North Bend quarterback Dalton Iveans hands the ball to fullback Jake Lucero during the Bulldogs’ win over La Salle Prep last week. World Photo by Madeline Steege.

When the North Bend football team travels to Astoria to face the No. 2, undefeated Fishermen Friday, the Bulldogs likely will face the most dangerous athlete they’ve seen this season.

Astoria senior quarterback Jordan Poyer is a three-year offensive player of the year in the Cowapa League, and this season he also was named the league’s top defensive player as a safety.

The real problem for North Bend will be figuring out how to contain Poyer when he has the ball — Poyer has fast legs to go with a great arm, approaching 1,500 yards in both running and passing this season.

“A lot of times you see a good quarterback who you want to make so some other thing than what he does well. When he runs and passes well, the ‘other’ isn’t there,” said North Bend coach Rick Taylor. “If you man up... he runs the ball. If you zone him he sits back and picks apart the zone, finds holes and torches you that way.”

Poyer is buoyed by a strong supporting cast, one that he’s led to an 11-0 season. Split end Marcus Brown and wide receiver Alex Eterno (both Cowapa first-team selections), along with split end Willie Einerson (second team) will be dangerous against a Bulldog secondary that’s been shaky at times this year.

The Fishermen front line is led by first-team guard Nick Gardner, but if North Bend has an advantage Friday it’s on the line. Astoria has a young group, while the Bulldogs have been beating up the competition in the trenches all season with an imposing, physical and experienced line that includes: Trae Collins, a first-team lineman both ways and the Far West League’s defensive MVP; first-team offensive and defensive lineman Justin Tobey; first-team center Kyle Rose; and second-team selections Brandon Huber and Austin Hensley.

“Like most games, if we can try to contain their front six or seven, however many guys they put up in the box, that’s going to be critical for us. They look really good up front,” said Fishermen coach Howard Rub. “If we can give some of our skill guys some time, we’ll be in a good spot. If we’re having all kinds of match-up problems up front, it’ll be a different story.

“I’m not sure anybody can compare to this North Bend line.”

Astoria hasn’t been challenged often this year, if the scoreboard is any indication. The Fishermen have scored 45-plus points the past seven games in a row, and the closest game for Astoria was a 26-7 victory over Cottage Grove Sept. 9. Ranked teams haven’t slowed the Fishermen down much; Astoria defeated No. 6 Banks 46-26 and beat No. 8 Estacada 35-13. North Bend sat in a tie for No. 10 to end the season.

Taylor said he thinks the Bulldogs need to keep Astoria under 30 points to stay in the ballgame.

“Historically in these quarterfinals games, the scores are high. Most of the people that get to this point are good scoring teams,” said Taylor. “I think what we need to do is stop them a few times, hopefully get them to experience some things they haven’t seen — have them not finish a drive.

“I think we’re more than capable than scoring 30 points on most teams. We’d like to keep them under that.”

Taylor said it’s been a great week of practice, and the Bulldogs have avoided the end-of-season football fatigue that sometimes plagues high school squads. After what’s been a solid week of practice, said Taylor, the team is ready to make the long trek north and compete against a strong team.

“It’s been a great week. I think the teams that often times play the longest are the ones that want to be playing,” said Taylor. “I think (the players) are enjoying the season.”