TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A7
SPORTS
La Grande pulls away in second half to spoil Baker’s Homecoming
 Tigers score
20 straight
points in second
half to win, 27-7
Baker travels for
playoff game
The Bulldogs will travel
to Eugene for a 2 p.m.
game Saturday, Nov. 6
against Marist Catholic.
Marist is 7-2. The teams
have one common op-
ponent, both losing to
Cascade. The Cougars
beat Baker 35-0 on Sept.
4, and they beat Marist
38-33 on Oct. 8.
By COREY KIRK
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
For the first half of Baker’s
Homecoming football game
against La Grande Friday,
Oct. 29, it looked as though the
Bulldogs might earn another
game at Bulldog Memorial
Stadium, this one in the Class
4A playoffs.
But after playing to a 7-7
tie at halftime, Baker (4-5)
couldn’t fend off the Tigers
(6-1) in the second half as they
pulled away for a 27-7 win.
The win gave La Grande
the Greater Oregon League
championship, and a home
playoff game Friday, Nov. 5
against Gladstone.
Baker, meanwhile, will
have to board a bus for a long
drive across the state to Eu-
gene. The Bulldogs will take on
Marist Catholic Saturday, Nov.
6 at 2 p.m.
Baker has a bit of history
with the Spartans.
Marist beat Baker 55-16 in
the 2009 state championship
game. The Bulldogs then won
state championships in 2010,
beating Douglas in the title
game, and again in 2012, beat-
ing North Bend.
In preparing for Friday’s
Homecoming game against
rival La Grande, Baker
coach Jason Ramos said he
expected the Tigers’ ground
game, led by Brody MacMil-
lan, would be tough.
“We were going to have to
really be physical and aggres-
sive on playside and be very
disciplined on the backside,”
Ramos said. “We didn’t get fan-
cy on defense, we gave them
probably two or three different
looks from time-to-time.”
The strategy largely
worked in the first half.
The Tigers got on the
Powder Valley
advances
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker quarterback Paul Hobson, No. 3, looks for room against the defense of La Grande’s Myer Whitmore, left,
No. 77, and Cole Jorgensen, No. 51, during Baker’s Homecoming game Friday, Oct. 29.
The teams exchanged a
series of four punts during the
second quarter.
Jaron Long’s interception
late in the quarter gave Baker
good field position, but Hudson
Spike’s field goal try was just
short and the score remained
7-7 at intermission.
Although Ramos was
pleased overall with Baker’s
performance, he told the team
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald at halftime that they needed to
improve.
Baker senior Gauge Bloomer carries the ball against
“We knew we needed to
La Grande during the Bulldogs’ Homecoming game
block better, we talked about a
Friday, Oct. 29.
couple things they were seeing
board first when junior quar- like he had a really good game that La Grande was doing and
how we were going to adjust to
against Burns and he man-
terback Logan Williams ran
that,” Ramos said. “We talked
11 yards for a score early in
aged the game well through
about how we need to get the
the first quarter.
the first half,” Ramos said.
run game going, and we just
But the Bulldogs respond-
On the defensive side,
need to execute our game plan
meanwhile, Baker kept the
ed on their next possession
better.”
when sophomore quarterback Tigers out of the end zone for
MacMillan had a 30-yard
Paul Hobson scored on a 12- the remainder of the first half.
“Felt pretty good about how run on the Tigers’ first drive of
yard run.
the second half, but the Baker
Ramos said Hobson had a the game went the first half
and how we played really good defense tightened and, with
strong first half.
“He did a great job, we kind defense and got them (Tigers) help from three La Grande
off the field a couple of times,” penalties, the Bulldogs forced a
of expected that coming off of
turnover on downs.
the week before where we felt Ramos said.
On the subsequent La
Grande possession Williams
connected with Jace Schow on
a leaping 40-yard reception
deep in Baker territory.
The Bulldogs denied the
Tigers on three straight plays,
forcing a fourth-and-goal from
the Baker 5.
Williams then kept the ball
on a bootleg and sprinted to
the right side of the end zone
to give La Grande a 13-7 lead.
Baker blocked the extra point.
Baker had to punt on
its next possession, and La
Grande again took advantage,
this time on MacMillan’s
41-yard run that pushed La
Grande’s lead to 20-7 at the
end of the third quarter.
Baker’s offense struggled to
get first downs. The Bulldogs
punted on six of their 10 pos-
sessions in the game.
“You can’t go three and
out,” Ramos said. “They
pinned us in our own end
multiple times and those are
situations where you have to
string together first downs
The Powder Valley Bad-
gers routed Ione/Arlington
48-20 on Friday, Oct. 29 at
Community Stadium in La
Grande to advance in the
Class 1A football playoffs.
The Badgers, seeded
second in the state, will
play host to No. 15 Per-
rydale on Friday, Nov. 5 at
6 p.m.
for field position sake. We just
didn’t do a very good job, espe-
cially in the second half, being
able to sustain any drives.”
La Grande junior Kaden
Nelson completed the scoring
when he intercepted a Hobson
pass in the fourth quarter
and returned it 35 yards for a
touchdown.
La Grande held Baker to
115 yards of offense and large-
ly contained senior running
back Gauge Bloomer, who had
22 yards on 15 carries.
Ramos said he told his
players after the disappoint-
ing loss to remember that they
have a playoff game coming
up.
“We talked to them after
the game about how we have
to use every game as a
learning opportunity and so
there are things that we have
to take away from the La
Grande game,” Ramos said.
“The positives, definitely, but
also things we definitely need
to work on in preparation for
this week.”
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