NORTH BEND — In a battle of two teams with no playoff hopes, but bright futures, Brookings-Harbor used a big fourth quarter to beat North Bend 39-22 on Friday in the season finale for both teams.

The teams were tied at 22 entering the fourth quarter, but the Bruins got a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions to pull out the win. Brookings-Harbor finished alone in fourth place in the Far West League at 2-3 while North Bend tied for fifth with South Umpqua at 1-5.

But with an unbeaten junior varsity season and a big number of returning players, the Bulldogs were excited about 2010.

“They’re going to be really good in the future because of this season,” said North Bend running back Cameron Seiger, one of 15 seniors for the Bulldogs.

For three quarters, the Bulldogs and Bruins played even, North Bend trading scoring drives with big-play touchdowns by Brookings-Harbor.

North Bend had appeared to gain momentum late in the third quarter when the Bulldogs forced a fumble on a fourth-and-one play and Nick Garcia recovered to stop a drive by the Bruins at North Bend’s 11-yard line.

But the Bulldogs were forced to punt and then had consecutive bad breaks. A long punt by Dalton Iveans was called back because of a North Bend penalty, and on the second try, the kick by Iveans deflected off the back of one of his blockers, giving the Bruins possession at North Bend’s 29.

Brookings-Harbor capitalized, with Derek Chavez pushing his way across the goal line for a go-ahead score with 10:36 to go in the game.

North Bend drove into Brookings-Harbor’s territory, but on a third-down play, Dustin Paradis stepped in front of North Bend fullback Kai Johnson for a key interception with 5:31 to go.

The Bruins moved down field with the rushing of Paradis and Chavez before Chavez scored from 4 yards out with 2:23 to go.

On North Bend’s first play after that score, Iveans was intercepted by Brendan Speakman, ending any hopes for the Bulldogs.

The end of that play resulted in a scary moment. Speakman and North Bend’s Nathan Leman collided, leaving Leman lying on the turf on his back. He eventually was carted off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital for precautionary measures.

In a showing of support for their  injured teammate, the North Bend players formed two lines for the stretcher to go through on the way to the ambulance while the crowd clapped and the band played the fight song.

Earlier in the game, North Bend’s Cody Harden also went to the hospital with an elbow injury.

After a long break for Leman’s injury, Brookings-Harbor’s Jose Munoz ended the scoring with a 25-yard field goal.

The big fourth quarter capped a good first season for the Bruins under new coach Vince Longo.

“I’m very excited for next year,” said Chavez, who will be back, along with Paradis and fellow tailback Tyler Lueckfeld.

The Bruins went from a winless campaign in 2008 to four wins this fall, punctuated by their big night against the Bulldogs.

Longo was pleased with how his team responded after having its playoff hopes dashed in a loss to Siuslaw last week.

“I’m so proud of the kids for not giving up,” he said.

They bounced back with a great game.

“Everyone just executed,” said Chavez, who finished with 168 yards rushing on 20 carries. “It was a perfect way to end the season.”

Paradis rushed for 223 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown run on a counter on the first play from scrimmage, when he cut through the middle of the line, broke a tackle and found himself in the clear.

In the second quarter Chavez had a 50-yard touchdown run and Paradis a 49-yard scoring dash, when he appeared bottled up on the sideline and then broke free.

Paradis also capped a last-minute drive with a 21-yard field goal that gave the Bruins a 22-14 halftime lead.

North Bend had countered the Bruins’ touchdowns with two scores of its own. Iveans capped a  drive with a 1-yard keeper up the middle and later connected with Jackson Stump on a 17-yard score early in the second quarter. The tall junior reached out to snare the pass from Iveans with both hands on a crossing pattern.

After Paradis scored, North Bend appeared ready to grab the lead back, but the Bruins forced a fumble and Lueckfeld recovered on a first-and-goal play with 2:07 remaining in the half.

Brookings-Harbor then moved down the field on an efficient 12-play drive to set up the field goal by Paradis.

North Bend tied the score on the first drive of the second half, when Kai Johnson scored on a short run and Iveans completed a conversion pass to Seiger.

But the Bruins prevailed with the late turnovers and scores.

Before the interceptions, Iveans was having his best night passing, completing 9 of his first 13 passes. He finished the night 10-for-17 for 139 yards and also rushed 15 times for 61 yards. Johnson led the team with 98 yards.

North Bend coach Rick Taylor was proud of his senior quarterback’s effort.

“Dalton’s kicking himself around,” Taylor said. “He’s a warrior. He’s a great kid. He works so hard out there.”

The difference in the game was the Bruins’ ability to run the ball, Taylor said.

“I think Brookings has a good team,” he said. “We saw that all week long in the film. They’ve had some close games. They’ve hurt themselves defensively. They’ve hurt themselves with turnovers. They’ve moved the ball. They’ve got three great backs.”

Paradis, Chavez and Lueckfeld combined for 419 yards on 42 carries.

“They were strong and they came off the line well,” Taylor said. “That’s the key to football games.”

In North Bend’s losses to Sutherlin, Siuslaw and the Bruins, that was the difference this season.

“We’ve usually been pretty good against the run,” Taylor said. “This year we had some games that were rough on us.”

That should give the team plenty of momentum to hit the weight room, he said.

“We’ll get stronger in the offseason,” he said. “The guys we have are those kinds of kids. They really want that.”

Junior Brian Mattecheck already was looking ahead to next year.

“We’re going to put this season behind us, work all summer and come back and hit them hard,” he said.

Despite the loss, North Bend’s players were pleased with their effort.

“I can’t say that we didn’t try,” Seiger said. “We played hard. It just didn’t turn out in our favor.”