For the first time ever, the Basin will have two high school football teams playing for OSAA championships on the same day–and at the same venue. Whether you’ll be making the trip to Bend on Saturday to support Lost River and Henley at Caldera High School or staying home and listening to the games on 104.3 & 960 Sports, we’ve got all the details you need for what should be a pair of exciting matchups.
1A[8]: Lost River (10-0) vs Crane (10-0)
Pregame: 12:45 p.m.
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
Announcers: Josh Eldredge (play-by-play), Kevin Petrik (color), Matt Bowling (sideline)
It’s a battle of the undefeateds in the 1A 8-player division, with No. 1 seed Lost River looking to repeat as state champions and No. 2 seed Crane trying to win its first title in program history after coming up short in 1998, 2015 and 2016. The Raiders won last year’s championship game 43-0 over St. Paul, but this year’s contest will likely be much more competitive.
Besides their matching records, there are a lot of similarities between Lost River and Crane that suggest these are two very evenly-matched teams. Both squads have plenty of speed and are fundamentally sound, the latter of which doubtlessly stems from the fact that they’re both guided by highly experienced coaches with state titles on their resumes.
Lost River’s Dennis Dunlea is in his 26th season as the Raiders’ head coach and has been part of each of the program’s three championship teams (first as an assistant coach in 1997, then as head coach in 2004 and 2022). Crane’s Matt Hawley, who returned to coaching this season after nine years away, has spent the bulk of his 28-year career as an assistant but went 27-7 and won the 2014 3A championship as head coach at Vale. Crane offensive coordinator Jeff Jacobs is also a former Vale head coach; he led the Vikings from 2002-2009 and took them to two state championship games. He’s crossed paths with Dunlea before, too, coaching against him in the 2004 2A semifinals.
The Raiders and Mustangs haven’t faced each other since 1994 but did have three common opponents this season. While the transitive property is usually a flimsy way to compare teams, it’s noteworthy how similar the scores of most of those games were. Against Bonanza, Lost River won 49-6 and Crane won 42-8; against Powder Valley, Lost River won 58-6 and Crane won 49-16; and against Myrtle Point, Lost River won 48-28 and Crane won 28-22. The teams have also put up remarkably similar offensive and defensive totals over the course of the season, with Lost River outscoring opponents 422-140 and Crane outscoring opponents 437-130.
The one major disparity between Lost River and Crane is depth; the Raiders have 35 players to the Mustangs’ 18. Still, Crane features two players whose size will create difficult matchups for Lost River on both sides of the ball: junior tight end and defensive lineman Cody Siegner, who’s listed at 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, and junior quarterback and linebacker Josh Zander, who’s listed at 6-foot-4, 185 pounds. They also have a dynamic running back in senior Carter Nichols, who rushed for 230 yards on 39 carries while catching three passes for 66 yards in Crane’s 28-22 semifinal win over No. 3 seed Myrtle Point last week. In that game, Zander completed 10-of-18 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns, including one to Siegner.
Of course, Lost River brings plenty of its own star power, starting with senior running back and defensive back Connor Dunlea, who’s a threat to score any time the ball even comes near him–in the Raiders’ two playoff games alone, he’s amassed three rushing touchdowns, an interception return touchdown and a kickoff return touchdown (his 10 interceptions and 916 return yards both rank first in Oregon). Senior quarterback and linebacker Chase McAuliffe, who’s listed at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, should be able to help counter some of the matchup problems caused by Crane’s larger players. He’s had an interception on defense in both of Lost River’s playoff games and has scored 20 rushing touchdowns this season (including four in Lost River’s 54-28 semifinal win over No. 5 seed St. Paul last week). Junior Kayden Hartman has also been a difference maker in the Raiders ground game; his stats aren’t eye-popping, but he brings an aggressive running style and is known to truck and stiff arm his way through would-be tacklers.
4A: Henley (12-0) vs Marist Catholic (11-1)
Pregame: 4:45 p.m.
Kickoff: 5 p.m.
Announcers: Matt Bowling (play-by-play), Kevin Petrik (color), Josh Eldredge (sideline)
In 4A, No. 1 seed Henley looks to win its third state championship and first since 1982–which was also the last year the Hornets made the title game. Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Marist Catholic will try to win its sixth state championship and first since 2009. More recently, the Spartans lost the 2010, 2012 and 2021 title games (they also lost the 2020 4A first place game that wasn’t sponsored by the OSAA and isn’t in the association’s record books).
