SPORTS
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2018
1B
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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