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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2018)
SPORTS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PREP FOOTBALL Wilsonville Pendleton 53 7 Cats crash Bucks’ perfect season By BILLY GATES For the East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hermiston’s Andrew James gets wrapped up by Kamiakin’s Michael Wymore, bottom, Tanner Sullins, middle, and Ray Chavez in the Bulldogs’ 34-27 loss to the Braves on Friday in Hermiston. Comeback falls short Hermiston can’t connect in final minutes, loses heartbreaker By BRETT KANE and DANIEL WATTENBURGER East Oregonian The Bulldogs had the ball in their hands with a 7-point deficit, nearly the full field ahead of them and less than two minutes on the clock. Despite a valiant effort to score a game-tying touchdown, a trip to the Mid-Columbia Confer- ence playoffs eluded Hermiston on Friday night in a 34-27 loss to Kamiakin. “It hurts,” said coach David Faeteete after the game. “This was one of those tough ones. We had opportunities, but slipped. It was a mixture of things — they made big plays, and we missed some tackles. But that’s football.” Hermiston strung together a late drive that included two fourth- down conversions, but quarterback Andrew James and his receiv- ers couldn’t connect on the final PREP FOOTBALL Kamiakin Hermiston 34 27 four plays. Kamiakin took posses- sion after a fourth down pass fell short and sealed its own trip to the playoffs. Sophomore Tuna Altahir led the way for Kamiakin, running for 275 yards and four touchdowns. Hermiston opened the game with a long, plodding drive that included two third-down conver- sions, but settled for a 31-yard field goal by Juan Carlos Navarrete for a 3-0 lead. Kamiakin responded with a long drive of its own, but Hermiston’s Zane Davis broke up a would-be touchdown pass on fourth down to get possession back. Hermiston drove nearly the length of the field, and after two touchdowns were called back on penalties finally found the end zone on a short pass from Andrew James to Youboni Razon. Nava- Staff photo by E.J. Harris Kamiakin’s Tuna Altahir breaks free from a tackle attempt of Herm- iston’s Guiomar Garay in the Bulldogs’ 34-27 loss to the Braves on Friday in Hermiston. rette split the uprights again to give Hermiston a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter. Kamiakin answered with a quick score on a rushing touch- down by Altahir, but Hermiston blocked the extra point to maintain a 10-6 lead. Hermiston’s next drive sput- tered around midfield, but a punt with a few fortunate bounces pushed Kamiakin back near its own goal line. After three plays, the Braves attempted a punt out of their own end zone but the punter bobbled the snap and the Bulldogs tackled him for a safety and a 12-6 lead. Altahir then scored a 44-yard touchdown and an extra point put See DAWGS/2B Prep cross-country Union, Heppner XC to state By BRETT KANE East Oregonian A strong showing at the Spe- cial District 3 meet held in Pendle- ton on Friday will allow Union and Heppner to move forward into the state championships. The top five runners from each of the 19 participating schools qualified for the OSAA X-C State Championships at Lane Commu- nity College in Eugene on Satur- day, Nov. 3. Union had four run- ners in the top five spots in the boys 1A/2A varsity division: senior Tim Stevens (15:17:42.9) crossed the line at first, senior Jack Silveira (15:17:43.4) finished right behind Stevens at second, junior Andrew Lackey (17:19.2) placed fourth, and sophomore Israel O’Reilly (17:23.3) placed fifth. “Our boys have been ranked No. 1 for a while now. It’s kind of a curse,” said Union head coach Steve Sheehy. “They ran great today. They really put it together.” Union’s varsity boys took the state title as a team last year. Mean- while, Heppner crossed Friday’s finish line with a new personal best. The Mustangs’ senior runner Hunter Nichols placed third with a 15:18:09.9 time to qualify for his third consecutive state qualifica- tion. That helped Heppner’s team place second with a score of 45 points to mark the first time in four years as a program to qualify for the state championships. “This is the most kids we’ve ever had out,” said Heppner coach Russ Nichols. “They pushed each other and focused for this meet. It feels great. I’m proud of these kids.” Burns was Friday’s top-ranked team for girls varsity with a score of 35 points. Senior McKenzi Hoyt was their top runner, crossing the finish line at 19:23.8. Enterprise’s team placed second at 41 points. A large enough turnout for boys teams in the 3A schools allowed for its own separate race. Enterprise was the top team with 36 points, barely edging out Burns with 39. Enterprise freshman Henry Cough- lan was the event’s fastest runner, finishing at 16:34:42.1. “It was a good day. There’s some great runners out here,” Ste- vens, 17, said after the awards cer- emony. “My team is looking good for next Saturday. I’m excited to see what they can bring.” Staff photo by E.J. Harris Heppner’s Hunter Nichols, left, runs at the front of the pack on Fri- day during the Special District 3 cross-country meet in Pendleton. WILSONVILLE — When it rains, it pours. In a steady shower the entire night, the Pendleton Bucks met a Wilsonville buzzsaw that rolled to a 53-7 win in the Special Dis- trict 1 championship game Fri- day at Randall Stadium. The Bucks couldn’t stop the Wildcats’ explosive offense led by quarterback Nathan Over- holt. The Wildcats senior sig- nal-caller threw over, around and through the Bucks second- ary for 424 yards and six touch- downs on 10 of 15 passing, and he also scrambled for a 60-yard score. Pendleton head coach Erik Davis said while it was the most frustrating game of the season, the Bucks have to put it behind them quickly since they’ll still make the state playoffs. “We’re going to find out what we’re made of,” Davis said. “I think with this group of 17 seniors, it won’t take much to motivate them.” Even with the lopsided loss, the Bucks are still a one-loss team at 8-1 and should have a favorable draw when the play- off brackets come out Saturday. Davis and the coaching staff want to keep the same routine with film sessions and on-field practice. “I truly believe we’ve got the right mix of kids to bounce back from this,” Davis said. “The core group of these kids are going to do great things, and the coaches have to get them ready to go.” Pendleton got on the board with 8:08 in the second quarter. Three plays after they recov- ered a muffed punt by Wilson- ville, Aiden Patterson bulldozed his way 3 yards for a score to make it 12-7 Wilsonville. “I thought after we scored that one, we could go punch- for-punch with them,” Davis said. “ The Wildcats scored on the first play of the ensuing drive on an Overholt 71-yard pass to Cooper Mootz, and just like that, Pendleton’s momentum was dashed and the Wildcat train kept rolling. Wilsonville ran 30 plays all game, 22 by the first string. They scored on the first play of drives three times and their lon- gest scoring drive took three plays. Receivers were wide open in the secondary, and quite frankly, the Bucks made it easy on Overholt to rack up the yards and touchdowns. Conversely, the Bucks offense couldn’t sustain drives due to fumbled snaps. It was wet on the turf, sure, but some of the shotgun snaps went over the head of quarterback Trent Sorey, and some went through his hands. The Bucks fumbled eight times, seven on snaps, and the offense came to a screech- ing halt with each miscue. A bright spot in the Pendle- ton offense was running back Shawn Yeager. He rushed for 78 yards on 10 carries, but playing from behind the Bucks couldn’t keep feeding him and were forced to try to move the ball See BUCKS/3B
