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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2018)
SPORTS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS NFL Rams Chiefs 54 51 Rams outlast Chiefs By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton quarterback Trent Sorey gives a hug to teammate Connor Cary after the Bucks’ 51-30 loss to Thurston on Saturday in Hillsboro. BUCKS BOW OUT Pendleton exits playoffs one win away from championship game By BILLY GATES For the East Oregonian P endleton’s historic season ended with a 51-30 loss to Thurston in the Class 5A football semifinals Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium, and while tears rolled down the players’ faces in the cold wind, there was still a sense of accomplishment in the post-game huddle. “This is the furthest the pro- gram has been in 41 years,” Buck- aroos head coach Erik Davis said. “The kids can hold their head high. Obviously, we’d love to play next week, but it’s not in the cards. I’m just so happy for these kids.” The last time Pendleton played in a state semifinal was in 1977, a 13-7 loss to Medford in Class 3A, the highest classification at the time. The Colts, the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, came into the semifinals riding high off a 49-48 upset over No. 2 Churchill, and rather than having an emotional hangover, they rumbled. Running back Wesley Kommer rushed for 150 yards on 16 carries and a pair of scores to help anchor an offense that tallied 401 total yards. All of Kommer’s yards came in the first half, and Pendle- ton just didn’t have an answer for him. “We’ve been used to being the more physical team, and I’ll tip my hat to those guys,” Davis said. “They physically manhandled us across the board.” Thurston held Pendleton to minus-5 yards rushing on 12 car- ries, and Pendleton was forced to go to the air more than it would have liked early on. “Thurston stacked the box and shut down our run game,” Pendle- ton quarterback Trent Sorey said. “We had to go to the air, and in the first half, it just wasn’t clicking.” Three Pendleton turnovers, all interceptions, resulted in two Thurston touchdowns. The Colts scored on six of nine first-half possessions to run up a 37-0 lead at the break, then tacked on touch- downs their first two possessions of the third quarter to enact the 45-point running clock. The Bucks, however, scored on four of their five drives in the sec- ond half. Sorey hit Blake Davis for a 70-yard touchdown the first play of the third quarter, and that was a tandem that worked for the Bucks all night. Davis ended with 225 yards on nine catches with three touch- downs, including 62- and 12-yard LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jared Goff threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ger- ald Everett for the go-ahead score with 1:49 to play, and the Los Angeles Rams outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs for a 54-51 victory on Monday night in a high-oc- tane NFL offensive show- down that somehow sur- passed the hype. Patrick Mahomes threw six touchdown passes in his latest jaw-dropping perfor- mance for the Chiefs (9-2), but he also threw two inter- ceptions in the final 1:18 as the Rams (10-1) claimed the highest-scoring Monday night game ever played and the first NFL game with two 50-point performances. Goff passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns, while Marcus Peters and Lamar- cus Joyner came up with late interceptions as the Rams See NFL/2B Sports shorts Paxton Staff photos by E.J. Harris Left: Pendleton’s Walker Camp catches a pass covered by Thurston’s Caleb Scott. Top right: Pend- leton running back Aiden Patterson gets wrapped up by a number of Thurston defenders. Bottom left: Pendleton’s Chris Charpentier wraps up Thurston’s Wesley Kommer. 5A PREP SEMIFINALS Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Shawn Yeager sacks Thurston quarterback Cade Crist in the Bucks’ 51-30 loss to the Colts on Saturday in Hillsboro. scores in the fourth quarter. Aiden Patterson scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter, and Sorey ended the night 16-for-32 passing with 327 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The Sorey-to-Davis connec- tion was a bright spot for the Bucks, and with 15 other seniors playing their last game in Bucka- roo green and gold, coach Davis was glad to see the game end on a bit of an upturn. “Trent and Blake hooked up a tonight, and I’m glad they were able to finish out their high school careers like that,” he said. “I’m happy for all of the seniors, they are kids I truly care about.” Holding back tears, Sorey said the thing he’ll remember most about being a Buckaroo is some- thing athletics provides all par- ticipants — a sense of family and belonging. “It’s the family we built. Every time we say ‘Bucks on three, fam- ily on six,’ every one of those guys means it,” Sorey said. “We will be connected for the rest of our lives.” Walker Camp finished with 89 yards on four receptions for the Bucks, and Beau Skinner had eight tackles, three for a loss with a quarterback sack. Camp chipped in seven tackles, and Shawn Yeager had two tackles Thurston Pendleton 51 30 for loss and a sack. Thurston had 18 first downs to Pendleton’s 13 and outgained the Bucks 401-327. Thurston was 4-for-9 on third downs and aver- aged 8.2 yards per play. Quarter- back Cade Crist threw two touch- downs on 9-of-16 passing for 127 yards. Caleb Scott had an 85-yard run for Thurston in the third quar- ter, and Calvin Royce rushed eight times for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Wilsonville defeated West Albany 28-7 in the other semifi- nal game. The Wildcats and Colts face off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium for the 5A state title. While Sorey wishes he and his guys were suiting up Thanksgiv- ing weekend, he knows this team was special. “It means more than anything to get this far,” Sorey said. “It’s pretty cool. Since the seventh grade, when we were winning games by a lot, we knew that we had something. We knew needed to bust our asses to get here and we gave it all we had.” “This is the furthest the program has been in 41 years. The kids can hold their head high.” — Erik Davis, Pendleton coach Yankees get Paxton from Mariners for Sheffield, 2 other prospects NEW YORK (AP) — Left-hander James Paxton was acquired by the Yankees from the Seattle Mariners for a trio of prospects Monday, bolstering the thin starting rotation that contributed to New York’s loss to Boston in the AL Division Series. New York sent left-hander Justus Sheffield to the Mari- ners along with right-hander Erik Swanson and outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams. Paxton turned 30 on Nov. 6 and went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 28 starts last sea- son, including a no-hitter at Toronto on May 8. Pax- ton, a proud Canadian, is also known for keeping his composure as a bald eagle mistakenly landed on his shoulder prior to a start at Minnesota in April. He joins a rotation pro- jected to include right- handers Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka and left- hander CC Sabathia. Paxton made $4.9 mil- lion last season and is eligi- ble for salary arbitration. He can become a free agent after the 2020 season. Sheffield, 22, who is rated among the top minor league prospects, made his big league debut in September and pitched in three games for the Yankees. He had a 2.48 ERA in 25 minor league appearances at Double-A and Triple-A this year, striking out 123 in 116 innings and allowing four home runs.
