S PORTS
Hermiston
A10
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Match
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turns on Cobras, Tigers More inside
alike offensively
the luck
of the kick
Results: For a recap of Stanfield’s
game against Vernonia, see Page A11.
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
O
ne-hundred
minutes
of soccer is ruined by
10 shots. One-hundred
minutes of intense, physical,
aggressive, life-on-the-line soccer
is arbitrarily thrown
out and decided by
luck. If a soccer
match
goes
to
penalty kicks, that’s
what happens. And
it’s a shame.
It happened to
Sam
Hermiston’s
and
Barbee
Umatilla’s
girls
pro-
FROM THE
SIDELINES
grams last season.
Hermiston lost to
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Vikings lost to Perrydale/Western
Mennonite.
Saturday, Hermiston lost to
Woodburn on penalty kicks, and
it is just no fun.
I mean, I guess it was fun for
Woodburn, who piled on keep-
er Jesse Lopez after he made the
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no fun for the fans, who see a
match decided by luck. It’s no fun
for the coaches, who have to stand
back and helplessly watch as luck
unfolds. And it’s no fun for me,
because penalty kicks are stupid.
I guess they do have their dra-
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on penalty kicks, and her celebra-
tion has survived. They do create
tangible moments that are often
lasting because of the nobody-
knows-what-will-happen tension.
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which are supposed to be award-
ed to the offensive team when a
penalty was committed in the box,
have no bearing on the match as a
whole.
Imagine a baseball game went
extra innings, but they only played
two. Then afterwards it came
down to a home run derby, and
one team loses because they don’t
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Royals, sorry, guys, all those extra
inning games wouldn’t have gone
your way. Probably. Or in foot-
ball, if a double-overtime game is
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made. It’s so ingrained into the
sport that it seems impossible to
make any changes. Perhaps that’s
just the thing, it only seems that
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but the most popular sport in
the world isn’t going to simply
make a decree and have sweeping
changes implemented overnight.
It’s a logistical nightmare.
I also understand you just can’t
keep playing soccer like you do
baseball, football or even bas-
ketball. The matches are already
physically demanding, and 100
minutes is a long time to be run-
ning up and down a huge space.
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yards from the net and pounding
it one after another past the keeper
is boring and disappointing, espe-
cially after a well-played match.
Perhaps they could go the route
of the NHL, which is trying to
phase out shootouts because of the
arbitrary nature of deciding a win-
ner. So, they instituted three-on-
three overtimes to increase scor-
ing. It worked. Overtime hockey
matches are more exciting than
they’ve ever been, and shootouts
are down. Everyone wins.
I just feel bad for the Herm-
iston boys team and any soccer
team that loses on penalty kicks.
That match was so much fun to
watch and cover, yet the ending
left something to be desired. That
something is fairness, or some-
thing approaching it.
The obvious argument against
this is, “Well, make your kicks
and you’d win.” And I suppose
that’s a reasonable point, but it’s
all luck. The kicker decides where
to put it, and the keeper tries to
guess where it’s going. It’s luck.
Games and matches shouldn’t
be decided on luck and luck alone.
It takes 100 minutes of skill and
effort to get to penalty kicks, and
luck decides it. It’s a shame.
Sam Barbee is a sports
reporter for the Hermiston
Herald and East Oregonian
based out of Hermiston. He can
be reached by email at sbarbee@
hermistonherald.com or on
Twitter @SamBarbee1. Follow
Herald Sports @HHeraldSports.
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Tigers traveled the dense
forests of northwest Ore-
gon to play the Vernonia
Loggers and had to recali-
brate its defensive scheme
to defend against the
high-octane passing attack
employed by the Loggers.
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up, the No. 9 Tigers travel
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tral Linn, where they will
face a more familiar offen-
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ground game eerily reminis-
cent of the Tigers’ Wing-T
scheme, and they’re ready to
go toe-to-toe.
“My kids are hungry,”
head coach Davy Salas
said. “Since we’ve been
together, we told our-
selves we want to go play
for a state championship.
That’s been our goal for
these guys. That’s what
we want to do. We’re go-
ing to go play the games
on our schedule, and if we
play a great game we’ll
come out on top.”
