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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2017)
SPORTS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS ECHO Prep Football Bucks, Dawgs ready for ‘war’ Staff photo by E.J. Harris Echo’s Lexie Cox spikes the ball towards Jordan Valley’s Emilee Burch in the Cou- gars’ 3-0 win against the Mustangs on Wednesday in Echo. Staff photo by E.J. Harris In this 2016 fi le photo, Pendleton’s Everett Willard takes down Hermiston’s Tucker Salinas in the Bulldogs’ 13-12 win against the Bucks in Hermiston. The two teams will meet on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Round-Up Arena. Pendleton, Hermiston come into Friday’s game playing good football By ERIC SINGER & Alexis MANSANAREZ East Oregonian PENDLETON — Friday’s game between the Pendleton Buckaroos and the Hermiston Bulldogs will pit together two teams that are playing their best football of the season. Hermiston comes in riding a fi ve-game winning streak behind a high-powered offense and solid defense. Pendleton is fresh off its best win of the Football Hermiston Pendleton Bulldogs Buckaroos (6-2, 5-1) (5-3, 4-2) • Friday, 7 p.m. • at Round-Up Arena season, 39-20 on the road against Bend, and has won four of its last fi ve games overall. The Bulldogs edged out the Buckaroos 13-12 in Hermiston last season, and the Buckaroos are determined to come out on top this time. “Everybody here knows its a big game and everybody here wants to win,” Pendleton senior safety Brendan Bedolla said. “We want to prove that we’re one of the best teams in (Class) 5A and that we can compete.” Here is a look at what to expect from both sides on Friday night at the Round-Up Arena: ON THE BUCKAROOS SIDELINE: After a slip up three weeks ago against Moun- tain View, Pendleton rolls into Hermiston week with both its offense and defense fi ring on all cylinders. Pendleton held a talented Bend offense to just 296 yards of total offense and put up 420 yards themselves, on the heels of a dominant win at Hood River. But the Buckaroos know they have a different beast with See FOOTBALL/2B Buckaroos revere decades of dominance “You did not want to be that fi rst class to lose to Hermiston.” — Mark Mulvihill Pendleton Buckaroos’ quar- terback, 1980-1982. By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian PENDLETON — Mark Mulvihill can still remember the feeling that Hermiston week brought him and his Pendleton Buckaroo teammates. “There was a huge expec- tation that week that we had to win,” said Mulvihill, who quarterbacked Pendleton from 1980-1982. “As a QB, I felt more pressure in those games than in any other game, more so than a playoff game even. You did not want to be that fi rst class to lose to Hermiston. “Other games were always fun and exciting, but the Herm- iston game was a relief when it was over.” During Mulvihill’s playing days, Pendleton was in the midst of a win streak over its rival Hermiston that lasted more than half a century. The EO fi le photo Pendleton quarterback Dean Fouquette, far left, is pursued by Hermiston’s Larry Heyden (10) and Boyd Woodward (88) during Pendleton’s 17-7 win over Hermiston at the Round-Up Grounds in 1970. two Umatilla County schools that now sit just 27 miles apart began the series in 1922 when Hermiston — then known as the Irrigators — beat Pendleton 19-18 thanks to a pair of missed extra points by the Buckaroos. However for the next 62 years Pendleton held on to the bragging rights as it won 56 of the 57 total meetings, with the only Buckaroos’ non-victory being a 7-7 tie in 1941. To the Bulldogs credit, the playing fi eld was slanted toward them for a good chunk of that stretch as Pendleton was a bigger town and a bigger school that was regularly winning league titles, while Hermiston was struggling for winning seasons. But that did not stop both teams treating it with the same level of intensity as a state playoff game every time they stepped onto the fi eld. “There is nothing like rivalry week,” said David Boor, who played for Pendleton from 1986-1988. “They did not like Cougars breeze by Mustangs By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian ECHO — For the eight years that Janice Scott has been at the helm of the Echo volley- ball team, the Cougars never 1A Volleyball made it passed the fi rst round First Round of