TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
SPORTS
Verdell, No. 12 Oregon stun No. 3 Ohio State 35-28 Homedale
Oregon upsets
Buckeyes despite missing
two top defensive players
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — C.J. Verdell
watched on TV last week as Minnesota’s
Mohamed Ibrahim shredded Ohio State’s
disheveled defense early. The Oregon run-
ning back thought he could take advan-
tage in the same fashion.
Verdell, who has struggled with
injuries the past two seasons, made it
happen. He ran for 161 yards and scored
three touchdowns as shorthanded No. 12
Oregon stunned No. 3 Ohio State 35-28 on
Saturday, Sept. 11.
“We saw the Minnesota running
back was having a good game, and we
wanted to do the same thing,” the 5-foot-8,
211-pound Verdell said.
Verdell and quarterback Anthony
Brown exploited holes in Ohio State’s de-
fense and handed the Buckeyes their first
regular-season loss in nearly three years
and the first of third-year coach Ryan
Day’s tenure.
The Buckeyes’ last loss in the regular
season came at Purdue in October 2018
under Urban Meyer.
Ohio State (1-1, 1-0 Big Ten) never led
the game it was favored to win by 14 1/2
points despite gaudy numbers from fresh-
man quarterback C.J. Stroud. Its front
seven struggled to contain Verdell, control
the edge and get after Brown in front.
“They quickly adapted and just played
with grit and toughness, knowing this was
going to be a slugfest,” Oregon coach Mario
Cristobal said.
The Ducks (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) were with-
out star defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux
and linebacker Justin Flowe.
“It’s hard to express in words the mag-
nitude of coming out here down a couple of
guys due to injury, and just playing really,
really gutsy football, executing at a high
level,” Cristobal said. “A tremendous job of
Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch-TNS
Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver
Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) gets tackled
by Oregon Ducks linebacker Noah
Sewell (1) in the second quarter
of their NCAA Division I game on
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, at Ohio
Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
preparation and turning it into a reality by
our players and coaching staff.”
The Buckeyes had a chance to tie it late
after pulling within a touchdown with 7:55
to go. But when they got the ball again,
Stroud took his first sack of the day and
then was intercepted by Verone McKinley
III on a desperation sideline pass on third-
and-18 at the Oregon 35 with 2:50 left as a
crowd of more than 100,000 sat stunned.
Stroud, trying to show he is a worthy
heir to Justin Fields, likely will be fine. It’s
the Ohio State defense that needs work.
Twice in the first half Verdell scurried
around the left end — one of them was a
pitch pass on fourth-and-1 — and went
untouched into the end zone from 14 yards
out. Travis Dye exploited the left side
again, running from 5 yards out to give the
Ducks a 28-14 third-quarter lead.
Three plays into the second half,
Verdell blasted through the middle
untouched and outran defensive backs for
a 77-yard score. He went left again for a
7-yard gain and a first down in the fourth
quarter, one play before Brown connected
with Moliki Matavao for a 14-yard touch-
down to give the Ducks a 35-21 lead with
12:46 left.
“This is not fatal,” Day said. “Certainly,
it hurts.”
handles Bulldogs
BRIGHT FUTURE
Stroud, in his second start, was 35 of 54
for 484 yards and three touchdowns. That
was the second most yards in Ohio State
history, just 15 short of Dwayne Haskins
Jr.’s 499 against Northwestern in 2018.
Stroud’s success was partly due to some
brilliant catches by receivers Chris Olave,
Garrett Wilson and Jaxson Smith-Njigba.
He threw two touchdown passes to Smith-
Njigba and one to Wilson.
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Homedale capital-
ized on Baker’s defensive
mistakes early, and the
Trojans went on to a 56-6
win over the Bulldogs
in a nonleague football
game Friday, Sept. 10, at
Homedale, Idaho.
“We just struggled
defensively, to deal with
them up front, and then
of course they hit a couple
long passes early,” Ramos
said. “We did a pretty
good job stopping the
run early, but they hit a
couple of deep passes on
our young secondary, hav-
ing some coverage issues.”
