A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2022
SPORTS
POWDER VALLEY FOOTBALL
Badgers’ season ends with loss to Lost River
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Powder Valley eventually
played the style of football that
had brought the Badgers 10
straight wins to start the season.
But by then it was too late.
A 32-0 deficit was too much
for Powder Valley to overcome
in a Class 1A semifinal game
against Lost River on a chilly
evening Saturday, Nov. 19 at
Caldera High School in Bend.
The 40-14 loss kept the Bad-
gers from returning to the state
championship game. Powder
Valley lost to Adrian, 46-38,
in the 2021 title game at Baker
High School.
“We had a phenomenal sea-
son,” Powder Valley coach Josh
Cobb said after the Badgers
finished with a 10-1 record. “It
didn’t end the way we wanted it
to end.”
On Saturday at Bend, the
Raiders, who came into the
game with a 9-1 record, domi-
nated most of the first half.
Lost River, which has allowed
an average of just 4.6 points per
game during a seven-game win-
ning streak, forced Powder Val-
ley to punt on the Badgers’ four
possessions.
The Raiders, averaging 48.3
points per game, took advantage
on offense.
On Lost River’s first play,
Powder Valley’s Braxton Go-
lar sacked quarterback Chase
McAuliffe for a loss of 4 yards.
But on the next play McAu-
liffe hit receiver Connor Dunlea
in stride for a 62-yard touch-
down pass. The 2-point conver-
sion try failed, and the Raiders
led 6-0 with 9:11 left in the first
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Powder Valley quarterback Cole Martin wards off a Dufur defender on Sept. 29, 2022, at North Powder. Martin
ran for one touchdown and threw for another in the Badgers’ 40-14 loss to Lost River in a state semifinal
game Nov. 19, 2022.
quarter.
After the teams exchanged
punts, Lost River forced Pow-
der Valley to set up for its third
straight punt. But the snap went
awry and the Raiders recov-
ered the ball on the Badgers’ 32.
McAuliffe found Grady Dun-
lea open on the first play for
a touchdown. Powder Valley
stopped the 2-point conversion
try again, to keep the score at
12-0 with 2:10 left in the first
quarter.
After another Powder Valley
punt, Grady Dunlea got behind
the Powder Valley coverage on
a 3rd and 7 from the Badgers 47
and caught another scoring pass
OREGON BASKETBALL
from McAuliffe. This time the
2-point conversion worked, and
Lost River led 20-0.
Cobb said the Badgers’ de-
fense shut down the running
game, which, based on film of
Lost River’s games, looked to be
the Raiders’ strength.
“They could throw the ball
better than we expected,” Cobb
said. “We stopped the run
game.”
Cobb said the Lost River de-
fense was stout, with quick line-
backers who cut off the running
lanes that Powder Valley quar-
terback Cole Martin and run-
ning back Tucker Martin have
used to gain hundreds of yards
this season.
“They flow to the ball really
well,” Cobb said of the Raiders.
“They had us well-scouted, and
they are stacked with athletes.”
Early in the second quarter
the Badgers gained their initial
first down when quarterback
Cole Martin scrambled for 17
yards to the Lost River 43. But
a false start penalty on fourth
and 1 was costly, as Martin’s
pass on fourth and 6 fell in-
complete.
The Raiders capitalized im-
mediately.
McAuliffe threw his fourth
touchdown pass on the first
play from scrimmage, 65 yards
to Isaac Hernandez. All four of
McAuliffe’s completions to that
point were for touchdowns. The
2-point conversion failed, but
Lost River’s lead was up to 26-0.
On Powder’s next possession
the Badgers again faced a fourth
down, with four yards to gain,
from its own 29 yard line. Jack-
son Chandler nearly brought in
Cole Martin’s pass, but the ball
went off Chandler’s fingertips
and Lost River had the ball deep
in Badger territory.
Powder Valley’s defense
forced the Raiders into a fourth
and 6, but McAuliffe again
found an open receiver in Con-
nor Dunlea, and McAuliffe’s
fifth touchdown pass, with 3:36
left in the first half, boosted the
Raiders’ lead to 32-0. Powder
Valley stopped the 2-point con-
version.
The Badgers finally switched
the momentum on the ensuing
possession.
Cole Martin threw a 30-yard
pass to Chandler to the Lost
River 33, and then hit Chan-
dler for a 26-yard score to get
the Badgers on the board. The
2-point conversion run failed,
and the Raiders led 32-6.
Chandler then intercepted
McAuliffe’s pass, giving Powder
Valley the ball on the Lost River
42 with 1:11 left in the first half.
Cole Martin scrambled to
the Raiders 33, but the Badgers
couldn’t get to the end zone be-
fore time ran out, and the score
remained 32-6 at halftime.
Lost River received the open-
ing kickoff, and the Raiders re-
lied on their running game to
burn time, taking almost half
of the third quarter before the
Badgers stopped a fourth and 5
play from the Powder Valley 25.
A facemask penalty on Lost
River on fourth and 8 kept
Powder’s drive going, and the
Badgers took advantage, with
Cole Martin evading multi-
ple defenders on an 18-yard
touchdown run with 2:19
left in the third quarter. The
2-point conversion cut the lead
to 32-14.
