Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1998)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 30,1998 Shaoe Mathenv injured Mustangs trounce Wahtonka 48-6 in bittersweet victory By Rick Paullus It was a bittersweet victory for the Heppner Mustangs as they beat the Wahtonka Eagles 48-6 on Fnday, Sept. 25 at the fairgrounds. Senior quarterback Shane Matheny went down with a severely separated shoulder in the first quarter to dampen what was a great game by senior running back Derek Gunderson. Gunderson ran for 198 yards and three touchdowns, caught a 15-yard touchdown pass and ended the scoring with an amazing 82-yard kick-off return. Levi Gear got the Mustangs rolling on their second offensive play of the game, taking the ball up the middle for an 85-yard touchdown. Blake Knowles kicked the extra point and, with 9:41 left in the first quarter, Heppner led, 7-0. The Mustangs got the ball back at the Eagle 46 after a bad snap on a punt went over the punter's head. The Mustangs couldn't get anything going as two holding penalties helped to stall the drive, giving the Eagles the ball at their own 23. On Wahtonka's first play Jared Eckman intercepted a pass and brought it back to the 30-yard line. Gunderson ran for 22 yards on the first play down to the eight. Gunderson then got his first touchdown of the game on an eight-yard run. After a penalty on the Eagles on the point after, Gunderson ran in the two-point conversion, giving Heppner a 15- 0 lead with 1:13 left in the first quarter. The Mustang defense held and took over at their own 37 after a punt. Ryan Matteson picked up four yards on first down to the 41. Gunderson then took a pitch around end and down the sideline for a 59-yard touchdown run. Knowles' kick was good, giving Heppner a 22-0 lead with 10:50 left in the first half. The Eagles then went on a 10 minute dnve down to the Mustangs one-foot line before the defense stiffened, giving the offense the ball. The Mustangs received the kick-off with Gunderson returning the ball to the 24-yard line. Michael Schonbachler ran for three yards, then a motion penalty took the ball back to the 22. Gunderson then took off around end and tightroped down the sideline again for a 78-yard touchdown run. Knowles kicked the extra point, giving the Mustangs a 29-0 lead with 10:44 left in the third quarter. The Eagles took over at the Mustang 47 after the short kick off. Gunderson then intercepted a pass and returned it to the 31 yard line of Wahtonka. Two screen passes to Geer took the ball down to the one-yard line. Matteson then hit Casey Evans for a one yard touchdown pass. Knowles kicked the extra point to increase the lead to 36-0 with 8:24 left. Wahtonka took over at their own 19 after a deep kick-off by Knowles and good coverage by Tim Dickenson and Craig Scott. The Mustang defense held and took over at the 42 of Wahtonka. The running of Schonbachler and Geer took the ball to the 15- yard line. Matteson then hit Gunderson on a nice pass across the middle for the touchdown. The kick was no good and the Mustangs now led 42-0 with 3:45 left in the third. Wahtonka then went on their only scoring drive with the help of a 52-yard run by James Baird. Gunderson scores one o f his three touchdowns ftrvin Is your day usually this jam-packed with excitement? traveled x '»«.o ; y'.j. f v ,m , k M ruterno/i i .u I - ài« til MN . . . f.v •- • : , ; • 1«. * ... c ■ -•?. : -• • - r [ ¡ * •. • - 1 , - i : i I ‘ / - r • ' ■ *. * *■ » * ;■ ’ * Jeb Miller ran the ball in from three yards out. The conversion run failed and Heppner then led 42-6 with 53 seconds left in the third quarter. That lasted all of 17 seconds as Gunderson took the kick-off at the 18 and started out to the right side then cut across the grass at midfield and scampered in to the end/zone for a 82-yard touch down. The kick failed and the Mustangs led 48-6 with :36 left in the third. The fourth quarter saw both teams unable to mount a serious scoring threat until Wahtonka moved to the Mustangs' 5-yard line as time ran out. The defense was led by Clint Bellamy and Levi Geer with 21 defensive points and 20 points respectively. In his first game of the year, Stanley Cutsforth had a good game, scoring 16 points. Tim Dickenson had 15 points and Michael Schonbachler and Craig Scott each had 14. Derek Gunderson had 12 points and an interception. Jake Roy had 10 points and Blake Knowles had nine points and a fumble recovery. Jared Eckman had seven points and an interception. The offense was obviously led by Gunderson scoring 32 points with five touchdowns and a two- point conversion. He rushed eight times for 198 yards, and 106 return yards including the 82 yard kick-off return. Geer rushed five times for 101 yards. Ryan Matteson was five of nine for 44 yards and two touchdowns. Gunderson caught two passes for 25 yards and Geer had two receptions for 18 yards. Casey Evans had one catch for a one yard touchdown. Coach Greg Grant was pleased with the win but disappointed in losing Matheny saying, "It's hard to take a win when you lose a player ¡ike Shane." The Mustangs are back in action with another home game on Friday, Oct. 2, as Weston McEwen comes here. Wahtonka 0 - 0 - 6 -0 -6 Heppner 15-7-26-0-48 - First Hep. - Levi Geer 85 yard run (Blake Knowles kick) 9:41 Hep - Derek Gunderson 8 yard run (Knowles Kick) 1:13 ‘ ~ , i » * J • i ; i . ' • ■ *• • ? f - :. : ■ • -* •* * • « Second Hep.-Gunderson 59 (Knowles kick) 10:50 V* f V - 1/* l -V * *”> n'ngVUfst Rushing Wah- Baird 16-105, Hager 18-47, Findley 6-5, Schmidt 5-8, Miller 2-3. Hep Gunderson 8-198, Geer 5-101, Shane Matheny 2-13, Michael Schonbachler 3-8, Michael McCabe 2-7, Craig Scott 2-6, Travis Bellamy 1-0. r- A New Kind of Game Choose words instead of numbers to create your own adventure story. If the pieces of your story casH Passing match the Lottery's story, you win. Each daily drawing at 7:00 pm offers a top prize of $25,000! Play it Fraa Today Just take this coupon to your neighborhood ■■r* Lottery retailer, and you're off on the adventure! V .' » f a n s Y? •. * ft iff run Third Hep-Gunderson 78 yard run (Knowles kick) 10:44 Hep- Casey Evans 1 yard pass from Ryan Matteson 8:24 (Knowles kick) Hep-Gunderson 15 yard pass from Matteson (Kick failed) 3:54 Wah- Jeb Miller 3 yard run (run failed) :53 Hep-Gunderson 82 yard kick-off return (kick failed) :36 • .* ± 4 • * yard Extraordinary Adventures For Ordinary Life H OWGON lOTTTPY Wah.-Miller 5-12-2-1-40 Hep- Matteson 5-9-0-44, Matheny 0- 1-0 Receiving Wah- McGuire 2-19, Hinatsu 2-16, Hager 1-6. Hep- Gunderson 2-25, Geer 2-18, Evans 1-1.
