Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 24, 2021 -- SEVEN
Coquille downs Mustangs 8-6 in semifinal nail-biter
Toby Nation and Blane Mahoney make the tackle in the third quarter. -Photos by Damon Brosnan.
Jace Coe runs the ball in the second quarter.
By Blake Carter
11-0, another stellar
year put together by the
Heppner Mustangs football
team. Led by coach Greg
Grant, the Mustangs won
their first two playoff games
and earned their way into
the state semifinals. The
Mustangs, along with many
other high school teams in
Oregon, were left with a
bitter taste after not being
able to compete in the state
championships last season.
This circumstance only fu-
eled the Mustangs as they
had won 29 straight football
games up to the semifinals.
Friday afternoon the boys
loaded the bus, and depart-
ed for McMinnville, OR,
the site of their next big
game. The Mustangs took
Friday afternoon to practice
on the field they would play
on the very next day, as well
as enjoying a team dinner,
and staying the night.
Their next opponent
wasn’t any slouch though.
Led by senior Gunner
Yates, the Coquille Red
Devils went through many
hardships this season.
Earlier in the year they
had two games cancelled
due to being exposed to
COVID-19. Coquille was
able to reschedule one of
those games, before it had
to be cancelled once again.
Sitting at 8-1, the Red Dev-
ils have only stepped on the
field to play seven games,
their other win and loss
came via forfeit. The Red
Devils loss by forfeit came
to the top team in their
district, and number three
seeded Lakeview Honkers.
Fans flocked to Mc-
Minnville High School; the
grand-stands were packed.
And soon enough noon
rolled around where the
Mustangs saw their season
come to a heartbreaking end
with an 8-6 defeat.
Heppner stepped onto
the turf at McMinnville
High School and received
the opening kickoff, but
an offensive facemask call
moved the Mustangs back
before their drive could
get going. The Red Dev-
ils received the punt, and
proceeded to use 18 plays,
and ten minutes rolled off
the clock. The Red Devils
drive started with 9:18 sec-
onds and ended on a Kason
Cimmiyotti interception
with 11:17 in the second
quarter. A high snap would
again stop the Mustangs
before they could even get
going as they were forced
to punt once again. This
time the Mustang defense
held strong and got the
offense another shot with
6:34 seconds left in the sec-
ond quarter. Unfortunately,
the Mustangs stalled as
they drove 40 yards before
punting again. With only 43
seconds left, the Red Devils
ran one play before letting
the clock expire heading
into halftime.
Much of the same fol-
lowed in the third quarter,
both teams traded stops as
Coquille held possession
headed into the fourth quar-
ter. The Mustang defense
grabbed another stop and
took possession with 10:24
seconds in the game. The
Mustangs finally found
their legs, driving 65 yards
in eight plays with Landon
Mitchell throwing a touch-
down pass to Derrick Smith
for eight yards. On a reverse
pass, Cimmiyotti rolled
out of the pocket to the
left where he met a wall
of white jerseys at the goal
line, it seemed as if Cim-
miyotti had broken the goal
line and scored. However,
the referee emerged and
waved off the score on a
very upsetting, and con-
troversial call. Coquille
took possession with 5:25
left in the game. A steady
running attack ended in
a seven yard touchdown
rush from Gunner Yates to
tie the ballgame. The Co-
quille fullback ran up the
middle on the two points
to give Coquille the slight
edge 8-6. Heppner com-
pleted a 13 yard pass into
Coquille territory howev-
er, a late illegal formation
call spoiled that drive as
an incompletion brought
Heppner’s dream season to
a controversial, and heart-
breaking end.
Heppner players let
their emotions out after the
game, hugging one another,
and reminiscing on an out-
standing season. Heppner
unfortunately would say
farewell to 13 outstanding
football players, and young
men. This senior class fin-
ished their career with a
state championship as well
as a semifinal appearance.
These young men finished
36-4, with an 18-0 league
record across four years. All
four seasons they finished
as league champions.
While it didn’t end the
way we all wanted, it was
still an amazing season. The
football team will be back
in action next August. Until
then, wrestling and basket-
ball seasons will commence
with the first basketball
game being December 1 at
home. Wrestling will begin
their season December 3 in
Enterprise.
Statistics; Caden
George rushed for 54 yards,
Brock Hisler ran for 37,
while Cameron Proudfoot
and Jace Coe each ran for
five yards. Landon Mitch-
ell was 5-8 passing with
52 yards and one touch-
down. Cimmiyotti caught
two passes for 45 yards,
and Smith brought in two
passes for nine yards and
one touchdown. Blane Ma-
honey led the way with 16
tackles while Cimmiyotti
was right behind with 13
tackles. Conor Brosnan
and Toby Nation each had
11 tackles, Hisler had nine
tackles, George had seven,
Cameron Proudfoot had
six, Cade Cunningham had
five while Smith and Tuck-
er Ashbeck each had four.
Jake Lentz had three tackles
and Jace Coe had one.
Kason Cimmiyotti and Blane Mahoney take down the Coquille runner in the first quarter.
Conor Brosnan and Brock Hisler make a tackle in the second quarter.
Derrick Smith makes a tackle in the first quarter.
Wishing each of you a
Landon Mitchell enroute to scoring in the fourth quarter.
NC to hold Black Friday sale
By Hannah Finch
The Neighborhood
Center will be hosting a bag
sale on Friday, November
26. This is something the
Neighborhood Center does
on the first Wednesday of
every month, but they are
doing a special one for
Black Friday.
Participants may come
into the building and pur-
chase a bag for $15 and
are then able to fill the bag
with as much stuff as pos-
sible. After the purchase of
one bag, the second one is
only $5. Clothing, shoes,
movies, books, and other
WWW.HEPPNER.NET
useful items may be found
throughout the store. Every-
thing else will be 50 percent
off for the day.
Hours are 9:30 a.m.
until 5:30 p.m. The Neigh-
borhood Center is closed
from 12:30 p.m. until 1:30
p.m. for lunch.
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W onderful S eason of
T hanksgiving!
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