Two Union County high school football teams are still alive in the state playoffs, but the season ended last weekend for the La Grande Tigers and the Powder Valley Badgers, both of which lost in playoff games on the road.

Here’s a roundup of the playoffs thus far, and a preview of next weekend’s games.

Cove knocks off Camas Valley

Cove, the No 8 seed in the playoffs, defeated No. 9 seed Camas Valley in a lopsided 75-24 win in the first round of the 1A eight-man football state championships on Friday, Nov. 8. The 75 points marked a season high for the Leopards, but the team is on an offensive roll: It’s scored at least 44 points seven times this season.

For its reward, Cove (6-4) draws a road trip to the tournament’s No. 1 seed, undefeated Adrian. The Antelopes (9-0 thus far) seem likely to test the Leopards’ offense: The team has allowed opponents to score more than 20 points just twice this year and has posted three shutouts. And the Antelopes can put points on the board as well: They’ve scored fewer than 50 points just twice this season and put up 80 in their season opener.

The quarterfinal game is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15 (Mountain Standard Time) in Adrian.

Bobcats overwhelm Cougars

The Union Bobcats scored early and often to overwhelm the Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat/Glenwood Cougars 74-20 in first-round 1A eight-man playoff action on Friday, Nov. 8.

The game marked the fourth time this season the Bobcats had scored more than 50 points and marked the fifth time the team defeated an opponent by more than 40 points. It was the fifth straight win for the Bobcats, now 7-2.

The road gets harder in the quarterfinal round: Union, the fifth seat in the playoffs, must travel to fourth-seeded Crane for a Friday match. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. 

Crane, also 7-2, defeated the Bobcats 52-30 on Oct. 3 in a game that was played in Union. Like the Bobcats, the Mustangs boast an explosive offense that has scored 50 points five times this season.

Tigers season ends with loss to Philomath

In a Class 4A playoff football game that featured a combined 889 total yards, Philomath held on for a 39-27 victory over La Grande on Friday, Nov. 8

Junior running back Sovann Chab found plenty of daylight for the Tigers with 216 yards rushing on 18 carries — a 12.0 yards-per-carry average. But La Grande was unable to climb out of an early 20-0 hole and ends the season with a 5-5 record.

Playing on Corvallis High’s turf field on a chilly evening, Philomath’s game-opening possession produced the first six points with the Warriors covering 64 yards on seven plays. Junior Lake Mulberry scored on a second-and-goal play from the 1. La Grande then went three-and-out and Philomath (8-2) took a 14-0 lead on junior Rocco De La Rosa’s 14-yard TD reception.

Down by two touchdowns, La Grande took nearly seven minutes off the clock and had a first-and-goal from the 5. Chab got warmed up and broke loose on several effective runs out of the backfield, including a nine-yard gain on fourth down. But Philomath’s defense stiffened and kept the Tigers out of the end zone.

On the ensuing possession, Philomath scored again with an 84-yard strike from senior quarterback Caleb Russell to De La Rosa. The score put the Warriors ahead, 20-0.

La Grande got on the scoreboard with 9:27 left in the second quarter on a 36-yard pass from junior Mathias Fields to junior Landon Hood.

The Warriors responded with a touchdown drive that ended with a 5-yard De La Rosa run out of the wildcat formation. Philomath then scored another touchdown with 40 seconds left in the half on a 28-yard pass from Russell to Nuno.

Philomath led 33-7 at halftime but La Grande tried to make a game of it in the third and fourth quarters.

The Tigers came out for the second half and scored quickly with Chab breaking free on a 66-yard touchdown run. Philomath’s offense sputtered a bit but the Tigers didn’t have much luck themselves over the rest of the quarter. A holding penalty and three straight incompletions killed one drive and a bad snap over the QB’s head doomed the next one.

In the fourth quarter, Philomath went up 39-14 on De La Rosa’s fourth TD of the night on a 23-yard reception on fourth down. La Grande countered quickly with another score thanks to runs of 51 and 12 yards by Chab to get the ball down to the PHS 6. From there, Hood caught another TD reception from Fields.

Later in the quarter, both teams lost the ball on turnovers. Philomath fumbled on a play that La Grande junior Bekham Hibbert fell on — the Warriors would have lost possession anyway since it was fourth down. But La Grande didn’t have the ball long because Philomath senior Mitchell Berklund came up with an interception.

The Tigers scored on the last play of the game with backup quarterback Carson Weimer getting into the end zone on a sneak. La Grande set up the situation with three straight completions from Weimer to senior Aaron Weaver for gains of 40, 28 and 19 yards.

The Tigers finished the game with more first downs than Philomath (18-17) and racked up 243 yards rushing and 420 total yards.

The Warriors had 469 total yards with 369 through the air and 100 on the ground.

Powder Valley falls to Dufur 

Despite injuries, long road trips and playing in the toughest eight-man football league in the state, the Powder Valley High School Badgers enjoyed a considerable amount of success this year.

The Badgers, guided by Coach Riley Martin, qualified for the 12-team 1A eight-man championship tournament and drew a tough first-round matchup against the Dufur Rangers.

Playing without injured senior running back Tucker Martin and senior center Wesley Kerns, the Badgers were overwhelmed by the Rangers, losing 62-14 Nov. 9 in Dufur.

The Rangers raced out to a 44-0 advantage, but the Badgers scored with one second remaining in the first half, when quarterback Breyton Golar tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to junior Jordan Little.

“You can never predict how you’re going to end the season or where it ends up at,” said Riley Martin.

“We had a good season, particularly after we turned things around from last year (1-8 record in 2023) when we won just one game and then we made it to the state playoffs this season. I’m proud of the team and the character that they showed and how they persevered. All through the season we had injuries, but the team did a good job and they came out ready to play every week and they gave it everything they had.”