Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosMountain View’s Tyler Sustare breaks a tackle in the second quarter during a Class 5A state quarterfinal game in Bend on Friday night.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Cougs lead C.O. sweep
Mountain View is one of three teams to reach semifinals
By Bill Bigelow / The Bulletin
Published: November 24. 2007 4:00AM PSTMountain View did most of its damage with the running of Ash Gibson and a swarming defense — nothing new there.
But it was something out of the ordinary that might have been the biggest play of the night for the Cougars. Pat Cashman passed two yards to Tyler Sustare on a fake field goal on the final snap of the first half Friday night, giving the Cougars a 21-6 lead en route to a 27-12 victory over Jefferson of Portland in the quarterfinal round of the Class 5A high school football state playoffs.
The victory advanced Mountain View to a semifinal date next week with West Albany, which defeated Crater in another quarterfinal contest Friday.
The win also figures to be the last at Mountain View’s Jack Harris Stadium for longtime Cougars head coach John Nehl. Nehl has made no secret of his intent to step down at the end of this season, but for now, his focus is on getting his undefeated team (11-0) past West Albany and into the 5A state championship game.
“West Albany … that’s everyone’s pick to win it all,” said Nehl in Friday’s postgame chill. “But you gotta beat ’em all to get there. We’re excited to play ’em.”
The Intermountain Conference champion Cougars trailed early against Jefferson after Johnathan Hall picked off a lateral by Mountain View quarterback Scott Plants and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown just two minutes into the game.
Mountain View rallied behind its defense and the running of Gibson, whose second-quarter touchdown romps of 13 and 26 yards had the hosts on top 14-6 when the Democrats turned the ball over on downs at the Cougar 47-yard line with 30 seconds left in the half.
Plants, a junior who recovered from the early turnover to have a strong statistical night, connected on passes of 24 yards up the left side to Cashman and 26 yards on a slant to Josh Young to set up what appeared to be a short field-goal try in the closing seconds.
But the Cougar coaching staff had another idea.
“We worked on it all week,” Nehl said after the game. “Coach (Ron) Buckmiller said he thought it would be open, and it was.”
Cashman, the holder, pulled up with the ball and rolled to his right, finding Sustare for an easy touchdown.
“It was not a long pass,” said Nehl, “but it caught ’em off guard. And it kinda took the wind out of their sails.”
That it did, but it didn’t exactly snuff the life out of the Portland Interscholastic League champions. On the second play from scrimmage after the second-half kickoff, Marlon Miles broke through the middle of the Mountain View defense and then raced up the left sideline for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Matt Sturza blocked the extra-point kick, however, and the Cougars maintained a two-possession lead at 21-12.
The score stayed that way until Mountain View fashioned the final touchdown march of the night, capped by Gibson’s one-yard run over left guard for a 27-12 Cougar lead.
Gibson finished with 149 yards on 33 carries, though Jefferson (9-2) was able to contain the hard-running tailback for much of the night. Plants completed 10 of his 17 passes for 150 yards, with Cashman making four catches for 52 yards and Young making two receptions for 56 yards. Sustare had three catches for 32 yards, including the touchdown toss from Cashman.
The game ended on a somber note, as Jefferson defensive player Robert Thomas was injured with 1:45 to play. The game was delayed for some 20 minutes until Thomas, a senior, was taken away in an ambulance. It was believed that Thomas had suffered a rib injury.
Bill Bigelow can be reached at 383-0359 or at bbigelow@bendbulletin.com.
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