S PORTS
Hermiston
A10
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
Rough
weekend
for West
Coast
alumni
I
t was a sad weekend for
local college football
teams.
The Oregon Ducks, Sean
Hart’s alma mater, lost an
intriguing game to Utah full
of surprises and breaks and
a blowout. Washington, my
school, thought the game
started at 4 p.m. instead
of 2 p.m., didn’t play the
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almost won
despite of it.
Oregon State,
Gary West’s,
was blitzed by
Stanford on
Friday night,
Sam
and Jade Mc-
Barbee
Dowell’s
FROM THE
SIDELINES
BYU Cougars
were
ham-
mered 31-0 at home.
The only saving grace
of the week was Washing-
ton State, who, by the luck
of having a bye week, will
have the best week of the
year. Because they didn’t
play.
I spent a good portion of
Saturday evening at Sean’s
place, watching highlights,
talking about games. Pri-
marily we talked about
the Oregon game and the
weird things Utah did. If
you watched, Utah ran a
couple interesting special
teams plays that worked
out as well as they could
have.
The return touchdown
just played on normal ag-
gressiveness
covering
kicks. The players covering
aren’t looking for the ball,
but at the returner and trust-
ing that he will lead them
to the ball. He tricked the
Duck players, and Utah ex-
ecuted perfectly and scored.
Then the Seahawks did the
same thing on Sunday.
The fake punt was bril-
liant. I say “fake” punt
because it wasn’t a broken
play. It just had the illu-
sion of a broken play. I’m
not sure if the high snap
was intentional. I’m lean-
ing that it was, because it
gives the allusion of the
punt being broken. If you
dare, watch the replay and
watch the personal pro-
tectors. There are three of
them and they’re all offen-
sive linemen — big guys
with knee braces and num-
bers in the 60s or 70s. The
guy in the middle acts as
a gate, swinging in when
the ball is snapped by him.
But, instead of swinging in
as the ball goes by, he runs
right to the hole the punt-
er ran through and looked
for someone to block. That
tells me it was a set play.
But mostly Sean and I
talked about the surprising
nature of Oregon’s loss,
but also of the week. Did
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of the TCU game?
It’s somber here at the
Hermiston Herald on Mon-
day. Not really, more of
a humorous somberness.
No one is really shaken
up about the week of the
football — well, maybe
Sean — and I’m still opti-
mistic about the Huskies.
I’m really curious about
Oregon’s trip to Seattle in
three weeks.
But, time wears on. Next
week there will be more
games (not for me because
Washington doesn’t play),
but more opportunities to
give Sean some ribbing for
Oregon falling off (please)
and struggling to get past
Colorado (pretty please).
Sam Barbee is a sports
reporter for the Hermiston
Herald and East Orego-
nian based out of Herm-
iston. He can be reached
by email at sbarbee@
hermistonherald.com or
on Twitter @SamBarbee1.
Follow Herald Sports @
HHeraldSports.
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Bulldogs fall
to Pendleton
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
The Hermiston Bull-
dogs were dominated
Thursday in a rivalry
game on the road against
Pendleton, and the Bucks
won, 3-0.
The Bucks (3-3, 1-2)
won with set scores of
25-13, 25-8 and 25-18. In
the third set, the Bucks ap-
peared to be running away
with the set holding a
15-3 lead. However, that’s
when the Bulldogs (3-5,
0-3) showed some life
and went on a 14-2 run to
eventually tie the game at
17-17.
In that set, the Bull-
dogs’ Hayden Meyers reg-
istered three-straight aces
from the serving line and
Alex Barton later added
two as the Bucks seemed
to be falling into a lull.
Regan Meyers added two
kills during the Bulldogs’
run as well.
The Lady Bucks would
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ished off the Bulldogs by
outscoring them 8-1 to
seal the win.
The Bulldogs had nu-
merous serving errors, as
well as hitting errors and
mental mistakes that led
to their downfall.
However, the Bucks
did put forth one of their
best performances from
the serving line so far this
season with a 96 percent
success rate.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
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STANFIELD PREPS FOR BIG LEAGUE OPENER
TigerScots come to
town riding three-
game winning
streak
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Thyler Monkus
rushes for 235
yards, 5 TDs
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
A year ago, the Stan-
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lumbia Basin Conference
at Weston-McEwen in a
wild game that the Tiger-
Scots eventually won, 53-
42.
This year, with both
teams healthy and with
new coaches, two blazing
hot teams will square off
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p.m. It is the CBC opener
for both schools.
“They are one of our
top competitors, for sure,”
senior Jason Fitzpatrick
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26 win over Imbler last
Friday. “They put up a big
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we win by one or lose by
one or two. They’re still a
great team to go against.
Now we gotta focus ahead
and really step up this
whole week and show up
at practice every day.”
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with its closest win com-
ing by 18 points two
weeks ago over Grant
Union. Weston-McEwen
enters 3-1 with a 52-14
win over the same Imbler
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
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gled with for a time, if
brief, last Friday. But the
league opener starts a slate
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legitimately win the Co-
lumbia Basin Conference.
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Irrigon are each 4-0, the
TigerScots are just a game
back, and the Culver Bull-
dogs are 2-2 after playing
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four games.
This league opener,
with Heppner playing Pilot
Rock and Irrigon at Culver,
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which teams are truly con-
tenders and which teams
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“It’s a good way to get
league going, to let ev-
eryone know where ev-
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Tigers coach Davy Salas
said. “Our league’s tough.
That’s the thing I’m gonna
reiterate to my team every
day: We can’t let any slip
by. We gotta take every-
body serious and take it
game-by-game.”
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of quarterback Dylan Gro-
gan has been huge for the
Tigers, giving them more
opportunities to spread car-
ries in its Wing-T offense
than last year when run-
ning back Thyler Monkus
was toting the football 30
or 40 times.
