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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2019)
A9 WEDNESDAY September 11, 2019 Ellen Morris Bishop Wallowa’s defense brings down St. Paul’s ball carrier. COUGARS PLAY TOUGH BUT FALL IN OPENER By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The Wallowa High School Cougars’ gridders came out tough but lost a 40-6 non-league decision to St. Paul, one of the highest ranked teams in the state. Coach Matt Brockamp said the squad showed heart and the score didn’t show how tough the Cougars played. Brockamp said the squad started shaky, allowing St. Paul to score on their opening two possessions along with a pick-6 off of quarterback, Lute Ramsden, just before the half, leaving the Cougars at the bottom end of a 32-0 score. St. Paul only scored once in the sec- ond half, to show how well the Cougars’ defense dug in during the second half. The brothers Ramsden, Lute and Zeb, put in fi ne performances, particularly Lute, as a starting fresh- man quarterback. Lute threw several interceptions, but was 21 of 40 in passing, for 226 yards. Zeb did his part, catching passes for 116 yards while rushing for 69 yards on 10 touches. Tristin Bales had fi ve receptions as well. Coach Matt Brockamp lauded Lute’s performance, particularly for his play when the chips were down. “He took it pretty well — mentally, he’s pretty tough,” Brockamp said. “He kept playing hard and threw over a 50 percent completion rate and one touchdown.” Brockamp said that St. Paul really wasn’t able to dominate the Cougars physically. He also noted defen- sive play as a high point and said that offensive stats were fairly close. He did say one of the things that cost the Cougars dearly were penalties — 18 of them in fact, something Brockamp said the team would work on. Defense also saw Zeb leading the team with 12 tackles while Mason Moore had seven takedowns and Ryder Goller put in an exceptional effort with six tack- les, including two sacks. Brockamp also said Bales played exceptional defense. Regardless of some game setbacks, Coach Brock- amp saw a number of things he liked, particularly con- sidering about a half-dozen players had never played high school football before. “I was proud of the kids in general,” Coach Brock- amp said. “They played hard the whole game and played pretty good defense, really. The good news is the mistakes are all stuff we can fi x and we’ll keep getting better.” The Cougars next play their league opener away at Powder Valley on Friday, Sept. 13. Eagles fry Dayville/Monument Enterprise football stopped by lightning on their own gridiron By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain The Eagles football squad started the year much the same as last year’s undefeated sea- son, barbecuing Dayville/Mon- ument 64-0 on Friday, Sept. 7. Coach Duncan Christman was impressed with his team’s performance. “It felt really good to get out there and have a good game and start the season off right,” he said. The contest was also the Eagles’ fi rst league game of the season. According to Christman, both sides of the ball executed well. Better yet, he was able to substitute younger players in without affecting the scoring or momentum of the game. “It was good to get younger players in,” the coach said. Christman didn’t leave his upperclassmen wanting for praise as he noted that senior Carson Littlepage rushed for more than 200 yards on a mere 10 carries and scored an amaz- ing six touchdowns. He also led the team with 11 tackles on defense. As a bonus, as the team’s kicker, he was 5 for 9 on PAT tries. “He was a big help,” Christ- man said. Juston Rogers also did his share, rushing for 60 yards on four carries. The team had 356 yards of total offense along with eight rushing touchdowns. Sophomore Trace Col- lier held down the quarter- back position for the battle. Although the squad focused on the running game, Collier was 3 for 6 with 55 yards passing and a touchdown. Penalties were the only mention of anything negative about the Eagles’ performance, but Christman said that those issues were easily fi xable. He also praised the opponents for their solid play, noting that he thought they were the most improved team in the league. The defense came in for high praise as the coach said that the Eagles held their opponents to 71 yards of total offense. “Defense is super solid,” he said. He added that both Juston Rogers and Chase Homan tal- lied 5.5 tackles. He also noted the standout defensive perfor- mances of Jonah Staigle and Hayden Hite who had four tackles each. “It was awesome having all the kids execute their positions well and do what needs to be done,” Christman said. “It was a great day for football.” The win leaves the Eagles with a 1-0 league record. They next travel to face Echo on Fri- day, Sept. 20. The Enterprise Out- laws opening home game on Friday Sept. 7, was stopped by lightning early in the second half with the score 40-8 Pilot Rock/ Nixyaawii with Enter- prise on the wrong side of the score. Coach Rusty Eschler said the game was tough. “We had a lot of men- tal mistakes on our part he said. “We could have made it a little closer. We may not have won the game, but we could have made it a little more chal- lenging for Pilot Rock.” Eschler said the light- ning game ended at the conclusion of the third quarter. He explained that anytime you hear thunder or see lightning, it calls for a 30-minute break “We fi rst got the thun- der, then the lightning, and we thought we got a lit- tle space there, then a big black cloud came over and it was, “nope, not gonna go.” The coach noted that the Rockets are proba- bly the best team in the West Special District 3 conference. He said that the Rockets’ advantage included size and speed. Ellen Morris Bishop Outlaws senior Dallas Harker causes a Rocket fumble. The Outlaws had some noteworthy offensive pro- duction with junior Trace Evans leading the way. Evans scored the team’s only touchdown on a 60-yard sweep. Defensively, senior Dallas Harker kept the Outlaws in the game. “He did a really good job,” Eschler said. He added that the squad started two freshmen on defense and one on offense. The coach also said the team was a grow- ing force that gets better all the time. “They worked hard,” he said. “I’m not disap- pointed in their effort. I am concerned about the men- tal mistakes.” The Outlaws dressed down 13 players and no player received injury during the game. The loss left the Out- laws with an 0-1 league and overall record on the season. They travel down to Cambridge, Idaho on Friday, Sept. 13 to meet Oakley, a private school in Idaho. “It’ll be a challenge, but competition doesn’t kill you,” Eschler said. Winter is so long without you. 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