Eagle Point, has rushed for 1,513 yards and 25 touchdowns this season.
The degree of difficulty gets ratcheted up this week for North Medford, which visits No. 7 Tualatin (8-2) for a second-round game.
“We still feel like we haven’t played our best game yet,” Turner said. “We’re still waiting for it. If we can put a full game together, we can be pretty tough to beat.”
Pace setters
The Three Rivers League flexed its muscles Friday night when five of its teams advanced to the round of 16 in the 6A playoffs.
It was no surprise that Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego and West Linn – teams that at times held the top four spots in the OSAAtoday 6A coaches poll – posted comfortable home wins.
But the most impressive example of the TRL’s strength came from No. 22 seed Lakeridge (4-6), which rolled to a 48-27 win at No. 11 Beaverton (7-3), a team that played for the Metro League title the previous week. The Pacers built a 35-point lead in the third quarter and coasted to victory.
“I feel like we surprised a lot of people except ourselves,” Lakeridge coach Forrest Sherman said. “I don’t think a lot of people outside the TRL and our own community thought we could go over there and beat them the way we beat them.”
Arizona-bound running back Jalen John continued his outstanding senior season by rushing for 204 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Senior quarterback Cooper Justice completed 12 of 15 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score.
“We played our most complete game of the year,” Sherman said. “We had a monster game from Jalen, and I think Cooper had his best game as a quarterback.”
Five of Lakeridge’s six losses came against teams ranked in the top eight of the final coaches poll.
“We don’t feel bad about our losses,” Sherman said. “We had higher expectations of ourselves, but going into the playoffs, as the season ended, our mindset was, ‘Let’s just get to the playoffs and we can reset the clocks. Take it back to 0-0 and let’s go from there.’
“Now the fun part is we get to go out and represent our league in the state playoffs and go play some other teams that might overlook us.”
The Pacers will try to keep their season alive Friday when they visit No. 6 seed Aloha (9-1) in a second round game.
jerryu@osaa.org
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