Page 2B
East Oregonian
DAWGS: In need of a win
Continued from 1B
As important as momentum
changing plays are, Faaeteete will
tell you it simply comes down to
playing fundamental football.
The boys need to be in the
right spot every play, tackling
well, forcing those turnovers, he
continued. While Fernandez did
notched his fi rst inception of the
season against Mountain View,
the other fundamentals including
good, tight coverage when
playing man and good funneling
when playing zone were missing.
Hermiston allowed Mountain
View to run up and down the
fi eld for a total of 333 yards on
49 carries. The Cougars had 406
passing yards on 73 completions,
and 12 fi rst downs. If Bledsoe
records those type of numbers
Friday, then Hermiston will have
another long trip back.
Summit’s X-factor comes from
it’s culture.
“They expect to win when they
take the fi eld,” Faaeteete said.
“After that state championship,
it’s what they have been doing.”
While the Storm has turned
that expectation into a reality,
Pendleton proved that any team
— even one that hasn’t gotten off
the best start — can challenge it.
Hermiston’s key will be fi nally
fi nding its offensive rhythm.
Junior quarterback Andrew
James has all the potential to be a
true dual-threat QB. He’s leading
the team in rushing yards, 383 on
59 carries, and has racked up 428
yards in the air. But his 46-percent
completion rate needs much
improvement.
“What’s missing is his timing
is off,” Faaeteete said. “He’s just
looking to run because guys drop
balls or we don’t complete the
pass or we jump offsides — we’re
just out of rhythm and that’s pretty
much it. If we can get offensive
rhythm going, then he will be
better but until we can establish
that, it is going to be hard.”
With the keys to success at
Hermiston’s disposal, the 7 p.m.
match up has the potential to be
every bit as exciting as a playoff
game. It’s just going to be a matter
of whether or not the Bulldogs can
execute for the full 48 minutes.
————
Contact Alexis at aman-
sanarez@eastoregonian.com or
541- 564-4542. Follow her on
Twitter @almansanarez
Thursday, September 21, 2017
SPORTS
BUCKAROOS: Aiming for balanced offense
Continued from 1B
second consecutive less-than-stellar
season. The Ravens went 1-8 last
year and this year have started 0-3
after most recently falling to Hood
River Valley 42-14 in the Special
District 1 opener last week.
Ridgeview has been outscored
118-47 in its three games this
season, but played tough against the
Buckaroos in last season’s meeting as
Pendleton had to rally in the second
half to salvage a 29-25 victory on the
road in Bend. Pendleton coach Erik
Davis realized the potential for a trap
game this week, with the winless
Ravens hungry for a victory and his
Bucks are feeling confi dent after a
near-upset. A sluggish practice on
Tuesday prompted a conversation
about that exact topic.
“We had a long conversation
yesterday after practice because I got
the same feeling about it,” Davis said
on Wednesday. “We talk a lot about
you can’t play down to a level of
perception. You can perceive an 0-3
team as a bad team, but they took us
to the wire and we had to come back
and beat them last year.
“And we’re a 1-2 team and in no
position to think we’re not underdogs
in each game and we’re preparing
like that. We had a fantastic practice
today and that told me they listen and
tells me that this team is ready to go.”
Offensively, Ridgeview presents
a much different challenge than what
the Buckaroos faced against the
Storm. The Ravens are a run-heavy
team that comes at its opponents
with a lot of misdirection, motions,
and jet sweeps to pick up yards
and try to eat up the clock. It puts
pressure on Pendleton’s defensive
ends and outside linebackers to get
containment on the outside and force
the ball carriers inside to the heart of
Pendleton’s defense.
The Buckaroos faced a similar
style two weeks ago against Putnam,
which they had great success against.
Junior linebacker Willie Camp says
that the prior game experience will
be a big help for the Buckaroos come
game time.
“Having that experience against
Putnam will defi nitely help us for
sure,” he said. “They run the ball
more, downhill, so we just have to
do our job and I think we’ll win the
game.”
