KEZI picked a great match for their high school football game of the week, the Siuslaw Vikings at the Junction City Tigers with a league title at stake.

Viewers were treated to what Vikings football historian Don Hunt called the greatest comeback in school history.

Siuslaw junior Ian Sissel picked off a Junction City pass with 1:38 to play as the Vikings rallied from 26 points down in the second half for a 41-40 victory to secure a Special District 2 North title.

"It was those kids who said, 'We're going to find a way to win it. We're coming back,'" Siuslaw coach Sam Johnson told Zack Palmer of the Register-Guard. "It was unbelievable to see them do just that. They played a perfect 12 minutes there in the fourth quarter. That's all you can ask from a team."

The Vikings, 8-0 overall, won the league title at 5-0. No. 5 La Pine was 4-1 and No. 10 Junction City 3-2.

"Siuslaw's stunning 41-40 win over Junction City Friday night marked the greatest comeback in school history," Hunt noted in an email update. "The Vikings, trailing 40-14 in the third quarter, overcame a 26-point deficit to stun the Tigers.

"The previous greatest comeback came in Siuslaw's opening game in 1989 when they charged back from a 21-0 deficit to rally past Pleasant Hill, 28-21.

"Friday's win also marked the fifth time in school history the Vikings have completed an undefeated regular season, joining the 1989, 2006, 2010 and 2011 teams. The 2006 team won the state title while the 2011 squad finished as the state runner-up."

Siuslaw advances to the state playoffs as the No. 1 seed in 3A, and will host a first-round playoff game next Friday or Saturday against the No. 16 seed.

Siuslaw's likely opponent is Blanchet Catholic of Salem, a 3-5 team that was No. 16 as of Saturday morning.

La Pine, which beat Sisters on Thursday, 48-14, also will be at home, while Junction City needs to move into the top eight to secure a first-round home game.

Siuslaw trailed at 26-14 at halftime and 40-14 midway through the second half before mounting an epic rally.

Senior quarterback Beau Erickson's 23-yard touchdown pass to senior Braydon Thornton with 5:05 to play and senior Camp Lacouture's extra-point kick completed the comeback.

Lacouture's winning point was like a 35-yard field goal after the Vikings were penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct following the touchdown.

Erickson ran 5 and 4 yards for second-half touchdowns and Ian Sissel scored a TD on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. Thornton also scored on an 80-yard touchdown return in the first quarter.

Junction City running back Gabriel Ward ran for six touchdowns, four in the first half.

Should the Vikings win next weekend, as expected, they would be home for the quarterfinals the following weekend.

Elsewhere Friday:

No. 2-ranked Rainier, which entered the night ranked No. 1 in 3A, rolled at Corbett, 38-6.

No. 3 South Umpqua was smashed by Kalama (Wash.) in a nonleague game at Barlow, 40-0.

No. 4 Warrenton won Thursday night at Yamhill-Carlton, 36-22.

Santiam Christian won at Pleasant Hill, 42-0, and Cascade Christian crushed Sutherlin, 68-6, in Medford.

Marshfield (10-0) won its 4A Special District 4 title showdown with Marist (7-1) at Coos Bay, 48-41.

Scoring from Coast Radio broadcast

SIUSLAW               8   6   6  21 — 41
JUNCTION CITY   6 20  14   0 — 40
First quarter
Junction City — Gabriel Ward run (run failed), 1:30
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 80-yard kickoff return (Camp Lacouture run), 1:17
Second quarter
Junction City — Gabriel Ward run (run failed), 11:22
Siuslaw — Ian Sissel 1-yard run (run failed), 5:46
Junction City — Gabriel Ward 2-yard run (Gabriel Ward run), 1:07
Junction City — Gabriel Ward 2-yard run (kick failed) 0:00
Third quarter
Junction City — Gabriel Ward 4-yard run (run failed), 7:51
Junction City — Gabriel Ward 7-yard run (pass good), 4:30
Siuslaw — Beau Erickson 5-yard run (run failed), 1:38
Fourth quarter
Siuslaw — Isaac Garza 22-yard pass from Beau Erickson (run failed), 9:14
Siuslaw — Beau Erickson 4-yard run (Camp Lacouture run), 7:03
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 23-yard pass from Beau Erickson (Camp Lacouture kick), 5:05

