Badgers renew rivalry with Cove in Class 1A quarterfinal

Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald, Ore.
·2 min read

Nov. 9—Powder Valley will put its perfect record on the line Friday night, Nov. 11 with a berth in the Class 1A football semifinals at stake, and the Badgers' opponent is a familiar one.

But not as familiar as they used to be.

Powder Valley, 9-0 and the second seed in the playoffs, will play host to the Cove Leopards (6-4, 10th seed) at 6 p.m.

Although the two schools are separated by just 25 miles of Highway 237, they haven't competed against each other on the gridiron for more than three years.

The Badgers won 54-0 at Cove on Oct. 18, 2019.

"It's gonna be fun reigniting the Cove/Powder Valley rivalry," Badgers coach Josh Cobb said. "It's been a while. Nice having two teams in Union County representing in the quarterfinals."

Powder Valley earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs by virtue of its unbeaten record.

Cove has won three straight, including a 30-24 win over Enterprise in a first-round playoff game Nov. 4 at Enterprise.

"Cove beat a solid team in Enterprise the first round of the playoffs, so their confidence is going to be high coming into the game," Powder assistant coach Dan Townsend said. "We are gonna be playing a tough physical Cove team that has been getting better each week. They have shown that they can play physical with some of the toughest teams in the league. It should be a good quarterfinal matchup."

Although the Badgers and the Leopards didn't play this season, the teams do have four common opponents: Adrian, Union, Enterprise and Ione/Arlington.

Cove went 3-1 against that quartet, while Powder Valley was 4-0.

The one exception is Adrian, and the difference between the two teams' results is stark.

Cove lost to the Antelopes 50-0 on Sept. 16, while Powder Valley pounded Adrian 46-14 on Oct. 21.

Results against other common opponents:

Union

—Cove won 50-34

—Powder Valley won 64-20

Enterprise

—Cove won 30-24

—Powder Valley won 60-12

Ione/Arlington

—Cove won 30-26

—Powder Valley won 44-20

If the Badgers win Friday night they could earn a rematch in the semifinals with Adrian. The Antelopes, seeded sixth, will travel to third-seed Lost River, in Merrill near Klamath Falls, for a quarterfinal game Saturday at 1 p.m.

The semifinal games are scheduled for Nov. 18, time and place to be determined.

The Class 1A state championship game will take place Saturday, Nov. 26.