Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 9, 1992 - THREE
Heppner whips Vale to claim state crown
Photos by Joyce Hughes
The Heppner Mustanges realiz
ed a boyhood dream Saturday
Dec. 5 at Parker Stadium in Cor
vallis with a 24-12 thrashing of
the previously unbeaten Vale
Vikings to claim the class 2A
State Football Championship
crown.
t he win was the first time in
school history the football cham
pionship had been won by the
Mustangs. Teams in 1942 and
1988 got to the championship
game but were defeated.
Fast starts were a trademark of
the Mustangs in the playoffs.
Saturday they made a statement
to the Vikings and the crowd with
their first possession. Heppner
took the opening kickoff and mar
ched 75 yards in 11 plays to take
a lead that was never threatened.
Senior running back, Scott Coe
started the drive with a 21 yard
gain off the right side.
Quarterback Rick Koffler end
ed the drive when he hit halfback
Kevin Payne with a 23 yard scor
ing pass with barely four minutes
gone. Kicker Len Brittner split
the narrower college uprights
with the pat and it was 7-0 for the
Mustangs.
One of the questions that had
to be answered was, could the
small, quick and strong Mustangs
stop the big, high powered Vale
offense? The Mustang front line
of Shane Munkers, Kevin Kilken
ny and Ryan Pence, along with
defensive ends Tony Burt and
Dwayne Dunaway dominated the
line of scrimmage the entire after
noon. The Vikings gained only 70
f yards of total offense in the first
half. Linebackers T.R. Riehl and
j Scott Coe plugged the holes and
' defensive backs Koffler Payne,
Brittner, and strong safety Jim
Tellechea kept the passing lanes
clogged until the game was out of
reach.
After stopping Vale on their
first possession, Heppner used a
flanker reverse pass and caught
Vale napping. Senior Jason Han
na found Len Brittner open
downfield for a 39 yard pass
reception. The drive stalled at the
Vale 18 yard line.
After forcing a punt, the
Mustangs struck again. Koffler
found Brittner across the middle
for a 46 yard gain to the Vale 18
. yard line. After a small gain, Len
. * Brittner, on a perfect snap from
Munkers and hold by Payne,
booted a 27 yard field goal from
the extreme left hash mark. That
made the score 10-0 with 2:13 left
in the first quarter.
Vale fumbled away their next
possession. The Vikings lost
three fumbles on the afternoon.
After exchanging punts, Koffler
picked off the first of three in
terceptions the Mustangs had on
the afternoon to end the first half.
Heppner owned the third
quarter. Jim Tellechea in
tercepted quarterback Jeremy
Johnson to end Vales first drive.
Kevin Kilkenny foiled the Vik
ings next drive with an intercep
tion of a middle screen, return
ing the ball to the Viking 10 yard
line.
The Mustangs squandered the
effort, fumbling at the goal line
but Dwayne Dunaway ended
Vale’s next drive with a fumble
recovery. Heppner put together
a 10-play 54 yard drive to go
ahead 17-0. Kevin Payne did
most of the damage with runs of
14 yards and 10 yards on the
drive. Koffler converted two third
down plays during the drive
behind the blocking of center Joe
Lindsay and the rest of the
veteran offensive line. Koffler led
all rushers with 83 yards on 18
carries. Scott Coe, who put on
another all state performance at
running back, scored from five
yards out. Coe had 20 carries for
81 yards on the afternoon and
literally ran over Vale defenders
on several occasions. Brittner was
perfect with the pat.
With 1:32 remaining in the
third quarter, the Vikings tried to
get back in the game by moving
Larry Ramirez, a 6’6” 250 lb.
tight end to quarterback in the
shotgun. The shotgun backfired.
After two gains, the Mustangs
swarmed Ramirez and defensive
end Tony Burt slammed into the
Viking quarterback. The ball
popped loose and defensive
lineman Shane Munkers scooped
it up and sprinted, well, as fast
as a lineman can sprint, 31 yards
to the end zone. Brittner added
the pat for a 24-0 lead, and folks,
the game was over.
Vale did score twice with
Ramirez hitting Cory Maag and
David
M cPheeters
with
touchdown passes but it was
much too iittle and much too late.
Game statistics were a little
closer than the game itself. The
Mustangs won the game. It
wasn’t even close. Vale was
dominated. They didn’t stand a
chance. The Mustangs were in
total control. Time of possession
favored Heppner 31:36 to 16:24.
Total yards favored Heppner 324
to 227.
The only performance that
wasn’t championship caliber was
the officiating. Heppner suffered
through 10 penalties totalling 98
yards on an assortment of poor
judgement calls and out of posi
tion guesses. Vale was penalized
twice for 10 yards.
The game was attended by an
excellent turnout of Heppner
alumni, relatives, family and
other boosters.
The players attended an
Oregon State University Basket
ball Game Saturday night after
the game and were greeted with
a 70 car caravan of well wishers
from Lexington to Heppner on
Sunday afternoon who was still
celebrating the hard earned
victory.
Heppner running back Scot Coe works for extra yardage
Scoreboard tells the story. Heppner is the winner
Linebacker Coe makes tackle
f f
one
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Head coach Greg Gran,
Kevin Payne fights for yardage
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