SIUSLAW SCHEDULE
Record: 8-0 overall, 5-0 in 3A Special District 2 North
Sept. 3 — South Umpqua, canceled
Sept 10 — at Siuslaw 48, North Valley (Grants Pass) 14
Sept. 17 — Siuslaw 50, Sisters 0, at Bend
Sept. 24 — Siuslaw 15, at Gladstone 7
Oct. 1 — at Siuslaw 38, Cascade Christian (Medford) 34
Oct. 8 — at Siuslaw 34, La Pine 26
Oct. 14 — at Siuslaw 66, Pleasant Hill 19
Oct. 22 — Siuslaw 21, at Santiam Christian (Adair Village) 14
Oct. 29 — Siuslaw 41, at Junction City 40
Friday, Nov. 5 or Saturday, Nov. 6 — TBD (likely Blanchet Catholic, 3-5) at Siuslaw, first round

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Rankings freeze at 10 tonight, so first-round pairings in the OSAA Class 3A football playoff bracket are not etched in stone.

But they may as well be, since there is little on today's schedule to alter RPI and Colley ratings.

The No. 1 Siuslaw Vikings (8-0), the Special District 2 North champions, likely will host the No. 16 Blanchet Catholic Cavaliers (3-5), the No. 4 team from Special District 1 East.

All eight first-round games are tentatively scheduled for Friday, but any of them could move to Saturday.

Siuslaw. with a win, would face the winner of the No. 8 seed vs. the No. 9 seed.

There's some drama there in that No. 8 is Cascade Christian and No. 9 is Sutherlin are both from Special District 2 South.

The OSAA attempts to avoid pairing teams from the same league in the first round, and usually moves the lower-ranked team.

So, theoretically, Sutherlin likely would head to No. 7 Vale and No. 10 Junction City to Cascade Christian.

In the quarterfinals, Siuslaw then would host a team it already has played this season, Junction City (which it rallied to beat 41-40 Friday) or Cascade Christian (which it rallied to beat 38-34 Oct. 1 in Florence).

State qualifiers include the top two teams from each of the five leagues, for a total of 10 teams.

The top two highest-ranked teams remaining from Special District 1 and Special District 2 also qualify, for a total of four more teams.

The remaining two teams are at-large, which are the two highest-ranked teams remaining.

Likely first-round pairings (games all tentatively Friday, but could be moved to Saturday):

First round
Blanchet SD1 East at Siuslaw SD2 North
Nyssa SD3 at Rainier SD1 East
Yamhill-Carlton SD1 East at South Umpqua SD2 South
Santiam Christian SD2 North at Warrenton SD2 East
Philomath SD1 West at La Pine SD2 North
Amity SD1 West at Dayton SD1 West
Sutherlin SD2 South at Vale SD3
Junction City SD2 North at Cascade Christian SD2 South
Quarterfinals
Winner Siuslaw-Blanchet vs. winner Junction City-Cascade Christian
Winner Philomath-Vale vs. winner Santiam Christian-Warrenton
Winner Yamhill Carlton-South Umpqua vs. winner Amity-Dayton
Winner Sutherlin-Vale vs. winner Nyssa-Rainier

Qualifiers
SD 1 East 1-2 — No. 2 Rainier, No. 4 Warrenton
SD 1 West 1-2 — No. 6 Dayton, No. 11 Amity
Next 2 — No 12 Philomath, No. 14 Yamhill-Carlton
SD 2 North 1-2 — No. 1 Siuslaw, No. 5 La Pine
SD 2 South 1-2 — No. 3 South Umpqua, No. 8 Cascade Christian
Next 2 — No. 9 Sutherlin, No. 10 Junction City
SD3 1-2 — No. 7 Vale, No. 15 Nyssa
2 at large — No. 13 Santiam Christian, No. 16 Blanchet Catholic