Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Defensive aggressiveness pays dividends
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
A common clichè in
football is that defense wins
championships.
For
the
Hermiston
Bulldogs on Saturday night
against Churchill, it was
more than just a saying.
Their defense provided a
pathway to the Class 5A state
championship, just as it had
all postseason long. The unit
didn’t exactly do their part
in the sense of a dominant
front seven that completely
shut down the opposition, but
instead earned it by a knack
for creating turnovers in
clutch situations.
The Bulldogs picked off
Churchill quarterback Jack
Blackburn twice and recov-
ered one fumble, bringing
their postseason tally to 13
forced turnovers in the four
games and a season grand
total of 34. The Bulldogs
say credit goes to defensive
coordinator Scott Hammond
having his players prepared
for every situation and a
mindset to be great.
“It just goes back to
what we started doing with
our fundamentals,” senior
cornerback Tyler Rohrman
said after Saturday’s win.
“It was always aggressive,
aggressive, aggressive. It’s
just the attention to detail and
mindset we’ve developed.
(Defensive coordinator Scott)
Hammond always says at
practice great players make
MAD (Make-a-difference)
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston defenders Eric White (18), Tyler Hunter (76) and Peter Earl chase down Churchill quarterback Jack Black-
burn in the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win against the Lancers in the 5A state championship game on Saturday in Hillsboro.
plays and that’s what we do.”
Junior
cornerback
Youbani Razon was the first
player to step up Saturday
with a phenomenal intercep-
tion in the second quarter.
With Hermiston holding
a 12-7 lead, Razon played
soft coverage on his outside
receiver and backpedaled a
few yards after the snap. He
read Blackburn’s eyes and
saw the slot receiver settle
into a spot in the Bulldogs’
zone defense roughly five
yards in front of him jumped
the route and beat the ball to
the receiver.
It was a huge swing as the
Bulldogs cashed in on the
turnovers with a touchdown
to make it a 18-7 game.
On Churchill’s first play
of the next drive, linebacker
Jonathan Hinkle stepped in
front of a short pass for an
interception. Once again it set
up a touchdown that Hinkle
scored himself for a 25-7 lead
with 2:34 left to play.
“It’s that mindset that
they have,” Hermiston coach
David Faaeteete said. “They
don’t believe that the play that
just happened, happened, they
just move on to the next. And
you know, we got our hands
on balls, we got some inter-
ceptions, put in the coverage
we knew we were going to be
thrown to and our guys came
up big with turnovers.”
However,
Churchill
continued to hang around with
a late first half touchdown and
in the second half the Lancers
would seemingly answer
each Bulldogs touchdown.
Yet late in the fourth quarter,
the Hermiston defense was
able to sniff out a turnover to
swing things in their favor for
good.
With the Lancers facing
second-and-seven at midfield
trailing the Bulldogs 31-28
just over five minutes left in
the game, a wild snap evaded
Blackburn and bounced
around the turf to his right and
Hermiston defensive end Eric
White pounced on it.
The turnover gave the
Bulldogs great field position,
which the offense turned into
the game-clinching touch-
down pass from Andrew
James to Dayshawn Neal.
“The ability to have a gut
check,” senior safety Joe
Gutierrez said of the team’s
knack for turnovers. “And
that’s when our backs are
against the wall, when we
need a big play we’ll make it
because we’ve just got that in
us,”
When all was said and
done, Churchill out-gained
Hermiston 376-343, scored
on all three trips to the red
zone, and hung 35 points on
the Bulldogs.
But the Lancers are the
ones taking home a second
place trophy while the
Bulldogs make the 200 mile
trip back east with first place
because of a detailed prepa-
ration and a mindset that was
second to none.
Determined offensive line powers Dawgs to championship
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Hermiston
assistant
coach Rick Wells posed for
group photos with his offen-
sive linemen on the field
following Saturday night’s
game, smiling and looking
around at each kid like a
proud father.
“They’re like my sons,”
Wells said Saturday night,
holding back emotions. “I’m
blessed with three daughters
and a bunch of sons, really.”
The bond between Wells
and his players and amongst
the players themselves
played out to be a key factor
for the Bulldogs this season,
as a much-improved play
from the linemen paved the
way for an offensive barrage
this season.
