Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 2008)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 10,2008 Cardinal football team drops season opener The lone Cardinals played a “very tough defen sive game" in their season i pener against Joseph last Saturday afternoon at the Dufur Eight Man Classic. The final score read 16-0 in favor o f the Eagles but the Cardinals found some reasons to be encouraged about the upcoming season in the outcome. The C ard in als re ceived the opening kickoff facing a stiff headwind. The first series of plays, all runs by Senior Cory Peterson, led to a first and 10. Joseph clamped down on the next seiies, forcing the Cards to punt into the wind. The teams swapped possessions before Joseph got a decent drive going. However the C ardinal defense played tough causing the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs at the start o f the second quarter. The second quarter was played mainly in the center o f the field w ith the neither team m oving the ball far. In the closing min utes o f the half, the Eagles broke free for a 48 yard TD run. A successful point after run put Joseph up 8-0 at the half. The Eagles ran back the second half kickoff to lo n e ’s 11, putting them selves into what appeared to be a sure scoring position. But the C ards had other ideas as they stopped Joseph from coming any closer. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs, pushed back to lo n e’s 20 yard line. Four plays later, the Cards punted but caught a lucky break as the opponent was flagged for holding before the punt. That gave the Cardinals four more chances but again they were not able to capitalize. Joseph gave up some yards in the second half with holds, a face mask and a couple clips. The C ards were flagged a couple o f times for being offsides but gave up more yards on sacks and hobbled snaps. With just under two m inutes rem aining in the game, Joseph looked to be in sure scoring position. Start ing on the Cardinal 46 yard line, the Eagles were already thinking about the endzone on a fourth and goal with 1:16 on the clock. The Car dinals made a stand, pushing the Eagles hack and causing a fumble. Junior Eric Jepsen recovered the fumble and the Cardinals lived to fight another day, starting on their own 20 yard line. Two plays later, the Eagles recovered an lone fumble and got an other shot at that endzone. W ith 15 seconds on the clock, the Eagles ran in the second score of the day and followed up with another two point conversion. “ We played a very tough defen siv e g a m e ,” said assistant coach. Dale Holland noting that the team stopped Joseph in the red zone five times. "That is almost unheard o f in eight- man football." "It felt like a tie game," said Holland. Until the very end o f the game, “we were one big play from tying it up." With a lot o f new personnel filling the ranks, the Cardinal coaching staff d id n ’t q u ite know w hat to expect. However, they found some positives as well as some areas to fine tune. “ I was pleased with the way the team was flying to the ball,” said Holland. “ It usu ally takes half a season to get that going.” He noted that the offense has some work to do on blocking assign ments and timing but overall was pleased with the team’s cohesiveness and efforts to work together as a team. The next outing for the Cardinals is a road trip to M cK enzie on Friday, September 6. The team will play on Friday night and take advantage of their prox imity to Eugene to attend a University o f Oregon game on Saturday afternoon. Mustangs fall to Culver Junior Bryan Holland tackles Culver’s running back Ba dillo in the Heppner Mustang game Friday Night against the defending state champions. Culver beat the Mustangs 21-0. -Photo by Sand\' Matthews Lady Cards 1-2 at weekend tournament The lone volleyball team got a look at some of the teams in their league last weekend at the Summit Springs Tournament in Con don. The Lady Cardinals lost two close matches early in the day before defeating South Wasco in their final match. T h e L ad y C ard s took on Condon/ Wheeler in their opening match falling 25-27, 26-24. “Our serves killed us,” said Coach Dawn Eynetich. “ I think that we could have won easily if we had made our serves.” The next match pitted lone against Arlington and again, the games came down to the wire. The Cardinals lost in two, 23-25, 27-29. Coach Eynetich again noted serv ing