SPORTS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2017
1B
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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