“I’m really, really hard on
them, I absolutely demand
their very, very best and they
respond,” Wells said. “They
don’t worry when something
is wrong. They are so coach-
able and it’s just amazing and
more than anything, we have
five or six guys that just love
each other to death and play
so hard.”
Last season as Hermiston
put together a middling 5-5
season, inconsistent play on
the line led to an inconsistent
season from the offense as a
whole. The Bulldogs aver-
aged 24 points and roughly
350 yards of offense per
game in 2016, which ended
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Beau Blake, left, finishes a block as Jonathan Hinkle drives through
a hole in the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win against Churchill in the 5A state championship
game on Saturday in Hillsboro.
with a loss in the first round
of the playoffs. But with four
starters returning in 2017,
the group decided to step up
their game in the offseason
to help their team reach the
ultimate goal.
“We wanted the state
championship, there was
no other goal than that,”
senior guard Beau Blake said
Saturday. “We wanted to go
for the state championship
above all and never quit.
We wanted to keep going no
matter what.”
And all that work paid off.
Hermiston’s five starters of
AJ Fernandez, Jacob Liebe,
Jose Huato, Taylor Arnold
and Blake helped the linemen
come together to pave the
way for Hermiston’s offense
to reach new heights this
season. Hermiston averaged
36 points per game and piled
up more than 5,700 yards of
total offense on its way to
winning the championship.
“The four seniors we
have, we’ve been playing
since we were grade kids,”
Blake said. “We are such
good friends. We spend
every Sunday (together),
we’re eating biscuits and
gravy together. We do every-
thing together and we trust
each other so much. We’re
such good friends and that’s
what helps us. We make sure
we do the work on the field
and in the weight room and
that’s what transfers on to the
field.”
The area where the line’s
improvement was most
notable was in the run game.
The Bulldogs totaled 1,598
rush yards last season and
topped the 200 yard mark
in a game just three times
as a team, with the highest
being 257 yards. This season
the Bulldogs tallied more
than 3,300 rushing yards,
including six games with at
least 300 yards, thanks to
the linemen sealing blocks
to spring the likes of Jona-
than Hinkle, Peter Earl and
Andrew James free.
The line’s bond was tested
in the 5A quarterfinal game
against South Albany, when
Huato, the starting right
guard, suffered a right knee
injury in the second quarter
and causing him to watch
the last two games hunched
over his crutches on the
sideline. Chase Bradshaw, a
sophomore stepped in to the
starting spot and the Bulldogs
didn’t miss much of a beat,
showing the confidence that
the group has in themselves.
“It means that we have a
great program right here,”
Blake said. “No matter what,
it’s always the next guy up.
We have such good players,
even in the second team. We
don’t miss a beat because we
work together and we don’t
give up.”
And Huato’s injury also
showed the selflessness that
the unit has. As a senior and
two-year starter Huato was
disappointed he was not able
to play, but he was thrilled
to see Bradshaw fill in so
well in his place and still be
able to call himself a state
champion.
“I’m in shock,” he said.
“This is the best feeling I
have ever had playing foot-
ball.”
Churchill gave Herm-
iston’s line perhaps its
biggest challenge yet. After a
relatively easy first offensive
drive, the Lancers dialed up
pressure with blitzes and
stunts on nearly every snap
to try and slow down the
Bulldogs’ red-hot offense.
“They’re a dang-good
football team and there was
a reason they were 12-0,”
Wells said of the Lancers.
“The biggest thing we had to
do is keep ourselves calm and
stick with it and be patient.
There’s going to be times
when we’ll get stuffed and
bad things happen, but we
continued our road forward
and that’s what we do.”
Hermiston was held to
just 181 rushing yards on 48
attempts against Churchill,
its lowest output since a
Week 3 loss to Mountain
View, but it was more than
enough for the Bulldogs to
bring home the title.
“Big-time people make
big-time plays in big-time
games,” Wells said, “and our
guys do that and that’s one
of the reasons we’re going to
get a ring soon, so it’s pretty
special.”
———
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0839. Follow him
on Twitter @ByEricSinger.
DAWGS: Neal, James connect on game-sealing touchdown late in fourth quarter
Continued from 1B
guys, every single one of
them, none of them gave up
and it showed.”
The Bulldogs answered
the Lancers score with a
fundamentally sound defense
that forced two four-and-outs
and two inceptions all-the-
while James led the offense
in adding 19 unanswered
points to the board.
