Bandon's Camerron Waldrop is well on his way to a touchdown during the Cranberry Bowl against Cascade Christian early this year. Waldrop is one of three running backs who have rolled up big yards for the Tigers. World Photo by Madeline Steege.

Bandon's Nasty Boys will get a big test this week.

The offensive line that helped lead the Tigers to third place in the Big Fir League will go up against a tough defense when Bandon travels to Chiloquin for a first-round Class 2A playoff game on Saturday.

"The defense is their heart and soul," Bandon coach Perry Herbst said of the Panthers. "It's a very impressive defense. They're physical and they like to get to the ball."

That means Bandon's front six of Solomon Peabody, Brian Wagner, Danny Arriola, Anthony Huntley, Jeff Shores and tight end Andrew Hall will need to play a solid game opening holes for Bandon's running backs.

"As far as those boys go is as far as we're going to be taken," Herbst said.

The Tigers know Chiloquin can't focus on one running back because Bandon has three with very similar, and impressive statistics.

Simon Fraser led the team with 674 rushing yards, while Camerron Waldrop had 609 and Evan Moore 580. More significant, Herbst said, is their yards per attempt - 9.3 for Fraser, 8.7 for Waldrop and 8.5 for Moore.

The Tigers hope they can break some of the big running plays they're accustomed to making in games. Points haven't come easily for most of Chiloquin's opponents.

The Panthers gave up 21 points in both their losses - a 21-18 setback to Amity and a 21-14 defeat to Lost River. Bonanza scored 18 points against Chiloquin and the Panthers held all the others to 13 or fewer.

"All year, they haven't scored very many points, but they did a pretty good job on defense," Moore said. "They shut down a lot of teams and won a lot of low-scoring games. It's going to be a challenge."

Chiloquin only scored more than 30 points three times. In contrast, Bandon scored more than 20 points seven times and more than 30 on five occasions.

Bandon, meanwhile, will need a strong defensive effort.

"They have a running attack and they have some speed outside from their receivers," Herbst said. "They're a difficult team to play against with all the athleticism they have."

Because of the season schedule, Bandon enters the game off a bye week (they opened with a zero-week game), which can be a good thing, Herbst said.

"It's been a good week for us," he said. "We haven't played in two weeks, so we're itching to get going."

During the bye week, Bandon has put some new wrinkles into the offense and also refocused after a couple of disappointing games late in the season.

"I think we put the last two losses behind us," Moore said. "We know these guys are going to be pretty tough."

But Bandon has already overcome a lot just making the playoffs in Herbst's second year as head coach.

"Nobody picked us to be here," Herbst said. "The kids are excited."

"It's our first time in the playoffs," Moore said. "It's going to be fun."

And if Bandon plays its game, the Tigers could extend their season another week, he said.

"We need to stay focused and playing together as a team even if we get down early," Moore said. "If we just execute and come in there ready to play and don't let the travel or weather affect us, we should be all right."

Notes: Bandon will make the trip to Klamath Falls today and drive up to Chiloquin from there Saturday morning. Admission for the game, set by the Oregon School Activities Association, is $6 for adults and $4 for students. The winner of Saturday's game plays at Jefferson in the second round next weekend.