A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022
SPORTS
BAKER CROSS COUNTRY
Bulldog boys place 4th, girls 6th at Baker Invite
Baker City Herald
The Baker boys cross-country team finished
fourth, and the Bulldog girls were sixth at the
Baker Invitational on Friday, Sept. 30 at Quail
Ridge Golf Course.
Sophomore Sofie Kaaen was 13th overall, in
a time of 22:27.2, to pace the Baker girls varsity
on a warm, sunny afternoon.
Senior Thaddeus Pepera finished the hilly 5K
route around the golf course in 18:52.2 to finish
19th overall and lead the Baker boys varsity.
Union won the boys team title. La Grande
finished first in the girls meet.
Baker coach Suzy Cole said she was pleased
with Baker’s results, especially considering sev-
eral runners weren’t feeling well.
“Hunter Bingham and Will Spriet continue
to progress nicely,” Cole said.
Bingham was Baker’s second boys finisher,
placing 20th overall, and Spriet was 33rd over-
all.
Baker will compete in the Crosby Invita-
tional on Thursday, Oct. 6 at Treasure Valley
Community College in Ontario.
“Thursday will be a fast course, so looking
forward to it,” Cole said.
Ash leads EOU cross-country
SALEM — Justin Ash, a freshman from Baker
City and Powder Valley High School graduate,
was the top runner for the Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity cross-country team at the 47th annual
Charles Bowles Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1
in Salem.
Ash placed 10th overall in a time of 24:44.2
on the 8-kilometer course. The EOU men placed
second in the team standings out of 17 schools.
BAKER INVITATIONAL
Team Scores
BOYS
1st, Union, 50; 2nd, Heppner, 99; 3rd, Enter-
prise, 116; 4th, Baker, 122; 5th, Burns, 140; 6th,
Parma, 141; 7th, La Grande, 181; 8th, Stanfield/
Echo, 195; 9th, Vale, 201; 10th, Grant Union,
247; 11th, Pendleton, 250; 12th, Elgin, 310.
GIRLS
1st, La Grande, 27; 2nd, Enterprise, 66; 3rd,
Burns, 91; 4th, Union, 98; 5th, Parma, 113;
6th, Baker, 144; 7th, Greenleaf Friends, 191;
8th, Pendleton, 205; 9th, Vale, 240; 10th, Grant
Union, 264.
Boys varsity
Baker and Pine Eagle results
Thaddeus Pepera, 19th, 18:52.2; Hunter
Bingham, 20th, 18:54.3; Angel DeArcos,
24th, 19:21.4; Jordan Mills, 31st, 19:37.2; Wil-
liam Spriet, 33rd, 19:50.4; Nate Jensen, 34th,
20:01; Gabe Brown (PE), 39th, 20:27; Karsten
Cikanek, 50th, 20:54.9; Gideon Tubbs (PE),
52nd, 21:01.2; Seth Mastrude, 59th, 21:32.4
Boys JV
Baker and Pine Eagle results
Tanner Lucas, 7th, 20:24.9; Cade Hearne,
13th, 21:15.3; David Farber, 19th, 21:42.4;
Clark Norton, 20th, 21:55.3; Jack Joseph, 23rd,
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Sophomore Sofie Kaaen was Baker’s top runner at
the Baker Invitational cross-country meet on Friday,
Sept. 30, 2022, at Quail Ridge Golf Course.
Baker senior Thaddeus Pepera was the Bulldogs’ top
boys runner, finishing 19th overall, in the Baker Invi-
tational on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
Baker runners Anna Johnson, left, and Maddy Gag-
non compete in the Baker Invitational on Friday, Sept.
30, 2022, at Quail Ridge Golf Course.
22:05.7; Kegan Bott, 25th, 22:14.5; Caleb Hills,
26th, 22:26.7; Seth Holden, 37th, 24:51.4;
Gideon Farber, 39th, 25:11.6; Dallin Guertz
(PE), 42nd, 25:48.4
25:20.7; Paige Marlia, 56th, 25:39.8; Sage Cuz-
ick, 64th, 27:55.5
Boys junior high
Peter Davis (PE), 20th, 12:14.8; Tristan
Klecker, 23rd, 12:23.7; Orrin Anderson, 67th,
13:51.2; Jarrin Bott, 69th, 13:58.4; Gavin Tubbs
(PE), 83rd, 15:18.5; Jayce Allen, 115th, 19:21.2.
