Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
College Football
Men’s College Basketball
Herbert returns, helps Ducks beats Wildcats
Oregon signs
center Bol Bol,
son of the late
Manute Bol
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
EUGENE — The Ducks obvi-
ously missed Justin Herbert.
Oregon’s starting quarterback
returned after a five-game absence
and helped lead the team to a
48-28 victory over Arizona on
Saturday night. Royce Freeman
ran for four touchdowns in the
win, which made Ducks (6-5,
3-4) bowl eligible in coach Willie
Taggart’s first year as head coach.
“It was just a lot of fun to be
back out there,” said Herbert, who
threw for 235 yards and a score
in his first game back since frac-
turing his collarbone. “We’ve got
great guys on this team and it’s so
much fun to be part of this and it’s
awesome to play in that game.”
Freeman ran for 135 yards
on 19 carries. His first scoring
run of the game gave him the
Oregon career record for total
touchdowns.
Arizona quarterback Khalil
Tate was held back by Oregon’s
defense, passing for 159 yards
and a touchdown while running
for 32 yards. Tate, who was the
team’s leading rusher with 11
touchdowns, had run for a in each
of the last six games for Arizona
(7-4, 5-3).
Asked what Oregon did to
slow him down, Tate replied:
“They played football.”
While there were rumors
Herbert was poised to come
back, it wasn’t official until he
was announced as a starter by
the public address announcer at
Autzen Stadium.
He proclaimed his comeback
on-field with a 40-yard dash for a
touchdown in the opening quarter
that tied the game at 7.
“It was a little surprising.
There was a little pressure inside,
AP Photo/Chris Pietsch
Oregon’s quarterback Justin Herbert, right, rushes for the end
zone ahead of Arizona’s Tony Fields II for a touchdown during
the first quarter of Saturday’s game in Eugene.
so I got out to the left and didn’t
see anyone in front of me, so I
decided to take off, and luckily I
got into the end zone,” he said.
Herbert was injured in Oregon’s
45-24 victory over California
on Sept. 30 and replaced by true
freshman Braxton Burmeister.
The Ducks went 1-4 over the
course of Herbert’s absence.
The Wildcats scored first
Saturday on Nick Wilson’s
18-yard run. After Herbert’s long
scoring run, Freeman ran four
yards for his 59th touchdown,
setting a new Oregon career
record.
Arizona’s Dane Cruikshank
intercepted Herbert early in the
second quarter and ran the ball
back 64 yards into the end zone
but as he sprinted the final 10
yards he wagged his finger at the
Oregon players chasing him. He
was flagged for taunting and the
touchdown was negated.
The penalty enraged Arizona
coach Rich Rodriguez.
“Totally ridiculous,” he said.
“We should never do it. It should
never, ever, ever, ever happen.
Never do it.”
Arizona ended the drive with
a touchdown anyway when Tate
hit Tony Ellison with a 15-yard
touchdown and then Wilson gave
the Wildcats a 21-14 lead with a
20-yard scoring run.
But Herbert found Jacob Bree-
land with 39-yard touchdown pass
to tie it again and Freeman added
a 28-yard scoring run to give the
Ducks a 28-21 lead at halftime.
Freeman added an 11-yard
touchdown run midway through
the third quarter, but Arizona kept
it close with Zach Green’s 2-yard
touchdown run.
Aiden Schneider’s 40-yard
field goal gave the Ducks a 38-28
lead to open the fourth quarter.
After Herbert’s 50-yard pass to
Johnny Johnson III, Freeman ran
a yard for his fourth TD of the
night. He moved past LaDanian
Tomlinson into 10th on the
NCAA’s career rushing list with
5,499 yards and has 58 career
rushing touchdowns, one shy
of the conference record set by
Oregon State’s Ken Simonton
(1998-2001).
Schneider’s 24-yard field
goal was for the final margin and
Arizona went scoreless in the final
period.
Tate went into the game leading
the nation with five 70-plus yard
runs, four of them for touch-
downs. He has the longest run for
a quarterback (82 yards) and his
327 yards rushing against Colo-
rado set a single-game NCAA
record for a QB.
“I thought they had some
success in slowing him down,”
Rodriguez said. “We didn’t block
them well, we didn’t read it well,
and they did a good job. The
frustrating part is we’ll probably
watch the film and they were
playing the exact way we thought
they’d play. But they played it
better than us.”
LONG TIME COMING:
Freeman had not scored a rushing
touchdown since Sept. 23.
“I felt like I needed to take
it upon myself to do a little bit
more,” he said about his offensive
outburst.
Freeman went over 100 yards
rushing for the 30th time in his
career, and it was the third time
he’s run for four touchdowns in a
game.
