Smoke signals., October 15, 2004, Page 11, Image 9

Smoke Signals 11
OCTOBER 15, 2004
Bulldogs Grimd Out The Yaurdls
This year's team has a big front line and the league's top-passing quarterback.
Senior Tailback Bryan Fendall
By Ron Karten
For Bulldog Head Football Coach
Bruce Grambo, winning isn't every
thing. "I want people to be excellent at
their job, but I also want them to
have fun," he said midway through
the season. "I coach it as a game.
That's the strength of my philoso
phy." Still, the Amity game last week
loomed pretty large for him and the
rest of the Willamina Bulldogs.
Having dropped the team's first
league match to Santiam Christian,
which is still undefeated, and with
only undefeated Dayton and third
place holder, Amity, still to play to
win a playoff berth, Grambo was
busy psyching the kids up for the
game.
"I'm having the kids playing just
as well as they can, and if they do,
we'll be in the playoffs," he said.
And he has a lot of talent to work
with this year.
Junior Quarterback Zack Burdon
has the best passing stats in the
league.
The front four lineman also are
pretty big additions to the team:
Senior Darren Risseeuw weighs in
at 345 pounds; Senior Travis
Schloeder started the season at 255
pounds but he had slipped down to
240 by mid-season; Junior Justin
Boone can hold back anything up
to and probably including a Florida
hurricane at 360 pounds; and
Tribal member and senior Jeramy
Trammell tips the scale at 265
pounds; or as Grambo said: They're
all good-sized kids."
The team has been averaging 40
points a game, "mainly due to se
nior running back Bryan Fendall,"
said the coach. "If we give him a
little crack at the line, he's gone.
He's a true game-breaker. A great
student as well."
Fendall ran for 322 yards in the
team's first game against Heppner,
for 156 yards against Santiam
Christian and 265 yards against
(ty
j.
Sweet Catch Willamina Senior Tailback Bryan Fendall makes a sweet catch of
a Zach Burdon pass down the sideline for the Bulldogs as they defeated the Gaston
Greyhounds 49-14 in Willamina. Fendall is having another great season, but suffered
a knee injury the following week against Amity.
As
Touchdown TOSS Junior Quarterback Zach Burdon
tosses a touchdown pass to Senior Wide Receiver Stephen
Price during the Gaston Game. The Bulldogs are 3-2 overall
and 1-2 in League as we go to press. Willamina plays tradi
tional rival Sheridan on Friday, October 1 5th in Sheridan.
Gaston.
Senior running back Leo Ayala
has averaged more than 100
yards a game, thanks in part to a
Fendall injury that put Ayala in
the runner's seat for awhile.
Ayala went for
206 yards his
first night out in
the September
game against
Harrisburg
when Fendall
was injured,
then for 98
against
Heppner and
112 yards
against Gaston.
Grambo
points to senior
middle line
backer and of
fensive lineman
Denny Duram,
a four-year
starter. "He's a
solid rock. He
does things real well."
Seniors Koby Bryant and
Stephen Price are the team's out
standing receivers, said Grambo.
"They're picking up and doing bet
ter all the time."
But it was not to be against Am
ity last week. A reinjured Bryan
Fendall, a wet field and nine turn
overs led the Bulldogs to a 48-6 de
feat. Grambo came to Willamina last
year, capping a 48-year coaching
career. "I just love working with
young kids," he said. "Keeping up
with young people is a tough job
but I like bridging that gap."
He has coached and taught at
high schools throughout the North
west and for nine years he took on
a range of coaching jobs, including
Head Football
Conch and tV&P
rect
Wl
C
Spokane. m4tScS-
:oach and VTlt?
Uhletic Di- Tfc-
ector at ' i
Vhitworth lWtC
College in
'4
i . r , if if .
4. '
. ( a Jftr
: r
: 4 v. ' .
7 S
; f m
t it y . i
'if
r
J- ' V:,:&. J fit
-r. war. jUK
mtosir
S f l
12 1
Grrrrrreat Balloon Rally Among the balloons at the 1 5th Annual Great Prosser Balloon
Rally in Prosser, Washington on Saturday, September 25 were the "Tony the Tiger" balloon and the
Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Reservation's "Wildhorse Casino" balloon.