postseason play. In fact, it had been two years since Echo made it to the Class 1A playoffs — its 2015 run was Jordan Valley cut short with a loss in Round 1 to Dufur. That all changed for the Cougars on Wednesday night. For the fi rst time, Echo hosted a state playoff game, and also for the fi rst time the Cougars Echo will advance to Round 2. Echo easily defeated Jordan Valley in three straight sets (25-11, 25-16, 25-11) and had one of its best outings all season. See ECHO/3B 0 PENDLETON Pendleton controlled bragging rights with Hermiston for more than 60 straight years Cougars advance to 2nd round us and we did not like them.” Dean Fouquette, who was the starting quarterback for the Buckaroos in 1969 and 1970, got his fi rst real taste of the rivalry in his fi rst year as a starter in 1969. Pendleton, who came into the game 7-0 with the Intermountain Conference title already under its belt, scored an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff, but then was beat up by Hermiston for the remainder of the fi rst half and trailed their rivals 18-7 at the break. There, the team got a swift pep talk from then-coach Don Requa that Fouquette said was “as good as I’d ever heard,” and it worked as Pendleton came back to win the game See BUCKAROOS/2B 3 World Series Astros even series with 11-inning win By RONALD BLUM Associated Press LOS ANGELES — George Springer screamed with joy as he circled the bases after hitting a two-run homer in the Game 2 11th inning. Would it be enough? Was this the fi nal plot twist on one of the wildest nights in Houston postseason history? Yes, it was — barely — and the Houston Astros won a World Series game for the fi rst time in their 56 seasons. Charlie Culberson hit Los Angeles a two-out homer in the bottom half off winner Chris Devenski, who then struck out Yasiel Puig in a tense, nine-pitch at-bat. The Astros outlasted the 7 6 See WORLD SERIES/3B Sports shorts Wallace Jr. set to make NASCAR history in 2018 season CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Darrell Wallace Jr. will become the fi rst black full-time driver at NASCAR’s top level since 1971 when he takes over Richard Petty’s iconic ride next season. The 24-year-old Wallace, more commonly referred to by his nickname of “Bubba,” became the fi rst black driver to race at NASCAR’s top level since 2006 when he replaced an injured Aric Almirola earlier this year. Wallace Jr. Wallace, an Alabama native and graduate of NASCAR’s diversity program, has tried not to make race part of his climb through the ranks. He won the Truck Series race at Martinsville in 2013 to become the fi rst black driver to win at a national NASCAR series event since Wendell Scott in 1963. “I think we have to change the Collective Bargaining Agreement and let you do what is legal in your state. If marijuana is now in the process of being legalized, I think you should be allowed to do what’s legal in your state.“ — David Stern Former NBA Commissioner said of medicinal marijuana use being allowed in the league. Former EOU standout signed to Detroit Lions’ active roster LA GRANDE — Football fans watching Sunday’s Detroit Lions-Pittsburgh Steelers game on Sunday may see a familiar face. Former Eastern Oregon standout Jace Bill- ingsley was signed to the Lions’ 53-man roster off the practice squad on Wednesday. The move comes as Detroit will be without its top receiver, Golden Tate, on Sunday due to injury, which means that Billingsley could be active on Sunday and make his Billingsley offi cial NFL debut. Billingsley spent the majority of the 2016 season on Detroit’s practice squad before being promoted to the active roster prior to Week 16, but was inactive on gameday. The 5-foot-9 receiver graduated from EOU in 2016 and was signed by the Lions as an undrafted free agent. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1993 — The NFL expands, adding a team in Charlotte, N.C., starting in 1995. 2000 — The New York Yankees become the fi rst team in more than a quar- ter-century to win three straight World Series cham- pionships, beating the New York Mets 4-2. 2012 — The NHL cancels all its games through the end of November because of the labor dispute between owners and players. A total of 326 regular-season games, more than 26.5 percent of the season, are lost. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
