North Bend was on its way to a fourth straight Far West League football title - and third outright crown - last year before a season-ending loss at Brookings-Harbor left the Bulldogs settling for a three-way tie for first.

They return to the scene this Thursday hoping to deal one back to the Bruins in week two of Far West League play.

“I think that game is still in the back of our minds a little,” North Bend quarterback Ethan Ottemiller said of last year's 12-10 defeat. “We haven't talked about it much in the locker room, but we remember it.”

Brookings-Harbor (3-2 overall, 0-1 Far West) enters this game after falling big last week against Siuslaw, 52-7, a defeat that sill lingers according to coach Jim Keys.

“I think we're in good shape, but after Siuslaw, I don't know what's going to show up for us,” Keys said. “I don't think it's all the way behind us yet.”

Keys said his team needs to “work on the basics.” He emphasized blocking assignments - key elements of his run-heavy offense.

“North Bend has good size and speed like Siuslaw,” he added. “Defensively, we need to get back in our system.”

Against the Vikings, Brookings-Harbor surrendered long touchdown scampers of 30 yards or more to tailbacks Kody Thrall and David Mesa. They also had a punt blocked and gave up an 84-yard punt return for six by Jordan Rainwater.

Ryan Lathorpe scored the Bruins' lone touchdown midway through the final quarter.

It was Brookings-Harbor's heaviest loss of the season but could be misleading considering it came on the road against the top-ranked team in 4A.

“Brookings is a big, physical team that hits hard,” North Bend coach Bill Masei said. “I know Brookings can play better than what they showed at Siuslaw. It looked like everything went Siuslaw's way with calls and turnovers. Our kids are going to see a big team. They're bigger than us, and we're going to have to play smart, and we gotta execute.”

Thursday's game marks the third straight road match for Masei's Bulldogs (3-3, 1-0), who play two of their final three games at home, starting next week.

“It'll be nice to finally be home again,” Masei said. “We've just been road warriors. I'm getting tired of having to charter.”

With only six teams in the league, Masei and his players understand the significance of each league game.

“When you play only five league games, every win is super important,” Masei said. “If you lose one game, you're in trouble as far as a league title goes.

“Last week was a big win. We were missing some of our good players, our better players. We're going to have to keep battling because we probably won't have them back this week either.”

For the second straight week, North Bend will be missing two key starters in wideout Brandon Mattecheck (concussion) and two-way lineman Jerad Jaehnig (knee injury). Both have played vital rolls on an offense that is averaging 28.6 points in the past three games.

“We're getting better and better each week,” said Ottemiller. “It's been tough not having Brandon to throw to. He's a really good receiver, but I have a lot of good others.”

At 6-foot-4, Mattecheck creates mismatches against most defensive backs. Without him in the lineup, Ottemiller has thrown more to juniors Luke Clark, Cameron Potts and Andrew Slack.

“All of those guys are really good and are real agile,” Ottemiller said.

Despite North Bend's injuries, the offense didn't skip a beat last week against South Umpqua. The Bulldogs strung together four straight touchdown drives en route to a 35-13 drubbing.

“It's always nice starting league with a big win,” said tailback Lane Seals. “Brookings-Harbor is a good team that we're going to stack up well against. ... Our backfield is stacked right now.”

North Bend rushed for 327 yards against South Umpqua. Each of the team's top four tailbacks found the end zone on the ground including Seals, Kale Forrester, Garrett Caldwell and Shawn Mitchell, who returned to the lineup after missing the preseason with an injury. Masei was glad to have him back but said Mitchell might be out for Thursday's game after re-aggravating the injury last week.

“Despite Shawn, Jerad and Brandon, we're healthy for the most part. We're looking good,” Masei said.

Clark, who also plays defensive back, said the Bulldogs shouldn't have trouble against the Bruins as long as they can shut down the run.

“They're passing is better than last year, but they don't have a lot of height,” Clark said.

Seals is nothing short of confident that North Bend will avenge last year's loss to the Bruins.

“It's going to be a good game this week, but I think we're going to come out on top,” he said.

Notes: Forrester has scored a rushing touchdown in every game this year. North Bend hosts Douglas next week for the homecoming game and hall of fame celebration and then travels to Sutherlin, Oct. 27 before returning home for Siuslaw, Nov. 3. All games, including Thursday's, are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts.