Here’s how Basin football teams fared in this weekend’s playoff games.
No. 1 Hayfork 28, No. 2 Tulelake 14
Tulelake (8-3) trailed 8-0 entering the fourth quarter, but a pair of turnovers helped Hayfork (12-0) pull away and beat the Honkers in the CIF Northern Section 8 Man championship game for the second year in a row.
“I was extremely proud of the kids for how they played and how they kept fighting,” Tulelake head coach Matt Andrade said. “Defensively, they stuck to the game plan and played well. We lost [senior receiver and defensive back] Angel Sandoval to a broken collarbone in the third quarter, and we struggled after he went out.”
Senior quarterback Xavier Silva completed 1-of-4 passes for 11 yards (to Sandoval) with one interception while rushing for 92 yards on 18 attempts. Senior receiver Danny Garcia ran for 45 yards on 15 carries and had an 80-yard kickoff return touchdown, and freshman running back Max Robison had 16 yards and one touchdown on two carries.
Defensively, senior defensive lineman Erik Salazar led the Honkers with 10 tackles, including three for loss, followed closely by Silva with nine tackles, including two for loss. Sophomore linebacker Gio Alvaraez also had two tackles for loss.
For the Timberjacks, junior quarterback Levi Cavalli completed 2-of-7 passes for 57 yards and one touchdown (both to sophomore running back Tatem Wiley) while rushing for 221 yards and one touchdown on 26 attempts. Senior running back Devin Nanez put up 33 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, and classmate Anthony Bonelli had 16 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.
Nanez also had 15 tackles on defense, including three for loss, and one interception. He shared the lead with Wiley, who had two tackles for loss. Cavalli also had two tackles for loss. Senior defensive end Hayden Trossauer recorded one sack and recovered a fumble.
Tulelake’s seniors–Silva, Danny Garcia, Sandoval, Salazar, Tony Loza, Max Martinez-Bravo, Obie Hernandez, Melvyn Flores, Adrian Garcia and Kevin Larsen–graduate with a four-year record of 26-17 (including two forfeit wins), the most wins of any class in the MaxPreps era (since 2004).
“Proud of the seniors for leading the team the whole year,” Andrade said. “Xavier Silva showed tremendous leadership qualities throughout the ups and downs of a successful season.”
Hayfork’s seniors–Nanez, Bonelli, Trossauer, Sam Jessee and Ashton Moore–depart having won their last 25 games (including three forfeits).
No. 3 North Douglas 50, No. 2 Crosspoint Christian 6 (Saturday)
In Crosspoint Christian’s 52-14 loss to North Douglas Oct. 25, it trailed 12-6 at halftime before being outscored 32-0 in the third quarter.
The onslaught began much earlier Saturday.
On the first snap of the game, junior running back Hunter Vaughn broke a tackle in the backfield and turned on the jets for a 55-yard touchdown run that gave North Douglas (11-0) a 6-0 lead (the 2-point conversion was unsuccessful. It was the first of three touchdowns his team would score in the opening quarter and six it would score in the opening half en route to securing its first state championship game appearance.
“They were just too physical and too fast,” Crosspoint Christian (9-2) head coach Jim Johnston said. “They’re a really, really good football team.”
Four plays after Crosspoint Christian turned the ball over on downs at the North Douglas 14-yard line, junior running back Jaycen Marois broke off an 82-yard touchdown run on a reverse, pushing the lead to 14-0 with 6:03 left in the first quarter. Crosspoint Christian again drove into the red zone but failed to score, and Vaughn took a screen pass 79 yards for a score on the first play after the Klamath Falls squad turned the ball over on downs. With 2:28 to go in the first quarter, North Douglas led 22-0.
On second-and-10 at the North Douglas 28-yard line, Crosspoint Christian senior quarterback Kody Sparks targeted 5-foot-11 receiver Jeremiah Powell (a junior) near the goal line, but 5-foot-8 defensive back Jayden Montgomery (a senior) intercepted the pass with a perfectly timed jump. Six plays later, on fourth-and-2, Vaughn scored on a 76-yard run to push the lead to 28-0 with 7:43 remaining in the second quarter. North Douglas recovered an onside kick, and Montgomery floated a pass to an open Vaughn for a 60-yard touchdown on the second play of the ensuing drive, making it 36-0 with 7:00 on the clock.
Montgomery capped off the first half scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 42-0 with 2:29 to go. With the running clock in effect for the second half, Crosspoint Christian scored its lone points on a 7-yard touchdown run by Sparks with less than six minutes to go in the third quarter. North Douglas concluded the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown run by Vaughn, who later intercepted a Sparks pass in the red zone in the waning minutes of the game.
