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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Bulldogs rolling into Redmond Hermiston hitting its stride, looking for more By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer HERMISTON — Friday night was a coming-out party for the Hermiston Bulldogs. The team pounded the Bend Lava Bears, who pre- viously had just one loss, by a 28-7 score to claim sole possession of the second spot in Special District 1 and clinched a playoff spot in do- ing so. Hermiston was able to do so by straying away from its normal pass-heavy offensive blueprint, running the ball 44 times for 257 yards and three touchdowns while only throwing it 24 times for 195 yards. This week, Hermiston (4-3, 4-1 SD1) embarks on another tough test as it will hop on a bus for the second straight week and take the 202 mile trip back to central Oregon to battle the Red- mond Panthers. Redmond (3-4, 3-2) is coming off of perhaps its best game of the season when they took the No. 1 Summit Storm to double overtime before the Storm ended up with the 41- 35 victory. SCOUTING REDMOND For the third straight week, the Hermiston de- fense will face a run-heavy team as Redmond averages 343 rushing yards and 78 passing yards and 39 points per game with a well-bal- anced offense. Following the irst six games (stats including the Week 7 game were not available), ive Panther players had more than 30 total carries, led by senior quarterback Bunker Parrish with 94 and senior running back Cooger Smith with 69. That duo also combines for more than 1,100 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in six games. The defensive side of the football has proved to be the Panthers Achilles’ heel, where they give up an aver- age of 31 points per game, and have given up more than 40 against Silverton, Bend, and Summit — all losses. KEYS FOR HERMISTON LIGHTS OUT DE- FENSE: In Hermiston’s current three game win streak, a gigantic key has been the increased play by the Bulldogs defense. Af- ter giving up 124 points through the irst four games, the Bulldogs have allowed a mere 13 points over the three-game span. Against Bend, Hermis- ton’s defense held the Lava Bears to just 193 yards of total offense and held Bend scoreless until late in the third quarter. The improve- ment for Hermiston all started with the front seven, with linemen Bradlee Gius- ti and Ty Knutz, and line- backers John-Henry Line and Brady Christianson ex- celling in pass rushing and stopping the run. Hermiston will need an- other strong game to extend the winning streak to four games on Friday. JAMES TO NEAL CONNECTION: Andrew James and Dayshawn Neal have solidiied themselves as one of the top quarter- back-wide receiver duos in the state, as Neal has hauled in 11 of James’ 17 touchdown passes and 714 of the team’s 1,615 passing yards — or 44 percent of the total. Neal has caught a touch- down pass in all but one game he has played in this season, with the lone game being Hermiston’s loss at Lewiston (ID) in Week 2 when he totaled three catch- es for 47 yards. Hermiston did not utilize the passing game much against Bend, throwing it 24 times for 195 yards, but Neal still totaled 109 receiving yards on four catches — headlined by a 63 yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. KEEP THE HINKLE HORSE RUNNING: Even with the passing game suc- cess, Hermiston’s offense has been at its best when the running game is going strong, predominately be- hind the senior Jonathan Hinkle. Over the past ive games all in league play, Hinkle has tallied 443 rush- ing yards on 72 carries for an average of more than 6.1 yards per carry. Hinkle gets great accel- See BULLDOGS, A9 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s Brady Christiansen (10), Ty Knutz and Bradlee Giusti wrap up Ridgeview’s Logan Green in the Bulldogs’ 54-0 win against the Ravens on Friday, Oct. 8 in Hermiston. Hermiston pounds Bend Hermiston Herald The Hermiston Bulldogs continued their recent dominance on Friday night with a big 28-7 victory over the Bend Lava Bears at Punk Hunnel Stadium in Special District 1 action. Hermiston (4-3, 4-1 SD1) surprised the Lava Bears (5-2, 3-2) and leaned heavily on the ground game on Fri- day, combining for 257 yards on 44 carries (5.8 yard average) with three touchdowns. It was perhaps the team’s best showing of the season in that de- partment, as Andrew James, Jonathan Hinkle, and Peter Earl were able to knife their way through the Lava Bear defense with