The Quilcene Rangers advanced to the semifinals of the Washington state 1B football playoffs after a come-from-behind 51-28 win against the Winlock Cardinals Saturday in Sammamish.

The Rangers now face defending state champions Odessa in a matchup in Moses Lake on Nov. 27.

Odessa (10-1, 7-1 league) is riding a five-game winning streak and advanced to the semifinal game by dispatching Liberty Bell 62-22.

The last time the Rangers met the Tigers was in the 2018 state semifinals, and Odessa dominated from start to finish, winning 65-6 on their way to the state title.

Quilcene Coach Trey Beathard noted the daunting challenge the Rangers will once again face against the Tigers.

Odessa Head Coach Jeff Nelson led his team to back-to-back state titles in 8-man football in 2019 and 2018. And before that, as coach for Lacrosse-Washtucna, he racked up five state championships in seven seasons.

“Their kids are super, super well-coached. So they are hard to beat. They hardly ever make a mistake,” Beathard said.

Quilcene advanced to the semifinals on a 9-1 record, and went 4-0 in the Sea-Tac League play.

No matter. The Rangers will need to win this next one pretty much on the field.

“I’m just going to be honest with you; I have really great assistants but my kids are going to have to be better for us to win. I’m not going to outcoach that guy,” Beathard said of Nelson.

For years now, Beathard added, the state powerhouses in 1B play have been Odessa and Neah Bay.

“The coaching staffs at both of those schools know what they are doing. They are just really good,” he said.

Beathard said he hadn’t yet seen the Tigers on film. That will change this week, when he gets a look at Odessa’s last three games.

“It’s been a long time. I don’t know exactly how they are - but I know how they are going to be coached. Which is - it’s going to be great,” he said.

The Rangers themselves got a bit of an early test in the 1B state quarterfinals last Saturday in Sammamish.

Quilcene jumped out to a 7-0 advantage after a five-play drive set up by three long carries by Bishop Budnek that culminated with a 22-yard touchdown reception by Ashton Johnston at the 10:02 mark, followed by the point-after by Isaiah Reimann.

The Cardinals answered four minutes later with a pass and touchdown run along the far sideline by Winlock’s Payton Sickles to bring the score to 7-6.

Winlock scored again to take the lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the second quarter on a touchdown reception by Collin Regalado to move in front, 12-7.

The Rangers were kept scoreless in the second stanza and entered the locker room still trailing by five.

Quilcene regained the lead after Budnek punched it in from the 2-yard line with 9:02 to play in the third, and he tacked on two more with a carry into the end zone for the 2-point conversion for a 15-12 Ranger lead.

A fumble by the Cardinals on their own 29-yard line with the Rangers recovering set up Quilcene’s next touchdown, an 8-yard run by Budnek that pushed the score to 21-12 with 7:26 left to play in the quarter. The 2-point try came up short.

Bishop scored his third of five touchdowns on a three-play drive that started with an 11-yard return by Kevin Alejo at the 32-yard line.

Alejo got the call on the next play and squeezed out three more yards for the Rangers.

Budnek got the handoff on the next play and rumbled 54 yards for the score, putting Quilcene up 27-12 with 4:59 to play.

Budnek rushed for the 2-point try to make it 29-12.

The Rangers scored again a little more than 2 minutes later when Budnek scored on a carry from the 14-yard line that put the score at 37-12 and prompted a cry of “You’re an animal, Bishop!” from a Quilcene fan in the stands.

The two-point conversion pumped up the Ranger advantage to 37-12 with 2:38 left in the quarter.

The Cardinals’ scoring drought ended when Nolan Swofford pulled in a 46-yard toss to the right sideline and took it the distance to close the gap to 37-18. Winlock scored two more after faking the point-after kick to pull to 37-20 with 18 seconds left in the quarter.

The Rangers outscored the Cardinals 14-8 in the final quarter to walk away with the win.

Budnek finished with 33 carries for 337 yards.

“Bishop is super good. He’s super good,” Beathard said.

He led the team in scoring with 30 points on five touchdowns and four 2-point conversions.

The Rangers finished with 451 rushing yards, with Alejo adding 70 yards on nine carries.

Kutler had five carries for 29 yards and added a 14-yard rushing touchdown to the Ranger offense.

Quarterback Nate Kieffer finished with 1-of-6 completions, with a touchdown pass, and Jayden Love also saw action in his first quarterfinal appearance with two carries for 17 yards.

Deakon Budnek led the Ranger defense with 12 solo tackles and 13 assisted tackles, prompting Beathard to note: “In the eight years I’ve been at Quilcene, that is the most tackles in a game.”

Johnston added seven tackles, including two for a loss, while Alejo added nine total tackles and an interception.

Love had one solo tackle and one assisted for Quilcene.