Week 9 of the Oregon high school football season is in the books, and the OSAA has released the postseason brackets determining the fortunes for the lucky 10, 14 or 16 teams — depending on the classification — that will vie for the title of state champion on Thanksgiving weekend.

So, who saw their fortunes rise when the final rankings froze and they could celebrate getting into the field? And who will mourn how the algorithms calculated their ratings as they put the gear away and prepare for the winter sports season?

Three Up

North Medford

Three weeks ago, the Black Tornado were 2-4 following a 28-0 loss to Willamette and staring at the possibility of perhaps qualifying for the 6A Columbia Cup —or missing the 6A postseason entirely. 

Instead, they closed the year on a three-game winning streak, including an upset of No. 21 Sheldon in Week 8 and a 30-14 victory over crosstown rival South Medford in the season-ending Black and Blue Bowl, to grab the final at-large berth in the championship bracket.

“It speaks volumes about the maturity and buy-in these kids had, not just as the season finished last year but into the beginning of this season,” said coach Nathan Chin, whose team was 1-8 a year ago. “They just grew together as a team, and to see it all come to fruition is awesome.” 

North Valley

The Knights started the season 0-4 as they readjusted to life back as a 4A school after spending the past four years in the 3A ranks while also dealing with a rash of injuries. As players returned, they righted the ship, including a 34-27 win over Mazama that proved to be the difference in them securing the final at-large berth in the 4A bracket, edging Stayton by a half-point when combining the two ranking systems to determine their final OSAA ranking.

Triangle Lake

A year ago, the Lakers rolled through the regular season undefeated, but this fall, their playoff fate came down to the final week and a win-and-you’re-in game against Falls City for the 1A-6 Special District 2 title. They delivered with a 33-0 rout for their fourth straight win, and they’ll head to the playoffs with a 4-3 record and the district’s No. 1 seed, securing a first-round home game against Dayville/Monument/Long Creek.

Three Down

Lebanon

Last season, the Warriors were one of the darlings of 5A, winning the Mid-Willamette Conference title with several last-second victories. This year, they got off to a 1-3 start before finishing 4-5 and climbed to No. 16 in the OSAA rankings, which most years would be good enough to get into the playoffs.

However, this year, the OSAA guaranteed an at-large berth in 5A to the higher-ranked runner-up team from Special Districts 1 and 2, which was St. Helens at No. 20. That put the Lions into the bracket and bumped Lebanon out.

Nyssa

The Bulldogs were another team aced out of the postseason by an automatic qualifier who had a lower ranking. Nyssa finished No. 14 in the 3A rankings after matching its four-win total of a year ago. 

However, Horizon Christian from the West Valley League finished third at 7-2 in its first season back as a varsity program after a nine-year hiatus, and the WVL was one of two 3A leagues large enough to get three berths in the 14-team bracket. The other was the PacWest Conference, which had its top three teams in the top seven in the rankings and fourth-place Salem Academy grab the final at-large berth. 

Powers

Two years ago, the Cruisers won the 1A six-player state championship, beating Harper Charter 32-13 in the final. After losing in the first round last season, they won’t make the playoffs this year despite being No. 10 in the rankings as they also were dropped from the 10-team bracket to make room for an automatic qualifier — Eddyville Charter, which finished second behind Triangle Lake in their district.