No. 3 Cascade airs it out in win against No. 4 Banks

Cascade running back Garrett Coffey (30) celebrates his teams victory against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore. Cascade won the game 42-21.

Cascade running back Garrett Coffey (30) carries the ball against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore. Cascade won the game 42-21.

Cascade running back Garrett Coffey (30) carries the ball against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore.

Cascade quarterback John Schirmer (11) celebrates his teams victory against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore. Cascade won the game 42-21.

HILLSBORO – The Cougars changed it up, and Banks couldn’t keep up.

Cascade High School’s No. 3-ranked football team went to the air early, got the No. 4-ranked Braves out of their defensive game plan and the Cougars won 42-21 Saturday in the semifinals of the OSAA Class 4A state playoffs at Hillsboro Stadium.

Cascade had been run heavy in its first three postseason games with great success, but Saturday the Cougars got senior quarterback John Schirmer going early and he was 11 of 12 passing for 235 yards and two touchdowns.

“John started making plays, and you keep doing what’s working for you, and we got to mix some things up a little bit with our formations, and I think we surprised them with some of the stuff that they did,” Cascade coach Steve Turner said.

“It was a numbers game, and they had five guys to try to tackle Garrett (Coffey) and we got him going with that single back stuff.”

Coffey, the senior running back who had 99 carries in Cascade’s past two games, rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries.

No. 9 seed Cascade (11-1) advances to the Class 4A state championship game this Saturday and will play No. 3 seed Scappoose, the team Cascade beat 47-34 in the season opener.

“I’m pumped,” Schirmer said. “I’ve been looking forward to playing them again, actually, even though we got the win. I just know a couple of guys over there and I think it would be a great end to the season.”

On the second play of Cascade’s second drive, Schirmer hit receiver Cameron Molan down the left sideline, and Molan went 82 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 3:34 left in the first quarter.

Coffey jumped over the line from one yard out on fourth down on the second play of the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

Cascade quarterback John Schirmer (11) throws the ball against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore. Cascade won the game 42-21.

Banks went on a long drive and Jaron Malcom’s 4-yard run cut Cascade’s lead to 14-7.

But seven plays later Schirmer hit Coffey for an 18-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

Cascade had a chance to put the game out of reach at halftime after James Baxter intercepted a pass and the Cougars got the ball to Banks’ 5-yard line, but with 13 seconds left Schirmer was intercepted by Banks’ James Malcom.

Banks’ offense was predicated on running the ball sideline-to-sideline, and it forced the Cougars to stretch out their defense.

“They like to use the whole field,” Coffey said. “We practiced on it all week. We knew that our … edge, it was a little weak in the last couple weeks and we thought they would probably come out and try to take advantage of that. We worked on it all week and that’s what we knew that we needed to get better at that. Every week we go into knowing we need to get better at something.”

Banks cut Cascade’s lead to 21-14 and 28-21 on short touchdown runs by Milo Applebee and Donny McClean.

Coffey’s third touchdown run of the game put the Cougars up 34-21 with 7:25 remaining.

The Braves moved down the field and were in the red zone, but with 3:27 left Schirmer intercepted a pass from Jake Evans on Banks’ 14-yard line.

With 43 seconds left Schirmer turned a quarterback sneak into a 10-yard touchdown run.

Cascade is in the state championship game for the first time since 1980.

“I say it’s just another stepping stone,” Schirmer said. “We just wanted to get to the state championship and we just had to get over Banks. I would say it’s just another step closer to what we want, to our goal.”

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler

Cascade wide receiver Cameron Molan (8) brakes away for his second touchdown of the game against Banks during the OSAA Class 4A state semifinals, Saturday, November 21, 2015, at Hillsboro Stadium in Hillsboro, Ore.

Cascade 42, Banks 21

FIRST QUARTER

Cascade— John Schirmer 83 pass to Cameron Molan (Bjorklund kick good) 3:34.

SECOND QUARTER

Cascade— Garrett Coffey 1 run (Bjorklund kick good) 11:16.

Banks— Jason Malcom 4 run (Cameron kick good) 5:19.

Cascade— John Schirmer 18 pass to Cameron Molan (Bjorklund kick good) 2:15.

THIRD QUARTER

Banks— Milo Applebee 3 run (Cameron kick good) 8:00.

Cascade— Garrett Coffey 10 run (Bjorklund kick good) 3:24.

Banks— Donny McClean 2 run (Cameron kick good) 0:58.

FOURTH QUARTER

Cascade— Garrett Coffey 13 run (Bjorklund kick good) 7:25.

Cascade— John Schirmer 10 run (Bjorklund kick good) 0:42.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing— Cascade: Garrett Coffey 36-241; Banks: Donny McClean 19-83.

Passing— Cascade: John Schirmer 11-12-235 2 TD 1 INT; Banks: Jake Evans 10-15-152 0 TD 1 INT.

Receiving— Cascade: Cameron Molan 5-140; Banks: Jaron Malcom 4-19.