A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2021
SPORTS
BAKER FOOTBALL
POWDER VALLEY FOOTBALL
Top-ranked Badgers to host playoff game
Baker romps past
Burns in second half
Baker City Herald
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
On a cold and rainy night
in the high desert, the Baker
football team broke out after a
sluggish fi rst half to run past the
Burns Hilanders 27-6 Friday,
Oct. 22 at Burns.
The win — Baker’s second
straight and fourth in its past fi ve
— boosted the Bulldogs’ record
to 4-4 as they prepare for the
regular season fi nale, the Home-
coming contest this Friday, Oct.
29 against La Grande at Baker
Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
With both teams at 1-0 in
Greater Oregon League play,
Friday’s game will determine
the league champion and affect
playoff seeding.
Baker has already clinched
a berth in the Class 4A playoffs,
which start Nov. 5.
If Baker beats La Grande, the
Bulldogs will have a home play-
off game either Nov. 5 or Nov. 6.
If Baker loses, it likely will
have to travel for a fi rst-round
playoff game.
Against Burns, neither team
scored in the fi rst half on a fi eld
dampened by heavy rain earlier
in the day.
“We just struggled to get the
offense going in the fi rst half
similar to the week before,”
Baker coach Jason Ramos said.
“A couple penalties that kind of
set us back and we just missed
passes that we should probably
connect on.”
During halftime, Ramos said
he hardly needed to remind the
Bulldogs about their performance.
“They knew that they should
have been executing better at
that point and the reason why
we were in that situation was be-
cause we weren’t executing well
on offense,” Ramos said. “We just
talked about what we needed to
do to clean things up and how we
were going to get the run game
going and start completing some
passes, making sure we were
focused on what we were doing.”
Baker’s defense had no such
issues, having held the Hilan-
ders scoreless over the fi rst 24
minutes.
Baker started strong in the
second half, fi nally getting on
the scoreboard when sophomore
quarterback Paul Hobson used
his legs rather than his arm,
fi nding an open lane and running
16 yards for the game’s fi rst
touchdown.
“Paul had kind of a breakout
game at quarterback in terms
of his running, he used his legs
pretty good,” Ramos said.
Hobson had four carries for 31
yards and the touchdown.
On the ensuing series, Baker
sophomore Hudson Spike inter-
cepted a Burns pass.
Then Spike made another
catch — this one a pass from
Hobson in the back of the end
zone that gave Baker a 13-0 lead.
“We talked at that point about
how we needed to get a stop, we
felt like we were getting some mo-
mentum at that point on offense,
and to go in and try to get a third
score,” Ramos said.
But Baker’s momentum didn’t
last.
The Hilanders, aided by a few
Baker penalties, mounted their
fi rst, and only, scoring drive. The
Burns touchdown late in the third
quarter cut Baker’s lead to 13-6.
Baker then dominated the
fourth quarter.
Senior running back Gauge
Bloomer, who led the Bulldogs
with 97 yards on 18 carries, had a
scoring run to boost Baker’s lead
to 20-6.
Then senior Dylon Freeman
returned a Burns fumble for the
fi nal margin of 27-6.
Hobson completed 14 of 28
passes for 144 yards and the
touchdown to Spike, along with
one interception.
Spike had fi ve catches for 95
yards, sophomore Malaki Myer
had six catches for 37 yards and
sophomore Dash Bloomer had
one catch for 11 yards.
Junior Tate Powell had four
carries for 27 yards, and Freeman
had two rushes for 18 yards.
With rival La Grande next
on the schedule, Ramos said his
task this week is to prepare the
Bulldogs for the challenge of the
5-1 Tigers.
“Obviously with Homecom-
ing week we got to stay focused,”
Ramos said. “There are going to
be distractions this week as there
always are, but we’re focused on
the game obviously. Defense has
been playing pretty good but we
are going to have to take another
step forward on that side of the
ball, because La Grande is big,
physical and fast.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The top-ranked Powder
Valley football team capped
a 7-1 regular season by
beating No. 6 Crane 36-20
on Friday, Oct. 22 in North
Powder.
The Badgers now
prepare to take on Ione/
Arlington in a Class 1A
playoff game on Friday, Oct.
29 at 1 p.m. at Community
Stadium in La Grande.
The game is part of a
quadrupleheader of Class
1A playoff games that day at
the stadium on the Eastern
Oregon University campus.
Elgin will play Lyle at
10 a.m., Crane will take on
Imbler at 1 p.m., and Adrian
and Dufur cap the schedule
with a 7:30 p.m. game.