The spread-the-wealth
philosophy has paid off,
especially for Monkus. In
four games, the junior has
accumulated 807 yards on
the ground and scored 11
times. Grogan has showed
he can run and throw,
rushing for 136 yards and
a touchdown while also
throwing for a score in
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Imbler last Friday.
But
Weston-McEw-
en, despite losing some
key contributors from last
year’s playoff team, is also
on a roll. Since dropping
See STANFIELD, A12
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Imbler drives Friday
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was as if the Panthers
where the undefeated
record and big point
differential.
Behind burly run-
ning back Tyler Tandy,
the Panthers marched
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twice while holding
the explosive Tigers
to two three-and-outs
en route to a 14-0 lead.
But Jason Fitzpatrick
intercepted a pass, got
a decent return, and
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drive and dominated
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in a 46-26 non-league
football win.
“They came up with
a great gameplan,”
See TIGERS, A12
Prep roundup: Umatilla XC competes without Cardenas
The Umatilla Vikings ran well at
Nike Portland XC without top runner
Fabian Cardenas.
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No. 11 out of 23 teams in their group,
headlined by senior Armando Men-
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of 17:53. Junior Bradley Bensen also
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On the girls side, Aleesha Watson
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HERMISTON BULLDOGS —
At Idaho, the Bulldogs competed in
the Bob Firman Invitational on Sat-
urday afternoon and had a decent
showing.
The boys team placed No. 20 out
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No. 19 out of 38 teams.
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Josiah Niederwerfer at No. 100 with
a time of 17:04, Donell Rome at No.
114 with a time of 17:15, and Hayden
Earl at No. 115 with a time of 17:17.
On the girls side, Melany Solorio
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93 with a time of 21:51.
BRIDGETTE NELSON ME-
MORIAL INVITATIONAL — Stan-
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Chelsy Lemmon was 12th to lead
local boys and girls at the Bridgette
Nelson Memorial Invitational on Fri-
day at Sorosis Park.
Flores ran a season-best 18:30
and Hermiston’s Emanuel Ibarra was
sixth at 18:49. Heppner’s Trent Smith
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Elias Esquivel was 13th (19:23).
The Dalles won the boys team title
over the Rockets on Tuesday.
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third sets with scores of 25-19 and
25-16. But Umatilla (4-9) was just
IMBLER 3, STANFIELD 2 — too much, winning their sets 26-24,
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and dropped a non-league match 3-2 match losing streak dating back to
(25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 22-25, 15-1) to Sept. 12, when the Vikings beat Du-
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Katie Burns had ten blocks for the
Up next for Umatilla is a home
ECHO 3, JOSEPH 1 — At Jo- Tigers (4-6, 0-2) who, head coach match with Vale and Nyssa on Sat-
seph, the Echo Cougars earned Angie Connell said, was great at the urday starting at noon, while Pilot
their 10th win of the season over net. Maya Gadsen added six blocks Rock hosts Culver on Thursday at
and Britton Braithwaite had seven. 6:15 p.m.
Joseph on Saturday.
Echo (10-3, 3-0) dropped the Four others had at least two. Burns
¿UVWVHWWR-RVHSKEXWWKHQUH- led the way all around, with three
HOOD RIVER 3, HERMISTON
bounded to grind out three-straight DFHVDQG¿YHNLOOVERWKWRSVRQWKH 1 — At Hood River, the Bulldogs
sets 25-23, 25-21, and 25-23 to earn night. McKenzie Gonzales added dropped its second league game of
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the victory.
the season in four sets to Hood River.
“Our struggle is learning how to
Echo next plays at Helix Tuesday
Hood River won its three sets 25-
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at 5 p.m.
QLWHO\ JDLQLQJ FRQ¿GHQFH , FDQ VHH ton (3-4, 0-2) won the third set 25-14.
WESTON-MCEWEN 3, STAN- it.”
No other details from the match
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Scots pitched their second-straight day in Culver with a 5:15 p.m. start.
Next up for Hermiston is a road
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match at rival Pendleton on Thursday
ECHO 3, WALLOWA 1 — At at 6:30 p.m.
The TigerScots (12-6, 2-0) won
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25-19, 25-19, and 25-17.
Sarah Finifrock led the TigerScots in its last six tries on Friday in Old
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attack with 11 kills, while Alyssa Oregon League play. Scores were
Finifrock added four kills and three 25-14, 25-19, 25-23. No details were
LEWISTON 56, HERMISTON
reported.
blocks.
37 —The 2015 season slump contin-
Wallowa (0-10, 0-1) hasn’t won a ued for the Hermiston Bulldogs on
“I thought we played one of our
most complete matches,” said Tiger- set all season.
Friday, falling 56-37 on the road to
Echo (9-3, 2-0) will remain on the Lewiston, Idaho.
Scots coach Shawn White.
Defensively the TigerScots turned road for its next three matches and
Even with the loss, it was the best
in a solid performance, with Mati will be at Joseph on Saturday at 1 overall performance from the Herm-
Aby leading with 16 digs and Sara p.m.
iston offense this season notching a
von Borstel adding 15 digs.
season-high 37 points.
UMATILLA 3, PILOT ROCK
“Our defensive rotations were
The Bulldogs (0-4) fell behind
2 — At Pilot Rock, the Umatilla Vi-
much, much better,” said White.
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See ROUNDUP, A11
led by overall champion Jony Nelson
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The Dalles also won the girls team
title led by champion Emily Morin
(21:42).
Lemmon stopped the clock in
23:48 and Anna Lemmon was 20th
in 24:51.
today at 4 p.m. while Weston-McE-
wen plays at the La Grande Tourna-
ment on Saturday.