Prep football playoffs this weekend
Published 12:13 am Thursday, November 6, 2014
Friday
Corvallis (4-5) at Mountain View (8-1), 7 p.m.: Last Friday’s 23-12 win at Bend High clinched an eighth Intermountain Conference championship in the last nine years for the Cougars. Now, Mountain View looks to extend another impressive run, as the Cougs have reached the quarterfinals in seven of the last eight seasons. With the top seed in the Class 5A state playoffs, and with QB Mike Irwin, who rushed for 153 yards and passed for 47 yards and a score last week, Mountain View is in good position to make a deep run. The Cougars entertain No. 16 Corvallis, which finished third in the Mid-Willamette Conference after defeating South Albany on the road 49-45 last Friday. The Spartans boast a fairly well-rounded attack with QB Lance Peterson’s 1,580 yards and 13 TDs through the air and running back Hunter Mattson’s 1,363 yards and 13 scores on the ground.
Summit (7-2) vs. Marist (6-3) at Willamette High School, 7 p.m.: For the second straight season, the Storm are in the Class 5A state playoffs and open postseason play on the road. Behind QB John Bledsoe, who has passed for 1,668 yards and 22 TDs this season, ninth-seeded Summit travels to Eugene to take on No. 8 Marist. The athleticism of Storm tailback Sean Kent, who rushed for 122 yards and three scores on just six carries in last Friday’s 41-14 home win over North Salem, and wideout Kyle Cornett, who has 11 receiving TDs and averages more than 16 yards per catch this season, will be on display as Summit takes on the Spartans. Paced by QB Quinn Cota, who has 1,264 passing yards and 13 touchdowns this season, Marist finished second in the Midwestern League but is coming off a 27-24 loss at Springfield last Friday.
Sisters (5-4) at Gladstone (8-0), 7 p.m.: Behind 370 rushing yards last Friday, the Outlaws defeated Henley 34-12 in Klamath Falls in a Class 4A play-in game to reach the state playoffs for the first time since 2007. Now, Connor Gellings, who ran for 143 yards last week, and Mitch Gibney, who accounted for 110 rushing yards, lead No. 16 Sisters against top-seeded Gladstone, the second-highest-scoring team in 4A. The Gladiators, who in their most recent game defeated Molalla 70-21 at home on Oct. 24, have outscored opponents by 36 points per game this season and have eclipsed 50 points in four games.
Crook County (7-2) at Junction City (5-3), 7 p.m.: After 17 long years, and following a 41-14 Class 4A play-in victory over visiting Klamath Union last Friday, the Cowboys have returned to the state playoffs. Crook County, the No. 9 seed, rides Blake Bartels into the first round at Junction City after the junior QB passed for five touchdowns and finished 14-of-19 for 169 yards last week. The eighth-seeded Tigers, champions of the Sky-Em League, have won four of their last five, including a 13-6 home win over Sutherlin on Oct. 24.
Culver (7-2) at Knappa (8-1) at Columbia Memorial Hospital Field in Astoria, 7 p.m.: The Bulldogs make their first state playoff appearance in four years as 15th-seeded Culver faces off against No. 2 Knappa. Levi Vincent, who rushed for 153 yards and two TDs in last Friday’s 45-14 win over visiting Stanfield, leads the Bulldogs into this Class 2A first-round matchup as Culver takes on a Knappa squad that has allowed the fewest points in 2A so far this season. Behind Vincent, along with Fern Badillo and Jaiden Jones, who each had two rushing scores last week, Culver looks to break through against the Loggers, who come off a 54-0 home win versus Neah-Kah-Nie and have given up less than five points per game this season.