Beginning Friday, seven of the Basin’s high school football teams will be competing in playoffs across four classifications. Here’s a breakdown of where each team sits in their respective brackets and what the path to a title could look like.
OSAA 4A: Henley (No. 1), Mazama (No. 7)
Henley, the only 4A team to go undefeated in the regular season, has what should theoretically be an inside track to their first state championship since 1982. But a closer look at the bracket reveals that the Hornets might have gotten a tougher draw than the typical No. 1 seed.
Henley opens the playoffs against No. 16 Gladstone, which is playing in a co-op with Riverdale this year for the latter’s first venture into football. Although Gladstone has been a perennial playoff team since the mid-2000s, Gladstone/Riverdale went 3-6 in the regular season and was outscored 119-0 in three games against other playoff teams.
While the first round should be an easy win for the Hornets, the quarterfinals offer a pair of tricky matchups. No. 8 seed Baker enters the playoffs on a five-game winning streak after starting the season 0-4. The Bulldogs have scored at least 41 points in their last four outings and are led by senior quarterback Paul Hobson, an Eastern Oregon commit.
Hobson, 4A’s second leading passer with 2,420 yards and 28 touchdowns this season, has a pair of elite targets at wide receiver that would pose a serious challenge to the Henley secondary. Sophomore Rasean Jones is already a bona fide Division I prospect and ranks fourth in Oregon with 942 receiving yards. Senior Malaki Myer also has major speed and ranks 16th in Oregon–and second in 4A behind Jones–with 747 receiving yards.
A game against No. 9 seed Junction City would likely be more favorable for Henley but would still be far from a cakewalk. The Tigers went 7-2 in the regular season and allowed an average of 13.2 points per game. They ended the regular season with a 22-16 loss to No. 2 seed Marist Catholic.
It’s likely that Henley would face either No. 4 seed Scappoose or No. 5 seed Tillamook in the semifinals, but No. 12 seed Cascade going on a Cinderella run would create an interesting rematch. The Cougars were one of only two teams the Hornets didn’t put the running clock on during the regular season, jumping out to a 14-0 lead before losing 33-21 in Week 4.
Scappoose was neck-and-neck with Henley for the No. 1 seed before losing 46-29 to Tillamook in Week 8. The Indians, who knocked off No. 1 seed Mazama in last year’s quarterfinals, were held under 41 points just twice during the regular season. That’s largely due to the abilities of junior quarterback Max Nowlin, 4A’s third leading passer with 2,296 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, Nowlin is hard to bring down and has drawn interest from in-state Division 1 programs.
Tillamook, which made last year’s state championship game, might have also had a case for the No. 1 seed if not for upset losses to 3A Banks and No. 3 seed Seaside in September. The Cheesemakers are led by senior quarterback Tanner Hoskins, one of the top dual-threat QBs in 4A with more than 1,600 passing yards and 15 touchdowns to go with more than 800 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. Between Tillamook and Scappoose, it’s hard to say which team would be a more difficult semifinal opponent for Henley.
One of the many fun aspects of this year’s 4A bracket is that an all-Klamath Falls state championship game is possible for the first time since 2018–although No. 7 seed Mazama faces a significant uphill climb to get there. The Vikings open the playoffs against No. 10 seed Pendleton/Nixyaawii, which went 7-2 in the regular season with a 27-20 win over 5A playoff team Caldera in Week 1. The Buckaroos lost to Idaho 5A team Lewiston in Week 3 and won their next five games before losing 42-34 to Baker last week in a game where they were hindered by poor field conditions.
Pendleton/Nixyaawii’s size and athleticism–the Buckaroos have 23 players standing at least 6 feet tall–make them a dangerous matchup for a Mazama team that lost its last two games to end the regular season. It’s the first time the Vikings have lost back-to-back games since 2013, and it got them their lowest seeding since they last missed the playoffs the same year.
Mazama’s next game after beating Pendleton/Nixyaawii would almost certainly be a trip to No. 2 seed Marist Catholic. Much like the potential 1-vs-8 matchup between Henley and Baker on the other side of the bracket, this game could end up being a lot closer than the seedings might suggest. In this case, it would be a rematch of the teams’ Week 3 clash at Marist Catholic, when Mazma took a 29-21 lead into the final five minutes before the Spartans scored two touchdowns to win 33-29.