Davis added that Pendleton’s
defensive game plan will to try and
neutralize their run game.
“We want to force them to throw
to beat us,” he said. “If we can do
that and minimize the majority of
their run game, then that puts us at an
advantage.”
On offense, Pendleton hopes to
regain a balanced attack that led to
its success and victory in Week 2
where the Bucks ran for more than
108 yards and passed for 199 yards.
Against Summit, the Bucks threw
for 315 yards with quarterback
Nick Bower and ran for just 93 as
Summit’s strong front seven won the
battle in the trenches.
If Pendleton can fi nd that balance
and put Bower in better passing
situations to distribute the ball to its
plethora of receivers, the Buckaroos
will be in good shape. But Davis
believes the key to the game will
come down to how the Buckaroos
start out of the gates.
“We have to start fast,” Davis said.
“The biggest thing is if you get in a
hole with a team like (Ridgeview)
and they can eat the clock up pretty
quick, so we want to get the football
in the end zone early and often. And
we need to keep the defense off the
fi eld as much as possible, establish a
run game and try to move the chains,
eat up some clock and then let Nick
(Bower) get the ball to our athletes I
think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
————
Contact Eric at esinger@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-966-0839. Follow
him on Twitter @ByEricSinger.
PREP FOOTBALL: Stanfi eld, Regis meet in rematch of 2016 2A title game
Continued from 1B
And for the Pirates, River-
side rolls in with an unbeaten
2-0 record after throttling
Imbler for a 50-18 victory
last week. The Pirates last
won three games in 2015,
2010 and 2009, and started
the 2007 season 2-0 before
losing the next seven.
But things just feel
different for both programs.
Mac-Hi has taken some
big steps under head coach
Gary Robertson’s two years,
fi nding a good balance on
offense and a steady defense.
Riverside has found some
offensive success with a
fi erce running game, led by
senior back Aramis Corpus
who has 323 rushing yards
and two touchdowns in two
games.
Mac-Hi has won each
of the last seven meetings
between the two, most
recently a 41-26 win over
the Pirates last season in
Boardman. Friday’s game
starts at 7 p.m.
UMATILLA (2-1) at
PORTLAND
CHRIS-
TIAN (0-3), 7 p.m. — The
Vikings will hit the road for
their non-league fi nale as
they look to build upon last
week’s victory and head into
league play as strong as they
can.
In Week 3, Umatilla
played a bit of a different
brand of football as they
dipped into 8-man game
and beat Enterprise 30-18.
The Vikings are averaging
24 points per game and 26.3
points against through three
games.
Portland Christian has
had a rough start to the
season, losing three games
in blowout fashion, most
recently a 48-13 loss to
Stevenson (WA) last week.
Portland Christian is aver-
aging 13 points and 54.6
points against this season.
LAKEVIEW (1-1) at
IRRIGON (1-1), 7 p.m. —
After two weeks on the road,
the Irrigon Knights will host
their 2017 home opener on
Friday against the Lakeview
Honkers.
Irrigon won its fi rst game
of the season last week in a
24-8 win over Tri-Cities Prep
(WA). The Knights’ defense
is the strength of the team
this year, giving up just 22
points in the two games.
Lakeview comes in with
an identical record after
edging out Lost River for a
32-28 victory last week and
losing to Burns 41-13 in
Week 1.
WESTON-MCEWEN
(0-2) at UNION (0-3), 7 p.m.
— The fi rst two weeks have
been a tough go for Weston-
McEwen as they dropped a
pair of games against some
talented programs such as
Grant Union and Mac-Hi.
But the TigerScots hope
things can turn around for
them on Friday night, when
they travel to take on the
Union Bobcats. Union has
lost to a pair of 3A schools in
Umatilla and Riverside and
then lost to Pilot Rock 36-26
last week.
STANFIELD (0-2) at
REGIS (0-3), 6 p.m. — In
a rematch of the 2016 2A
state championship game,
Friday night’s meeting
between Stanfi eld and Regis
will feature two completely
different teams than from the
2016 meetings.
