ADAIR VILLAGE - With the PacWest Conference championship on the line, visiting Regis came out and left no doubt about who was the better team.

The Rams took a 37-0 victory to go to 7-0 (9-1 overall) and take the No. 1 seed in the conference.

Senior tailback Jason Gower ran for 209 yards on nine carries while scoring three of the Rams' touchdowns.

Santiam Christian got 66 yards on the ground from Matt Scruggs in the first half but the junior running back was injured on his 22nd carry late in the second quarter and missed the rest of the game.

After Scruggs went down, so did the Eagles' offense as SC turned the ball over on downs nine times, with four drives ending inside the Regis 30.

The Rams muffed four handoffs in the game, with Santiam Christian falling on two of the fumbles, but the Eagles failed to capitalize deep in their opponent's territory.

"I don't know how many times we got into the red zone. We certainly had our opportunities," said first-year Santiam Christian head coach Dave Lange. "It was an inopportune time to have a bad game."

Lange thinks that the loss of Scruggs early in the game hurt his team's chances.

"(Scruggs) was frustrated that he was out," added Lange. "We're not real deep being a 3A school but we showed some toughness tonight. This team has a lot of character. They are just good kids and it's hard not to root for them. We win together and we lose together."

Scruggs has no doubt that he will be back next week to help his team win at Cascade Christian in the opening round of the state playoffs.

"Heart is all I can say. This team has heart," said Scruggs after the game while getting helped to the locker room.

"We are going to come out hard, practice hard and we are going to win."

Santiam Christian, the PacWest No. 2 seed, will travel to Jacksonville next week to face the Challengers, the No. 2 seed from the Sunset Conference.

Regis will host the Sunset Conference No. 4 seed next week.

Regis 37, Santiam Christian 0

Regis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7 9 14 - 37

Santiam Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 0 0 0 - 0

First quarter

R: Jason Gower 71 run (Piete kick) 7:31

Second quarter

R: Derek Piete 17 run (Piete kick) 7:53

Third quarter

R: Gower 6 pass from Bochsler (Piete kick) 7:11

R: Safety 2:24

Fourth quarter

R: Mark Nielson 44 interception return (Piete kick) 11:35

R: Gower 94 run (Piete kick) 5:52

Individual statistics

Rushing: Regis 33-299; Gower 9-209, Webb 6-42, Piete 6-24, Pesch 4-17, Bochsler 3-12, Lulay 1-10, Olheiser 1-(-2). Santiam Christian 41-93, Scruggs 22-66, Hellesto 9-25, Mason 4-11, Kessi 2-7, Hansen 2-(1).

Passing: Regis, Dylan Bochsler 6-13-0-56. Santiam Christian, Brian Kessi 7-32-2-55.

Receiving: Regis 6-56, Gower 2-29, Piete 2-15, Nielson 1-9, Webb 1-3. Santiam Christian 7-55, Hansen 3-40, Howerton 1-10, Mason 1-5, Scruggs 1-0; Herrold 1-0.