errors as the most likely c o n trib u to r to the team s downfall. The final match of the day pitted lone against South Wasco County and the lone team pulled out a 25-14, 25-20 win. “It came down to who made more mistakes,” said Eynetich. “ T h is side o f the league is going to be close. I think it will come down to the end o f the season,” said E y n etich . She also noted that the team has a pattern o f playing well at the beginning and the end o f games but seems to lapse in the m iddle, especially if they have a lead. “The girls have shown they can stick with these teams but they just have to believe in themselves.” T h e L ad y C a rd s have a busy week o f vol leyball on tap, hosting Helix on Tuesday, trav elin g to Heppner on Thursday for a doubleheader with Heppner and Riverside and traveling to Joseph for a tournament on Saturday. M ustang JV team loses to Pendleton ill**,«. Cheerleaders to host soup feed The Heppner High School cheerleaders will host a soup feed on Friday, September 19, from 4-7 p.m. before the football game. WCCC Benefit Scramble to be held Willow Creek Coun try Club will be holding a benefit scramble on Sunday, September 14. Sign-up will begin at 8 a.m. and a shot gun start tee-off will begin at 9 a.m. This event will be a four person scramble w ith a limit of 18 teams. The cost is $25 per person. Team sign up sheets can be picked up at the Pro Shop and you can pre-register your team at the Pro Shop. Food and sn ac k s will be on sale throughout the day. There w ill be a 50/50 pot and a Yellow Ball Contest. Mustang Shane Smith takes a hit during the JV Mustangs game against Pendleton Freshman in Heppner. The Mustang s lost 42-12. -Photo by Sandy Matthews Heppner High School FFA students complete project Bank o f : Eastern Oregon M ember M W Call Melissa Lindsay . Mortgage Manager, BEO Mortgage Division, for: ñ New Home Purchase Refinancing Your Home ' • ✓ The lone Cardinals got their first win o f the sea son on the road at McKenzie last Friday night, downing the host team 32-16. The Cards traveled to Blue River with two purposes in mind; playing a new opponent from out o f the area and po sitioning themselves in the Eugene area so they could attend the UO-Utah State game as a team the follow ing day. The road was a rocky in the early going Friday night as McKenzie scored on their first two posses sions. With only 2:15 off the clock in the first quarter, the Eagles scored on a 36 yard touchdown run. The point after was good to give them the lead 8-0. After an lone punt, the Eagles from their first play from scrimmage, connected on an 83 yard TD pass. With the point af ter good, the shell-shocked C ards found th em selv es down 16-0. At that point, the Cardinals woke themselves up and went to work. Alex Rietmann brought back the M cKenzie kickoff all the way to the Eagles 32 yard line, giving the Cardinals good field position. lone ground its way downfield and w ith 2:59 rem aining in the first quarter, Cory Peterson punched in with a two yard TD run. The point after was no good. Then the Cardinal defense got fired up. The Eagles were forced to punt on a 4th and 11 after Clay Morter sacked the McKen zie quarterback deep in their own territory. The Cards took over on their own 47 and moved steadily down field. Cory Peterson had a great jumping catch on a 17 yard pass from RJ Ramos for the first first-down o f the series. He then ran for two more first downs setting the Cards up first and goal on the one yard line. Tanner Rietmann used a tough sec ond effort to get into the end zone and with the PAT good, the Cards were right back in the game 14-16. The next series for McKenzie might have been what spelled disaster for the Eagles or it might have spo ken o f how determined the Cardinal defense was. Start ing on their own 20 after a kickoff into the end zone, the Eagles were on the move. On their third first down o f the series, the Eagles covered 9.5 yards, leaving them about 18 inches short o f another first down on the lone 43. But the Cards dug in and shoved them back ultimately leading to a turn over on downs. T h e C a rd s w e re forced to punt on their next offensive series but the ball took an lone bounce and was downed on the McKenzie five yard line. The Eagles had moved the ball to their 20 when tackle, Eric Jepsen chased down the McKenzie quarterback for a killer 16 yard loss, putting the Eagles back on their own two