Marist Catholic was undefeated against 4A opponents in the regular season; the Spartans lost 36-34 in overtime at 5A No. 4 seed Springfield in Week 2. Junior quarterback Nick Hudson is 4A’s leading passer and ranks fourth in Oregon with 2,514 yards and 33 touchdowns. Marist Catholic’s defense has improved significantly since the early stages of the season, allowing a total of 43 points in their last six games after allowing 100 in their first three. (Needless to say, the Spartans would be a major challenge for Henley if they were to meet in the state championship game.)
Awaiting Mazama in the semifinals would likely be No. 3 seed Seaside or No. 6 seed La Salle Prep. The Seagulls impressed at times during the regular season, handing La Salle Prep their only loss of the season in Week 2 and beating Tillamook 41-35 in Week 5. At other times, they fell flat, losing 38-14 to Henley in Week 1 and 41-0 at Scappoose in Week 6. One bright spot for Seaside has been the emergence of sophomore running back Ryder Jackson after junior Jake White–one of 4A’s top rushers–went down with an injury. Jackson ran for 187 yards and two touchdowns in the Seagulls’ 27-12 win over St. Helens last week.
La Salle Prep has been something of a feel-good story in 4A this season, winning its first league title since 2012 after going 2-7 last year. The Falcons defense has been a major part of their turnaround, shutting out their last five opponents plus St. Helens in Week 1. Junior linebacker Jacob Thayer ranks eighth in Oregon with 86 tackles and has drawn Division I interest. With La Salle Prep’s defense in such great form, it’s possible that Seaside would actually be the easier matchup for Mazama.
Henley’s first round game against Gladstone/Riverdale kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday, and Mazama’s first round game against Pendleton/Nixyaawii kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday.
OSAA 3A: Lakeview (No. 5)
It’s been a great season for Lakeview; the only blemish on its record is a 35-7 loss at No. 2 seed and defending champion Cascade Christian in Week 7. Unfortunately for the Honkers, three 3A teams going undefeated and fellow 8-1 team Kennedy ending up with a stronger schedule meant that loss bumped them all the way down to the No. 5 seed, only guaranteeing them one home game.
Lakeview hosts No. 12 seed Scio to open the playoffs. The Loggers, making their first playoff appearance since 2019, went 7-2 in the regular season but benefitted from an easy schedule with only two games against other playoff teams. Scio lost both of those games, 36-12 at No. 3 seed Dayton in Week 6 and 14-6 at No. 10 seed Santiam Christian in Week 8. However, they only trailed Dayton 14-6 entering the fourth quarter and held Santiam Christian to their third fewest points of the season.
A win against Scio would likely set up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 seed Kennedy, who made the state championship game in its first season in 3A last year and, if not for a 21-14 loss to No. 1 seed Banks in Week 6 this year, likely would have been No. 1 themselves. That game was tied 14-14 in the fourth quarter before Banks scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:27 remaining. It was only the third time Banks allowed more than eight points during the regular season.
Banks, who Lakeview would most likely face in the semifinals, owns an impressive resume headlined by a 29-14 win at 4A No. 5 seed Tillamook in Week 2. In addition to the win over Kennedy, the Braves also beat No. 11 seed Yamhill-Carlton 26-7 in Week 4 and No. 14 seed Siuslaw 40-6 in Week 7. Banks enters the postseason having scored 40 or more points in each of their last three games.
If the Honkers can pull off a pair of upsets to reach their first state championship game in program history, they’ll likely face a rematch with Cascade Christian or a matchup with No. 3 seed Dayton. Cascade Christian outscored opponents 430-45 during the regular season, and Dayton’s Wing-T offense has been difficult to slow down thanks to the talents of senior running back Zach Smith, who ranks seventh in Oregon with 1,680 rushing yards and 25 total touchdowns.
Lakeview’s first round game against Scio kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday.
OSAA 1A[8]: Lost River (No. 1), Bonanza (No. 9), Crosspoint Christian (No. 12)
Defending champion Lost River, which earned the No. 1 seed and a bye to the quarterfinals after an undefeated regular season, shouldn’t have much trouble with the winner of the 8-vs-9 matchup between Perrydale and Bonanza, especially since they’ll be able to scout the game. Perrydale only beat one other playoff team in the regular season, winning 58-48 at No. 12 seed Crosspoint Christian in Week 2. Lost River beat Bonanza 49-6 in Week 8.
