A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2021
SPORTS
Weiser rolls past Bulldogs
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Under the bright lights
of Baker Bulldog Memorial
Stadium Friday night, Sept.
17, Baker was unable to
keep up with the undefeated
Weiser Wolverines.
Weiser (4-0) raced to a
21-0 lead after one quarter
and rolled to a 48-12 win
over the Bulldogs.
Baker, whose three op-
ponents have a combined
record of 11-0, fell to 0-3 after
a season-opening loss to Cas-
cade and a loss at Homedale,
Idaho, on Sept. 11.
Baker coach Jason Ra-
mos said he had confi dence
going into Friday’s game, as
the team had a strong week
of practice.
“We just felt like we
needed to achieve a new
level of physicality, we chal-
lenged our guys to bring it
more in practice,” Ramos
said. “We had two really good
practices at the end of the
week this week, Wednesday
and Thursday.”
Ramos said Baker’s
inability to get its running
game going was a glaring
problem in the fi rst quarter
as Weiser scored three times
and forced Baker to punt on
each of its possessions.
The Bulldogs fi nished
with 112 rushing yards.
“We are just struggling
inside with that, we were a
little outmatched with that,”
Ramos said. “We have to do
better up front, we got to get
Gauge (Bloomer) going.”
The Bulldogs have strug-
gled to open holes for Bloom-
er, Baker’s top running back
and a senior leader.
Baker’s defense tight-
ened in the second quarter,
holding Weiser to a late
fi eld goal.
On offense, meanwhile,
the Bulldogs had their best
scoring chance after sopho-
more Malaki Myer returned
a punt for more than 30
Baker girls, boys 3rd
at Wallowa meet
Baker girls
5th, Sydney Lamb,
22:25.7; 7th, Emma Baeth,
Baker’s girls and boys
22:57.6; 9th, Sofi a Kaaen,
cross-country teams both
fi nished third in the team 23:11.7; 24th, Paige Marlia,
27:27.2; 27th, Katie Spaugh,
standings at the Wallowa
28:43.4
County Invitational on
Baker also had several
Friday, Sept. 17 at Wallowa
runners compete in the ju-
Lake State Park.
nior varsity and junior high
The Baker girls, led by
seniors Sydney Lamb (fi fth races.
Baker fi nished second
overall) and Emma Baeth
in the boys standings at the
(seventh) were 10 points
junior high level, and the
behind runner-up Union,
and 21 points behind fi rst- girls were fourth.
place La Grande. Fresh-
man Sofi a Kaaen also was Junior varsity boys
among the top 10 fi nishers,
9th, Reeve Damschen,
placing ninth.
22:57; 25th, Seth Holden,
Junior Thaddeus Pepera 29:02.2; 27th, Karsten
fi nished 16th, and fresh-
Cikanek, 30:58.9
man Daniel Brown 17th,
to lead the Baker boys to
Junior varsity girls
third place behind Union
1st, Annastasia Johnson,
and Enterprise.
28:47.2; 5th, Lilly Collins,
“It was a beautiful
30:31.1; 6th, Avery Collier,
course,” Baker coach Suzy 30:31.3
Cole said. “It was really fun
to run at. I think that our
Junior high girls
numbers are really strong, (2,500-meter course)
and our kids and effort are
31st, Sage Cuzick, 13:17.3;
really strong. Varsity, it was 34th, Ruby Heriza, 13:27.0;
not one of their better races 45th, Gwen Rasmussen,
collectively, but that is why 14:21.8; 52nd, Meren Je-
we have races throughout senko, 15:15.6; 63rd, Jurnee
the season, to kind of know Bliss, 16:23.8
where we are and how we
are feeling. They trained
Junior high boys
hard, they prepared well
(2,500-meter course)
and they were race ready,
4th, Kane Hellburg,
it’s just not every race is
10:03.4; 15th, Jack Joseph,
ideal.”
11:23.5; 28th, Robert (Tyler)
Pine Eagle senior Caleb Wirth, 12:01.6; 33rd, Lance
Brown was fourth overall, Downing, 12:07.1; 36th, Eng-
with a time of 18:13.1. His strom Richard, 12:21.5; 37th,
Spartan teammate, junior Kegan Bott, 12:22.4; 44th, Ro-
Cooper Gover, placed 18th man Zickgraf, 12:40.8; 54th,
in 19:56.
Theodore Pepera, 13:24.3;
60th, Harris Gaslin, 14:18.5
The BHS cross-country
Baker boys
16th, Thaddeus Pepera, teams will compete Thursday,
19:38.6; 17th, Daniel
Sept. 23 at the Stanfi eld Fun
Brown, 19:55.7; 21st, Seth Country event starting at
Mastrude, 20:06.6; 28th,
4 p.m.
Jordan Mills, 21:20.9; 29th,
The BMS teams will com-
Payton Waters, 21:36.9;
pete Saturday, Sept. 25 at the
34th, Tanner Lucas,
John Hascal Memorial 3K at
22:12.5
Pilot Rock starting at noon.
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
A host of Bulldogs combine to bring down a Weiser ball carrier on Friday, Sept. 17
at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
yards. Baker then marched
inside the 10, but were un-
able to get into the end zone.
Weiser led 24-0 at half-
time.
“We knew we were get-
ting the ball back in the
second half, so we were say-
ing, let’s come out and put it
together like we did, let’s get
a score on the board and let’s
get a stop,” Ramos said.
But it was Weiser that
struck fi rst in the third
quarter, scoring in the fi rst
two minutes to extend its
lead to 31-0.
Baker then got on the
scoreboard.
Myer intercepted a
Weiser pass, and later
caught the fi rst of his two
touchdown passes from fel-
low sophomore Paul Hobson.
Myer fi nished with eight
catches for 140 yards.
“We know what Malaki
can do, he’s a great athlete
and he can get behind guys
and we can just get him the
ball so he can make plays, so
that’s what we were trying
to do,” Ramos said.
Hobson also had a stron-
ger second half. He ended
up 13 for 24 passing for 168
yards, with the two scoring
tosses to Myer, and a pair
of interceptions.
Ramos said his younger
quarterback continues to
improve.
“We know he has poten-
tial, we just have to work
with that,” Ramos said.
“Both (Myer and Hobson)
are sophomores, are still
growing and learning as a
part of their process,” Ra-
mos said.
Although Baker was able
to prevent the shutout, the
Wolverines had a strong
fourth quarter with a pair of
touchdowns and a fi eld goal
for the fi nal margin.
Ramos said that despite
the loss, he saw a lot of posi-
tive things as Baker prepares
to start its league schedule.
“We had to overcome
adversity this week, with los-
ing kids (to injuries) and our
third really tough game in a
row and we talked about it
the whole time,” Ramos said.
“This is a challenge for us
and we will fi nd out what we
are made of ... I think we will
get better from here.”
Bloomer had a strong sec-
ond half and ended up with
108 yards on 26 carries.
Tate Powell had three re-
ceptions, and Dash Bloomer,
Dylon Freeman and Drake
Harper each had a catch.
Baker returns to the road
for its league opener Friday,
Sept. 24, taking on Mac-Hi
(0-2) at Milton-Freewater for
a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Pioneers lost 70-0 to
La Grande on Sept. 10.
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Dash Bloomer (middle) and Drake Harper (No. 16) tackle a Weiser Wolverine
on Friday evening, Sept. 17 at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
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