Once again, Mountain View is knocking on the door, needing one more win to play for a football state title.

A year after advancing to the Class 5A state championship game and falling to Wilsonville, the second-seeded Cougars will return to McNary High in Keizer, the site of last year’s semifinal win against Silverton, to face No. 6 West Albany on Friday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the title game.

“It’s going to be a good game,” said Mountain View coach Brian Crum. “They are a lot like us. They got some big kids, some fast kids, a good quarterback, a couple of good receivers. They are kind of an offensive juggernaut. It might be who can slow the other one down just enough.”

After starting the season 2-2 with early losses to Bend High (23-14) and No. 1 Silverton (44-34), West Albany has rolled off seven consecutive wins — including two victories against No. 3 Dallas — to set up a matchup against the Cougars for a chance to play for the 5A championship at Hillsboro Stadium Nov. 29.

“They are a three-seed in my mind,” Crum said. “They are one of the four best teams. If you would have asked me before the season I would have said it’s going to be us and West Albany, and Wilsonville and Silverton. And that is what it ended up being.”

Against the Bulldogs (9-2 overall), the Cougars (11-0) will rely on junior running back and defensive end Angel Valenzuela, who has seen his game evolve over the season from purely an offensive weapon a year ago into a two-way threat this fall.

“I like the defensive side of the ball. I like the guys I’m playing with,” Valenzuela said. “It is a different type of feeling. Getting a stop with your boys and forcing a punt, it feels good. What I like about defense, I can deliver the hit. I can still deliver the hit on offense, but it is different.”

Valenzuela (5-feet-11-inches, 200 pounds) was one of the rare freshmen who played varsity for Mountain View and then burst onto the scene as a sophomore a year ago, when he ran for more than 1,800 yards and scored 28 touchdowns.

“He was so important to us in the running game,” said Mountain View coach Brian Crum. “We didn’t have a backup that we felt comfortable with. And so as a sophomore, it was go out and do what you do best.”

But this season Mountain View needed more from its star ball carrier, just not in the same way as his sophomore season.

Heading into Friday’s semifinal game, Valenzuela’s rushing numbers aren’t quite the same as a year ago. He’s still approaching 1,000 yards and has found the end zone 13 times. His three-touchdown performance against No. 10 Lebanon on Nov. 15, including a game-sealing 36-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, helped the Cougars reach the state semifinals once again.

With sophomore running back Ryder Carpenter emerging as a trusted ball carrier, an explosive passing attack led by senior quarterback Mason Chambers and a pair of big-play receivers in seniors Jack Foley and Jordan Best, Valenzuela hasn’t been needed to carry the ball more than 250 times like he did a year ago.

“I remember this time last year,” Valenzuela said. “I was feeling it. I was moving slower.”

And it freed him to play where Mountain View entered the season needing the most help, on the defensive line.

After not registering a defensive stat a season ago, Valenzuela has been a force as a defensive end this season for the Cougars. Despite not playing defense the first couple of games — while working his way back from a torn posterior cruciate ligament in a knee sustained in late May — Valenzuela has become a dominant two-way player.

“He doesn’t always do the right thing on defense, but he is so athletic and so instinctual, that he just makes plays,” Crum said. “It has changed the defense.”

Valenzuela leads the team in tackles for loss (seven), is tied with Langston Belding for sacks (also seven), has forced a team-high four fumbles and leads the team with seven “Big Plays,” which Crum described as “momentum-altering” plays. Behind the play of Valenzuela, the Mountain View defense has allowed just 9.6 points per game this season.

“I knew I would have a role on the defense, but I didn’t know it was going to be this big,” Valenzuela said. “But I love it. I’m just playing the best that I can, and this is what the outcome is.”