Marist Catholic’s only loss came in Week 2 at Springfield, which went on to earn the No. 4 seed in the 5A playoffs. The 36-34 overtime win was undoubtedly sweet revenge for Millers head coach Frank Geske, who was fired by Marist Catholic last spring after leading the program for 15 seasons. His replacement, Charlie Landgraf, is only in his fourth year coaching football–after wrapping up his playing career at Oregon (where he roomed with Justin Herbert) in 2019, he spent the 2020 season as a graduate assistant at UNLV, then spent the next two seasons as the offensive line coach at 6A Central Catholic.
Henley’s Alex Stork is in his seventh season as Hornets head coach but was even younger than Landgraf when he got the job in 2017, having only just graduated from Southern Oregon that spring (he was a standout linebacker on the Raiders’ 2014 NAIA Championship team before a career-ending injury prompted a transition to the coaching staff as a student assistant). His wife’s grandfather, Lee Schroder, was head coach of Henley’s 1982 state championship team.
This will be the first meeting between Henley and Marist Catholic since 1994, but the teams had four common opponents this season: Seaside, Cascade, Junction City and Mazama (the Spartans hosted Mazama twice, winning 33-29 in Week 3 and 48-27 in the state quarterfinals). Henley’s offensive and defensive totals are a bit better than Marist Catholic’s; the Hornets have outscored opponents 482-146, while the Spartans have outscored opponents 424-184. It’s worth noting that Marist Catholic has only allowed 84 points in its last nine games after allowing 100 in its first three, though.
A big part of the reason the Spartans defense has been so tough to score on is its two senior linebackers, Aiden Hazen and James Harvey. Hazen, who holds Division III offers from Linfield and George Fox, has amassed 36 tackles through Marist Catholic’s first three playoff games and 84 over the entire season. Harvey ranks second in 4A with 94.5 tackles this season, including 37 during the playoffs.
One player who will pose a serious challenge for Henley on both sides of the ball is 6-foot-4 senior wide receiver and defensive back Brady Bidwell. Bidwell, who holds Division III offers from Linfield, Pacific and George Fox, transferred to Marist Catholic from 5A Churchill along with his brother Aaron, a junior (they’re the sons of former Oregon and NFL punter Josh Bidwell), this season and has caught 76 passes for 986 yards and 12 touchdowns. He forced a fumble and had the game-sealing interception in the Spartans’ 25-14 semifinal win over No. 3 seed Seaside last week.
Marist Catholic has another matchup nightmare at wide receiver in 6-foot-6 senior Kaden Erlenbush, who enters the state title game with 64 receptions for 962 yards and 14 touchdowns. Erlenbush and Brady Bidwell have helped junior quarterback Nick Hudson put up one of the best passing seasons in Oregon this year; he’s thrown for 3,432 yards (second in the state) and 43 touchdowns (third in the state). In the playoffs, he’s completed 60-of-96 passes for 928 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions and added three rushing touchdowns.
It will be up to Henley’s secondary, which recorded six interceptions in the Hornets’ 42-13 semifinal win over No. 4 seed Scappoose last week, to try to slow down Marist Catholic’s passing game. Junior Mark Carpenter leads the team and is tied for fourth in Oregon with eight interceptions, senior Luke Bennett has four, and senior Chris Janney has three (plus a forced fumble).
Bennett and Janney, who both hold Division III offers from Linfield, are also the top targets for Chris’ younger brother–sophomore quarterback Joe Janney–in the passing game. Bennett has 27 receptions for 499 yards and six touchdowns this season, while Chris Janney has 22 receptions for 418 yards and six touchdowns (including two against Scappoose last week). For his part, Joe Janney has thrown for 1,179 yards and 13 touchdowns with four interceptions and a 59 percent completion rate. The game against Scappoose was probably his best of the season; he completed 9-of-19 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 14 attempts (both rushing touchdowns came on plays where he initially dropped back to pass).
Joe Janney’s emergence as a runner (he’s up to 632 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the season) has added another dimension to Henley’s already-dominant ground game, which is spearheaded by senior running back Logan Whitlock. As phenomenal as Nick Hudson’s passing numbers have been this season, Whitlock’s rushing numbers have been even more so; he’s set new Henley records with 1,934 yards (second in 11-player football) and 42 touchdowns on 250 carries while sitting out the equivalent of three full games due to the Hornets blowing out so many of their opponents. He also has a receiving, passing, and kickoff return touchdown, giving him a total of 45–the most in Oregon and 16 more than anyone else in 11-player football. At 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, Whitlock is very difficult to bring down in close quarters (he regularly drags tacklers at least a few yards after contact), and he has the speed to leave defenders in the dust when he hits open field.