On the other side of
the ball, the Bulldogs
were unable to gain any
momentum offensively in
the first half to cut into
the Trojans’ lead.
“(Quarterback) Paul
(Hobson) hit a nice throw
over the middle, first or
second drive and it kind
of stalled out after that,
we just couldn’t get any-
thing going,” Ramos said.
Trailing 49-0 at half-
time, Baker had a stron-
ger second half, allowing
one early touchdown via
an interception return.
In the fourth quarter
Baker drove the field,
and senior running back
Gauge Bloomer took it
in for the Bulldogs’ lone
touchdown.
Bloomer led Baker
with 60 yards on 20 car-
ries.
THE TAKEAWAY
Oregon: The Ducks were better than
they showed in their opener when they
struggled with Fresno State. Brown made
smart decisions; Verdell, who was plagued
by injuries the last two seasons, had a stel-
lar day; and the O-line controlled the line of
scrimmage.
Ohio State: Stroud is adept at finding
his star receivers and making throws but is
still getting comfortable with decision-mak-
ing. He could be the next offensive star for
the Buckeyes in a long line. But the defense
needs improvement, especially linebackers.
This loss is squarely on their shoulders.
“You ask yourself, is it personnel, is it
scheme or is it coaching?” Day wondered.
He said coaches would watch the tape and
get to work on the problems.
HE SAID IT
“When you go through adversity, you
find out a lot about your team,” Day said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Ohio State likely will take a consider-
able tumble, while the Ducks move into the
top 10.
UP NEXT
Oregon: Returns home to face FCS
team Stony Brook of the Colonial Athletic
Association on Saturday.
Ohio State: Hosts Tulsa, which lost 19-
17 to UC-Davis in Week 1 and was beaten
by Oklahoma State 28-23 on Saturday.
“We got Gauge going
a little bit, he popped a
few runs, and then we
were able to march the
ball to the red zone, and
gave the ball to Gauge,
and he just kind of took
it in for us,” Ramos said.
Hobson, who’s a
sophomore, was 8 of 15
passing for 88 yards.
Freshman Jaron Long
had three catches for 61
yards. Sophomore Dash
Bloomer had one catch
for 16 yards, and sopho-
more Malaki Myer had
one catch for 11 yards.
The Baker coach said
he wants to make sure
his young team, with
multiple sophomores and
freshmen on the roster,
doesn’t get discouraged
by an 0-2 start.
“What we’ve been
talking about so far
these last couple of
weeks, we have to use
these moments as a
learning experience,”
Ramos said. “We’ve got
to learn what we could
do better, we’ve got to
have a growth mindset,
we have to continue to
progress and to get bet-
ter as a team. We haven’t
arrived and we all have
things we can work on,
and we have to use it to
get better.”
Baker returns to
Baker Bulldog Memo-
rial Stadium Friday,
Sept. 17, hosting the 3-0
Weiser Wolverines for a
7 p.m. kickoff.
Baylor, Nolan help Oregon State beat Hawaii 45-27
said. “You never know what’s
gonna happen.”
It didn’t take long for
CORVALLIS — Chance
Oregon State to retain control
Nolan passed for 302 yards
and two touchdowns, and B.J. in the second half.
Linebacker Riley Sharp
Baylor ran for a career-high
171 yards and three scores to intercepted Chevan Cordeiro’s
short pass over the middle on
lead Oregon State to a 45-27
victory over Hawaii on Satur- the first play of the third quar-
day night, Sept. 11.
ter at Hawaii’s 30-yard line.
Baylor’s 30-yard touch-
Nolan replaced starter
Sam Noyer late in the third
down run up the middle on
quarter of the Beavers’ season- the ensuing play gave OSU a
opening loss at Purdue last
31-7 advantage.
week and provided a spark.