UP NEXT
Arizona will visit Arizona
State in Tempe in a Territorial Cup
rivalry game next Saturday.
The Ducks will host Oregon
State in the annual Civil War on
Thanksgiving weekend.
Associated Press
EUGENE — Center Bol Bol, son
of the late Manute Bol, has signed a
letter of intent to play at Oregon.
Bol is considered a five-star recruit
and is the highest-ranked prospect
ever signed by the Ducks. The nearly
7-foot-2
Bol
announced his
decision on the
Players’ Tribune
website.
Bol selected
Oregon
over
Kentucky.
He
said he had
thought
about
his father in
Bol
recent days as he
was making the
decision. Manute Bol was a 7-foot-7
center who played 12 seasons in the
NBA. He passed away in 2010.
“Here’s what I know. I know my
dad would want me to represent my
family well. I know he would want
me to pursue my interests outside of
basketball, like music, fashion and
eventually, the humanitarian work that
he began in Sudan,” Bol wrote.
At a media availability Monday,
Oregon coach Dana Altman said he
expects Bol to only be in Eugene for
a season before heading to the NBA.
“Our job is to get him here in
the summer and help him grow as
a person, get some communication
classes, things that will help him;
some finance classes that will help
him. And then try to help him as a
player,” Altman told reporters.
Bol is currently finishing out his
senior year of high school in Las
Vegas.
DAWGS: Face Churchill on Saturday night in 5A state title game in Hillsboro
Continued from 1B
growing pains of relying on
a young, inexperienced quar-
terback with a mediocre 57
percent completion rate with
a combined 15 turnovers.
This season as a junior,
however, James has grown
as a quarterback and in the
meantime helped his Herm-
iston offense transform into
a unit opposing defenses are
scared to face. He has the
ability to make most throws,
such as a 26-yard toss to
Jordan Ramirez in the first
quarter Saturday, where
James rolled to his right
and then threw off-balance
across the field to Ramirez
running deep and connected
with his receiver to set up
Hermiston’s first touchdown
of the game. He also has
the awareness to operate
the read-option run game to
near perfection.
He finished Saturday’s
semifinal
completing
10-of-17 passes for 164
yards, and also ran the ball
12 times for 82 yards with
one touchdown, a five-yard
scamper on a quarterback
draw in the third quarter
which gave Hermiston a
29-14 lead at the time.
Now through 12 games
this season, James has 2,211
passing yards with 27 touch-
downs and just five intercep-
tions and is also Hermiston’s
second-leading rusher with
more than 1,000 yards with
six touchdowns. He says
he owes his improvement
to a better relationship with
Photo courtesy of Chase Allgood/The Oregonian
Hermiston’s Joe Gutierrez carries the ball away from a
Wilsonville defender during the Bulldogs’ 35-27 win over
the Wildcats during Saturday’s 5A semifinal in Hillsboro.
Photo courtesy of Chase Allgood/The Oregonian
Hermiston’s Jonathan Hinkle carries the ball during the Bulldogs’ 35-27 win over
Wilsonville in the 5A semifinal on Saturday in Hillsboro.
everyone on the offense.
“I mean, it’s a confidence
I’ve built with the guys,”
James said on Saturday. “I
trust every single one of
them on the field and that’s
what happens when you
have that trust.”
James and Hermiston’s
offense
picked
apart
Wilsonville’s defense on
Saturday night, piling up
471 yards of offense. The
Bulldogs punted on their
first two possessions, but
found the end zone first on
a seven-yard scamper by
Jonathan Hinkle to go up
8-0 with 2:12 left in the
first quarter. The rest of the
way, Hermiston established
itself with a successful run
game — thanks to a domi-
nant offensive line — that
opened up some big plays in
the passing game to beat the
Wildcats.
“I mean they (Wilson-
ville) brought pressure the
whole game but we found
those little creases when we
ran the ball, we found the
little holes when we passed
the ball,” James said. “It
was the little things that got
us through.”
Hinkle carried a pile five
yards for his second touch-
down in the second quarter
and Peter Earl busted a
Portland Trail
Blazers guard
CJ McCollum
(3) drives
against Mem-
phis Griz-
zlies center
Deyonta
Davis (21)
in Monday’s
game in in
Memphis,
Tenn.
AP Photo/Brandon
Dill
BLAZERS: Game marked first
stop of five-game road trip
Continued from 1B
outscored Memphis 32-22 in the
frame.
That allowed the Blazers to hold
55-46 lead at the break as McCollum
had 16 and Napier had 11.
Evans had 16 for Memphis.
