Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2019)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 BAKER CITY HERALD — 7A PAC-12 FOOTBALL EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL Montana Tech buries Mounties Washington State stops Houston By Kristie Rieken AP Sports Writer HOUSTON — After No. 20 Washington State struggled to get going early on Friday night against Houston before pulling away in the second half for a win, coach Mike Leach lamented that his team didn’t have more time to play. “I almost wish we had a fi fth quarter because I thought we had more work to do and we could have grown a little bit more,” he said. “I thought we were playing our best football at the end.” Anthony Gordon threw for 440 yards and three touchdowns for his third straight 400-yard game as Washington State got the 31-24 victory. Gordon threw a 7-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and had two 39-yard scoring throws, including one in the third quarter that gave Washington State (3-0) the lead for good. “I thought we were fran- tic the fi rst half both of- fensively and defensively,” Leach said. “Then when we settled in I thought we played well the second half.” It was the fi rst meet- ing as head coaches for Leach and Houston’s Dana Holgorsen, who fi rst met almost 30 years ago when Holgorsen played at Iowa Wesleyan, where Leach was an assistant. By Ronald Bond The (La Grande) Observer LA GRANDE — The Montana Tech Orediggers set the tone from the game’s fi rst drive and spoiled Eastern Oregon University’s home opener. Jed Fike rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns, and Montana Tech built a 21-point fi rst-half lead en route to a 35-10 victory over the Mountaineers Saturday in Frontier Conference action at Community Stadium. “I knew after the fi rst drive it was going to be C of I all over again if we didn’t do something about it,” head coach Tim Camp said, refer- ring back to the Mountain- eers’ 48-12 loss to College of Idaho in the season opener where the Yotes raced out to an early lead and never let up. “We switched a couple things inside and kind of slowed them down. We gotta be bet- ter in (certain) scenarios, but our defense stepped up sev- eral times today and got the ball back in certain situations. The offense didn’t do anything with it.” Montana Tech’s fi rst drive of the game was almost exclusively on the ground. The fi rst six plays, in fact, were all rushing plays before Nate Sander caught a 5-yard touch- down pass for the early lead. The ground-and-pound was a sign of things to come. Tech, with Fike leading the way, churned out 226 yards on the ground and totaled 394 yards on the afternoon. The bulk of that came in the fi rst half, when Tech had 234 yards and two Fike touchdown runs, the second a 29-yard dash to the The two coached together at both Valdosta State and Texas Tech and have remained close since that time, adding some familiarity to this game between teams meeting for just the fourth time. “Me and him go way back ... it’s fun to compete with him,” Holgorsen said. “I thought our kids played hard and gave ourselves a chance, just came up a little short.” D’Eriq King had 128 yards passing and a score and added 94 yards rush- ing and two touchdowns on a night Houston (1-2) led 14-7 at halftime. But Houston struggled to move the ball in the second half, lost two fumbles and didn’t get in the end zone after halftime until King’s 12- yard run with 2:21 left cut the lead to 31-24. “We don’t want moral victories or any of that ... we didn’t play good enough to win,” Holgorsen said. “Didn’t make enough plays and the ball didn’t bounce our way enough for us to come out of here with a win and that needs to hap- pen next week.” Brandon Arconado had nine receptions for 115 yards and Max Borghi added 61 yards receiving and ran for a touchdown in the third quarter to help WSU to the victory. Houston went for it on fourth-and-1 on its fi rst drive of the second half and fumbled the snap. Ronald Bond / The (La Grande) Observer Eastern Oregon’s Victor Dias (44) looking for running room against Montana Tech. left side for a 21-0 lead with 5:57 to play in the opening half. Fike had 139 yards by halftime. Jet Campbell added 168 yards passing and two touch- downs for the Orediggers, who defeated EOU for the fi fth time in the last six meet- ings and ended a four-game winning streak by Eastern in home openers. Eastern, which struggled to fi nd a rhythm on offense against the Orediggers’ front seven, manufactured a 63- yard drive just before the half, but had to settle for a 23-yard Jaiden Machuca fi eld goal after getting to the 1-yard-line to cut the margin to 21-3 at the break. “They were challenging us to throw the football. They wanted us to go over the top on them and they wanted to man us up,” Camp said. “I felt that we had guys out there Lew Brothers FALL TIRE $ guys.” Fike turned the fi rst of those three third-quarter EOU turnovers into a 1-yard touchdown run, and Camp- bell hit Trevor Hoffman for a 59-yard scoring pass in the fourth for a 32-point lead. Backup quarterback Joey Aliff scored on a 1-yard keeper in the fourth quarter for the fi nal margin. Eastern’s offense picked up after a slow fi rst half, but fi nished with just 232 yards and was held to 58 yards on the ground. Dias led the way with 45 yards rushing, but the rest of the team netted just 13 yards. Quinn was 11-for-26 pass- ing for 127 yards and was picked off twice. Aliff in relief was 5-for-11 for 45 yards. Christian Blaser had 44 yards receiving, and Isaiah Thomas had a team-best fi ve catches and added 36 yards. TREASURE VALLEY STEEL, INC. SALE SAVE 152 UP TO that could take advantage of them but every time we caught something we fumbled it. Or a holding penalty. Or something.” Three third-quarter turn- overs by EOU — fumbles by Victor Dias and Tanner Zenke and a Kai Quinn intercep- tion — doomed any come- back hopes for Eastern. The Mountaineers, who have been hampered by turnovers in the early stages of the season, committed four on Saturday, and have nine on the season. Eastern also had nine penalties, a handful of which came at inopportune times and quelled promising starts to drives. “Every time that we got something going we either turned the ball over or we got a penalty,” Camp said. “It was totally different from last week. That’s not something that we’re used to with our -=JQB=?PQNEJC:AA #AA0QNHEJO (KQOA#QOPKI )J(KQOA#QOPKI#QP%T=?P,AJCPDO - ON A SET OF 4 SELECT LIGHT TRUCK AND SUV TIRES - Terramax H/T • Good tread wear • Value priced • Mud & snow rated Back Country Touring H/T Back Country All Terrain • Outstanding durability • Superior handling • All-season performance • Mud & snow rated • Extended tread life • Outstanding traction • Quiet ride • Designed for comfort Back Country MT •Cut and chip resistant • Outstanding mud and snow traction • Severe duty applications • Durable 3-ply sidewall *VSVYZ *\Z[VT;YPT ¹*VYY\NH[LK +LSP]LY`(]HPSHISL -\SS:Vɉ[[3PUL M[.\SM*VHZ[7HULS M[7)97HULS M[4LZH7HULS M[;\Ɉ9PI7HULS :[HUKPUN:LHT $%,)6%29 M[+LS[H9PI !6!),!",% M[7YV7HULS 9A=N&QHH0=EJP7=NN=JPU[7A=PDAN80=EJP3UOPAI We gladly make appointments. 210 Bridge Street, Baker City 541-523-3679 After Hours: 541-518-7100 View prices and book an appointment at www.LesSchwab.com Off er valid September 1st - October 31st, 2019 Limited time off er. While supplies last. Discount depends on the tire size & type. Cannot be combined with other off ers. ONTARIO 541-889-4214 BOISE 208-336-7505 1460 N. Verde Dr. Toll Free 1-866-887-8335 6619 S. Supply Way Toll Free 1-888-717-8335 WWW.TREASUREVALLEYSTEEL.COM