Cobb said he felt at that point
that the Badgers had momen-
tum on their side, as Powder
Valley used a spread offense to
try to create room for Cole Mar-
tin to run.
“I was so proud of our play-
ers,” he said. “Our boys never
quit fighting. They played with a
tremendous amount of pride.”
Powder appeared to be on the
verge of a major rally when the
Badgers recovered the ensuing
kickoff at the Lost River 28 af-
ter the Raiders failed to catch
the kick.
But Cole Martin’s pass on
fourth and 9 hit the turf in the
end zone.
The Badgers never threat-
ened to score again, and Lost
River tacked on a final touch-
down on McAuliffe’s 7-yard
run midway through the fourth
quarter.
Cobb said the Badgers had
two or three opportunities, in-
cluding the incomplete pass in
the end zone, to cut Lost River’s
lead and potentially turn the
game into a close contest in the
fourth quarter.
“We couldn’t capitalize, and
if you can’t capitalize on those
plays against a good team, that’s
what happens,” Cobb said.
CLASS 4A FOOTBALL SEMIFINAL
No. 3 Houston too La Grande falls to Tillamook in playoffs
much for Ducks
The Observer
BY STEVE MIMS
Associated Press
EUGENE — Senior point
guard Marcus Sasser scored
16 points to lead third-ranked
Houston to a 66-56 win over
Oregon on Sunday night, Nov.
20.
Freshman Terrance Arce-
neaux scored a career-high
15 points while Jamal Shead
added 13 and Jarace Walker
had 10 for Houston (5-
0), which was 11 for 22 on
3-pointers.
“Great road win,” Houston
coach Kelvin Sampson said.
“It is still early and there is
not one part of the game we
are not going to get better at.
It was our fifth game, not our
25th. … We didn’t play great,
but this is not the time to play
great, it’s November. Novem-
ber is about winning and lean-
ing and that is what we did
tonight.”
Arceneaux and Walker are
true freshmen who played in
their first true road game.
“It was very exciting,”
Arceneaux said. “I am glad
to be able to do it with these
guys. It is a great experience
for me learning from the
older guys. I hope we can
continue this streak we have
going on and get better as a
team.”
Senior center N’Faly Dante
led Oregon (2-2) with 16
points, 11 rebounds and three
blocked shots. Will Rich-
ardson added 13 points and
Quincy Guerrier scored 10.
The Ducks shot 38.8% from
the field, including 3 for 22 on
3-pointers.
“When one team shoots
11 for 22 on 3-pointers and
the other shoots 3 for 22, it
is not hard to figure out the
difference in the game,” Or-
egon coach Dana Altman
said.
Oregon lost junior guard
Keeshawn Barthelemy to a left
leg injury in the first half and
Altman said he was unsure of
the severity of the injury. The
6-foot-2 transfer from Colo-
rado was averaging 10.7 points
and 2.7 assists in the first three
games.
Houston had a 31-24 half-
time lead before Guerrier
scored seven points in the first
five minutes of the second half
to pull Oregon to 36-33. The
Ducks trailed 41-38 following
five straight points by Dante,
but Houston followed with a
14-2 run.
Oregon pulled to 60-54
on two free throws by Rich-
ardson with 2:36 left to play
before Sasser followed with a
3-pointer for the Cougars.
GRESHAM — Judah Wer-
ner scored four rushing touch-
downs and finished with an
even 100 yards on the ground,
powering No. 6 Tillamook
to a 28-21 win over No. 2 La
Grande in the OSAA Class 4A
state semifinals Saturday, Nov.
19, at Barlow High School in
Gresham.
The loss caps the Tigers’ sea-
son at 9-3, while the Cheese-
makers (10-2) move on to face
Estacada for the state champi-
onship on Nov. 26 at Hillsboro
Stadium. The Rangers knocked
off Scappoose, 14-7, in the other
state semifinal.
Werner scored on runs of
6, 5, 1 and 7 yards on the day,
while carrying the ball 29 times.
Werner’s 7-yard scoring run
at the end of the third quarter
put Tillamook up 28-7 going
into the final quarter.
La Grande did make things
close. Sam Tsiatsos caught a
2-yard scoring pass from Logan
Williams to trim the deficit to
28-13.
Later in the quarter, Dominick
Carratello powered in on a 6-yard
run and Tsiatsos caught a 2-point
conversion from Williams for the
final score of the day.
Tillamook used the ground
game to control possession,
keeping the ball for more than
30 minutes and running 66 of-
fensive plays. La Grande had the
ball for just over 17 minutes and
managed just 44 offensive plays.
Tanner Hoskins connected
on 8-of-16 passing for 80 yards
for Tillamook. He also ran the
ball 11 times for 52 yards.
Williams carried the ball 12
times for 95 yards and a touch-
down to pace the Tigers run-
ning attack. He was also 6-of-18
throwing for a touchdown and
three interceptions.
La Grande turned the ball
over six times in the loss, in-
cluding a fumble and two inter-
ceptions on its first three drives
of the game. The Tigers also
fumbled twice on their first two
drives of the second half.
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