North Douglas outgained Crosspoint Christian 544-295 despite running 33 plays to Crosspoint Christian’s 47. North Douglas converted on 1-of-6 third downs and 3-of-3 fourth downs, while Crosspoint Christian converted on 2-of-7 third downs and 1-of-5 fourth downs.
Sparks, who was named the Crosspoint Christian player of the game, completed 9-of 16 passes for 99 yards with two interceptions while rushing for 116 yards and one touchdown on 15 attempts. He had thrown just one interception this season entering the game. Sophomore running back Junior Gonzalez had two receptions for 42 yards. Junior defensive lineman Brock Throne finished with a game-high 12 tackles.
For North Douglas, Montgomery completed 2-of-3 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns, both to Vaughn. Vaughn, who was named the North Douglas player of the game, rushed for 206 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries while registering six tackles and three pass deflections in addition to the interception on defense. He has now rushed for 2,573 yards and scored 60 total touchdowns this season, leading all classifications.
“I could tell in warmups that Hunter Vaughn was feeling it,” Johnston said. “We had no answer for him.”
Freshman linebacker Easton Mast led North Douglas with nine tackles. Senior linebacker Wyatt Reed had seven tackles, including two for loss. Marois recorded one sack.
Crosspoint Christian graduates just two seniors from this year’s team, which won the most games in program history and made the 1A[8] semifinals for the first time: Sparks and Remy Nevarez.
“Kody was an absolute pleasure to get to know as a person and to coach,” Johnston said. “Remy is a really special individual…he’s a kid that [other players] talked into coming out for football just to be part of the team and developed into a good player.”
North Douglas will face No. 1 seed Adrian (11-0) in the 1A[8] championship game at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 30. The game will be played at Summit High School in Bend.
No. 3 Henley 21, No. 2 Cascade 14 (OT) (Saturday)
Weathered, peeling stickers at the top of a brick wall behind the sideline Henley occupied during its 4A semifinal game at Grants Pass High School spell out a message meant for the home team: A TRUE CAVEMAN NEVER SURRENDERS.
Difference in mascots notwithstanding, it’s a message Henley clearly took to heart.
With junior quarterback Joe Janney–who had generated more than 3,000 yards of offense in the Hornets’ (11-1) first 11 games–unavailable due to injury, the defending 4A champions amassed a total of 56 yards in the first 37:23 of game time, putting intense pressure on their defense to keep the game within reach as Cascade (10-2) built a 14-0 lead. The Cougars’ four third-quarter possessions started on the Henley 21-, 34-, 8- and 18-yard lines.
They scored zero points.
A second consecutive goal-line stand gave the Hornets the ball at their own 1-yard line with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter. Filling in for Janney at quarterback, senior receiver Mark Carpenter got Henley to the Cascade 33-yard line with 8:04 to go (aided heavily by a trio of 15-yard penalties against the Cougars). A jet sweep for senior receiver Bryson Montag was blown up for an 8-yard loss before Carpenter threw an incompletion and was stuffed for a 2-yard loss, making it fourth-and-20.
With pressure coming, Carpenter fired down the middle of the field to Montag at the 10-yard line, then found him in the middle of the end zone to trim the deficit to 14-6 with 6:01 on the clock (the PAT missed wide left).
The Hornets tried an onside kick, but Cascade was given possession after the officials ruled Carpenter caught the ball before it traveled 10 yards. Once again, the Henley defense stepped up, forcing a three-and-out before stuffing a fake punt attempt. With 4:11 remaining and the ball on their own 43-yard line, the Hornets would have a chance to tie the game.
Nine plays later, Henley lined up on the 2-yard line with first-and-goal. Three straight draws for Carpenter failed to get the ball into the end zone, bringing up fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Carpenter took the snap from the shotgun and ran to the right, where he was met by two defenders.
As they wrapped him up, he fumbled, and the ball rolled into the end zone. Montag dove on it for a touchdown.
“So much excitement just rushed through me,” Carpenter said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that I just had a fumble and we got a touchdown out of it.’
“I thought the game was over there, but it wasn’t.”
The Hornets still needed a 2-point conversion. This time, Carpenter dropped back to pass. Under pressure again, he threw a dart to junior receiver Conner Shively in the back of the end zone to tie the game with 19.8 seconds left. The Cougars took a knee after the ensuing kickoff.
Cascade won the overtime coin toss and elected to have second possession. Henley scored in five plays from the Cougars 25-yard line, with Carpenter escaping outside for a 13-yard gain on third-and-2 before scoring on a 3-yard run to the left side two snaps later.
