Photos courtesy of BHS

The Burns Hilanders dominated the Vale Vikings 42-16 in the 3A OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union championship game held at Summit High School in Bend on Saturday, Nov. 30, for their second state title in school history.

What started as your typical game between two rivals quickly turned south for the Vikings.

Vale took the opening kickoff down to Burns’ 18-yard line before Vale’s quarterback Brooks Aldred fumbled the ball. Easton Kemper jumped on the ball and the Hilanders took over on offense.

Both teams exchanged three-and-outs on their next series. Starting at Vale’s 32-yard line, Burns needed only four plays to drive 34 yards to score the first points of the day. Jack Wright found Kemper for 32-yards to set-up first and goal from Vale’s two yard line. Wright found the endzone, running the ball in from two yards out to take a 6-0 lead. Jaxon Hoyt converted the two-point conversion and the Hilanders went up 8-0.

On the next series, Preston Hill intercepted Aldred’s pass at Burns’ 27-yard line. Both teams exchanged punts to end the first quarter.

Backed-up at their own 28-yard line with first and ten to go, Wright hit Canon Winn for a 72-yard touchdown, increasing the Hilanders’ lead 14-0. Wright found Coltin Miller open on the ensuing two-point conversion try, putting Burns up 16-0 with over 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

On Vale’s next offensive series, Ben Chamberlain caused Vale’s running back, Kase Schaffeld to fumble. Jasper SkunkCap jumped on the ball for the fumble recovery at Vale’s 45-yard line.

The Hilanders only needed two plays to get to Vale’s two-yard line when Wright hit Hoyt for a 40-yard screen pass. Wright scored on a quarterback sneak from two-yards out. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and the Hilanders increased their lead to 22-0 with 9:15 remaining on the clock in the second quarter.

The Vikings answered right back, driving down the field in 10 plays for 70 yards, scoring their first points of the game when Schaffeld scored from four-yards out. The two-point conversion was successful and Vale cut the lead down to 22-8.

The Hilanders struck again in two plays after Wright found Miller wide-open for a 77-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete and the Hilanders led 28-8 with 4:15 remaining until halftime.

Vale’s ensuing offensive series burned 3:44 minutes off the clock, driving 11 plays and 60 yards, ending in Schaffeld’s second touchdown of the day. The two-point attempt was successful and the Hilanders took a 28-16 lead into halftime. 

Burns’ first series in the third quarter stalled as Vale took over at their own 34-yard line. Eight plays later, Vale’s quarterback Cal Johnson was intercepted by Canon Winn at Burns’ 34-yard line and returned 27-yards to Vale’s 39-yard line.

The Hilanders got right back to work when Wright hit Winn for a 25-yard pass taking the ball down to Vale’s four-yard line. Wright scored on a quarterback sneak two plays later from the one-yard line. The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and the Hilanders led the Vikings 34-16 with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Neither team was able move the ball for several offensive series. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter with a little over six minutes to go that Wright hit Hill for a 27-yard pass, taking the ball down to Vale’s 10-yard line. Three plays later, Wright plowed into the endzone for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game from one-yard out. Kemper scored the two-point conversion to put the Hilanders up 42-16 and to seal the win for Burns.

After the game, head coach Matt Bruck said, “Coming into the game, playing Vale for the second time of the season, we knew that we didn’t execute what we were supposed to. After watching film, we knew that we could take advantage of Vale’s weakness. They have a great defense, and an amazing rush defense, but knew that we could take advantage of throwing the ball.” And the Hilanders did just that, throwing for 340 yards on 11 completions, averaging 30.9 yards per completion. 

Bruck went on to say, “We’re super proud of the way the defense played. We knew they were going to run Schaffeld a lot. He’s a great running back. Fortunately our defense was up for the job and was able to keep the Vikings out of the endzone.” The Hilanders forced five turnovers on the day, three interceptions and two fumbles. The Vikings rushed for 260 yards, with Schaffeld carrying the ball 43 times for 216 yards, averaging 4.8 yards a carry. They held Vale’s passing game to one completion on eight attempts for 44 yards. 

Junior Joe Weil led the way for the Hilander defense, racking up 13 total tackles, including one tackle for loss. Chamberlain logged 10 tackles, including three and a half tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one sack. Jasper SkunkCap had nine tackles, one and a half tackles for loss and one fumble recovery. Kale Cornell finished with eight tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack. Winn had eight tackles as well and one interception. Cannon Kemper and Hoyt each logged eight tackles and one tackle for loss, while E. Kemper finished with five tackles, one tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.

Offensively for Burns, quarterback Jack Wright finished 11 of 21 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. Wright was named the Moda Health Player of the Game rushing for 37 yards on 12 carries and four touchdowns. Hoyt finished with seven carries for 12 yards and E. Kemper had two carries for one yard.

Winn led the receiving corps with 159 yards on five receptions and one touchdown. Miller caught two passes for 84 yards and a score. Hill had two passes for 25 yards, while Hoyt had 40 yards on one reception and E. Kemper caught one pass for 32 yards.

Bruck went on to say about the team, “We knew that this group of kids were going to be good, we just weren’t sure how good they were going to be. It wasn’t until we played Vale the first time and lost in overtime, that we knew that this could be a special season. We knew that once we cleaned up our mistakes, that we had the potential to make it to the state title game.” The Hilanders did just that, playing road games all throughout the playoffs with wins at Cottage Grove, Santiam Christian, and in Bend against Banks and Vale. Burns finishes the season 11-2 as the 3A state champions and is possibly the lowest ranked seeded team to ever win a championship.