Bandon gets another crack at Gold Beach.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

It was just five weeks ago when Gold Beach scored 44 consecutive points to defeat Bandon 44-14.

The two Big Fir League rivals meet again in an OSAA Class 2A semifinal today at 1 p.m. today at Marshfield High School, but the seventh-ranked Panthers are not worried about a letdown after such a convincing victory over the unranked Tigers just more than a month ago. Gold Beach's colorful coach, Kevin Swift, says he won't let that happen.

"I'm their coach, so they don't even know how to spell overconfidence," said Swift, who proved that point with some angry words for his team at halftime last week when Gold Beach held a 21-7 lead over Warrenton.

Actually, Swift isn't overconfident because he was not thrilled with his team's performance at home against Bandon.

"To tell you the truth, besides the points scored, I thought that was one of our worst games of the year," he said. "We played terrible. One of the reasons we played terrible is because Bandon is good. Our quarterback had his worst game of the year and we had some injuries to work through so I'm proud we persevered and found ways to win and make plays. We didn't play very well despite what the score indicates."

Bandon took advantage of two quick Gold Beach turnovers to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but then Nic McNair returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown as the Panthers rallied to take a 30-14 lead by halftime.

"I made some poor coaching decisions," Bandon coach Perry Herbst said. "I made a bad judgement on fourth-and-two feet inside our own 20 and we didn't get it. I didn't call a good game and that put some pressure on our kids in ways that they had not seen, and I shouldn't have done that."

Bandon (9-3) lost its last two regular-season games to Reedsport and Gold Beach, then had a bye on the final week of the season. The Tigers, the Big Fir's No. 3 seed, went on the road to defeat Chiloquin and Trico League champion Jefferson in the playoffs before returning home to beat Northwest League champion Vernonia 21-14 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1991.

"We ended the season playing our best two league opponents, and Reedsport and Gold Beach are two excellent teams," Herbst said. "It was good to play them to get ready for the next stage. During that bye week we took time to correct some things we saw and made some clarifications and minor adjustments."

Sophomore quarterback Marc Rogers leads a wing-T offense that features tailbacks Simon Fraser, Evan Moore and Cam Waldrop, and fullback Neil Faber. Fraser, a first-team all-league selection, and Waldrop have both scored five touchdowns in the playoffs, and Moore and Faber have two scores apiece.

Gold Beach senior Jebb Curtis has run for 400 yards and four touchdowns in the playoffs, and McNair also has four scores. McNair is a three-year starter at linebacker and was named league defensive player of the year.

Gold Beach (10-1), the Big Fir champion, has won nine straight since its lone loss to Class 3A Brookings and is in the semifinals for the first time since 1983.

Today's winner will advance to the final at Autzen Stadium on Dec. 10 to face either No. 4 Lost River or No. 2 Vale, who play today at Bend High School.

The 3A semifinals are scheduled for today at Hillsboro Stadium.

Second-ranked Sherwood (11-1) plays unranked Central (8-3) at noon, and No. 1 Wilsonville (11-0) faces sixth-ranked Sweet Home (9-2) at 3 p.m.

The winners meet in the final on Dec. 11 at Autzen Stadium.