SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Mustang volleyball ends the
season
The magical season
of the Heppner Mustang
volleyball team came to an
end at the OSAA 2A State
Volleyball Championships
held in Redmond. For the
season, the Mustangs fin-
ished with an 19-10 overall
record, they tied for first
place in their conference
and finished second at the
district tournament. They
won a state playoff game
on the road to qualify as
one of the final eight in the
state to make it to the state
tournament. It was quite a
successful season for the
Mustang team and their
coaches.
The Mustangs had to
play the Culver Bulldogs
in the first match of the
state tournament. Heppner
had beaten the Bulldogs
once during the regular
season, but lost to them in
the district championship
match. The Bulldogs were
the number one ranked
team in the state going into
the tournament. Heppner
played well in the match but
the Bulldogs did as well.
Culver ended up winning
by scores of 25-18, 25-22,
25-14.
With the loss on the
opening morning of the
tournament, Heppner
would play the next day
against the St. Paul Bucka-
roos. The Mustangs had
played St. Paul earlier in
the season and lost to them
in a close match. This time
the results would be the
same as the Mustangs lost
to the Buckaroos by scores
of 25-18, 25-19, 25-20. It
was a close match, with
both teams giving their
all, but the Mustangs just
came up a little short on the
scoreboard. With the loss
the tournament was over
for the team.
Leading the way at
state in serving was So-
phie Grant who was 22-23.
Sydney Wilson went 19-20
and Madison Combe was
a perfect 16-16. Sophie
again led the team in assists
at the tournament with 18
and Jacee Currin finished
with 11. Another category
Grant led was kills; she
had ten in the two matches.
Currin was next with nine,
Morgan Correa had eight
while Combe and Jenna
McCullough each recorded
three.
On the defensive side
of the net, Wilson led the
team with 29 digs. Cor-
rea had 17 digs and Grant
finished with 15. Having
the most serve receive at-
tempts was Wilson, who
finished with 44. Correa
and Currin both handled
33 serve receive attempts.
McCullough led the team
with four blocks and Correa
had three.
A large and enthusiastic
crowd of Mustang sup-
porters were in Redmond
to cheer the team on. They
saw the Mustangs play
some really good volley-
ball at the tournament and
also all through the season.
Everyone is very proud of
them and what they ac-
complished this season. It
is certainly something to
build on for next season and
beyond.
The Mustangs will
lose four seniors off of
this year’s team as So-
phie Grant, Morgan Correa,
Reiah Waite and Shayna
Osmin will all be gradu-
ating. The team will re-
turn seven varsity players
for next year who all saw
significant playing time.
Madison Combe, Jacee
Currin, Sydney Wilson,
Jenna McCullough, Nicole
Propheter, Claire Grieb
and Tresslyn McCurry will
all be back. The Mustangs
will also add players from
the junior varsity team that
was very successful this
season. The future of Hep-
pner Mustang Volleyball
certainly looks bright.
Shayna Osmin, Jenna McCullough and Sophie Grant compete in the state volleyball
championships in Redmond. -Photo by Staci Osmin
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Mustang football hosts state
champ game
Mustangs celebrate their win against the Neah-Kah-Nie Pirates . -Photo by Kirsti Cason
In what has become
an early November tradi-
tion, the Heppner Mustang
football team hosted a first
round OSAA 2A Football
State Championship game.
This year it was the Neah-
Kah-Nie Pirates that came
to play at Les Payne field.
The Mustangs took care of
business and beat the Pi-
rates by the score of 54-22.
Heppner kicked off
to start the game and then
the teams traded posses-
sions. The Mustang defense
forced the Pirates to punt
the ball the next time they
got it. A high snap over
the punters head bounced
around until Logan Bur-
right recovered it at the
seven-yard line, giving
the Mustangs great field
position. On the very next
play, Beau Wolters took the
handoff and rumbled into
the end zone to make the
score 6-0.
