Hood River Valley football improves to 7-1

HOOD RIVER — Host Hood River Valley (HRV), on the verge of a state playoff berth, rolled to 325 yards of offense in the first half to build a 27-point lead, and ultimately en route to a 53-6 District 1 football win Oct. 24 over visiting David Douglas.

If Hood River wins its final regular season game — Oct. 30 at home vs. improved Parkrose — the Eagles (7-1 overall, 5-1 district) likely will qualify for the OSAA Class 5A state playoffs. Likely because there’s a chance for a three-way tie atop District 1 (HRV, Milwaukie, Gresham each have one league loss).

Among the tie-breaking scenarios are head-to-head results: the Eagles beat Gresham but lost at Milwaukie, which lost to Gresham. Also figured in are a team’s end-of-season ranking, which can fluctuate like the Gorge temperature this time of year.

HRV Coach Caleb Sperry prefers to ignore the chocolate mess of “what ifs” and focus on what his team can control. What they’ve controlled consistently all season is the line of scrimmage — and they did so once again versus David Douglas.

“We can feel a little salty about that Milwaukie loss, all the could of, should of, would ofs, and all that jazz, but we just want to get into the playoffs and see if we can do something,” Sperry said. “We just have to go into [the Parkrose game] and make sure the focus is on this game and not get ahead of ourselves.”

The Eagles looked playoff ready last week. They picked off three passes and scored four times in the second period after David Douglas had pulled to within 7-6. HRV finished with four interceptions, including two by Talon-Quinn Britt. The game went to a running clock early in the fourth quarter after Bam Layna scored on an 18-yard run — his fifth score of the game. Layna benefited from fellow senior Josh McLaughlin’s downfield block near the goal line.

Hood River quarterback Bodie Stuben completed three first-half passes, two for touchdowns — a 30-yarder to Gunner Morris-Reade and a 61-yarder to Davin Snyder. The pass to Snyder was a perfect throw on a wheel route into the left flat and gave HRV a 21-6 lead early in the second period.

Layna scored three TD runs before intermission. Two of the runs — of 30 and 53 yards — came on similar plays and featured junior left guard Milo Bielen pulling to the right and springing Layna with downfield blocks.

“That’s been a pretty consistent story for us,” Sperry said of the active play of his linemen. “The physicality up front that those guys bring in; those guys have just been playing really good football.”

Layna had 151 rushing yards on 13 carries in the first half and finished with 242 yards on 17 carries. He now has 975 yards rushing this season — on 81 carries — and 18 touchdowns.

Hood River’s defense limited the Scots (2-6) to five first downs before halftime and 122 yards of offense, but 60 of those yards came on one play. David Douglas receiver Jaxon Ketel got open on a simple post route down the right sideline and quarterback ZaShawn Perez hit him in stride him for a touchdown.

Hood River’s defense limited burly running back Malakai Fong, all 230 pounds of him, to 58 yards on 17 carries. David Douglas finished with a net 145 yards from scrimmage while HRV’s offense churned out 471.

Hood River’s final score came from freshman Landon Krizman, who benefited from running behind the starting Eagle offensive front. He took a handoff at the Scot 34, broke outside to the right, aided by fellow freshman Kase Sietstra’s kickout block. Bielen delivered a pancake block in the secondary and Krizman did the rest for his first varsity touchdown.