Bend's Jesse James (57) sacks Conor Nehl (10) during the first half against Mountain View on Friday.

With his eyes peering down at the Punk Hunnell Stadium field following Mountain View’s 37-12 win over Bend High on Friday night, Cougars coach Brian Crum broke into a smile and began shaking his head.

That second-quarter play, a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mountain View’s Cody Anthony to Blake Knirk, Crum conceded, that was not exactly how it was drawn up.

Out of an unbalanced formation, Anthony swept to his right. It was a pass play all the way, but where the junior running back threw, Crum said, was not exactly the No. 1 option.

As Anthony was dragged down by a Bend High defender, he desperately hoisted a pass skyward to the left side. Crum wondered, “What are you doing?”

Fortunately, on the back end of the pass, Knirk was by himself in the end zone, camped underneath the popped-up throw.

He hauled the ball in, and the ensuing extra-point kick gave Mountain View a 20-12 lead with less than four minutes left in the half.

“I think that was a big momentum thing for our kids,” Crum said. “The biggest thing for our kids is it let them relax a little bit. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, did you just see that happen? All right, let’s go play football.’”

Mountain View tacked on 17 unanswered points in the second half, sealing the Class 5A Intermountain Conference win against the rival Lava Bears in the 35th edition of the Civil War football game. It was each team’s final contest of the regular season.

“It was a battle,” Crum said. “There is no doubt it was a battle, and I expected that from (Bend coach Matt) Craven’s team.”

In front of jam-packed grandstands and hundreds of standing-room spectators, the Cougars (3-0 IMC, 6-2 overall) accumulated 399 yards of total offense to pick up their fourth straight win over Bend. Conor Nehl completed 20 of 33 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, and Nick Hjelm racked up 133 yards receiving and two scores on 10 catches.

“It was big,” Hjelm said of the Mountain View aerial attack, which accounted for 279 yards. “We can always go to the air. We have a bunch of great receivers, and Conor’s a great quarterback.”

Creighton Simmonds passed for 123 yards and a touchdown, but Bend (1-2, 1-8) was limited to just 171 yards of total offense and only 48 yards rushing.

Still, with Christian Johnson rushing for a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Alex Henry posting a 24-yard reception for a second-quarter score, the Bears held an early 12-7 lead.

But after Nehl connected with Hjelm for a 7-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes later, and following Anthony’s “what-are-you-doing” toss to Knirk for a score, the Cougars settled in and cruised to their seventh IMC championship in the last eight years.

“You get in a big game like this, and the adrenaline is so big for these kids,” Crum said. “You get to that first quarter, and you’re so hyped up. It’s kind of like going through withdrawals. It’s like a sugar crash. You’re just kind of, ‘Whoosh,’ and it kind of washes out of you again. I think that play (Anthony’s touchdown pass to Knirk), we all just took a deep breath and said, ‘All right, let’s get after it.’”

Bend held the Cougars to 120 yards rushing, but most of that came late in the third quarter and in the fourth.

“That was huge,” Craven said. “We had really struggled in the last two years in stopping Mountain View’s rushing game. I think that’s a credit to our kids playing defense. I also think that our coaching staff came up with a fantastic game plan to try to minimize the things that they do and maximize our talent.”

Unfortunately, Craven added, Bend’s defense could not get a rest, as the Lava Bears were forced to punt quickly after regaining possession.

“I think it got away from us a little bit there at the beginning of the fourth quarter,” Craven said. “We got caught playing catch-up a little bit. You don’t want to do that against their defense because I feel that’s the really strong point at Mountain View is how athletic their defense is.”

Mountain View and Bend High are in wait-and-see mode as far as the postseason is concerned. The top eight teams in the final rankings, which will be set at 10 p.m. today, are awarded first-round home games on Nov. 2 for the 5A state playoffs. The Cougars headed into Friday night’s game at No. 10.

If it remains in that position, Mountain View would host a play-in contest next Friday.

Bend, meanwhile, held the 25th spot going into the matchup against the Cougars. Teams ranked ninth through 24th earn play-in bids.

For Hjelm, there was no thinking about next week, or the week after. This was about Friday night, the Civil War.

“We knew we were going to go to the playoffs,” Hjelm said. “It was just sweet to beat Bend High with the atmosphere and everything and so many people here.”