The Siuslaw Vikings football team finally got the Santiam Christian monkey off its back with a 21-14 victory Friday at Adair Village.

But a would-be gorilla looms this coming Friday when the Vikings finish their regular season at Junction City.

Siuslaw moved to No. 2 Saturday night in the Oregon School Activities Association Class 3A rankings.

Junction City dropped to No. 10 following a 40-8 pounding at now-No. 5 La Pine.

The Vikings are 4-0 in Special District 2 North standings, while La Pine and Junction City are 3-1.

La Pine will be expected to go to 4-1 Thursday when the Hawks host hapless Sisters (1-5).

The Vikings win Friday, and the title is theirs. The Vikings lose, and they fall into a likely three-way tie with Junction City and La Pine.

Friday at Adair Village, the potent Vikings led 21-0 after two quarters, but were kept off the scoreboard following a long homecoming halftime.

But Siuslaw's offense came through when it mattered, grinding out a 16-play drive to kill the final seven-and-a-half minutes of the game.

Eagles junior running back Jayden Christy scored from the 1 in the third quarter and from the 17 in the fourth, with 7:38 to play to pull within a touchdown and extra point.

The Vikings took over on their own 5 following the kickoff, and still had the ball and were on their side of the 50 when the clock ran out 16 plays later.

Siuslaw converted twice on third and long and once on fourth and 1 to keep the clinching drive alive.

Senior running back Camp Lacouture had 9 carries for 35 yards on the drive, while senior quarterback Beau Erickson had passes for first downs to senior wide receivers Isaac Garza and Brayden Thornton.

Erickson took a knee on the final two snaps as the clock ran out.

Siuslaw raced two a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a TD passes of 37 and 5 yards from Erickson to Thornton.

Lacouture made it 21-0 with a 5-yard run and an extra-point kick at 8:43 of the second quarter.

Those were the final points for the Vikings, who snapped a three-game losing streak to the Eagles.

NOTES

Sixteen teams will make the 3A playoffs. Win or lose Friday, Siuslaw is all-but-assured to be home for the first round the following weekend. … No. 14 Yamhill-Carlton, No. 15 Nyssa/Harper Charter and No. 16 Blanchet Catholic loom as possible opponents. ...

Junction City is 10-2 since moving down to 3A from 4A last school year, 5-1 last spring (which included a 48-34 victory at Siuslaw) and 5-1 this season ... the losses were to Santiam Christian last spring and to La Pine on Friday. ...

Rainier replaced South Umpqua as No. 1 in the OSAA 3A rankings Saturday morning following a 28-14 nonleague victory Friday over visiting Onalaska, Wash. … Rainier finishes Friday at Corbett, which is 2-3 and currently ranked No. 17. …

South Umpqua dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 following a hard-fought, 28-26 victory over No. 11 Cascade Christian at Medford. Cascade Christian failed on a 2-point conversion late in the game …

Scoring from Coast Radio broadcast

SIUSLAW                      14  7  0  0 — 21
SANTIAM CHRISTIAN   0  0  7  7 — 14
First quarter
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 37-yard pass from Beau Erickson (run failed), 8:30
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 5-yard pass from Beau Erickson (Camp Lacouture kick), 1:04
Second quarter
Siuslaw — Camp Lacouture 5-yard run (Camp Lacouture kick), 8:43
Third quarter
Santiam Christian — Jayden Christy 1-yard run (Caleb Ness kick), 1:19
Fourth quarter
Santiam Christian — Jayden Christy 17-yard run (Caleb Ness kick), 7:38