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Monday, November 18, 2019
The Observer
Sweet revenge for La Grande
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
In one fell swoop, the La
Grande Tigers got revenge
for the loss that knocked
them out of the playoffs a
year ago and picked up the
program’s biggest victory in
four decades.
Nathan Reed rushed for
188 yards and two touch-
downs and the Tiger defense
held Gladstone to just 158
total yards as La Grande
shut out the Gladiators in
a defensive slugfest, 14-0,
Friday night at Community
Stadium.
“The boys played phenom-
enally. I couldn’t be prouder
of them,” head coach Rich
McIlmoil said. “We came
out, battled the whole game,
had a few hiccups, but we
managed to overcome the
adversity. Super proud of the
offensive line. They domi-
nated the game.”
The victory sends La
Grande (10-0 overall) to the
state semifinals for the first
time since 1976, when the
Tigers beat Lake Oswego in
the quarterfinal round, 7-0.
La Grande’s other semi-
final appearances came in
1944, 1949 and 1974, with
the latter the year the Tigers
claimed the program’s lone
state title.
“(It was) a long time ago.
And that’s why it’s such an
accomplishment for these
boys. We haven’t seen it in
East
ag
Ronald Bond/The Observer
La Grande running back Nathan Reed, right, carries the ball during the third quarter Friday night against Gladstone. Reed had 188 yards and two
touchdowns as the Tigers knocked off the Gladiators, 14-0, to avenge a loss from a year ago and reach the state semifinals.
a long time,” McIlmoil said.
“They’ve done a great job.”
The win also avenged
Gladstone’s last-second
30-27 win in the quarter-
finals a year ago. In that
game, kicker Mateo Burgos
connected on a 47-yard field
goal as time expired to lift
Gladstone to the victory.
La Grande was deter-
mined not to let it come
down to a late kick this time.
“We’ve been working our
butts off all year, and find-
ing out (last week) we got
another redemption shot at
these guys (was) awesome,”
LHS quarterback Parker
Robinson said. “We had a
little bit of a chip on our
shoulders.”
After two early inter-
ceptions by Robinson, La
Grande relied solely on the
ground game, with Reed
and Robinson as the main
catalysts behind a dominant
offensive line, to get on the
See Tigers / Page 10A
Last-second stop
lifts EOU to win
Tomas Carradero photo
The Eastern Oregon women’s soccer team celebrates Friday in Springfield as the players are handed the trophy for
winning the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament title. EOU defeated Rocky Mountain, 2-1.
Women’s soccer claims CCC
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Even though the Eastern Oregon
University women’s soccer team en-
tered Friday’s Cascade Collegiate Con-
ference tournament title match likely to
earn a bid to the NAIA national tourna-
ment regardless of the outcome, Jenna
Jensen didn’t want to leave any doubt.
Jensen scored what proved to be the
winning goal in the 60th minute — just
one minute after Rocky Mountain had
tied the score — and EOU won the
CCC tournament for the second time
in three years, holding off the Battlin’
Bears, 2-1, Friday in the championship
match in Springfield to earn an auto-
matic NAIA bid.
“I was not ready to give up. It’s my
senior year. I did not want that to be
my last game, and I did what I could,”
Jensen said. “I didn’t want to rely on (a
possible at-large bid), because there’s
still a chance we wouldn’t have gotten
it.”
The victory sends Eastern into the
national tournament — it will learn
where and who it plays during an
NAIA selection show today — with
momentum, as EOU (15-2-2 overall) is
on a six-match winning streak.
“We had a really good tournament.
All three games the ladies battled and
played well, responded when they
needed to, (and) set the tone when they
needed to,” head coach Jacob Plocher
said.
Junior forward Morgan Farrington
noted that a different player scored
each of the team’s six goals in the tour-
nament, which pointed to the balance
the team has on offense.
“It shows how versatile our bench
is and how great we are. You can’t just
mark one player,” she said.
The Mountaineers set the tone right
away Friday, with Nan Kiebert scoring
her 12th goal of the season just 59 sec-
onds into the match for an early lead.
EOU outshot Rocky 17-7 on the
afternoon, and 7-1 in the first half, but
was unable to extend the margin. The
Mountaineers faced a challenge when
Lauryn Gamache, the CCC co-offensive
player of the year, scored her 17th goal
See Soccer / Page 8A
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Eastern Oregon’s Kaler Moore scores the first of his
two touchdowns Saturday against Carroll College.
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Tomas Carradero photo
Eastern Oregon’s Jenna Jensen,
right, scored the eventual game-
winning goal in the CCC title match.
Running back Victor
Dias spent most of his final
game in an Eastern Oregon
University uniform watch-
ing from the sidelines after
reaggravating a knee injury
he had suffered last week
against Rocky Mountain
College.
He got the opportunity,
though, to take the kneel
down on the final play of
the game as EOU sent its
seniors out with a win and
built momentum for the
offseason.
“It’s one way to honor him.
He was a hard runner for
us and a great leader,” EOU
head coach Tim Camp said.
The biggest honor for
Eastern’s 15 seniors was
that they went out with a
victory.
The Mountaineers
mounted two lengthy
fourth-quarter drives to
rally for the lead, then
got a stop on a two-point
conversion when defensive
back Eric Prom broke up a
would-be tying pass with
eight seconds to play to hold
on for a 28-26 victory over
No. 22 Carroll College Sat-
urday in their season finale
at Community Stadium.
“It feels great,” Prom, a
senior. “The whole time we
kept harping on finishing
games playing a whole four
See Football / Page 10A