Mountain View senior Greyson Harms hauls in a pass during a game against Bend on Friday night at Bend High. 

There are few things sweeter than ending the regular season the way Bend High did Friday night with its 40-14 win over Mountain View in the annual rivalry game. 

After a six-game losing streak to Mountain View (5-4, 3-2 Intermountain Conference), Bend (8-1, 4-1) has won back-to-back contests against the school less than five miles away. Bend piled up more than 400 yards of offense, and the Lava Bears’ defense shut out the Cougars in the second half.

Now, Bend High’s vibe is high heading into the postseason.

“It’s always a great day when you beat an in-town rival,” said Bend High senior quarterback Logan Malinowski. “I couldn’t be happier right now.”

For the first 24 minutes, the game was headed toward an instant classic, with perhaps an outside shot at an upset. The Lava Bears had built a 12-0 lead, with touchdown runs by seniors Malakai Nutter and Jack Sorenson. Then, in a span of a few short minutes, the Cougars roared back with a pair of touchdown passes from junior quarterback Connor Crum — first to junior Kaden Alayan, then to senior Greyson Harms — to take a 14-12 lead late in the second quarter.

Senior wideout Blake Groshong gave the Lava Bears a 20-14 lead on a screen pass to cap off the first half’s seesaw battle.

“It was exciting,” said Mountain View coach Brian Crum. “That’s what high school football is about; that is what this rivalry is about. It doesn’t matter about what the records are, it’s about going out and competing.”

Then came the avalanche in the third quarter. Mountain View fumbled on its first offensive play of the second half with a shot to take the lead. Two plays later, Nutter scored from nine yards out and a wave of momentum had engulfed the upset-minded Cougar squad.

“We are still just young enough that when you make that mistake and they score in two plays, there goes the air,” Crum said. “And we couldn’t climb that mountain again.

“I feel like if we don’t fumble that ball we go down and score, and we have a ball game again. Then you never know what happens.”

Mountain View could not regain a grip on the game, while Lava Bears churned out 28 unanswered points to turn a once two-point deficit into a 26-point rout.

Most of the damage came in the second half. The Lava Bears ran for 319 yards on 45 attempts. Nutter found the end zone three times and had 151 yards rushing. Senior Austin Baker ran for 96 yards and senior Sorenson ran for 70 yards and a touchdown. 

“All of our guys settled in the second half,” Malinowski said. “We knew what we were doing and we started pounding the rock. In the second half, we spread the ball around to anyone that we wanted to and they would pick up big yards.”

Two turnovers proved costly for the Cougars because the Lava Bears were all too comfortable taking the air out of the ball for long stretches with their running game.

“We just buckled down late in the second quarter,” said Bend High coach Matt Craven. “Then we came out in the second half, forced a couple of turnovers, finished drives and completed the game.”

Although Bend attempted just seven passes, Malinowski completed five of them for 87 yards, with two going for touchdowns to Groshong and another to junior tight end Jordan Kent.

“I would call this game the most balanced that we’ve played,” Craven said. “We had to block well, break tackles, complete passes and play the game of football.”

With the regular season in the rearview mirror, both teams are looking forward to their Class 5A first-round playoff matches. Mountain View, which finished third in the IMC, earned the 11th seed and will travel to face No. 6 South Albany (6-2) of the Mid-Willamette Conference. Despite having four losses and a junior-heavy roster, some think the Cougars could be one of the teams to spring a first-round upset.

“I believe that we can play with anybody,” Crum said. “It has been exciting to see these kids compete. But we need to get past just competing and into performing. If we can get past that, I still think there are people that don’t want to play us next week.”

The IMC runner-up Lava Bears won’t have to leave their home stadium until the state semifinals, should they get that far. Bend earned the No. 3 seed and will face Hillsboro (5-4) of the 5A Special District 1.

There will be no sharing of the Intermountain Conference title after Summit (8-1, 5-0 IMC) won its eighth consecutive game beating Caldera (3-5, 2-3) in the regular season finale 35-0 Thursday night.

Senior quarterback Hogan Carmichael had four passing touchdowns — two to Charlie Ozolin, and one each to Ethan Carlson and Paxon Kettering — and 240 yards passing, while junior running back Sam Stephens ran for 71 yards and a touchdown.

The Storm earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A playoffs, their first-round matchup will be against No. 16 Hood River Valley (4-5) on Friday.

It took two overtime periods to decide the winner between the two Redmond high schools, in the end it was Ridgeview (2-7, 1-4 IMC) winning the rivalry game 19-13 over Redmond (2-7, 0-5) in both teams final game of the season. … With a 28-0 win over Madras (4-5, 1-4 Special District 5) in Prineville, Crook County (5-4, 3-2) clinched a spot in the 4A playoffs, its first appearance since a play-in appearance in 2019. The No. 13 Cowboys will travel to Klamath Falls to face No. 4 Henley (8-1, 5-1) next Friday. … After winning a single game a season ago, Sisters (6-3, 4-2 Mountain Valley Conference) is officially postseason bound for the first time since 2016 with a resounding 42-14 beating of Harrisburg Friday night. Senior quarterback Easton Moore tossed three touchdown passes and the Outlaw defense forced three interceptions in the win. The Outlaws will have to wait for Saturday for the 3A rankings to freeze to find out who their first-round opponent will be. … Culver (5-4, 4-2 Tri-River) ended its regular season with a stunning 34-22 win over previously undefeated Colton Friday night to punch its ticket to the postseason. The Bulldogs outscored the Vikings 22-8 in the second half after trailing 14-12 at halftime. Culver, like Sisters, will have to wait for the rankings to freeze to find out its first-round opponent. In six-man football, Gilchrist (1-6) had its season come to an end with a 27-25 loss on the road to McKenzie.

“It was exciting. That’s what high school football is about; that is what this rivalry is about. It doesn’t matter about what the records are, it’s about going out and competing.”

— Brian Crum, Mountain View football coach

“We just buckled down late in the second quarter. Then we came out in the second half, forced a couple of turnovers, finished drives and completed the game.”

— Matt Craven, Bend High football coach