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Lillard turned his
ankle with just under 3 minutes left
in the half after stepping on Gasol’s
foot. Lillard was down on the floor
under the Portland basket, but even-
tually hobbled to the bench. Lillard
came out of the second half. .The
game was the first of a five-game
road trip for Portland. Vonleh’s
18 rebounds were one short of his
career-high 19 on April 12 last
season against New Orleans.
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: Travel to Philadel-
phia on Wednesday.
45 yard touchdown run
midway through the second
quarter to give Hermiston
a surprising 22-0 lead.
Wilsonville began to figure
out Hermiston’s defense as
the first half came to a close,
with the Wildcats finally
finding the end zone with
21 seconds left, giving them
momentum into the second
half.
“(Faaeteete) said don’t let
up,” James recalled from the
halftime talk. “Great teams
try to come back and that’s
what they (Wilsonville) did.
We just had to stop them and
that’s what we did.”
The Wildcats got within
22-14 but the Bulldogs
answered on the next drive
when Hinkle ripped off a
67 yard run to get inside
the Wildcat 10, and James
finished off the drive with a
touchdown run. Wilsonville
again got on the board early
in the fourth on a five-yard
run by Cooper Mootz to
make it 29-20 before Herm-
iston’s crucial drive was
capped off by a four-yard
touchdown run by Keaton
Mikami on 4th-and-goal.
James was also a leader
on defense Saturday with
seven total tackles, part
of a unit that forced two
turnovers, two turnovers-
on-downs inside the red
zone, and tallied four sacks.
Wilsonville did tally more
than 400 yards of total
offense, but the Bulldogs’
early successes put the
Wildcats in a hole that
proved to be too big to dig
out of.
“We were playing with a
killer mindset,” Hermiston
senior Joe Gutierrez said,
“and when we play like that
our defense rolls.”
Now, Hermiston will
get back to practice as they
prepare for No. 4 Churchill
in the state championship
game on Nov. 25 at 6 p.m.
at Hillsboro Stadium. And
James will get another week
to make himself a household
name in Oregon.
“It’s
an
awesome
feeling,” James said of the
chance to play for a title.
“Our guys worked so hard,
our line, just everyone, and
it just feels so good.”
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0839. Follow him
on Twitter @ByEricSinger.
SEAHAWKS: Injury bug bit again, losing DB
Griffin, RB Griffin and OL Aboushi during game
Continued from 1B
for a fake field goal late in the
first half rather than attempting
a 35-yard kick. He also made a
questionable challenge in the
fourth quarter that didn’t go his
way and left Seattle with just one
timeout.
That lack of timeouts came
back to haunt Seattle on the final
drive when seconds ticked away
and rather than running one more
play, Walsh was sent out to attempt
the 52-yard kick. His long for the
season is 49 yards.
The conclusion only amplified
Carroll’s baffling decision at the
end of the first half, when Seattle
ran a fake field goal rather than
having Walsh attempt a 35-yarder
that would have pulled Seattle
within 24-20. Holder Jon Ryan
completed his shovel pass to Luke
Willson, but Grady Jarrett read
the play and tackled Willson for a
4-yard loss.
Seattle played a game for the
first time since the end of the 2010
season without Richard Sherman.
His streak of 99 consecutive starts
in the regular season was snapped
because of a torn Achilles tendon
suffered against Arizona. The
Seahawks were also without
safety Kam Chancellor because
of a neck injury, leaving their
vaunted secondary with several
new faces.
Ryan was more than happy to
pick on a defense without those
anchors. He was 19 of 27 passing
for 195 yards and rarely faced
pressure. Seattle had one sack,
and the Falcons went 9 of 14 on
third-down conversions.
Sanu made a great one-handed
grab for a 2-yard touchdown in the
first quarter. Ryan found Toilolo
on a 25-yard TD in the third
quarter to give Atlanta a 31-20
lead. Matt Bryant added a 19-yard
field goal with 3:49 left to put the
Falcons ahead by 11, and Wilson’s
late heroics weren’t enough.
INJURIES
Seattle’s
injury
woes
continued. The Seahawks lost
rookie cornerback Shaquill Griffin
to a concussion on the second
play of the game, forcing newly
signed veteran Byron Maxwell
into a more prominent role than
expected.
Early in the second half,
promising running back Mike
Davis was lost to a groin injury
after taking a screen pass 21
yards. Davis had two receptions
and had carried six times for 18
yards before getting hurt. Seattle
also lost starting guard Oday
Aboushi in the fourth quarter with
a shoulder injury.
Atlanta got a scare when safety
Keanu Neal was checked for a
concussion in the first half. He
was cleared to return.
UP NEXT
Falcons: Host Tampa Bay on
Sunday to open a three-game
homestand.
Seahawks: Travel to division
foe San Francisco on Sunday.