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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2017
1B
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2017 ALL-AREA FOOTBALL
Hermiston’s James did it all
BY THE NUMBERS
Hermiston’s junior
QB is 2017 EO
Player of the Year
2,373
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Passing Yards
A quick glance at the stat sheet
for Hermiston’s Andrew James’
2017 season is enough to make
your eyes pop out of your head.
Through the air he totaled more
than 2,300 yards and 29 touch-
downs, a 63-percent completion
percentage, a QB rating of 123
and a mere fi ve interceptions. And
on the ground he compiled 1,142
rushing yards and 11 touchdowns,
while turning the ball over just one
time. On top of that, he made 45
total tackles from his linebacker
spot in the middle of the Bulldogs’
defense.
And he put together those
numbers while orchestrating his
Hermiston Bulldogs to an 11-2
overall record and the school’s
second state championship.
James’ output earned him plenty
of individual accolades to accom-
pany his state championship medal
and ring — he was named fi rst team
all-district and fi rst team all-state.
And now James adds one more as
the 2017 East Oregonian All-Area
Player of the Year.
“I got to give it up to everyone
on my team, I wouldn’t have put
up anywhere close to those stats if
it wasn’t for those guys out there,”
James said, in an interview.
He also admitted that the type of
numbers he would produce would
often catch him by surprise.
“You play the game and you
don’t know what happened right
as soon as you get off the fi eld,” he
said, “and then (the media) comes
out with the stats and you look back
like ‘Oh, wow, I did that tonight?”
This season was a giant leap
on the fi eld for the 5-foot-10,
180-pounder, who was in his
second season as Hermiston’s
starting quarterback. James won
the job as a slender sophomore
in 2016 and showed plenty of
potential throughout Hermiston’s
10 game-schedule, totaling more
than 2,500 all-purpose yards and
25 touchdowns. However, at times
he reminded people that he was
still a sophomore and a fi rst-year
starter. He completed 57 percent
of his passes with 11 interceptions,
three lost fumbles and a QB rating
of 84.7.
“It was a new step for me last
year, of course it was uncovered
ground,” James said. “It was a
1,142
Rushing yards
29
Passing Touchdowns
11
Rushing Touchdowns
1
State Championship
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston quarterback Andrew James is the All EO player of the Year.
rough season but we had amazing
athletes back then and it was tough
going through the season dropping
games we shouldn’t have.”
James went to work in the
offseason knowing there was plenty
of room to grow as a quarterback,
learning to stay in the pocket longer
to let routes develop. He also
worked into a better rhythm with
his receivers. He not only wanted
to perform better for himself, but
as Hermiston began to prepare
for its OSAA farewell tour, James
wanted to help his team win a state
championship.
“It was brought up (a lot), if not
everyday,” James said. “You have
that in the back of your mind kind
of, but it wasn’t solely that. You
want to win a state championship
every year, but the guys seeing it
as freshmen in 2014, and seeing the
look on those guys’ faces and seeing
the town and how excited everyone
got, they really wanted that.”
James’ junior
season
had
a rocky start
as a passer
he and
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the Bulldogs
EastOregonian.
relied
more
com/eo/podcasts
on his legs
for more of our in- for the fi rst
terview with James. three games.
He
threw
four interceptions Week 1 against
Union and completed just 16 of a
combined 45 pass attempts over the
next two games against Lewiston
and Mountain View. In that same
span, James ran for at least 120
yards and a touchdown in each
game.
“The fi rst game was tough,”
James said. “Union was a tough
opponent. We knew that coming
in. They shut down our run game
and it had us wondering in the fi rst
couple of weeks, even in Mountain
View they shut us down big time,
too. It was kind of a ‘Geez, where
do we go from here if we can’t run
See JAMES/3B
FIRST TEAM
QB
ATH
Nick Bower
Pendleton, sr.
Andrew James
Hermiston, jr.
Jonathan Hinkle
Hermiston, sr.
2,051 pass yds,
29 total TDs, 2nd
team all-district
3,515 all-purpose
yards, 40 total TD,
1st team all-state
1,424 rushing
yards, 18 TD, 2nd
team all-state
RB
RB
WR
WR
Coby Dougherty
Heppner, sr.
Dayshawn Neal
Hermiston, sr.
Shaw Jerome
Pendleton, sr.
924 rushing yards,
11 TD, 1st team
all-CBC
70 catches, 1,118
yards, 17 TDs, 1st
team all-state
51 catches, 636
yards, 6 TD, 2nd
team all-state
OL
OL
Beau Blake
Hermiston, sr.
1st team all-
state, 1st team
all-district
AJ Fernandez
Hermiston, sr.
2nd team all-Spe-
cial District 1
OL
Wyatt Steagall
Heppner, sr.
1st team all-Co-
lumbia
Basin
Conference
OL
OL
DL
Everett Willard
Mario Sanchez
Pendleton, jr.
Stanfi eld, jr.
2nd team all-Spe- 1st team all-CBC
cial District 1
Wyatt Steagall
Heppner, sr.
53 tackles, 20
TFL, 12 sacks,
1st team all-CBC
DB
Dayshawn Neal
Hermiston, sr.
62 tackles, 4 INT,
4 passes def., 1st
team all-state
Keaton Mikami
Hermiston, sr.
56 tackles, 12.5
TFL, 6.5 sacks,
All-district HM
DB
Joe Gutierrez
Hermiston, sr.
70 tackles, 6 INT,
11 passes def.,
1st team all-state
DL
DL
DL
Greg Lee
Pendleton, sr.
76 tackles, 12
TFL,
All-State
HM
DB
Adrian Renner
Stanfi eld, sr.
1st team all-Co-
lumbia
Basin
Conference
LB
Tyler Carter
Heppner, jr.
32 tackles, 12
TFL, 4 sacks, 1st
team all-CBC
DB
LB
Jonathan Hinkle
Hermiston, sr.
122 tackles, 5.5
TFL, 4 INT, 1st
team all-state
Kirk Liscom
Pendleton, jr.
118 tackles, 6
TFL, all-state HM
K
P
Beau Wolters
Heppner, sr.
Uriel Carillo
Stanfi eld, fr.
28 tackles, 2 TFL,
2 INT, 1st team all-
CBC
1st team all-CBC
Gabe Umbarger
Pendleton, jr.
All-State HM, 1st
team all-district
LB
Trent Durfey
Umatilla, jr.
93 tackles, 1 INT,
EOL Defensive
POY