ABERDEEN — In its first playoff appearance since 2012, No. 8 overall seed Priest River lost 42-12 to No. 1 overall seed Aberdeen on Saturday in a play-in game -in first round 3A.

Senior Sawyer Staudt scored both touchdowns for Priest River (6-3), which recorded its first winning season since 2013.

Aberdeen (8-1) advances to a state quarterfinal game next weekend against an opponent to be determined.

Aberdeen entered Saturday’s game allowing just 6.25 points per game, with four shutouts.

“Aberdeen are well-coached defensively and we knew that from the start,” Priest River coach Alex Zepeda said. “We were hoping to score a little more because we know we have a good attack, but we managed to score more than most teams, so that’s positive.”

With the 12 points, Priest River broke the all-time points record for a single season. The Spartans scored 288 points this year, four more than the previous record set in 2012.

Staudt, with 40 seconds left in the second quarter, scored on a 4-yard run to cap a 47-yard drive and cut the Tigers’ lead to 7-6. Sophomore Nate Fegert, who also made a huge stop for a 4-yard loss on a third down and two on Aberdeen’s first drive of the game, recovered a fumble with about four minutes left in the quarter to give the Spartans field position that ultimately led to the touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, now trailing 35-6, junior quarterback Lucas Mathews hit Staudt for an 11-yard touchdown with 5:11 left. Earlier in the same drive, Mathews, who was 11-of-19 passing for 107 yards, hit freshman Layton Goins for a 41-yard strike to set up the score.

With the touchdown, Staudt improved his touchdown total to 24 this season. He also broke the all-time Priest River season record set by Cameron Riley in 2012 of 1,139 yards. With his 37 rushing yards on Saturday, Staudt finished the season with 1,146 rushing yards.

Aberdeen rushed for six touchdowns and had 354 rushing yards.

Priest River was in the playoffs for the fifth time in school history.

“Considering the step we took this year, having a JV schedule last year and only winning two games over a five-year span the year before, that’s huge for Priest River,” said Zepeda. “Of course we’re disappointed that we wanted to win it all, and especially today, but it was huge for our program. I’m super excited to get back there this offseason. We’re a super young team and the future is radiant for us.”

Priests River 0 6 0 6 — 12

Aberdeen 0 14 8 20 — 42

Second trimester

AB — Alvarez 5 run (good kick), 8:57

PR — Staudt execution 4 (conversion failed), 0:40

AB — Shackelford run 2 (good kick), 0:06

Third trimester

AB – Shackelford Passage 2 (Beck conversion), 9:00 a.m.

Fourth trimester

AB — Shackelford 4 execution (failed conversion), 11:20 a.m.

AB — Beck run 2 (good kick), 6:44

PR — Staudt 11 pass from Mathews (failed conversion), 5:11

AB — Alvarez 1 run (good kick), 3:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: PR — Staudt 9-37, Fegert 7-21, Goins 1-10, Kuprienko 3-6. AB – Shackelford 10-111, Beck 13-84, Ortiz 11-83, Alvarez 7-45, Foster 3-15, Jenkins 2-8, Driscoll 1-4, Serna Carillo 1-4.

PASSAGE: PR — Mathews 11-19-1-107. AB — Ortiz 1-3-0-20.

RECEIVING: PR — Goins 1-41, Staudt 5-36, S. Simcox 1-19, L. Simcox 1-6, Lamanna 2-5, Kuprienko 1-0. AB — Serna Carillo 1-20.

JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Priest River sophomore returning Colton Kuprienko stiff-arms Aberdeen’s Mitchell Elliott during Saturday’s 3A state playoff game in Aberdeen.