Girls varsity
Sofie Kaaen, 13th, 22:27.2; Gwen Rasmussen,
27th, 23:21.5; Emma Timm, 32nd, 23:47.5; Ty-
ler Gressley, 50th, 25:13.4; Katie Spaugh, 52nd,
Girls JV
Maddy Gagnon, 9th, 26:20.3; Annastasia
Johnson, 12th, 26:47.5; Riley Hurliman, 16th,
27:13.7; Avery Collier, 20th, 28:18.4; Evie Davis
(PE), 25th, 29:36.7; Lilly Collins, 26th, 29:52.1
Girls junior high
Matty Gressley, 3rd, 12:15.5; Ruby Heriza,
33rd, 14:12.7; Taryn Niday, 46th, 14:48.5; Molly
Rasmussen, 52nd, 15:12; Anne Hindman, 53rd,
15:16.5; Grace Tracy, 56th, 15:37.2; Anaya San-
chez, 72nd, 16:45.6
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BAKER FOOTBALL
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La Grande runs past Baker, 55-21
Tigers amass 452
rushing yards, pull
away in second half
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker’s football game at La
Grande crammed as much
excitement into less than one
minute as some contests man-
age over the whole 48.
Unfortunately for the Bull-
dogs, the Tigers benefited
more from the frantic final
seconds of the second quarter
on Friday, Sept. 30 at Commu-
nity Stadium in La Grande.
And the Tigers carried that
momentum into the second
half, going on to a 55-21 win
that snapped Baker’s two-
game winning streak and gives
La Grande an early advantage
after the first Greater Oregon
League game for both teams.
The wild sequence actually
started earlier in the second
quarter, after La Grande took a
27-14 lead.
Baker junior quarterback
Paul Hobson, who threw for
306 yards, dropped a perfect
pass into the arms of freshman
wide receiver Rasean Jones.
The completion went for 75
yards, but La Grande senior
Jace Schow made a key tackle,
pulling down Jones at the Ti-
ger 5.
La Grande then forced a
fumble from Hobson and re-
covered the loose ball at the
10 yard line to prevent what
seemed a likely Baker touch-
down.
The Bulldog defense held,
though, forcing a La Grande
punt.
This time Baker took ad-
vantage.
With less than a minute be-
fore halftime, Hobson hit ju-
nior receiver Hudson Spike in
stride on a slant pattern for an
18-yard touchdown. Spike’s ex-
tra point cut La Grande’s lead
to 27-21.
But La Grande — and
Schow in particular — wasn’t
content to let the clock run
out.
On the subsequent kick-
off, Schow took the ball on
a bounce at his own 10 and
raced untouched through the
Baker coverage team for 90
yards. Suddenly the Tigers’
lead was back to two scores, at
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
La Grande’s Sam Tsiatsos intercepts a pass intended for Baker’s Ra-
sean Jones at Community Stadium in La Grande on Friday, Sept. 30,
2022. La Grande beat Baker 55-21.
34-21, with less than 20 sec-
onds left.
The Tigers dominated the
second half, taking more than
five minutes off the clock on
their first drive and scoring a
touchdown to boost their lead
to 41-21.
Schow’s kickoff return was a
“pivotal moment,” Baker coach
Jason Ramos said.
“It was deflating, to say the
least,” Ramos said. “It was a
rough play for us.”
He said Baker was feeling
confident after Spike’s touch-
down catch, with the prospect
of trailing by just six points go-
ing into the second half.
Instead the Bulldogs were
behind by 13, and with La
Grande set to receive the sec-
ond half kickoff.
The Tigers’ first possession
of the second half was in ef-
fect the worst-case scenario
for Baker — La Grande kept
the ball away from Baker and
completed its clock-milking
drive with another touchdown.
The game was a dramatic
contrast in offensive styles.
Baker, as has been the case
all season, relied heavily on
Hobson’s arm and on receivers
Jones, Spike and junior Malaki
Myer.
Jones had five catches for
165 yards, Spike six for 89
yards and Myer six for 52 yards
as Baker gained 306 of its 338
total yards through the air.
La Grande, meanwhile,
rolled up 452 rushing yards,
gaining a modest 57 passing
yards.
“Our real struggle was de-
fensively matching their size
and physicality,” Ramos said.
“We were unable to stop their
run game. We were out of po-
sition a lot and had some tech-
nique issues that were critical.”
Turnovers were also key —
Baker had four, La Grande
none.
The first half was marked by
explosive plays well before the
last-minute scoring flurry.
Jones took the opening kick-
off and ran it back 90 yards for
a touchdown, giving Baker a
7-0 lead before fans had time
to settle in. Jones weaved his
way through La Grande de-
fenders before exploiting his
speed to pull away from pursu-
ers down the sideline.
Baker forced a La Grande
punt, but when the Tigers got
the ball back they quickly an-
swered. Schow took a pitch
sweep from quarterback
Logan Williams and sliced
through the Baker defense for
a 74-yard touchdown run.
The extra point caromed off
the left upright, though, and
Baker still led, 7-6.
Spike’s 45-yard field goal try
on the subsequent drive was
short, and La Grande moved
down the field, with Schow
scoring from 17 yards out on
a double handoff. The extra
point was good and the Tigers
had their first lead at 13-7.
Baker regained the lead early
in the second quarter when
Hobson again found Jones, this
time on a 35-yard touchdown,
and Baker led 14-13.
But the Bulldogs’ lead didn’t
last long, as La Grande scored
two more running touch-
downs to go up 27-14, leading
to the wild final minute of the
first half.
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