Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinSummit's Kyle Cornett (1) pulls in a reception near the 50-yard line to score during the first quarter against Crater in Bend on Friday night.

Halftime could not have come at a better time for Summit on Friday night.

Throughout the first half, the No. 1-seeded Storm exchanged blows with visiting No. 16 Crater. The defending Class 5A football state champs were fortunate to head into the halftime locker room with a two-point lead as Casey Weaver drilled a 19-yard field goal with seven seconds to go in the second quarter.

During the intermission, the Storm settled any nerves that lingered and focused on the final 24 minutes of their first-round state playoff game — and they played those last 24 minutes to perfection.

In shutting out the Comets from Central Point in the third and fourth quarters while limiting them to just one first down until their final drive of the game, Summit ran away with a 50-21 victory to advance to next week’s quarterfinal round.

“Our kids are very cerebral,” Storm coach Joe Padilla said. “They’re thinkers. Getting them to settle down and focus on some adjustments was really it. There wasn’t a lot of rah-rah. There wasn’t a lot of hyping them up. It was more, ‘Settle down. Here’s what they’re doing. Here’s how we fix it, and we adjust from there.’

“Trading punches with them, it’s tough. That’s not the way you want to win a football game. So everybody settled down. We got some huge turnovers on defense. … Those kind of things just kind of took the wind out of their sails a little bit, I think, in the second half.”

Opening the third quarter with possession, the Storm (9-1) landed a powerful blow when quarterback John Bledsoe, who rolled his right ankle several times during the first half, rushed for 17 yards and passed for 50 more, including a 20-yard touchdown strike to Dawson Ruhl to provide Summit with a 30-21 lead.

“It was a great first drive, and that’s one of the reasons why I like getting the ball to start the second half,” Padilla said. “That kind of tempo to establish yourself in a tight ballgame is huge.”

Later in the quarter, Crater’s Austin Kramer fumbled during a punt return and the Storm’s Grant Tobias recovered at the Comets’ 3-yard line. Another field goal by Weaver kicked off a run of four scoring drives in the next five Summit possessions. And while their offense continued to extend the lead, the Storm defense held firm, picking off three passes and forcing a turnover on downs in four of Crater’s final five drives of the game.

“It’s a big confidence builder,” Bledsoe said of the win, particularly with how Summit performed in the second half. “I think if the game ended at halftime, we would probably be a little wary of where we are as a team. But the defense showed who we were in the second half. I knew who they were, but they didn’t really show it in the first half. They came out (after halftime) and played great.”

Bledsoe directed a near-flawless Summit offense throughout the night, finishing with 348 yards and five touchdowns on 19-of-24 passing. Kyle Cornett finished with 173 yards and two touchdowns on just four receptions, Brayden Durfee had 87 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Ruhl rushed for 95 yards and racked up 63 receiving yards and a score.

For Crater (5-5), quarterback Trever Davis was 12-of-23 for 248 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted twice. Jace Godley ran for 127 yards and a score, while Kramer and Cade Weaver combined for 243 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

With the win, Summit earned a quarterfinal home game against No. 8 Dallas, which defeated No. 9 Eagle Point 50-14 on Friday. Bledsoe assured that the Storm are not affected by any pressure of being the defending state champs and the top seed in the playoffs. And after a resounding win over Crater, he said, Summit is primed to contend for another state crown.

“The only nerves came from thinking how this could have been the last high school game I ever played,” Bledsoe said. “I only thought about that a little bit. That kind of worried me a little bit. But I knew if we came out and played that we’d win. And this is probably the best 16 seed. … They’re pretty good.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, glucas@bendbulletin.com.