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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2017)
SPORTS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON Prep Football Local 2A, 1A teams set for playoffs Stanfi eld, Echo, Heppner, Arlington play this weekend East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris The rain comes down as Athena plays Pendleton Gold in the Requa Bowl on Thursday in Pendleton. Gold wins rainy Requa Bowl Pendleton team tops Athena in Youth Football league fi nal By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian PENDLETON — On a chilly and rainy Thursday evening, the Pendleton Youth Football league held its annual Requa Bowl cham- pionship game to mark the end of the 2017 season for the fi ve-team league. Under the lights at the Pendleton High School athletic fi eld, the game featured Athena against Pendleton Gold, and the home team put on a show. It was an action-packed game, as both teams had fun, played hard and battled through the constant rain to play the 32-minute game. When it was all over it was the Pendleton Gold team that came out on top as Staff photo by E.J. Harris Ben Jennings (14) breaks a tackle in Pendleton Gold’s 32-0 win against Athena on Thursday at the Requa Bowl in Pendleton. it topped Athena 32-0 to win the Requa Bowl. “It means a lot to these kids,” Pendleton Gold co-coach Dan Primus said afterward. “The Requa Bowl is what they shoot for when we start. We lucked out with a lot of good kids and good athletes and Pro Basketball Blazers top Lakers on Lillard’s last-second 3-pointer NBA By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press PORTLAND — Damian Lillard made a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers extended their winning streak over the Los Angeles Lakers to 13 games with a 113-110 victory on Thursday night. Lillard fi nished with 32 points, and Portland snapped a two-game skid. Jusuf Nurkic added 28 points for Portland. Brook Lopez had 27 points and rookie Kyle Kuzma added a season-high 22 for the Lakers, who were short-handed after Larry Nance Jr. injured his left hand in the second half. Fellow rookie Lonzo Ball was 0 for 2 from the fi eld with no points, four assists and three rebounds. L.A. Lakers Portland 110 113 There were a few fans in the crowd at Moda Center wearing Ball’s No. 2 jersey for his fi rst appearance in Portland. But most fans booed him heartily during player introductions. Nance was hurt late in the third quarter and went to the locker room. He did not play the rest of the way. Nance was aver- aging 11.1 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Lakers. Portland took a 106-105 lead on See BLAZERS/3B it was a lot of fun to see how we progressed.” The star of the game was Pend- leton 6th grader Benito Jennings, who was responsible for all fi ve of his team’s touchdowns. Jennings caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colson Primus to begin the game, he tallied three touchdown runs of 43 yards, 78 yards and 44 yards, and he also threw a 10 yard touchdown pass to Kaden Moore right before halftime. Athena’s offense struggled to get much going against Pendleton’s defense, and also turned the ball over a few times as the kids battled the rain and slippery football. The team did have a big play in the fourth quarter, when Easton Berry took a reverse hand off and then dropped back to pass, hitting a wide-open Clark Hodgson for a 35 yard gain. ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0839. Los Ange- les Lakers forward Brandon Ingram and Port- land Trail Blazers guard Da- mian Lil- lard watch as Lillard hits a shot in the fi nal seconds of an NBA basketball game in Portland on Thurs- day. AP Photo/Steve Dykes The fi rst round of the OSAA football state playoffs begin Friday night all across the state. Here’s a look at the local Class 1A and 2A match ups, fi rst with Friday’s games: STANFIELD (2-5) at MONROE/TRIANGLE LAKE (7-1), 7 P.M. — Stanfi eld enters the playoffs in a very different position than it did last year. The Tigers ended their 2016 regular season with an 8-1 record to earn a No. 1 seed, and made it all the way to the 2A state championship game where they eventually lost to Regis, 53-14. This time around, Stan- fi eld has had one of its worst seasons in the last decade as the Tigers showed their youth and inexperience at times and got handed the No. 15 seed. However, head coach Davy Salas says the Tigers’ record doesn’t show the improvement the young squad has made over the last nine weeks. “Our record doesn’t indicate the progress we’ve made all season,” Salas said. “From a coach’s perspective we’ve played some tough teams, had a tough schedule. The kids have made a lot of progress, and defi nitely earned this playoff spot.” Salas knew there would be growing pains entering this season, but is glad the Tigers rose to the occasion and will have a chance to avenge their Week 9 loss Friday. Stanfi eld will travel to Monroe to take on the Monroe Dragons. The two teams faced each other to wrap up their respective regular seasons on Oct. 27, with Monroe handing Stan- fi eld a 55-27 loss on its own turf. “It could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing,” Salas said of the rematch. “Both teams are familiar with each other after last week. We’re just going to try to get better at what we do, be aggressive on defense and bring a little more energy.” The Tigers will need that energy when facing Monroe on its home turf. The Dragons are riding a six-game winning streak, defeating its opponents by a combined 157 points. Stanfi eld will rely on senior Adrian Renner to establish the running game, which has been a staple in See PLAYOFFS/3B Sports shorts Texans rookie QB Watson out for season following ACL tear HOUSTON (AP) — Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice on Thursday, sources told The Associated Press. The rookie suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees and will go on injured reserve. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t announced the injury. His injury is the latest blow to a team that lost three-time NFL Watson Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt and linebacker Whitney Mercilus to season-ending injuries on Oct. 8. The former Clemson standout had been a bright spot in a challenging season for the Texans (3-4). The 12th overall pick in this year’s draft was the AFC offensive player of the month after throwing for 1,171 yards with 16 touchdowns. “They suck. They throw a wrench in our schedule. It’s absolutely ridiculous that we have to do this. As physical as this game is, as much work and preparation that goes into this, to force us to play games on four- day weeks, it’s completely unair .... The league makes money off it, and that’ all they care about anyway.“ — Richie Incognito Buffalo Bills offensive lineman on his displeasure for the NFL’s Thursday Night games, only the latest in a long line of players opposed to the short weeks. Jets snap 3-game losing streak with Thursday’s win over Bills EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Matt Forte ran for two touchdowns four days after complaining the Jets didn’t run the ball enough, and an overwhelming defense sacked Tyrod Taylor seven times Thursday night in New York’s 34-21 demolition of the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo (5-3) came in having scored 64 points in its last two wins, but self-de- structed with turnovers and miscues. New York (4-5), which snapped a three-game slide in which it held leads in each defeat, looked more like the challenger to New England in the AFC East. Forte scored on runs of 10 and 5 yards and had 14 carries for 77 yards. Augmenting that was Bilal Powell with a 51-yard burst and 74 yards on nine carries. Quarterback Josh McCown got in on the fun with a 10-yard scramble to open the scoring and New York rushed for 194 yards overall. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1995 The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies open their fi rst NBA season with victories. The Raptors beat New Jersey 94-79 and the Grizzlies beat Portland 92-80. 1996 Jerry Rice becomes the fi rst player with 1,000 career NFL receptions in San Francisco’s 24-17 victory over New Orleans. 2012 Fort Larned, a 9-1 long shot, leads all the way to win the $5 million Classic by a half-length, capping a weekend of upsets at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. Brian Hernandez Jr., aboard the winner, celebrates his 27th birthday with the biggest victory of his career. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
