What we learned in Round 1 of Oregon high school football playoffs

Here’s what stood out during the first round of the Oregon high school football playoffs

The Oregon high school football playoffs kicked off last week with first-round action around the state. 

Complete Round 1 recap

OSAA football brackets

Here’s what stood out during the opening round of action. 

Photo by Dan Brood

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Keeney’s return buoys Tualatin’s hopes of making long 6A playoff run

After Tualatin junior quarterback Nolan Keeney broke his collarbone in a Week 4 victory at Jesuit, the prognosis at the time was he would miss a minimum of six weeks.

It turns out Keeney needed the bare minimum recovery time. Exactly six weeks after he sustained the injury, he returned to action Friday night for the Timberwolves’ 49-3 first-round OSAA Class 6A state playoff victory over Roosevelt.

Keeney had been cleared to practice the previous week and suited up for their regular-season finale against Tigard, but he wasn’t cleared for contact until last week.

And after he took a couple of hits in Friday’s game, he told coach Dom Ferraro he felt great.

“He was eager to get back on the field and knock the rust off,” Ferraro said. “I thought he looked good. He made one mistake where he tried to fit a ball into a couple of defenders and should have just thrown it away.”

Keeney’s 14-of-17 passing effort for 363 yards and three touchdowns should lift the Timberwolves’ spirits.

They were humming offensively during their first four weeks with Keeney behind center and AJ Noland — who took over quarterbacking duties in Keeney’s absence — joining the state’s No. 1 recruit, Arizona State commit Jayden Fortier, and Kenen Elder to form one of the state’s top receiving corps.

“Having AJ back at receiver was awesome,” Ferraro said of the senior, who caught four passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns Friday. “He really adds an element of explosiveness to our offense.”

Next for the Timberwolves and their Ricky Bobby offense is a quarterfinal matchup with Nelson, which beat Wells 48-8 for the program’s first playoff victory in its three-year history.

The Hawks’ only losses this season are to West Linn and Central Catholic, and Ferraro knows “we will have our hands full with them.”

Barlow gets good vibes flowing late in season, takes them to Columbia Cup

Put Barlow coach Tracy Jackson in the camp of those who would like to see the 6A bracket return to a 32-team, five-week tournament.

He has a daily reminder at practice of what the Bruins can accomplish. Assistant coach Terry Summerfield led the program in 2019, when it made a surprise run to the state semifinals as the 9-seed.

Jackson also led a Dallas team to the 5A semifinals in 2016 as the 8-seed, defeating the top seed in the quarterfinals.

“I still believe those dreams can come true,” he said.

But Jackson is perfectly happy to still be competing after announcing his retirement last month (effective at the end of this season) after a 30-year career.

The Bruins started the season 2-5, culminating with what he described as a “lackluster performance” in a 55-7 loss to Central Catholic. They responded with a three-game win streak, including a 36-7 win last week over Glencoe in the first round of the Columbia Cup tournament.

Jackson noted he made some personnel changes, first after some misfortune the program experienced early in the season, then again after the Rams loss.

“Those changes bolstered our offensive line, and we began to jell,” he said.

Another change was moving senior Jett Fay back to running back, where he played in youth ball before moving to quarterback as a sophomore, and installing senior Karter Wilcox behind center.

“Our regular running back was pretty banged up, and we decided to look at a different combination,” Jackson said. “Things clicked, and we found a combination that worked for us. The kids have really rallied since. We’re beginning to get that good vibe flowing again.”

He hopes to keep the good vibes flowing this week as the Bruins travel to face Liberty, the Cup’s top seed that advanced with a 21-17 win against Grants Pass. The Falcons’ pistol offense will test a Barlow defense that has given up just four touchdowns during the win streak after allowing 29 points per game during its 2-5 start.

“We totally respect them but feel we can play with them,” Jackson said.

Lebanon takes care of Springfield to earn shot at defending champion

After a 36-20 loss at Dallas in Week 3 that dropped Lebanon to 0-3, coach Troy Walker sent a simple message to his players: “Take care of us.”

The gist was to eliminate the mental and physical mistakes that plagued them in those losses and just execute.

“The kids have bought in, and we have been a different group from that point on,” Walker said.

The results on the field speak for themselves. The Warriors have won six of their past seven games, capped with Friday’s 14-13 win over No. 4 seed Springfield in the first round of the 5A state playoffs.

Lebanon trailed 13-0 at halftime, but as Walker recalled, “we had been there and done that. Down two touchdowns and feeling like we were playing good enough to have a chance.”

The third quarter opened with what he summed up as “what we are about — hard-nosed and physical football with a running back (Wyatt Wessel) who I think is one of the best in the state.” That opening drive ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Brison Edwards to Hayden George, and it was game on.

