Under the bright Friday night lights, with a brisk chill settling over the field, fans piled into The Farm, buzzing with anticipation for a matchup that promised fireworks from the opening whistle, as No. 5 Thurston hosted No. 13 Churchill with hopes of stamping its ticket into the state semifinals.
After a gritty 34-17 victory over No. 12-ranked Bend, the Colts looked to flip the script this week as they welcomed Churchill for the second round of the 5A OSAA state tournament. For the Lancers, following a huge upset win last week, where they took down No. 4 Lebanon. The Lancers hope to keep their state hopes alive with another upset win on the road against the Colts.
After already meeting this season, with Thurston coming out on top, the Colts looked to repeat the process once again by relying on this effective offense. The Lancers sought to avenge their earlier season loss by looking to their flashy rushing attack.
Thurston came into the game with a highly credited offensive attack, regarded as one of the most balanced in the section. Meanwhile, the Lancers headed into the contest looking to rely heavily on their rushing attack, which is one of the most dominant in the entire state.
To begin the game, there was nothing short of fireworks offensively. The Lancers received the kick and took 10 of the 12 minutes off the clock with a huge offensive drive that resulted in an opening touchdown. Following the score, the Lancers decided to try an onside kick, which would fail and result in Thruston quickly responding with a passing TD, which, due to a missed field goal, would cut the deficit to one point, with the score after the first quarter being 7-6.
The second quarter was all Churchill. Starting with the ball to begin the second, it opened up the quarter with a long touchdown pass to extend the lead to 14-6. In an attempt to respond, the Colts began their drive with numerous penalties that ultimately ended with a punt back to the Lancers. This is where the Lancers’ rushing attack was in full force; they took the clock from seven minutes left to one minute left and capped off that long drive with another touchdown to make their lead double digits (20-6). All hope was not lost for the Colts, however, as with less than 20 seconds in the half, Emmit Destefano found sophomore wide receiver Bodie Bonar for his second touchdown pass to push the deficit to seven going into the break.
“Bodie has been our top receiver all year,” head coach Justin Starck said when asked how much Bonar has impacted the team this season. “He really stepped up this year when we lost Matt (Newell) for the season.”
The start of the second half could not have gone better for the Colts. They came out with a quick touchdown to tie the game, followed by a three-and-out, then kicked a field goal to give them the first lead of the night. Just when they had all of the momentum, the Lancers responded on the first play of their drive following the field goal with a long TD pass to regain the lead (26-23) to end the third quarter.
Heading into the final quarter, the crowd was in full force. The defenses built off the crowd's energy, holding both offenses to no points to begin the final quarter. That was until three minutes left in the game, when the Lancers would break off a long rushing touchdown to extend their lead to double digits with little time remaining. In one final attempt, Thurston tries to take its shots, but after back-to-back sacks, turned the ball over on downs to end the game with a final score of 33-23.
“You always want to win in the playoffs,” Starck said when asked about the game and how he wants this team to be remembered. “We were league champs… It’s still a thing to be proud of to win the league; they accomplished a lot, and we went further than we did last year.”
Next up for the Lancers, they will face Summit in the state semifinals with a chance to make it all the way to the state championship.