Oregon High School Football Playoff Week 1: Who's Up, Who's Down

The first week of the Oregon high school football postseason is in the books, leaving eight teams playing for state championships in seven classifications.

So, who saw their fortunes rise with three weeks left before the blue trophies get hoisted Thanksgiving weekend? And who will rue what happened as they pack their gear away for another year?

Three Up

PIL

It had been nine years since a team from the state’s largest city had won a game in the 6A championship bracket before this week, going 0-14 during that stretch.

But in one night, two teams from the PIL earned first-round wins, with Ida B. Wells outlasting Grants Pass 46-35 for the school’s first playoff win in 23 years, while Lincoln upset Metro League champion Jesuit 30-24 to win its first playoff game since 2017.

The Guardians, who are 10-0 for the first time since 2003, must now travel to Nelson, while the Cardinals will take on West Linn. Both will be underdogs in their quest to become the first PIL semifinalist since Grant in 2007, but with their unique offenses — Wells runs the power-T and Lincoln the single wing — they’ll be a handful for the Hawks and Lions to scheme for.

Abraham Castro

The Glencoe junior had a night to remember in the Columbia Cup, the second-tier 6A tournament for teams that finished 17th through 24th in the OSAA rankings.

Castro broke the school record by rushing for 437 yards and six touchdowns on 57 carries against South Salem, including a 13-yard scoring run in the third quarter that gave the Crimson Tide the lead to stay and a 5-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to seal their 54-41 victory.

He moved to 12th on the state’s all-time single-game yardage list with his performance.

Dayville/Monument/Long Creek

Since Monument started its football program in 1957 — Long Creek followed in 1970 and Dayville in 1971 — the three small towns in Grant County in Central Oregon had occasional success, even made the postseason a couple of times, but not until this season as a co-op program had they won a state playoff game, when the Tigers made the 260-mile trip to Triangle Lake and defeated the Special District 2 champions 51-26.

Josh Thomas was 20-of-27 passing for 343 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 89 yards and three scores and making nine tackles, while Parker Grassl had 186 total yards and two touchdowns to go with six tackles and an interception.

Three Down

Central Catholic

Yes, the Rams played one of the most difficult nonconference schedules in the state. They lost to West Linn, Lake Oswego, Graham Kapowsin — which rolled into the Washington 4A playoffs this week — and Jesuit to start the year 0-4, so even though they won four of their last five, they ended up the 15-seed in the 6A championship bracket.

As a result, they ended up with a rematch with the Lions in the first round, and although they gave West Linn a battle, the Rams fell 42-27 to finish 4-6 — their first losing season since 1997.

Small school 6-seeds

Six was an unlucky number in the 2A and 1A eight-player brackets for teams west of the Cascades facing eastside opponents. Waldport, which won its first league title since 1979 this season, averaged 42.1 points during the season but was held to just one touchdown in a 16-8 loss to Grant Union in a 2A first-round game Saturday.

A day earlier, North Douglas spotted Cove a 32-8 lead, rallied with three second-half touchdowns but had a potential tying two-point conversion pass fall incomplete in losing to the Leopards 32-30.

Coast teams

The Oregon Coast is a beautiful place to visit, but for the football teams that reside along Highway 101, the weekend was not a pleasant one. Only a pair of North Coast teams survived to the quarterfinals — and one (Warrenton) did so by beating a South Coast opponent (Siuslaw) in the 3A bracket.

Tillamook and North Bend fell in 4A, Brookings-Harbor lost in 3A, Toledo and Waldport lost in 2A, and Eddyville Charter fell in the 1A-6 ranks, with Knappa’s 41-13 win over Santiam in 2A the only victory over a team from outside the beaches.

Who rises and falls next? High School On SI will return each week with Three Up, Three Down from around the Oregon high school football scene.

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