After nearly running
roughshod through their
schedules in 2016, rosters
depleted by senior gradua-
tions have had a hard time
in 2017. Stanfi eld has lost a
pair of games by a combined
79-24 score and Regis has
dropped three by a combined
101-25 score.
Last week, Stanfi eld lost
to Grant Union 52-16 and
Regis lost to Knappa 40-13.
PILOT ROCK (1-2) at
SHERMAN (1-2), 7 p.m. —
Pilot Rock’s debut in 8-man
football has been fi lled with
ups and downs through three
weeks.
The Rockets came up just
short against Elgin in Week 1
before Echo blew them out
in Week 2. But last week the
Rockets fi nally got into the
win column with a 36-26 win
over Union.
Pilot Rock will try to
make it two wins in a row on
Friday when they travel to
Sherman County to take on a
Huskies team coming off of a
54-40 loss to Wallowa.
TOLEDO
(0-3)
at
HEPPNER (0-3), 7 p.m.
— It has been an unchar-
acteristically down season
from the Heppner Mustangs
so far in 2017, but it’s not
nearly unknown territory for
longtime coach Greg Grant.
Heppner started the
season 0-2 twice in 2010
and 2007 and have had three
1-2 starts that all resulted in
playoff berths. The Mustangs
have played three quality
teams to start the season, but
there is still plenty of time to
turn things around.
Next up for Heppner
is Toledo, who like the
Mustangs made the playoffs
last season but sit winless
in Week 4. Toledo most
recently lost to St. Paul 61-6
last week, the same St. Paul
team that Heppner lost 40-0
to in Week 1.
ECHO (2-1) at PINE
EAGLE (1-2), 2 p.m. —
After back-to-back wins
to start the season, Echo
suffered its fi rst loss last
week in a 56-20 beating by
Crane.
This week Echo looks to
turn it back around as they
start league play with a road
game against Pine Eagle. The
Spartans are coming off of a
68-30 loss to Elgin.
SOUTH WASCO (1-0)
at ARLINGTON (2-1), 7
p.m. — Arlington made it
two straight wins and two
straight games scoring at
least 60 points with a 69-26
win over Perrydale last week.
On Friday Arlington
hopes to make it three straight
against South Wasco County,
who comes in with just one
game under its belts as a
36-14 win over McKenzie.
PIGSKIN
PICKERS
Week 3
Overall:
Last Week:
Hermiston at Summit
Ridgeview at Pendleton
Riverside at Mac-Hi
Echo at Pine Eagle
Utah at Arizona
Washington at Colorado
Oregon at Arizona St.
Seahawks at Titans
Browns at Colts
Cowboys at Cardinals
Mike
Appleton
Ron
Gibbs
Eric
Singer
John
Airoldi
Jodi
Bloomberg
Weston
Putman
Clint
Shoemake
Zachary
Orem
Brandon
Case
Alexis
Mansanarez
17-3
7-3
Summit
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Pine Eagle
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Browns
Cowboys
17-3
8-2
Hermiston
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Browns
Cowboys
16-4
9-1
Summit
Pendleton
Riverside
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Colts
Cowboys
15-5
7-3
Summit
Pendleton
Riverside
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Seahawks
Colts
Cowboys
15-5
7-3
Summit
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Browns
Cowboys
15-5
7-3
Summit
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Echo
Arizona
Washington
Oregon
Seahawks
Colts
Cowboys
15-5
8-2
Summit
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Browns
Cowboys
14-6
8-2
Summit
Pendleton
Mac-Hi
Echo
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Titans
Colts
Cowboys
12-8
5-5
Hermiston
Pendleton
Riverside
Echo
Arizona
Washington
Oregon
Seahawks
Colts
Cardinals
12-8
6-4
Summit
Pendleton
Riverside
Pine Eagle
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Seahawks
Colts
Cardinals
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