North Medford came alive in the second half to defeat rival South Medford in what was arguably the biggest Black and Blue Bowl since Medford High School was divided in the middle of the 1980s.
At Spiegelberg Stadium, the two teams’ shared home field, the Black Tornado defeated the Panthers 31–13 on Saturday thanks to two touchdown passes from Traeger Healy and two touchdown rushes from Cameron Nix.
North Medford hasn’t won a trophy at the end of the season since 1993. Additionally, it’s the second consecutive year that South Medford loses in the state championships (they lost to Sunset in the Columbia Cup finals previous year).
More Oregon high school sports
-
Adrian has two 200-yard rushers, routs North Douglas for Class 1A (8-player) state championship
-
Reser s Tournament of Champions wrestling event moving to Sherwood High School
-
Powers heats up in the second half, beats Harper Charter for 6-player state title
From the beginning, the game was a defensive contest. Bridger Foss’ 3-yard run gave South Medford the lead early on.
In response, Nix ran a 9-yard touchdown for North Medford.
However, aside from the two goals, the defenders were controlling Saturday’s game, as the clubs remained locked 7–7 at the break.
The Black Tornado took their first lead of the evening when Healy connected Teagan Neron for a 2-yard touchdown pass to start the second half.
On the subsequent drive, however, South Medford replied with a 16-yard run from Kellen Lefebvre.
Late in the third quarter, Healy found Easton Curtis for a 22-yard touchdown throw, marking the beginning of North Medford’s takeover. The Black Tornado then took a 28–13 lead as Cameron Nix scored on a 50-yard rush.
Colton Miller’s chip-shot field goal with just over five minutes remaining gave the Black Tornado a 31–13 advantage.
The game on Saturday was the first time the new format for the Class 6A state championship was used. The primary Class 6A state championship, currently known as the Class 6A open championship, was not the title that the Medford teams competed for on Saturday.
The top 12 teams in the OSAA’s final standings participated in the open championship bracket this fall. Teams in the bottom bracket, which the OSAA referred to as the Class 6A state championship bracket, were seeded 13–28. At 13 and 14, respectively, South Medford and North Medford were the top two seeds in the state championship tournament.
The Columbia Cup has been comparable to the state championship that North Medford won on Saturday for the last two seasons.
The game was a replay of the two teams’ yearly Black and Blue Bowl. In the game, South Medford defeated the Black Tornado 33-30.
Additionally, this is the first postseason meeting between the two bitter teams.
Sign up for the newsletter from High School Sports+.
To receive high school sports editor Nik Streng’s unique news and perspectives, sign up here.
–Nik Streng investigates Oregon high school athletics. You may contact him at @NikStreng or [email protected].
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
