Axemen end long playoff drought.

Byline: Adam Jude The Register-Guard

SALEM - The combination of Logan Beal's arm and Daniel Hurwit's hands erased a 12-year postseason drought for the South Eugene football program.

Beal and Hurwit hooked up twice for touchdowns Friday night, the second a 63-yard pass-and-catch play late in the fourth quarter to clinch the Axemen's 20-7 upset victory over No. 9 McNary in the first round of the OSAA Class 4A playoffs at West Salem High School.

Beal completed 20-of-26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns, with Hurwit catching 10 of those passes for 128 yards, leading South Eugene to its first postseason win since 1993.

"I don't think we could have done it tonight without him," Beal said of Hurwit. "This means so much to our program, it feels so good."

South Eugene (8-2), the No. 3 seed from the Midwestern League, will host Lake Oswego next week.

"Logan Beal, you arrived tonight, son," South Eugene coach Chris Miller bellowed during the Axemen's midfield celebration afterward.

South's defense was equally impressive, holding McNary standout Kyley McCrae - the state's top rusher this season - out of the end zone, and stopping a first-and-goal drive inside the 5-yard line midway through the fourth quarter.

"We're a big, strong, physical football team," Miller said. "It was just a matter of getting them to believe they could make plays."

McCrae, who led the state with 1,998 yards and 25 touchdowns during the regular season, finished with 155 yards on 24 carries Friday, but was unable to break any major runs.

"He's a heck of an athlete," Miller said. "We knew he was going to make some plays, but we were disciplined and stayed in our lanes."

McCrae switched to quarterback in the fourth quarter, but was knocked out of the game with 1:44 left after absorbing a hard hit.

"Our defense really stepped up," said Beal, a first-team all-league defensive back. "We knew if we could shut down (McCrae) we would have a chance."

After McNary was called for its fourth holding penalty of the first half, negating a first-down run by McCrae, the South Eugene defense stuffed McCrae and Zach Brown for big losses on consecutive runs to force a punt.

That's when Beal and Hurwit took over.

The Axemen began their ensuing drive at the McNary 39 with 2:14 left in the half, and Beal hit Hurwit on three straight completions to the 16-yard line. Four plays later, Hurwit hauled in an eight-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds left in the half to give the Axemen a 7-0 lead at the break.

"We knew we had to score there," Hurwit said. "Our confidence was sky-high after that."

Asked about their performances, Beal and Hurwit deflected the praise toward each other.

"Logan was getting everything right on the money to me tonight," Hurwit said. "Everyone else was doing their job, and in this offense I just had to do mine."

Said Beal: "I just put the ball on him, and he just does his thing."

Beal connected with Dan O'Brien for a 75-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to give South a 14-0 lead.

After cutting the lead to 14-7 on the final play of the third quarter, the Celtics (9-2), the Valley League's top seed, drove to the South 5-yard line on their first possession of the fourth quarter and appeared ready to tie it up.

But South knocked McCrae for a three-yard loss and forced three incompletions to take over with 6:06 left.