The Siuslaw Vikings football team has stormed into the OSAA 3A football quarterfinals.

Friday, the Vikings ran up a 39-0 halftime lead en route to a 45-6 victory over the Blanchet Catholic Cavaliers at Hans Petersen Memorial Field.

Siuslaw, the top seed in the 16-school playoff, will host Cascade Christian at 7 p.m. Friday.

Cascade Christian beat Junction City on Friday, 40-30. The Vikings beat Cascade Christian on Oct. 1 in Florence, 38-34.

Blanchet Catholic, the No. 16 seed, finished its season 3-6.

If there was any blemish on the Vikings' near-spotless performance Friday it was a fumble returned 64 yards for a touchdown by the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter.

Blanchet Catholic senior linebacker Kyle Fromwiller scooped up the bobble in stride and sprinted unscathed into the end zone with 4:36 to play. The attempt at a 2-point conversion run failed.

The Vikings matched that score on a six-play, 77-yard drive punctuated by an 18-yard TD run by junior Hunter Petterson.

The entire second half was played on running time

Senior wide receiver Braydon Thornton scored on an 81-yard punt return on the first play of the second quarter and hauled in an 18-yard pass from senior quarterback Beau Erickson with 5:02 left in the half as the Vikings took a 39-0 lead at halftime.

Senior running back Camp Lacouture scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, on a 1-yard run and on a 66-yard pass from Erickson.

Junior running back Ian Sissel got the Vikings on the board first on a 1-yard dive 2 minutes into the game, capping a seven-play, 59-yard drive.

Blanchet had one serious scoring opportunity in the first half, with a first-and-goal inside the Siuslaw 5 with under 2 minutes left. Junior linebacker Victor Ayala recovered a fumble on the 10 to end the threat.

Thornton also had a pair of interceptions in the game.

NOTES

Blanchet Catholic will move down to 2A after this school year. The Salem school has 140 students based on metrics revised by the classification and districting committee for the next four years. … Siuslaw is at 234 students for classification and districting purposes. … Football special districts will not be announced until February. ...

Scoring from Coast Radio broadcast:

BLANCHET    0    0   0  6 —   6
SIUSLAW     24  15   0  6 — 45
First quarter
Siuslaw — Ian Sissel 1-yard run (Beau Erickson run), 10:00
Siuslaw — Camp Lacouture 1-yard run (Braydon Thornton pass from Beau Erickson), 7:31
Siuslaw — Camp Lacouture 66-yard pass from Beau Erickson (Ian Sissel run), 5:01
Second quarter
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 81-yard punt return (Braydon Thornton run), 11:40
Siuslaw — Braydon Thornton 18-yard pass from Beau Erickson (Camp Lacouture kick), 5:02
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
Blanchet Catholic — Kyle Fromwiller 64-yard fumble return (run failed), 4:36
Siuslaw — Hunter Petterson 18-yard run (kick blocked), :54

3A PLAYOFFS
First round
Friday
at Siuslaw 39, Blanchet Catholic 0
at Cascade Christian 40, Junction City 30
at La Pine 36, Amity 6
at Warrenton 12, Philomath 0, at Astoria
at South Umpqua 35, Yamhill-Carlton 6
Santiam Christian 7, at Dayton 6
Rainier 35, Nyssa/Harper Charter 6, at Kelso, Wash.
Saturday
No. 10 Sutherlin at No. 7 Vale
Quarterfinals
Friday or Saturday, Nov. 12-13
Cascade Christian at Siuslaw
La Pine at Warrenton
Santiam Christian at South Umpqua
Sutherlin-Vale winner at Rainier

SIUSLAW SCHEDULE
Record: 9-0 overall, 5-0 in 3A Special District 2 North, 1-0 in playoffs
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
Nov. 5 — at Siuslaw 45, Blanchet Catholic 6, OSAA 3A first round
Friday, Nov. 12 — Cascade Christian at Siuslaw, 7 p.m., OSAA 3A quarterfinals