But Hawaii responded
Coach Jonathan Smith opted with consecutive touchdowns
to stay with the hot hand
to get back in the game.
against Hawaii (1-2, 0-0
Calvin Turner Jr. scored on
Mountain West).
a 1-yard run. Baylor’s fumble
at the Beavers’ 36-yard line
Good decision.
set up a 10-yard touchdown
Nolan completed his first
13 passes as the Beavers (1-1) pass to Nick Mardner, and
Hawaii trailed 31-20 at 3:46 of
took a 24-7 halftime lead at
the break. He finished 21 of 29 the third quarter.
Hawaii linebacker Darius
and also ran for 38 yards.
“I did think he was sharp,” Muasau was called for target-
Smith said. “We’re going with ing while tackling Nolan on an
stuff he’s really comfortable
11-yard run, and that penalty
with and it showed up. He
helped ignite a drive that
culminated with a 13-yard
came out really effective.”
Nolan, who started the last touchdown pass to Anthony
three games last season after Gould on the first play of the
fourth quarter, giving the
an injury to Tristan Geb-
Beavers a 38-20 lead.
bia, learned Thursday that
Oregon State amassed 558
he would be in the starting
yards and had excellent bal-
lineup.
If Saturday’s performance ance with 302 yards in the air
and 256 on the ground.
was indicative, he could
“Defensively we were just
become a fixture as OSU’s
terrible,” Hawaii coach Todd
starting signal caller.
“In our position you’ve got Graham said. “So frustrating
defensively. That was the dif-
to prepare like you’re gonna
go in no matter what,” Nolan ference in the game.”
team All-Pac-12 selection
last season.
Wide receiver Anthony
Gould emerged as a major
target in a breakout game.
By GARY HOROWITZ
Associated Press
with seven for 119 yards
and his first career touch-
down.
Sharp had a sack in the
second quarter and an inter-
ception in the third quarter.
The Beavers’ 330 first-half
yards was the most in the first
half since they amassed 385
at Arizona on Nov. 2, 2019.
NOTES
Hawaii: Cordeiro didn’t
complete a pass in the first
quarter, misfiring on three
attempts.
Linebacker Darius
OLYMPIAN IN THE HOUSE
Muasau, Hawaii’s lead-
Olympic gold medal-
ist Jade Carey, the newest
ing tackler in the first two
member of the Oregon State
games, was called for a
gymnastics team, received an
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian-TNS targeting penalty late in
the third quarter and was
enthusiastic reception from
Oregon State running back B.J. Baylor scores on a
ejected. He’ll miss the first
fans at Reser Stadium when
66-yard touchdown run during the first quarter as the
Beavers face the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday, half of next Saturday’s game she was introduced on the
field after the first quarter.
against San Jose State.
Sept. 11, 2021, at Reser Stadium in Corvallis.
The Oregon State freshman
The Rainbow Warriors
won floor exercise at the
12-yard pass from Cordeiro were looking for their first
Nolan served notice early
win in Corvallis after losses Tokyo Olympics.
to Turner, cutting the lead
in the game that he was in
in 2008 and 2013.
to 21-7.
command of the Beavers’
Oregon State: Gould
offense.
UP NEXT
came into the game with
He completed all three
THE TAKEAWAY
Hawaii: Home vs. San Jose
one career reception. He had State next Saturday.
of his passes on the game’s
Hawaii: Hawaii’s defen-
six catches for 106 yards in
opening drive, which culmi-
Oregon State: Home vs.
sive struggles continued
Idaho next Saturday.
against Oregon State. After the first half and finished
nated with Jack Colletto’s
2-yard touchdown run on a
giving up 44 points in the
opener at UCLA and 35
direct snap.
NO MORE GUTTER CLEANING,
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the Rainbow Warriors were
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OFF
Oregon State: Nolan
touchdown pass to Zeriah
OFF
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Beason increased the lead to gives the Beavers a dual-
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21-0 with 22 seconds left in threat at quarterback and
Promo Number: 285
he took advantage of his
the opening quarter.
opportunity to supplant
Hawaii found some of-
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