The Heppner defense
got the ball back on downs
and it didn’t take long for
the offense to score again.
A five-play drive ended
when Coby Dougherty ran
the ball in from 15 yards
out for another touchdown.
That made it 12-0 in favor
of the Mustangs.
Another three-and-out
by the Pirates gave the ball
back to the Mustangs. Hep-
pner went on an impres-
sive eleven-play drive that
ended in a score when quar-
terback Jayden Wilson ran
the ball in from six yards
out. Wilson then threw to
Gavin Hanna Robinson for
the two-point conversion to
make the score 20-0 early in
the second quarter.
After the kickoff, Han-
na Robinson jumped in
front of a Pirate pass and
intercepted it. Just four
plays later the Mustangs
scored again when Wolters
scampered 23 yards for the
touchdown to make it 26-0.
Wilson then intercepted
a Pirate pass to give the
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ball right back to the of-
fense. Eight plays later,
Wilson ran the ball in from
six yards out for another
Mustang touchdown. Kevin
Smith kicked the extra point
to give Heppner a 33-0 lead.
The Pirates then put
together a drive and scored
with only seconds left in the
first half to make the score
33-6 at the intermission.
There was an exciting
start to the second half as
Wolters took the opening
kickoff and ran it back 84
yards for a touchdown.
He got some great block-
ing from the wedge in the
middle of the field and
broke free and outran the
kickoff team for the score.
Smith kicked the extra point
to make it 40-6 at this point.
On the first Pirate pos-
session of the half, Heppner
forced a fumble that Jason
Rea recovered. Eight plays
later the Mustangs scored
again when Wilson ran in
from four yards out. Smith
made the extra point and the
score was 47-6.
Smith then intercepted
a Pirate pass on their next
possession to give the Mus-
tangs the ball back. Seven
plays later Wilson scored a
touchdown when he scram-
bled in from four yards out.
Smith made another kick to
make the score 54-6 at the
end of the third quarter.
At this point of the
game, the 45-point rule
took over and the clock
would run for the entire
fourth quarter. The Heppner
coaches substituted freely
with all of the younger
Mustang players to give
them some valuable playoff
experience. Neah-Kah-Nie
would score two touch-
downs in the quarter to
make the final score of the
game 54-22.
Heppner amassed 321
yards of total offense in
the game with 286 of them
rushing yards and 35 pass-
ing. Neah-Kah-Nie finished
the game with 206 total
yards.
Dougherty led the team
in rushing with 115 yards
on 13 carries and scored
one rushing touchdown.
Beau Wolters ran for 66
yards on 15 attempts and
scored two times. Hanna
Robinson was next with 50
rushing yards and Wilson
ran for 48 yards and scored
four touchdowns. Kannon
Wilkins picked up four
yards in the game and Blake
Wolters had three.
Wilson was 2-5 pass-
ing the ball for 35 yards.
Dougherty caught both
passes for the 35 yards.
On the defensive side
of the ball, Jason Rea led
the team with seven tack-
les and a fumble recovery.
Dougherty was next with
five tackles and an intercep-
tion. Wyatt Steagall, Beau
Wolters and Hanna Robin-
son each had four tackles
for the Mustangs. Hanna
Robinson also recovered
a fumble and had an inter-
ception. With three tackles
each were Tyler Carter and
Wilkins. Smith, Peyton
Lehman and Charles Cason
finished the game with two
tackles each. Smith also had
in interception in the game.
Wilson had a tackle and an
interception on defense and
Burright had a tackle and a
fumble recovery.
With the win, the Mus-
tangs now travel to take on
the St. Paul Buckaroos in a
quarterfinal game.
Author visits Heppner
Oregon Trail Library District hosted best selling author,
Rinker Buck. at Heppner Elementary School on Nov. 2.
Buck told of his modern day wagon trip on the Oregon trail.
-Photo by Megan Futter