On the ensuing kickoff, Daryl House recovered a fumble along the sideline, and Walker decided to take a deep shot as the rain slowed for a moment, and Edwards hit Owen Cline in stride for a 43-yard, go-ahead score.

From there, the defense buckled down, stopping the Millers four times in the red zone in the final quarter-and-a-half to lock up the victory.

“Series after series, stop after stop, the kids played their butts off,” Walker said. “We are so proud of them.”

The victory sends the 13th-seeded Warriors across the mountains this week to face defending state champion Summit in Friday’s quarterfinals. They’re familiar with the Storm after facing them at the Ridgeview Jamboree in August and won’t be intimidated by the moment.

“They are big, physical, skilled, confident and well-coached,” Walker said. “We know the games are not going to get easier, and we just need to keep the focus on us regardless of who we play.”

Fitzgerald-Thornton helps Marshfield keep 4A playoff drive on course

A year ago, Ashton Fitzgerald-Thornton won the Marshfield quarterback job following the graduation of 4A player of the year Dom Montiel, only to suffer a torn ACL in Week 4 against Klamath Union.

The junior returned this season as a backup to new starter Enoch Niblett, a sophomore who led the Pirates before going out with an injury early in Week 6 against Ashland.

Fitzgerald-Thornton stepped in and led the Pirates to a 22-13 victory, but a loss to Henley the following week had them in danger of missing the 4A state playoffs.

Instead, Marshfield has won three in a row, including a 26-20 win over Mazama that secured a playoff spot and a 12-7 first-round victory at Tri-Valley Conference champion La Salle Prep on Friday.

Fitzgerald-Thornton recovered from throwing two first-half interceptions against the Falcons to finish 9 of 23 for 144 yards and a touchdown. In five games, he’s completed more than 60% of his passes (44 of 73) for 374 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Ashton has stepped back in and continued to improve weekly,” Marshfield coach John Lemmons said. “But the biggest factor for us is believing in ourselves and eliminating the self-inflicted wounds that cost us games early in the season. Continuing to improve day-by-day, week-by-week. The power of belief and good old-fashioned grit!”

Niblett has improved sufficiently that Lemmons hopes he could return this week for the Pirates’ quarterfinal at No. 3 seed Seaside.

More important to the Pirates’ chances will be finding a way to slow the Seagulls’ 1-2 backfield punch with junior Jake White’s return from injury to join sophomore Ryder Jackson, who ran for 1,003 yards during the regular season.

“Seaside is a talented team, and we just need to work on getting better, being disciplined in our responsibilities, not accept being blocked and be great tacklers,” Lemmons said.

Wild final three minutes ends with South Umpqua advancing to 3A quarterfinals

Kennedy’s Jaydon Estrada scored on a 5-yard run with three minutes left to put the Trojans up 19-14 against South Umpqua in their 3A first-round playoff game.

Lancers coach Steve Stebbins started considering what plays to call and getting his offense ready to run the two-minute drill and didn’t pay attention as Drew Camp corralled the ensuing kickoff at the 2-yard line.

Then, he watched as Camp found a seam while getting a couple of key blocks. Ninety-eight yards later, the Lancers were back on top. Loudon Cole made the two-point conversion, and suddenly, Stebbins was preparing his defense to stop Kennedy’s two-minute offense.

The Lancers kicked off, and Stebbins watched as the Trojans returner broke into the open field.

“That’s where I really felt a swing in emotion,” Stebbins said. “Thankfully, Deren Faught saved us with a game-saving tackle.”

The Lancers stopped Kennedy on downs with 1:27 to play, then took an intentional safety rather than punt on the game’s final play to secure a 22-21 victory.

“I felt confident in our defense all night,” Stebbins said, noting that two-year Trojans starting quarterback Elijah Traeger was hampered by an injury. “I would have been more nervous if he would have been fully healthy. But our defense did a great job all night. We just put them in a couple tough situations with short fields.”

Now that the Lancers have denied Kennedy a chance at making a fifth consecutive OSAA state final, they get a shot at avenging a 28-16 Week 3 loss to Lakeview as they face the Honkers this week in the quarterfinals.

Both teams turned the ball over five times in that first meeting, and Stebbins doesn’t expect that to happen again Saturday.

“We just have to be able to move the ball against their outstanding defense and finish drives with points when we have opportunities,” Stebbins said. “We also need to keep them from running wild on us. We need to contain (quarterback Benny) Alves and not give up any big plays over the top like we did the last time we played.”

Turnaround continues as Gervais earns first playoff win in past 72 years

Until last Friday night, the last time Gervais hosted an OSAA state playoff game, Harry S Truman resided in the White House. 

Seventy-two years after the Cougars defeated Knappa in the quarterfinals of the 1951 playoffs — and seven decades after their last postseason appearance in 1953 — the Friday Night Lights shone bright in the small Willamette Valley town of 2,595 as Gervais took on Toledo in a 2A first-round game.

