BEND, ORE. – The high school football season came to an end Saturday for the North Douglas Warriors.
North Douglas held a slim lead over Crane through three quarters of play in the 1A semifinals, but the Mustangs rallied to score three touchdowns in the final quarter for a 36-24 win at Summit High School in Bend.
The Warriors and Mustangs traded scores in the first half. Senior quarterback Riley Swafford scored on a 49 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 8 midway through the second quarter. Crane added another score before the break to lead 14-8 going to the second half.
Swafford scored his second rushing touchdown of the game in the third quarter to put North Douglas on top 16-14. The Warriors held that lead going to the fourth quarter, but Crane didn’t waste much time getting the advantage back.
With 11:08 to play in the game, Crane scored on a 37 yard touchdown run by David Steeves, who also ran in the two-point conversion to put the Mustangs up 22-16. Less than four minutes later, the Mustangs were on the board again to stretch their lead to 28-16.
North Douglas tried to rally back and scored with just over three minutes to go to pull within four, but Crane sealed the win on Steeves’ third rushing touchdown of the game.
Crane finished with two 100-yard rushers in the game. Steeves had a team-high 106 yards on the ground and George Balowski had 105 yards.
Riley Swafford threw for 126 yards on 10-of-23 passing, with one touchdown and three interceptions. Swafford also rushed for a team-high 46 yards and two scores.