Coquille'€™s Buddy Parlier is swarmed under by Gold Beach'€™s defense during Friday night'€™s 45-6 win by the Panthers. World Photo by Madeline Steege.

COQUILLE - With the highest scoring offense in Class 3A, Gold Beach’s defense often gets overlooked, at least by people outside the top-ranked Panthers’ program.

After Friday’s 45-6 win over host Coquille to clinch the Sunset Conference title, the Panthers were quick to point the attention toward the guys stopping the opposition.

“The defense has not got the credit they deserve the whole season,” said Gold Beach coach Kevin Swift. “Every big game, our defense has done what a defense is supposed to do.”

On Friday, that was to force five turnovers, including a momentum-turning interception in the second quarter when the game still was close.

“We didn’t play a good offensive game,” said lineman Anthony Simera. “The defense held us together.”

Gold Beach’s offense sputtered with miscues in the first half and Coquille was able to keep the score close for a while.

On the Panthers’ opening possession, Gold Beach drove to the Red Devils’ 15, but Colton Holmes intercepted a pass from Jeffrey Knox in the end zone to stop the drive.

The Panthers forced a punt, but promptly fumbled the ball and Coquille’s Alex Dingus recovered.

Coquille handed the ball back to Gold Beach on a fumble recovered by Tim Young, and the Panthers capitalized. Knox ran 21 yards on an option to set up Travis Moore’s 3-yard scoring run. The two-point conversion failed, but the Panthers were in front 6-0.

Gold Beach’s next drive was stopped on downs when Coquille’s interior line stuffed Moore for no gain on a fourth-and-one play.

The Red Devils then had their best sustained drive, moving the ball from their 28 to Gold Beach’s 15. Along the way, Heston Altenbach completed first-down passes to James Baldridge and Tim Davis.

But on a second-down play from the 15, Mitch Longwill hit Altenbach as he released a pass toward the end zone and Gold Beach cornerback Brandon Harding stepped in front of the receiver, grabbed the ball, and ran untouched 93 yards for a score.

“I saw him get hit and the floater came out and I got it,” Harding said.

The play turned out to be a big one.

“It was good to swing momentum our way,” Simera said.

Gold Beach added two more touchdowns before halftime — a 1-yard run by Garett Wolford and a 7-yard blast by Moore — and then broke the game open with three big plays in the third quarter.

Knox lined up in shotgun formation on the Panthers’ first offensive play of the second half, took the snap and raced down the right sideline 56 yards for a touchdown.

Two possessions later, Moore intercepted a pass and returned it to Gold Beach’s 21 and Knox scored on an option keeper the next play.

Aaron Cervantes recovered a fumble on Coquille’s next possession and the Panthers took two plays to go 39 yards — a 20-yard pass from Knox to Nathan Moore and a 19-yard scoring sweep by Herbie Smith.

That put Gold Beach up 45-0 and initiated a running clock for the rest of the game.

Coquille’s touchdown came on the ensuing possession, when Altenbach drove the team down the field, connecting with Justin Lessley for a 30-yard gain on a fourth-down play and then hitting Holmes with a bullet in the end zone on an 8-yard slant pattern for Coquille’s lone touchdown of the night.

Holmes had his second interception of the night on Gold Beach’s next possession, but any hope for another score went out the window when Mitch McDonald intercepted a pass by Buddy Parlier with 1:24 to go in the game.

After the clock ran out, the Panthers offered each other brief congratulations for winning the league title, and then focused on next week’s game against Myrtle Point.

Gold Beach won its second straight crown, and the players admitted they were excited about the title.

“It feels good, especially senior year, to go out with a bang,” McDonald said.

But they also know they need to play better in the playoffs.

“I thought we did the things we needed to do to win,” Swift said. “We didn’t do the things we needed to do to get where we want to get.”

Swift was disappointed with the offense’s execution in the first half, with the team’s three turnovers, and with the Panthers’ 10 penalties for 85 yards.

On the flip side, Gold Beach created five turnovers with its defense and limited Coquille to 63 rushing yards on 37 carries and 155 yards of total offense.

Knox accounted for 127 rushing yards himself, on just seven carries, as Coquille struggled to contain the speedy quarterback. The Panthers had 272 rushing yards, averaging nearly 10 yards a carry, and 330 yards of total offense.

Coquille coach John Breuer was thrilled with his team’s effort, while offering praise for the Panthers.

“I thought we played well the first quarter,” he said. “They’ve got incredible talent. You can’t make mistakes and turnovers against a team with that kind of talent. They have a great line and great speed.”

The Red Devils still are in the driver’s seat for the league’s third playoff berth, as long as they beat last-place Bandon next week or Gold Beach tops Myrtle Point.

“I was happy with how the boys played against (Gold Beach),” Breuer said. “I think coming out of this game, the boys are going to be ready for Bandon.”