Three days later, after the Cougars won 24-12 — their first playoff win since their trip to the 1951 Class B final — to advance to the quarterfinals, it still amazes fourth-year coach JJ Navarette what his program has achieved.

“I don’t think anyone who has come through Gervails can say that this is possible to have the run we are having,” Navarette said.

His first season coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Cougars went 2-2. The following season, they went 0-9, and Navarette could sense the hopelessness that had enveloped the program over the decades. Their last winning season came in 2000, and they’d gone 32-153 in the ensuing years.

“But I had a great foundation of coaches in my corner, guys that have been with me for the last 20 years,” said Navarette, a 2002 Woodburn graduate. “They said that we have to ride with what we have and make the kids believe in us.”

The Cougars made progress last year, finishing 3-6, but still, no one expected what happened this fall. They enter this week’s quarterfinal at defending state champion Oakland with a 9-1 record — the most wins in school history and more than they won in the previous five seasons combined.

Senior quarterback Eremay Avgi has worked with Navarette for four seasons and is the coach’s choice for most improved player. He’s thrown for 1,985 yards and 22 touchdowns, and sophomore running back Johnny Mariano “is our MVP and our workhorse,” rushing for 1,921 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Throw in senior speedster Gotti Ramon at receiver (712 yards, 12 touchdowns) and senior gadget man Daniel Kuznetsov — whom Navarette called “our silent but hardest-working kid” — who has scored 15 touchdowns, and you have an offense that has scored the third-most points in 2A (45.7 per game).

“They all have worked against all odds and have been outstanding leaders and captains,” Navarette said. “We have preached since the beginning ‘FAMILY’ because you will do anything for your family. You can ask any one of my kids on this team — family is what Gervais football is all about.”

The ride might come to an end this week against the Oakers, who won the 2A title last year and return several key pieces from that team, but that won’t diminish what the Cougars have accomplished.

“Oakland is a great team, and it will be a great task for us,” Navarette said. “But I believe we are up for it 100 percent, and we match up well. It will be a fun Friday night.”

From no team 6 years ago to 6-man quarterfinals for Eddyville Charter

While Gervais muddled through losing seasons in the 2010s, the tiny Central Oregon coastal town of Eddyville would have appreciated any football at all.

The program enjoyed success in the latter part of the 20th century, including a trip to the 1A state final in 1995. But by 2000, the school was in a co-op with nearby Toledo that lasted five years. Then, after five years going solo with a combined 3-29 record, the program went dormant for eight years.

The introduction of six-man football in Oregon in 2018 led to the return of the Eagles program. Abe Silvonen coached the middle school program during the first three years of Eddyville Charter’s six-man program before taking over as head coach in 2021, leading the Eagles to a league title before losing to Triangle Lake in the playoffs.

“I fell in love with six-man the first game I ever coached,” he said.

Last year was a rebuilding year for Eddyville, but it still qualified for the inaugural OSAA 1A six-man playoffs, losing to Powers in Round 1.

This season, the Eagles again shared the league title with rival Alsea and last week earned their first playoff win since 1995, defeating Harper Charter 19-13 to improve to 8-1 — their most wins in a season since 1996.

“This year, we knew we had a great group of returning athletes, so our record was no real surprise to us,” Silvonen said. “However, these boys are blowing away our expectations week in and week out.”

Silvonen knew Harper Charter, whose only losses were to Joseph and Prairie City/Burnt River, would be a tough opponent, but he felt he had a secret weapon.

“We feel more comfortable with our muddy home-field advantage,” Silvonen said. “It was long into the first quarter the boys really felt comfortable, and we had a feeling we could win.”

Cameron Jenson, Dustin Prindel and Preston Segaline scored first-half touchdowns for the Eagles, but it was their defense that pulled out the victory. They forced several fumbles and intercepted two passes, with Silvonen crediting defensive coaches Mark Ekins and Charlie Russess as “the key to the overall success of this year’s team.”

He also praised assistants Matt MaCandless and Josh Gibson.

“It’s a collective effort of coaches, staff, community and players,” he concluded.

Now, the Eagles will make the long trek to the foot of the Wallowa Mountains to face Special District 1 champion Joseph. While the logistics of a 450-mile drive might seem daunting, Silvonen has experience setting up these trips as the 6-Man All-Star Game’s westside director.

The Eagles will leave Eddyville on Thursday morning and arrive in time to spend the night before the game. Then, he explained, “Play Friday night. Hopefully catch a win. Head home Saturday morning.”

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Earlier:

Oregon high school football playoffs Round 1 recap: Top stars, best games, biggest wins

Our first-round predictions: How'd we do?

6A final regular-season statistical leaders

5A final regular-season statistical leaders

4A final regular-season statistical leaders

Oregon high school football playoffs: ‘The eliminator’ prediction tool says the 6A champion will be …

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