Cascade opened its possession with a 4-yard completion that was effectively negated on the next play as senior defensive lineman Nolan Sieben registered his seventh tackle for loss of the game. A dropped swing pass brought up fourth-and-9, where junior quarterback Cade Coreson was chased out of the pocket but–with a defender in his face–got the ball to classmate Matt Hinkle a few yards past the line of scrimmage.
Carpenter tackled Hinkle immediately, ending the game.
“I’m just proud of my guys,” Henley head coach Matt Green said. “They fought until the end, played hard, played their butts off.”
It’s difficult to overstate how dire things looked for the Hornets in the first three quarters. Janney’s absence left a major void not just at quarterback but at punter, where he was a first team all-league selection this season. The Henley coaching staff made changes at both positions over the course of the game.
Carpenter threw an interception to senior defensive back Landon Knox on the Hornets’ opening drive; the Cougars ended the resulting possession with an 8-yard touchdown run by senior running back Carter Condon to go up 6-0 with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter (the 2-point conversion was unsuccessful). Henley went three-and-out on its next drive, and Carpenter’s punt was blocked, giving Cascade the ball on the Hornets 21-yard line.
Montag picked off Coreson in the end zone on fourth-and-4 from the 5-yard line, but the turnover only briefly delayed the Cougars increasing their lead. After another three-and-out, Carpenter’s punt was blocked again and bounced out of the end zone for a safety, making it 8-0 with 8:10 left in the second quarter. On the fourth play of the ensuing Cascade possession, Coreson threw a screen pass to senior tight end Charles McFerron in the middle of the field. With nobody near him, McFerron turned and ran for a 23-yard touchdown reception, giving the Cougars what would turn out to be their final points with 6:09 to go in the half.
Henley playing Carpenter at quarterback meant losing its top receiver (1,050 yards and 15 touchdowns this season), so the Hornets coaching staff moved junior running back Trapper Cundall to QB–where he took snaps in a reserve role last year–to start the second half. He threw an interception to junior linebacker Morrisen Craig on the third play of the third quarter and went three-and-out on two subsequent drives before Carpenter returned to the position. Carpenter was replaced at punter by senior kicker Max Tobiasson, who also had a punt blocked but was able to execute two others: a 22-yarder and a 14-yarder.
Despite the turmoil on offense and special teams, Henley’s belief that the game was winnable never faltered.
“Our coaches still had confidence in us [at halftime],” Carpenter said. “We’ve been down in games before…They knew that we could do it.”
“We don’t have any quit,” Green said. “Our guys are a second half team. We’ve been that all year.”
Henley has now come from behind in seven of its 11 wins this season, including all three playoff games.
This was the first OSAA playoff game in any classification to go to overtime since 2019 and the first 4A playoff game to do so since 2018. Cascade outgained the Hornets 232-174 and held a slight edge in time of possession (24:35 to 23:25) but had 10 first downs to the Hornets’ 13. Henley converted on 4-of-16 third downs and 3-of-4 fourth downs, while the Cougars converted on 4-of-14 third downs and 1-of-8 fourth downs.
Cascade’s 14 points were its second-fewest of the season. The Cougars scored 46 and 44 points in their first two playoff games.
Carpenter, who was named the Henley player of the game, completed 6-of-20 passes for 73 yards and one touchdown with one interception while rushing for 100 yards and one touchdown on 30 attempts. Montag had two receptions for 43 yards and one touchdown, and Shively had four receptions for 30 yards. Sieben and junior linebacker Roanin Wright shared the team lead with 11 tackles each, and junior defensive lineman Luis Venegas recorded one sack. Montag’s interception was his first of the season.
For Cascade, Coreson completed 8-of-12 passes for 96 yards and one touchdown with one interception. Condon, who was named the Cascade player of the game, rushed for 128 yards and one touchdown on 39 carries. Junior receiver Kaiden Bernards had two receptions for 50 yards, and McFerron finished with two receptions for 31 yards and one touchdown. As a team, the Cougars had five tackles for loss, including one sack.
Had Cascade held on, it would have advanced to its third state championship game and first since 2015. The Cougars’ seniors–Knox, Condon, McFerron, Garrett Bond, Hunter Anundi, Cade Erickson, Benjamin Medyanik, Cash Butler, Tanner Fairfield, Evan Wang, Jack Webb, Blake Woellmer, Nick Lopez, Ethan Medyanik and Cooper Brackett–amassed a four-year record of 31-13 with four playoff appearances (including the program’s first semifinal since 2016) despite playing under three different head coaches during their tenure.
Henley will face No. 1 seed Marist Catholic (11-1) in the 4A championship game at 1 p.m. Nov. 30. The game will be played at Spiegelberg Stadium in Medford. The Hornets beat the Spartans 19-16 Sept. 13 and 42-28 in last year’s title game.
