Travis Moore finds a hole in the line and gets a few yards against Umatilla on Saturday afternoon in their playoff game at Marshfield High School. Moore scored four touchdowns and ran for 197 yards in the win. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

COOS BAY — This time of year, Gold Beach is focused on winning the state championship, and what it takes to get there.

That’s why the Panthers got a short, critical post-game talk from coach Kevin Swift after putting up 50 points in their win over Umatilla on Saturday.

The problem wasn’t the 50 points and 535 yards Gold Beach had in the game — it was the 37 points and 464 yards the Vikings rolled up in the game.

The players understood the significance of Swift’s rant after the game.

“We got the W,” said Gold Beach senior Travis Moore, who scored four of the team’s nine touchdowns Saturday. “We’re playing next week. That’s all that matters.”

But Moore, who also stars on defense at linebacker, knows Gold Beach will need a better effort this week when they meet Regis in the Class 3A semifinals at Cottage Grove High School.

“Defensively, we’re not going to win playing that way,” Moore said. “It’s going to be a busy week.”

Fortunately for Gold Beach, the offense was more than enough to overwhelm Umatilla.

The Panthers had the ball 10 times. They punted once, had another drive end when the game ended and scored eight touchdowns.

“The defense played great at times,” Swift said. “It was important that we got up like we did.

“Even though we struggled on defense, they couldn’t stop us.”

Specifically, the Vikings couldn’t stop the Panthers’ three-headed running attack.

Moore scored four touchdowns and rushed for 197 yards on 30 carries Saturday. Quarterback Jeffrey Knox had 230 yards on just 15 carries and scored three more touchdowns. Tailback Garett Wolford had the other touchdown and 109 yards on his nine rushing attempts.

Gold Beach showed off its offensive game plan on the opening possession.

The Panthers started on their own 25 and Moore carried on six straight plays for 17, 5, 2, 7, 20 and 7 yards to move the ball to Umatilla’s 17.

Then Knox kept the ball for the first time, rushing for 15 yards before Moore finished the drive with a 2-yard blast up the middle.

Todd Martin pushed the extra point kick to the right, but Gold Beach led 6-0 just over 3 minutes into the game.

Just a few plays later, the Panthers had the ball back when Moore intercepted a pass by Umatilla quarterback Steven Williams.

This time, Knox did most of the work, running for 20 yards on the first play and two plays later scoring on a 13-yard option keeper.

The Panthers came up short on a two-point attempt, holding the lead to 12-0, and then Umatilla started moving the ball.

The Vikings drove 93 yards on 11 plays — all running attempts — with Williams finishing the drive on a 1-yard keeper after the Panthers had stopped two plays from inside the 2-yard line. Nathan Creason’s extra-point kick cut the Panthers’ edge to 12-7.

Then Umatilla forced the only punt of the game, and had a chance to take the lead, but Aaron Trukositz dropped a fourth-down pass by Williams at the goal line.

That turned out to be as close as Umatilla got.

Knox extended Gold Beach’s lead on a 69-yard quarterback draw. He bobbled the snap, then ran through a huge hole in the offensive line straight up the middle, easily outrunning Umatilla’s defense.

The Panthers again missed a two-point attempt and Umatilla scored again, the big play a 58-yard pass from Williams to Trukositz, who tipped the ball in the air and then caught it and raced to Gold Beach’s 2-yard line before being pushed out of bounds. The Panthers stopped three straight plays before Williams scored on a fourth-down bootleg.

The Vikings tried for a two-point conversion, but failed.

Then Gold Beach took control by halftime.

First, the Panthers drove 75 yards for a score, with Moore blasting in from 2 yards out on a fourth-down play with 1:29 to go in the second quarter.

The Vikings then opted to try to score rather than running out the clock and Knox intercepted a wobbly pass. The Panthers drove 38 yards for a score, Moore finishing the drive with a 4-yard run.

Wolford intercepted another pass on the final play of the first half and was pushed out of bounds at the Umatilla 22, leaving the Panthers with a 31-13 lead at the break.

Umatilla wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the third quarter. Williams kept the ball on a bootleg on the second play of the quarter and found a hole in Gold Beach’s secondary, rambling 64 yards for a touchdown. He added a two-point conversion to cut Gold Beach’s lead to 31-21.

The Panthers ate up nearly half of the quarter on the ensuing drive, a 13-play march of 77 yards, capped by a 4-yard blast from Moore.

Umatilla followed with another impressive drive, one that appeared in trouble when Williams was knocked out of the game on a hard hit by Knox on a third-down play. That left the Vikings facing fourth-and-seven with backup QB Andres Sanguino, a freshman, in the game. Sanguino pitched the ball to Derek Baker, who threw down the field to Nathan Tan Eyck for a 21-yard score. Creason’s two-point conversion run cut Gold Beach’s lead to 37-29 entering the final quarter.

Wolford returned the Umatilla kickoff 33 yards, but the Vikings then stopped Wolford and Knox on consecutive plays, leaving Gold Beach with a third-and-8 play from midfield. Swift called a draw to Wolford, and again Gold Beach’s line provided a huge hole. The Panther tailback cut to the left sideline and sped downfield for a 50-yard touchdown.

Martin’s kick gave the Panthers a 44-29 lead, and Wolford intercepted another pass a few plays later. Knox added an insurance touchdown on a quarterback draw for 38 yards.

Creason scored for Umatilla with 1:46 to go in the game, but Moore recovered the on-sides kick attempt and the Panthers ran out the clock.

Gold Beach now moves onto the semifinals for the third year in a row and fourth time in the past five years.

Umatilla, meanwhile, saw its season end.

The Vikings had a dramatic turnaround in the past two years under coach Kelly Allen, going from just five wins in six seasons before Allen took over to 6-3 last season and 10-2 this year.

After the game, Allen spoke with about his team and its accomplishments.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my boys,” he said.

But Allen added that his team’s miscues cost them a chance for an upset Saturday.

“You make mistakes against a great team, you can’t win a football game,” he said.

Allen pointed to the dropped pass in the end zone early in the game and the multiple interceptions — when Gold Beach didn’t have any turnovers — as the key points in the game.

But he added that he was proud Umatilla gave the Panthers a fight.

“Gold Beach had to play four quarters,” he said.

The Panthers expect the same next week against Regis.

Gold Beach beat the Rams in the second round last year.

“They’re a rival, for sure,” Moore said. “We’re going to come out shooting.”

Gold Beach and Regis play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Cottage Grove High School. The other Class 3A semifinal has Grant Union against Cascade Christian in a game to be played at Summit High School in Bend. Cascade Christian beat Rainier 23-14 on Saturday, while Grant Union topped Amity 21-14. Regis beat Willamina 33-0 Friday night.