In preparation for the
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that’s been the modus ope-
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Salas since he took over
before this season. The
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team, he told them he isn’t
interested in sexy big-play
football. He wanted to
play “man-on-man, hat-
on-hat” football and run
between the tackles.
The Tigers have done
just that this season.
Junior running back
Thyler Monkus has three
games of 200 or more
rushing yards, and he’s
eclipsed 100 in every
game but two. In total,
Monkus has rushed for
1,353 yards on 153 carries
See TIGERS, A12
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
6tanÀeld TuarterEacN 'ylan *rogan center leads the 1o. 6tanÀeld Tigers into &entral
/inn to play the 1o. &oEras in this Friday’s $ TuarterÀnal IootEall game.
BULLDOGS WILL RETURN
PLAYERS WITH EXPERIENCE
DAWGS WILL RETURN IN 2016 WITH DEPTH AT ALL POSITIONS
By SAM BARBEE
Staff writer
ermiston head
football coach
David Faaeteete
will walk into his
classroom next
week and erase
the current depth chart he has
written on a white board.
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Ethan Snow, Nathan Hunsaker
and more will never again ap-
pear on it, but that means new
names will. It all feeds into a
belief that isn’t uncommon
that the Hermiston program
has adopted: next man up.
“The next man up mentality
is a belief,” Faaeteete said.
That philosophy was on
display all year. All-state wide
receiver Ethan Snow broke his
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STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
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and he never returned. Starting Hermiston sophomore Tyler Rohrman returns an interception in the Bulldogs’ loss to Wilsonville on
quarterback Dayshawn Neal Friday in Hermiston.
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d’Alene, and never returned.
In all, Hermiston was with-
out six offensive starters and a
handful of defensive starters in
its 49-14 home playoff loss to
Wilsonville. Faaeteete said the
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sophomores throughout the
2015 season.
For a program that was
returning just a handful of
starters from last year’s state
championship run, “next man
up” became the rallying cry
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
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and losses mounted.
The 2014 OSAA state
Guys stepped up. Hunsak-
playoffs were something to
er took over under center and
remember for the Hermis-
took the offense from stum-
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and Simon took over the run-
championship.
ning back slot for the injured
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STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Jonathan Hinkle, and turned it
offs will be a thing to forget
into a physical ground game
for the Hermiston squad, as Hermiston’s RoEert &oleman rumEles up Àeld in the Bulldogs’
that wore down opponents.
they were booted from the loss to Wilsonville on Friday in Hermiston.
“I think if people work hard
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enough, with hard work that’s
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Friday night, falling to the
how the program runs,” junior
On the second play of that
came out to play, and I don’t
Wilsonville Wildcats 49-14.
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7KH %XOOGRJV ZHUH think we came out at nearly drive, Neville threw an inter-
think we’ll be OK next year.
simply overmatched in the the level that they did,” said ception deep in Wilsonville’s
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game, as their offense could Hermiston senior running own territory that would have
big guys for us, but I think
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we’ll be OK.”
against the Wildcats defense. game. “It’s hard, because +RZHYHUDSHQDOW\ÀDJZDV
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'HIHQVLYHO\ WKH %XOOGRJV nothing was clicking for us thrown for pass interference
their last game Friday night.
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Wilsonville new life.
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will return. Neal, a sopho-
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On Wilsonville’s second
short possession and a punt
more, will return. Kick return-
RQ LWV ¿UVW SRVVHVVLRQ RI WKH possession, stud junior quar- vid Faaeteete said after the
er, wide receiver and defen-
WHUEDFN &RQQHU 1HYLOOH OHG game that he believes that’s
game.
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%XWDIWHUWKH%XOOGRJVVHF- his team on 10-play, 73-yard where the game turned.
is just a junior. Wide receiver
“That phantom intercep-
ond-straight punt to begin the drive that Neville capped off
Tucker Salinas, H-back Jer-
game, Wilsonville’s offense with a one-yard touchdown tion pass interference when
ry Ramirez, line backer Ty
found its own rhythm and plunge to put his team up ear- the guy trips over the line,
Knutz and offensive lineman
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a big hole.
See LOSS, A11
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Slow start proves
to be too much for
Bulldogs
See BULLDOGS, A11