In the scoring span that
gave Hermiston its lead
back, the Bulldogs ran in
two touchdowns and James
connected with Neal for on a
quick three-yard slant route.
The pass to Neal wasn’t
the most exciting of the game
and certainly wasn’t the
biggest play the junior-senior
duo would come away with
but it showcased something
Bulldog fans have witnessed
all year: the unwavering trust
between a quarterback and
his receiver.
“It’s a trust thing,” head
coach David Faaeteete said.
“It’s a long time coming for
those guys. You know, last
year was Andrew’s first year
at the helm and he’s trying to
find trust with his guys.”
The trust extends beyond
the line of scrimmage, as
Faaeteete said the wide out
called the play that aided in
Hermiston re-gaining a lead
it would never again relin-
quish before halftime.
“He looked at me and
said, ‘we’re going to run
92 (route) and we’ll catch
this touchdown,’” Faaeteete
recalls.
The trust in Neal’s ability
to finish plays extended late
into the fourth quarter during
the seven-play, 54-yard drive
that ended with the game-
clinching touchdown with
2:52 left.
Prior to the scoring play,
Hermiston called timeout
after seeing a mismatch with
Neal to set up a new play.
Neal came out and lined up
as a tight end on the right end
of the line, broke out of his
three-point stance 10 yards
up the field before breaking
off to the right where James
hit the wide-open receiver for
the score.
“We saw their adjust-
ment,” Faaeteete said. “They
were adjusting to where
Dayshawn was and we put
him away from everybody
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Keaton Mikami runs into the end zone for
a touchdown in the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win against Chur-
chill at the 5A state championship game on Saturday
in Hillsboro.
and got him matched up with
another corner, someone
who hasn’t guarded him all
night. So anytime (there’s)
a one-on-one matchup that
tight in the box within four or
five yards, Mr. Neal should
win.”
James ended the night
11-of-15 for 162 yards and
two touchdowns, and relied
heavily on one of his favorite
targets, as Neal was good
for 80 yards and two touch-
downs off five catches in his
final game as a Bulldog.
Neal’s best catch of
the night came in the first
quarter, when he climbed the
ladder to snag a high throw
from James on fourth-and-14
from the Lancers 32 for a
first down conversion, which
set up Hermiston’s second
touchdown.
“This is something else,”
he said, “it’s crazy man to go
out on top. I love it.”
Hermiston’s run game
was not as effective as it was
in the first three rounds, but
was still effective enough.
Hinkle topped 100 rushing
yards yet again on Saturday,
finishing with 115 yards on
22 carries with two scores.
He did cough up a fumble
on the Bulldogs’ own 25
late in the third quarter
with Hermiston clinging to
a 31-28 lead, making for
nervous moments among
Bulldog fans.
However
Hermiston’s
defense picked up its running
back and forced Churchill
into a 42-yard field goal
attempt,
which
Trevor
Groves pushed wide left,
proving to be the difference
in the game.
Churchill scored its final
touchdown with 33 seconds
left, but an onside kick
attempt bounced into the
arms of Gutierrez and Herm-
iston’s ‘hands team’, sealing
the win for Hermiston.
“That’s why they are out
there, they nicknamed that
team AllState so we’re good
hands with all-state, right?”
Faaeteete joked. “It’s one
of those things we rehearse
on Thursday mornings. We
rehearse those plays, those
moments, those opportuni-
ties and that kid grabbed it on
a good bounce, covered it up
and then we hit victory twice
and ended the game.”
Seventeen
Bulldog
seniors suited up for the final
time in purple and black
uniforms, each leaving their
own mark in their own way
in a program that has made
it to the playoffs every year
since joining Class 5A in
2006.
The goal was always a
state title, but the Bulldogs
also wanted to leave a lasting
footprint on their way out
of Oregon this year before
heading to compete in the
WIAA — they wanted to end
with a bang.
“I think we left with a
pretty big one, yeah?,” Faae-
teete said. “You know, these
guys before last week the
one memory they remember
is sitting in the stands and
rushing the field after Chase
Knutz’s group won it and
for them to end their senior
career the way that they saw
fit.
“Leaving Oregon with
a bang?,” Faaeteete asked.
“Bang!”