relative ease for the ma- jority of the game. Hermiston’s offense picked up where it left off against Ridgeview in the irst quarter Friday, scoring irst in the game when James sprinted through the Lava Bear defense 49 yards into the end zone for the 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs found the end zone again on the ground when Jonathan Hinkle bullied his way in from 16 yards out to put Hermiston on top 14-0 with 6:44 to play in the second quarter. Hinkle ended the game with 103 rushing yards on 15 carries to go with his score. Later in the second quarter, Herm- iston was facing a third down and long from deep in its own territory when James dropped back and tossed a long pass towards his favorite tar- get, Dayshawn Neal. Neal was able to get some separation from the Bend defender to make the catch and then outran the Lava Bears all the way to the end zone for a 64 yard score to put Hermiston up 21-0 right before half- time. With so much success in the run game, James had a rather quiet game passing with 195 yards on 12-24 com- pletions, with Neal catching four of his passes for 109 yards. James did inish the game with 114 rushing yards on 15 carries. The Bulldogs third rushing touch- down and inal score of the game came with 3:47 left in the fourth quarter, when John-Henry Line plunged in from one yard out to put Hermiston up 28-7. Hermiston’s defense put forth an- other outstanding effort, holding the Lava Bears to just 193 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs defensive line was extremely active in the game, shooting gaps to stuff run plays and putting pressure on Bend quarter- back Chase Lettenmaier any time he dropped back for all of his 15 pass attempts, of which he completed just three for a mere 15 yards. Overall, the Bulldogs outgained Bend 452-193 in total offensive yard- age. Hermiston will now prepare for their second straight road game against a tough Redmond (3-4, 3-2) team that took the Summit Storm to double over- time on Friday before falling, 41-35. ——— HHS (4-3, 4-1) 7 14 0 7 — 28 BHS (5-2, 3-2) 0 0 7 0 — 7 Stats PASSING — Hermiston: A. James 12-24, 195, TD. Bend: C. Lettenmaier 3-14, 15. RUSHING — Hermiston: J. Hinkle 15-103, TD; A. James 15-114, TD; P. Earl 11-35; J. Line 3-5, TD. Bend: D. Bazan 21-133, TD; R. Stanley 4-52; C. Lettenmaier 4-(-10); C. Johnston 2-0; M. Davis 1-3. RECEIVING — Hermiston: D. Neal 4-109, TD; J. Ramirez 3-44; T. Salinas 2-17; T. Rohrman 1-11; J. Hinkle 1-4; P. Earl 1-0. Bend: D. Bazan 1-7; R. Stanley 2-8. PENALTIES — Hermiston 6-50. Bend 4-40. ‘Dam Run’ powers on despite soggy weather By TAMMY MALGESINI Community Editor Top inishers in Sat- urday’s Columbia River “Best Dam” Power Run included Joe Hodge of Hermiston, Rosa Holt of Stanield, Crispin Garza of Selah, Washington and Mary Renteria Castellanos of Hermiston. Held at McNary Lock and Dam near Umatilla, approximately 30 people braved soggy conditions to participate in the event. A fundraiser for Hermiston’s Agape House, $775 in reg- istration fees were collect- ed, said Executive Director Dave Hughes. Money will be used to help in providing services and programs to people in need. Expenses were minimal for the event, Hughes said, thanks to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who waived the facility use fee, and Eric Jensen of Eastern Oregon Sports Training, LLC, who provided race management and timing services free of charge. Finishers and their times: 10K - Male: Joe Hodge STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI ALL NEW 2017 CAMRYS IN STOCK Michelle Fain of Benton City leads a pack of runners up the hill during Saturday’s Columbia River “Best Dam” Power Run at McNary Lock and Dam near Umatilla. About 30 participants braved soggy conditions during the event, which raised money for Agape House in Hermiston. (Hermiston) 44:19; Hec- tor M. Garza (Umatilla) 45:08; Dan Winters (Pend- leton) 46:55; Jacob Zum- walt (Hermiston) 53:47; Buz Olson (Hermiston) 1:00:56 10K - Female: Rosa Holt (Stanield) 46:21; Emily Ernst (Herm- iston) 47:00; Marci Wat- tenburger (Hermiston) 57:51; Michelle Fain (Ben- ton City) 1:11:35; Ellay- nah Brown, 13, (Stanield) 1:17:46; Lily Volger, 13, (Echo) 1:17:48; Heath- er Demos (Hermiston) 1:21:16; Marilee Cottrell (Hermiston) 1:24:49 5K - Male: Crispin Garza (Selah, Washington) 22:20; Di- van Felton, 11, (Umatilla) 29:44; Dan Daltoso (Board- man) 30:11 See RUN, A9 $ 3,000 OFF MSRP ALL MODELS! 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