High-scoring Hood River Valley opens the first round of the Class 5A state football playoffs Friday at home against South Albany.
The 8-1 Eagles, the No. 2 team from Special District 1, will be playing a home state playoff game for the first time since the 2003 season. HRV last made the playoffs in 2015, when the Eagles lost 49-7 to top-ranked Liberty High. That ended a long playoff drought, which started after the 2004 season, when the Eagles lost at Beaverton by a basketball-like score of 67-46. Ironically, Hood River leads all 5A teams this season in scoring average at 40.8 points a game.
“It’s exciting to play in front of our home crowd,” HRV Coach Caleb Sperry said, adding that South Albany will be a formidable opponent. “They are playoff football team so it’s going to be a challenging week. They are tough and physical and run a downhill running game.”
South Albany (6-3) finished third this season in Special District 3, with losses to second-ranked Silverton, Dallas, and third-ranked West Albany. The run-first RedHawks last made the football postseason in 2017, when they beat Crater in the first round before losing to eventual champion Hermiston in the quarterfinals.
The RedHawks won league championships in 2015 and 2017, but the program struggled with back-to-back 2-7 seasons in 2018 and 2019. South Albany was 0-6 this past COVID-shortened spring season.
HRV has been on cruise control since — essentially — clinching a state playoff berth Oct. 1 with its 44-29 win over Redmond. The Eagles’ front-loaded schedule had them facing playoff teams Scappoose, Ridgeview, Pendleton, and Redmond on successive weeks starting Sept. 11. Hood River won its final three games by a combined score of 151-13 — each game was played with a running clock in the second half. HRV didn’t play last week, earning a forfeit win over La Salle Prep.
Sperry said the Eagles had a good week of practice. “The kids handled it very well,” he said of the bye week. “They were a little nervous about (not playing), but we got better each day. I think having a little break is good.”
South Albany, on the other hand, has been in a must-win situation since a 29-13 loss to West Albany on Oct. 13. The RedHawks responded with a 21-8 win over Central on Oct. 22 and a 42-0 win over Crescent Valley last week. The RedHawks tied for third place in league play (with Lebanon and Dallas) but earned the district’s No. 3 state berth because of their No. 7 OSAA ranking.
“We’ve known what we had to do. We talked about controlling our own destiny for a while now,” RedHawks co-head Coach Jeff Louber told the Albany Democrat-Herald last week. “For us, this (win over Crescent Valley) was our second playoff game already because we knew we had to have the last two to have a shot to make the playoffs.”
South Albany is led by senior running back Tyler Seiber, a swift, 5-foot-9, 160-pounder, who is the team’s leading rusher. Seiber has been an offensive starter since his freshman season and plays linebacker on defense. Quarterback Kaden Younger, 6-2, 155 pounds, is the son of co-head Coach David Younger. Junior Jesse Bass, 6-4, 250 pounds, is a two-year starter on the offensive line and at linebacker. At 175 pounds, senior Ramie Halbrook is an undersized lineman, but he typifies the RedHawks’ underdog mantra.
“We’ve been talking about belief and our kids believe in each other,” Coach Louber told the media last week. “They’re not necessarily the biggest, strongest, fastest kids out there, but they believe and they’re one heck of a team.”
The opportunistic RedHawks clinched their playoff berth with their shutout win Friday over Crescent Valley. Seiber blocked a punt which was recovered for a touchdown; a pass interception set up another South Albany score; and the RedHawks added another touchdown by forcing a fumble and recovering it in the end zone.
Hood River has been opportunistic in its own right. The Eagles are led by senior quarterback Trenton Hughes, who is the team’s leading rusher. The improvement of Hughes’ passing skills parallel the improvement of the HRV offensive line. Defensively, seniors Joey Frazier and Ryles Buckley typify a fly-around Eagle attack.
Friday’s game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to play Nov. 12 against the winner of top-ranked Wilsonville and No. 16 seeded Churchill.
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