Scappoose hosts Madras in opening round of 4A playoffs

The Scappoose Indians may be taking on a 5-5 team in the first round of the 16-team 4A state playoffs, but they aren’t taking anything for granted.

Madras made the playoffs with a play-in win last Friday over Crook County (33-21), a team they had lost to earlier in the year, 60-52.

“We’re anxious to play,” Scappoose Coach Sean McNabb said after the Cowapa League champs sat out last week on a bye waiting to see which team they would face in the playoffs. “It’s different. We’ve not been in this situation for a lot for the last few years. It was nice—we gave the kids Friday off so they could have a three days weekend. They’ll come back and we’ll get ready to play. Sometimes practice every day can get monotonous.”

Madras has played some of the high ranked teams in the state. They lost to No. 2 La Salle (42-13) and No. 3 Gladstone in Tri-Valley Conference play. The teams have just one opponent in common—Estacada. Scappoose beat the Rangers 26-20 in their second game of the season. Madras beat them 28-7 in their last regular season game.

“They like to run an I-back look offensively, and have a pretty good mix of running and passing,” McNabb said. “Their strength is passing the football. They have a pretty good receiver in No. 10 (Devin Ceciliani, 6-feet, 2-inches, 180 pounds). He’s second behind (Scappoose’s) Paul (Revis) in receiving yards.”

Revis has 76 receptions, 23 touchdowns receiving and 30 total on the season. He’s racked up 1,396 yards receiving and 196 points overall. He’s No. 1 in both receiving and scoring. Ceciliana has 23 touchdowns on the season, 14 receiving with 1,043 yards and 64 receptions. He’s No. 2.

McNabb said the White Buffalos’ quarterback (Steele Haugen, 6-1, 178) is on a par with Scappoose quarterback Taylor Loss as far as stats go. Haugen is ranked second and Loss third in the 4A ranks. Loss has a better quarterback rating (123-99). They’ve thrown for almost the same number of yards—2,226 for Haugen and 2,211 for Loss. Haugen does have one more game. Loss has completed 144 of 210 passes (.686), while Haugen has hit 156 of 256 (.609).

Madras also has a decent-sized line with some good athletes.

While they lost three of their first four games, and to La Salle and Gladstone, they have won their last two contests, beating Estacada and Crook County.

“They’ve been playing a lot better lately” McNabb said. “They lost to Crook County earlier and turned that around in the play-in game.”

The Indians aren’t preparing anything special for Madras.

“We'll do what we do,” McNabb said. “We'll probably do some window dressing—tweak some things we already do. I don't want the kids to have to think too much.”

He said Madras would probably try to find an answer for Paul Revis, Scappoose’s precocious wide receiver and running back.

“Their game plan will be to take him out of the equation. I feel we have an advantage in our ability to run the football. We’ve really ran it well the last few weeks,” McNabb said. The Indians’ Carson Davison is back to full strength. He’s rushed for 931 yards in nine games, and has scored eight touchdowns. He’s averaging 6.21 yards per carry and is fourth among all classifications in the state, first in 4A.

McNabb noted that they sometimes use Revis as a decoy, opening things up for other players. He said on defense they’ll put together a package and mix up coverages. Revis could cover Ceciliani on defense at times.

McNabb is happy with the team’s position right now with the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

“I like the power rankings—there are some good things and some bad things,” he said. “It’s worked out pretty well for us. “We’re on the opposite end (of the bracket) from La Salle and Gladstone, but we will have to worry about Baker, Philomath, and Cottage Grove. I feel really good about where we are at. I’m an optimist but we’re playing really well with a lot of confidence. The team has a bit of a swagger when they walk on the field. They feel they can beat anybody in front of them. They’re not being cocky, just being confident. I like where we’re at in the bracket. We have a favorable spot and we’ll keep playing football and take care of business.”