Adrian, which is ranked
2nd despite its 8-0 record, is
the only team to beat Pow-
der Valley this season, a 38-0
win on Oct. 1 at Adrian.
Dye, Brown lead No. 10 Oregon past UCLA, 34-31
By JOE REEDY
Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. —
Anthony Brown and No.
10 Oregon aren’t garnering
style points, but in a season
where the College Football
Playoff picture remains
murky at best, they keep on
getting key victories.
Brown had a season-
high 381 yards of offense
and Travis Dye became
the fi rst player in Football
Bowl Subdivision history to
score touchdowns on four
consecutive carries as the
Ducks held on for a 34-31
victory over UCLA on Sat-
urday, Oct. 23.
Despite remaining the
Pac-12’s highest-ranked
team, coach Mario Cris-
tobal said the only thing
the Ducks are focused on is
what happens each week.
“I think we’re over that
stuff. I’m being 100% trans-
parent. They understand
it is about today and the
next item on the agenda.
When we get away from
that process, we create our
own issues,” said Cristobal
after the Ducks improved
to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in
the conference. “All in all, a
great team victory against
a really good football team.”
Of Oregon’s six wins,
four are by seven points or
less. It appeared like that
wasn’t going to be the case
early in the fourth quarter
when Brown’s 43-yard TD
run on a quarterback draw
extended its lead to 34-17
before the Bruins rallied.
Brown bounced
back after hearing
boos at home during
last Friday’s 24-17
win over Cal. He had
a season-high 296
yards, completing 29
of 39 passes, along
with six carries for
85 yards. The gradu-
ate transfer said
he did reach out to people
after last week’s struggles,
which helped him get back
on track.
“I should have been
playing like this for a
while, but the fact that it
came in a big moment was
important,” said Brown,
who completed passes to 11
players.
Dye — who fi nished
with 35 yards on 14 carries
— also became the seventh
Oregon running back since
2000 with at least four
rushing touchdowns in a
game. Before Dye’s record
day, six players shared the
mark with TDs on three
consecutive carries.
Oregon fell behind 14-0
during the fi rst quarter
before scoring on fi ve of its
next six drives.
Dye had 5 yards on four
carries in the fi rst quarter
before scoring on runs of 1
and 4 yards to tie it at 14.
The Ducks trailed 17-14
at halftime, but Dye would
score from 1 and 5 yards
in the third quarter to give
Oregon a 27-17 advantage.
Dorian Thompson-Rob-
inson’s 2-yard keeper early
in the fourth quarter got
UCLA within 34-24. After
Jordan Genmark Heath’s
interception on Oregon’s
ensuing possession, Brit-
tain Brown scored up the
middle from a yard out.
UCLA (5-3, 3-2) had a
chance to at least tie and
send it into overtime after
Jay Shaw picked off An-
thony Brown’s pass in the
Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times-TNS
UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (1)
loses control of the ball as he is sacked by Oregon
linebacker Kaydon Thibodeaux in the second
quarter at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California,
on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021.
end zone with 3 minutes
remaining. The Bruins
drove to the Oregon 39, but
Ethan Garbers, who came
in when Thompson-Rob-
inson was injured earlier
in the drive, had a pass
intercepted by DJ James
with 48 seconds remaining
to preserve the win.
“I needed to just trust
in my instinct. I know we
needed a play and I put it
on the line,” said James,
who also had an intercep-
tion in the fi rst quarter.
Thompson-Robinson
was 22 of 41 for 216 yards
and a TD, along with 35
rushing yards and a score.
Brown added 45 yards and
13 carries and two touch-
downs.
“I’ve known this group
for a long time. They’re
an unbelievably resilient
bunch. It’s 34-17, you know,
think the game’s over, but
our players don’t,” said
UCLA coach Chip Kelly,
who fell to 0-3 against
the school he led for four
seasons. “That was a game
in itself during the fourth
quarter. We just came up a
little bit short.”
UCLA took the open-
ing kickoff and scored on
Brittain Brown’s 1-yard
run. After Martell Irby
blocked Tom Snee’s punt
and recovered it at the
Oregon 30, the Bruins
extended their lead to two
touchdowns four plays later
when Thompson-Robinson
connected with Kazmeir
Allen on a 5-yard pass.
Costly penalties
UCLA had interceptions
by Quentin Lake and Devin
Kirkwood nullifi ed due to
offsides penalties. Oregon
would take advantage by
scoring on both drives.
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