Oregon high school football 5A playoff preview: favorite, challengers, sleepers, predictions

Here’s a look at the 5A playoff field

The Oregon high school football playoff brackets were released over the weekend. Here’s a look at the 5A playoff field. 

Photo by Leon Neuschwander 

5A FOOTBALL BRACKET

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Favorite

Wilsonville coach Adam Guenther has experienced the highs and lows of bracket release throughout his 14 seasons. 

“Some years, the path might be in your favor,” he said. “Others, it might not be. We’re just excited that we get another week to play ball.”

The Wildcats should have more than just one week left in their season. Led by senior quarterback Kallen Gutridge (2,370 yards, 35 touchdowns), they finished the regular season 8-1, with their only loss to 6A Tualatin in Week 3. Their closest game against a 5A opponent was in Week 4 — a 35-20 win over Summit in a rematch of their 2022 state final.

That 35-28 loss to the Storm in last year’s championship game was Wilsonville’s third state final loss in the past seven years, and the Storm and Week 1 opponent Thurston are both in the Wildcats’ half of the bracket.

“Having our nonleague schedule the way it was, we knew we would probably be facing one of them again, and possibly both,” Guenther said. “But we need to take care of Crater first.”

Still, Guenther likes how his team is playing entering the postseason. The Wildcats would love nothing more than to hang a second championship banner in the gym.

“Our team seems to be clicking at the right time,” he said. “One of the areas that we need to get better at is we have way too many penalties at this stage of the game. We need to limit giving the other team any kind of advantage when not needed. Make them earn it.”

Contenders

Mountain View: The Cougars enter the postseason undefeated for the first time since 2017 and boast 5A’s stingiest defense, allowing just 5.1 points per game. 

Silverton: The Foxes have many similarities to top seed Wilsonville — they scored one fewer point and allowed 14 fewer than the Wildcats in going unbeaten in the Mid-Willamette Conference.

Thurston: The Colts’ 0-2 start is a distant memory after they rampaged through Midwestern League play, with their closest league game a 21-point victory.

Sleeper 

Summit: Can a defending state champion really be a dark horse in the postseason? They can when they graduated virtually their entire roster, yet bounced back from a 1-3 start to snag the No. 5 seed in the draw.

3 thoughts

Best first-round matchup

McKay (11) at Hillsboro (6). It has been a long time for the Spartans to be favored in a postseason game — last playoff win: 2010. Their first home playoff game in the past nine years is against a Royal Scots team that boasts one of 5A’s top passing duos in quarterback Kyrin Fuimaono and receiver Justice Anthony.

Quarterfinal I’d love to see

Summit (5) at Springfield (4). The Millers took a big leap this year with the arrival of coach Frank Geske from Marist Catholic, who brought with him senior transfer Sam Keen, who won Midwestern defensive player of the year honors. It would be a huge feather in their cap to knock off the defending champions and reach the semifinals for the first time since 2014.

Caldera quickly rises to playoff contender 

Two years ago, Caldera was playing a JV schedule as a startup program, the fourth high school in the Bend School District. The Wolfpack quickly caught up to the Intermountain Conference pack, grabbing its No. 3 playoff berth and the No. 10 seed in the bracket, where they’ll face West Albany in another intriguing first-round matchup.

Predictions

First-round winners

Wilsonville, Thurston, Summit, Springfield, Mountain View, Hillsboro, Caldera, Silverton

Quarterfinals winners

Wilsonville, Summit, Mountain View, Silverton

Semifinals winners

Wilsonville, Silverton

Champion

Wilsonville

5A FOOTBALL BRACKET

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MORE FOOTBALL

Instant analysis: 10 things to know from Week 9 of Oregon high school football

Our Week 9 predictions: How did we do?

Oregon high school football playoffs: Automatic qualifiers, at-large teams in 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A

Playoff brackets: OSAA first-round matchups, game times