Two years ago, Gold Beach dominated Vale in the state title game, handing the Vikings a 42-0 setback and keeping the school from adding to its 10 state championships in the sport.

The teams cross paths again Saturday at Vale in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs.

Gold Beach coach Kevin Swift knows that Vale coach Jeff Jacobs, his good friend, would love to avenge that defeat.

“I am fully aware this is a payback game,” Swift said Thursday. “Like any good warrior, I’m going to give him a shot.”

Jacobs openly admitted this week that he would love to get back at the Panthers, and said his players are motivated by the fear of what happened two years ago at Hillsboro Stadium.

“Many of us in the program have never been through anything like that,” he said. “We didn’t like that feeling that we left Hillsboro with.”

With two teams that are very similar, Saturday’s game could come down to miscues.

Vale loves to run the ball, with two backs — Jeff Williams and Drew Torrey, who share carries.

“We try not to wear them out,” Jacobs said. “They’re very productive.”

Vale quarterback Kyle Barras, a junior in his second year as the starter, will throw to five or six teammates.

“He’s made gigantic gains this season,” Jacobs said. “We’ve asked him to do a lot of things. His biggest improvement is in the passing game.

“We have several good receivers. We don’t bank on one.”

Swift doesn’t expect No. 3 Vale to pass the ball much Saturday. Nobody would have expectedGold Beach to, either, before the seventh-ranked Panthers used the passing game to beat Willamina in the first round of the playoffs last weekend.

“I don’t like to throw, but I like losing even less,” said Swift, who had junior quarterback Josh Busko throw 13 passes in the victory.

The Panthers still are a run-first team out of their option attack, with Busko, Travis Smith, Travis Wood and Hugo Rosa getting the bulk of the carries. The team has earned the respect of Jacobs.

“They run their offense to perfection,” he said.

But he added that theme is consistent on both sides of the ball for Gold Beach.

“They’re disciplined and methodical in their approach,” Jacobs said. “They’re banking on the other team making mistakes, and they capitalize.”

Swift had similar thoughts about the Vikings.

“They are a whole lot like us,” he said, adding that neither team has real stars like the Panthers and Vikings have been blessed with in the past. “They’re a blue-collar team that doesn’t turn the ball over and doesn’t make a lot of penalties and plays good defense.”

The game likely will be decided by which team makes fewer mistakes or is better prepared mentally.

“It comes down to the kids and how they perform,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, we would love to win. I know it’s going to be a difficult task. I imagine the best team will win Saturday.

“When you get to this stage, a lot of it is how rested, how healthy are the kids and if your team is more mentally ready.”

To battle travel fatigue, the Panthers turned the trip across the state into a two-day venture (see related story). And Swift said his team has remained healthy while a second run of cold and flu has made its way through the high school.

“If my kids show up and play ball, we’ll be fine,” Swift said. “If his kids show up and play ball, they’ll be fine. If both teams show up and play ball, it will come down to the two coaches.”

And Swift said both he and Jacobs are capable of winning and losing the game.

“They are very, very good,” he said. “They are not unbeatable. We’re very, very good, we’re not unbeatable.”

Swift would love to win, of course, especially for this group of kids that is absent the stars of the past few seasons.

“(That would) show the team is greater than the individual,” he said, adding it would be a feather in the cap for the kids after all their hard work and dedication.

“Win or lose, I am so proud of these kids,” Swift said. “They’re really a bunch of no-namers.

“Everybody in my community didn’t give them a chance. They talked about rebuilding. These kids just refused to hear that kind of stuff.

“If you believe in yourselves and work hard enough, good things can happen.”