Crosspoint Christian, making its first playoff appearance in school history, got an extremely tough draw with No. 5 seed St. Paul in the first round. St. Paul, which made the state championship game last year, is widely considered to have been massively underseeded. The Buckaroos faced four playoff teams during the regular season–three in 1A[8] and one in 2A–and beat three of them, losing 40-36 to Lost River at the Dufur Classic in Week 1, beating 2A No. 13 seed Stanfield 32-0 in Week 3, beating No. 7 seed Enterprise 40-0 in Week 5 and winning 48-12 at Perrydale in Week 7.
Lost River and Perrydale were the only teams to score on St. Paul during the regular season, and the Buckaroos’ 460 points was the most of any 1A[8] team.
St. Paul being placed on the wrong side of the bracket is also a tough break for No. 4 seed Imbler, who reached eight wins this season for the first time since doing so en route to a state championship in 2013. The Panthers do have a significant size advantage over both St. Paul and Lost River with four players listed at 240 pounds or heavier (the Raiders have two, and the Buckaroos have none).
If Lost River can avoid a semifinal upset (although a loss to St. Paul after how close the teams’ first meeting was shouldn’t be considered much of one if it happens), they’ll likely face either No. 2 seed Crane or No. 3 seed Myrtle Point in the state championship game.
Crane was the only other 1A[8] team to go undefeated in the regular season, with their 9-0 record headlined by a 30-26 win over Imbler at Eastern Oregon University in Week 3. Although the Mustangs haven’t faced Lost River since 1994, there’s more recent history between the two coaching staffs; Crane offensive coordinator Jeff Jacobs was the head coach at Vale when the Vikings lost to Dennis Dunlea and the Raiders in the 2004 2A semifinals. Junior tight end and defensive lineman Cody Siegner, who’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, and junior quarterback and linebacker Josh Zander, who’s listed at 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, would create difficult matchups on either side of the ball.
Lost River won 48-28 at Myrtle Point in Week 5 to hand the Bobcats their only loss of the season while holding them to their lowest scoring output of the year. Myrtle Point scored at least 50 points in all of its other games, with senior quarterback Logan Blackman throwing for 2,139 yards and 30 touchdowns to lead 1A[8]. The Bobcats also have 1A[8]’s leading receiver: junior Evin Warner, with 901 yards.
Crosspoint Christian’s first round game against St. Paul kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday at Woodburn High School, and Bonanza’s first round game at Perrydale kicks off at 12 p.m. Saturday. Lost River will host the winner of the Bonanza-Perrydale game next weekend.
NSCIF 8 Man: Tulelake (No. 1)
Having earned a bye to the semifinals as the No. 1 seed, Tulelake sits just two wins away from an NSCIF championship and will host both games. The Honkers open the playoffs against the winner of the 4-vs-5 matchup between Big Valley and Burney.
Big Valley beat Tulelake 12-0 in the first round of last year’s playoffs, and the Cardinals could make life difficult once again for the Honkers offense. They attempt an all-out blitz almost every play, stacking the A gaps while leaving no more than one player back in coverage. It’s an unconventional strategy even for 8-player football, but it helped them to a 7-2 record in the regular season.
Burney, the defending champion, has faced Tulelake twice already this season, losing both games. The Honkers won 26-8 at Burney in Week 5 and 56-18 at home last week. The Raiders finished the regular season 4-5 but had won three straight games before last week’s loss.
The bye week will be especially important for the Honkers if they end up with what seems to be the tougher of their two possible semifinal matchups in Big Valley. Tulelake had 17 players splitting time between the football and soccer teams this season, meaning practices were often limited in length and intensity. The Honkers soccer team wrapped up its season with a 1-0 win over Fall River in the NSCIF championship game last Saturday, so the Honkers football team can now prepare normally.
Awaiting Tulelake in the championship game would likely be No. 2 seed Chester or No. 3 seed Hayfork. In a similar vein to their semifinal matchup, Tulelake has already beaten Chester twice this season–winning 34-12 at Chester in Week 2 and 38-6 at home in Week 7–and hasn’t faced Hayfork. Signs definitely point to Hayfork as being a tougher title game opponent than Chester; the Timberjacks went 10-0 in the regular season (albeit with a pair of forfeits) and outscored their opponents 430-23.
Tulelake’s semifinal game against the winner of the Big Valley-Burney game kicks off at 6 p.m. next Friday.
