A pass intended for Tucker Wright (in black) goes uncaught as he gets pressure from Joseph's Dylan Rogers during a state semifinal game on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Hermiston.

HERMISTON — Joseph scored twice on big pass plays in the first quarter and cruised to a 33-19 victory Saturday, Nov. 18, over top-ranked Prairie City/Burnt River in the 1A six-man semifinals at Kennison Stadium.

“This is incredible,” Joseph coach Damian Huff said. “We talked about it all year. They were mentally ready. It was a big moment for them.”

Prairie City (7-2), which was looking for its third trip to the title game, and first since 1990, fell short despite a strong game from Maison Teel, who ran for 119 yards.

“It’s not what we had drawn up,” Prairie City coach Nick Thompson said. “A couple of plays in the first half didn’t go our way. They had us scouted. It was a good game.”

It’s the first trip to the championship game since 2008 for Joseph (9-1), which will play Echo at 2 p.m. on Nov. 25 at Hermiston High School for the state title. The Cougars beat Elkton 34-19.

“That was the plan,” Joseph’s Kellen Crenshaw said of reaching the finals. “We wanted to set the tone early and hit them hard on defense. It was an everybody effort. This is a first for this team. It’s a lot of fun.”

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and needed just four plays to find the end zone as Kane Johnson found his center Crenshaw for a 54-yard touchdown pass just 1:13 into the game.

Johnson and Crenshaw hooked up once more as time expired in the first quarter, this time on a 65-yard pass to take a 14-6 lead.

“That thing called momentum is a hard hurdle to get over when you are on the other side,” Thompson said. “Hats off to them. They earned that win.”

The Panthers scored between the touchdowns as Joseph fumbled the ball deep in its own end and Prairie City’s Caden Howard picked up the ball and took it into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.

Prairie City pulled to within two to make it 14-12 with 19 seconds left in the first half as Tucker Wright bulled his way into the end zone from 1 yard out.

Joseph used the final seconds of the half to its favor, capping the three-play drive with a 58-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Jaxon Grover as time expired for a 20-12 lead at intermission.

Prairie City turned the ball over on downs on its two possessions of the third quarter, while Joseph scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Zander Walker to Grover for a 26-12 lead.

The Eagles put the final nail in the victory with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jesse Larison with 5:26 left to play.

The Panthers scored the final touchdown of the game — a 7-yard scoring pass from Wes Voigt to Trey Brown.

Crenshaw finished the game with four catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns, along with 13 tackles.

“He is crazy tough,” Huff said of Crenshaw. “We have had opposing coaches call him soft, but he hits hard and low.”

Johnson threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns, while Walker ran for 55 yards and had nine tackles.

While Teel ran for most of the Panthers’ 137 yards, the Eagles were able to hold him out of the end zone.

“Prairie City runs the ball well, and their two backs are hard to stop,” Huff said. “Maison is athletic. We told Gavin (Russell) he had to find him and keep him in the backfield.”