yard line. The Eagles punted but the Cardinals took advan tage o f this favorable field position when RJ Ramos and C ory Peterson c o n nected on a 27 yard pass with 13 seconds remaining. The Cardinals led 20-16 at the half. lone scored again early in the third quarter on a 35 yard Cory Peterson run. The Cardinals provided a comfortable cushion with 5:22 remaining in the game when Cory Peterson ran in for his fourth TD o f the day from 16 yards out. Peterson finished the day with 119 rushing yards and 52 in the air. “ I was totally im pressed w ith the kids,” said Coach Dennis Stefani. He noted that the team was able to get back into the game “after walking into a buzz saw” in the first quarter with a throwing and running at tack. “We were able to open our game up and 1 felt good about that.” D e fe n s iv e ly , th e Cards got good efforts across the board. Senior defensive end, Clay Morter, led the team with 12 tackles. “He did a terrific job at defensive end.” said Stefani. Freshman Micah Stillman also had an outstanding effort with 11 tackles. "He disrupted their whole offense going up the middle.” Tanner Rietmann, G unner Jessen, Alex Fet- terhoff and Luke Bradfield each had eight tackles. “The people up front were doing their job,” said Stefani. He also noted that freshm an punter Zac Orem averaged over 40 yards on his punts. “That helped us consider ably.” Besides the win and the good stats, Coach Ste fani is most excited about the enthusiasm and excite ment his team is showing. “1 have not walked in a locker room and found a team so excited to play a second half. They are starting to believe in themselves.” T h is F rid a y , th e Cards host Touchet (WA) for their home opener. “It will be a tough one but I told the kids to just look at getting better and getting ready for league.” Game time is 6 p.m. Rushing: Peterson 27-119;T. Rietmann 5-14; Emmel 2-9; A. Rietmann 1- 7; Ramos 6 -22; Stillman 2 - 15. P a s s in g : R am o s 8-16-102 1 TD .O int. . Receiving: Peterson 3- 52; Morter 3-31; Jessen 2-19. Total Offense: Ione- 176 rushing, 102 passing, total 278; McKenzie- 114 rushing, 121 passing, total 235. Cheer clinic to be held Heppner High School varsity cheerleaders will Mortgage Division ✓ Cardinals take first win of season IK v ärJ Home Fquit) Loans or l.ines of Credit Construction Loans Fast and Easy Pre-Approval Competitive Kates and Terms Flexible Programs Personalized Service Experienced Staff For local mortgage services, we’re the ones to call! 676-9884 or Toll Free 1-877-472-6217 Or apply online - go to www.beobank.com Students from Heppner High School’s FFA recently completed a project in which the students cleaned up the Mustang signs just inside the Heppner city limits. After digging up the soil and weeding the area, the workers laid irrigation lines, weed matting, bricked the area, and planted plants, including yellow roses. The students spent 18-20 hours on the projects. This will be an ongoing project as weeding, pruning, etcetera, and will be done by the FFA class each year. Students involved in the project were: Joe Pranger, Spencer Palmer, Stephanie Rill, and Kirsten Stephens. These students spent time outside o f class and after sum mer break began. Other students involved in the project were Charles Stuber, Taylor Disque, and Brittany Booth. FFA instructor Beth Dickenson and her husband Tim also worked on this project. All are students at HHS and rep resent the FFA o f HHS. The Heppner Garden Club suggested this project and gave the FFA $100 to help fund the project. hold a cheer clinic on Monday and Tuesday, September 15 and 16, for grades K through third. Cheer clinic hours are 4:15-5:15 on September 15 and 3:45-4:45 on September 16. The clinic will be held in the high school cafeteria. Students who attend the clinic will perform at half time during the football game on September 19. This clinic is sponsored by the HHS varsity cheerleaders. For more information contact Virginia Grant at 676-5257. Justice Court Morrow County Justice Court Judge Charlotte Gray has released the following report: -Kim M. Simmons, 39, North Plains, violation of the basic rule by going 63 mph in a 45 mph zone, $ 113 fine. Senior Center Menu Christian Life Center members will be serving lunch on Wednesday, September 17. The menu will include pork roast, sage dressing with gravy, mixed veggies, apple sauce, hot rolls, and chocolate peanut butter pie.
