New blood highlights championship Saturday

New and returning champions were the highlights of the small-school championship day to cap the football season of five classes at Hillsboro Stadium and Liberty High in Hillsboro.

Sherwood, Baker and Rainier all won their first title, while Scio and St. Paul defended theirs on the cold, wind-swept day.

Sherwood capped the excitement of the five title games by beating Eugene power Marist 26-23 in overtime.

SHERWOOD 26, MARIST 23 (OT)

CLASS 5A: The perennial title-contending Bowmen won the school's first title on a 25-yard field goal by Taylor Bonawitz on the final play of overtime at Hillsboro Stadium.

Sherwood, which finished 13-0, recovered a fumble on Marist's overtime possession, then drove to the Marist 8 on its possession to set up the winning field goal - the second of the game by Bonawitz.

Stephen Long ran for 217 yards and two touchdowns for the Bowmen, who finished with 378 yards on the ground.

Marist, the Class 4A champion last year, got 221 yards and two touchdowns rushing from quarterback Logan Silver, who also passed for 159 yards and a score. Silver also had 1.5 tackles and forced a fumble on defense.

BAKER 34, DOUGLAS 20

CLASS 4A: Making their second trip to Hillsboro in eight days, the Bulldogs rallied from a 20-13 deficit to win the school's first championship.

Stephen Talbot ran for 152 yards and a score, and quarterback Jesse Brown accounted for four touchdowns - two an the ground and two through the air - for Baker, which scored on five of its seven possessions. The Bulldogs, who lost to Marist in the title game last year, took a 21-20 lead on the final play of the first half when Brown hit Ty Everson with a 7-yard scoring pass.

Douglas got 173 yards and two touchdown passes from Tyson Dahl, but couldn't break the Baker defense on its final three possessions.

The game featured just 13 possessions, including Baker running out the game clock on its seventh possession.

Douglas, which hadn't won a playoff game in 28 years, reached the championship game for the first time.

Baker finished 12-1, having lost only to Fruitland, Idaho, in the third week of the season.

RAINIER 40, SANTIAM CHRISTIAN 26

CLASS 3A: Carson Skeans ran for 198 yards and five touchdowns, including a pair of fourth-quarter scores, to help the Columbians stave off an inspired comeback and win their first state title.

Rainier led 26-3 at halftime, but just 26-18 after the Eagles scored with 9:37 left in the fourth quarter on a 14 yard pass from Grant Schroeder to Joe Pelley that capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive.

The Columbians responded with a six-play, 48-yard drive capped by Skeans' 25-yard run for a 34-16 lead. The teams traded scores and Rainier, which lost in the title game last season, celebrated its first title. The Columbians, who didn't attempt a pass, were 2-3 after a loss to eventual Class 2A champion Scio on Oct. 1, but reeled off nine straight wins to finish 11-3.

Santiam Christian, looking for its first title, got three touchdown passes from Schroeder, but couldn't over come five interceptions of both Schroeder and Brian Kessi and lost its first game of the season.

Neither team attempted a punt.

SCIO 46, GOLD BEACH 8

CLASS 2A: The Loggers used three long first-half drives and a stellar defensive performance to finish 14-0 and win their second-straight title.

Daniel Harper ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns and Sean Heil ran for 115 yards scored twice for Scio, which had drives of 11, 12 and 10 plays in the first half.

Scio finished with 415 rushing yards and didn't attempt a pass, while holding the ball for nearly 33 minutes of the 48-minute game.

The Panthers got 87 of their 157 total yards from Travis Wood, and trailed just 16-8 midway through the second quarter after driving 55 yards in six plays. Scio responded with a 10-play, 80-yard drive for a 24-8 halftime lead.

Scio finished 14-0 last year and has a 28-game winning streak.

ST. PAUL 22, CAMAS VALLEY 8

CLASS 1A: Defending champion St. Paul shook off a sterling defensive performance from Camas Valley with a 99-yard drive that took up most of the fourth quarter to finish unbeaten and with its sixth state title.

St. Paul led just 14-8 when it took over at its own 1 following a defensive stand that kept the Hornets out of the end zone after they had first-and-goal and the 2. The Buckaroos drove 99 yards on 16 plays and used up 7 minutes, 57 seconds, scoring on a 1-yard run by Joe Kelly.

T.J. Weisz ran for 323 yards and two touchdowns for St. Paul, which finished with 408 total yards.

Camas Valley, which won a playoff game for the first time in 26 years this season, managed just 174 total yards, but intercepted three passes and had just one turnover of its own. Andreas Richard ran for 77 yards and a touchdown on seven carries for the Hornets.

St. Paul, which edged Imbler 38-34 in the title game last season, went unbeaten last year as well and has a 29-game winning streak.

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