A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
SPORTS
Mustangs trample Dragons
Clark, Putman lead
Mustangs into the
Quarterfinals
slow. After forcing a quick
three-and-out by Monroe
(4-6), Heppner took over
at its own 43 yard line and
began trying to establish its
run game.
On the 13th play of the
drive, senior C.J. Kin-
dle took a direct snap and
plunged into the end zone
from three-yards out to give
the Mustangs a 6-0 lead
with 4:23 left in the quarter.
A few possessions later
after the teams traded fum-
bles, Heppner took over at
Monroe’s 42-yard line with
1:35 left in the quarter.
And on just the second
play of the possession, run-
ning back Weston Putman
busted a handful of Monroe
tacklers and scampered his
way to a 35-yard touch-
down run to put Heppner
up 14-0.
“Offensively sometimes
we struggled to ¿nd our
rhythm and ¿nd out e[act-
ly what we need to do and
want to do,” said coach
Greg Grant after the game.
“And to our kids’ credit we
found it, ¿gured out how
we needed to block and
took care of things, so I was
very pleased.”
The Mustangs forced
another Monroe fumble
two plays into the Drag-
ons’ drive and recovered it
inside the Monroe 10 yard
line. Heppner didn’t waste
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
The No. 2 seed Heppner
Mustangs forced four turn-
overs and dominated every
facet of the game as they
pummeled the No. 15 seed
Monroe 'ragons in the ¿rst
round of the OSAA state
playoff game, 55-14, at Les
Payne Field.
“We came out and set
the tone early,” said Hep-
pner senior lineman Patrick
Collins. “We knew what
(Monroe) was going to run,
we capitalized on their mis-
takes, started fast and just
never looked back.”
The game was long over
at halftime, as Heppner
(10-0) held a 49-0 lead. The
de¿cit kicked in a running
clock for the entire second
half which limited each
team to just three posses-
sions in the half.
,n the ¿rst half, Heppner
gained 276 yards on 31 of-
fensive plays and seven
touchdowns, while its de-
fense held Monroe to just 44
yards on 28 offensive plays.
As rapid as the scoring
was in the ¿rst half, the
pace started out relatively
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Mustangs’ Weston Putman (20) goes in for a touchdown
Saturday during the state playoff game with the Monroe
Dragons in Heppner.
any time at all as Putman
knifed through the defense
for a nine-yard touchdown
run to give the Mustangs a
22-0 lead with 30 seconds
left in the quarter.
Putman ¿nished the
game as the Mustangs’
leading rusher, carrying the
ball nine times for 88 yards
and those two touchdowns.
He also had a solid game
defensively, registering si[
tackles and an interception.
A play that epitomized
Area athletes recognized with all-league honors
Athletes from several
area schools have been
recognized with all-leage
honors for their respective
sports conferences.
The Echo Cougars foot-
ball team received a num-
ber of all-league selections
for both football and vol-
leyball. The Cougars foot-
ball team earned si[ selec-
tions with the volleyball
team earning four.
Senior wide receiv-
er/defensive end Brock
Mof¿t was named a ¿rst-
team wide receiver and an
honorable mention defen-
sive end. Senior Hayden
Sather was a ¿rst-team
guard and ¿rst-team line-
backer, and senior Tanner
McPherson was named
¿rst-team nose guard.
Sophomore Zach Gehrke
is the honorable mention
kick returner.
McPherson,
Mof¿t
and Sather were also each
named to the eight-man all-
star list. With three selec-
tions, Echo tied Wallowa
for most of any one school.
Echo’s volleyball team
saw senior Kelsey Rang-
er named to the ¿rst team
and senior Erika Parks
named to the second team.
Senior Lizzie Co[ was an
honorable mention. Ju-
nior Hannah McCarty was
named to the Old Oregon
League district tourna-
ment all-tournament team.
The Stan¿eld Tigers
volleyball team received
a handful of honors after
the 2015 season.
Larissa Castellanos was
named to the second-team
all-Columbia Basin Con-
ference after a stellar
senior season. Maddie
Grif¿n, Shyanne Connell
and Kenzie Blankenship
joined Castellanos as hon-
orable mentions.
The Umatilla Vikings
earned a number of all-
league selections for foot-
ball, girls and boys soccer,
and volleyball.
The football team,
which completed one
of its best seasons in re-
cent memory, earned 27
selections in all. Junior
offensive lineman Alec
Williams and senior kick
returner Josh Dever were
the only ¿rst-team se-
lections, junior running
back Hunter Cook, junior
defensive linemen Elijah
Pine, freshmen line backer
Trent Durfey, Dever and
senior safety Tristen San-
guino were second-team
selections.
Isiah Hart and Sangui-
no were honorable men-
tion running backs, Justin
Maret, Diego Soto and
Brylee DuÀoth were hon-
orable mention receivers,
Jared Adams, Aaron Sim-
mons, Alvin Jamie-Gar-
cia, Antonio Moreno and
Blas Zepata were honor-
able mention offensive
linemen, and Williams
and Sebastian Trujillo
were honorable mention
linebackers. Hunter Cook,
Fabricio Garcia and Cody
Sampson rounded out the
football selections as hon-
orable mention defensive
backs.
Junior Jocelyn Guar-
dado, Umatilla’s lead-
ing goal scorer, was a
¿rst-team selection for
the Special District 2 all-
league team. Itzel Rodri-
guez was Umatilla’s only
second-team
represen-
tative, and Mayra Ortiz,
Jailin Colula and Maria
Moreno were each honor-
able mentions.
the way the game played
out came early in the sec-
ond quarter, when Monroe
forced Heppner to punt for
the ¿rst time in the game.
But on the punt, the Monroe
returner fumbled the catch
and Heppner’s Collins dove
in to recover the fumble to
give the Mustangs new life.
On Heppner’s ¿rst play
after the fumble, quarter-
back Kaden Clark con-
nected with receiver Logan
Grieb on a 29-yard touch-
TIGERS:
continued from Page A10
for a an 8.8 yards per carry
average and 20 touchdowns.
Quarterback Dylan Gro-
gan, also a junior, has added
another element to the rush-
ing game with his size and
athleticism, giving Stan¿eld a
legitimate short down option.
He’s rushed for 976 yards on
123 carries (7.9 ypc) and 21
touchdowns. He’s also passed
for nine touchdowns on 44-
of-62 passing for 708 yards.
But the Tigers have oth-
er options, as well. Makiah
Blankenship has 449 yards on
87 attempts and four touch-
downs, and Justin Keeney
has 400 yards on 59 carries
and four scores.
“We have a ¿ve-headed
monster at running back that
are worried about who gets
the ball,” Salas said. “And
we know who’s gonna get the
ball. It’s no secret to nobody.
Everybody knows who’s
gonna get the ball — my
running back and my quarter-
back. We’re not hiding them
anywhere. We’re running
power football.”
Both Stan¿eld and Cen-
tral Linn come from tough
leagues, setting them both up
for potentially deep playoff
down pass — Grieb’s 10th
touchdown reception of the
season — to put Heppner
up 28-0.
The Mustangs scored
three more times in the
quarter, on a seven-yard
pass from Clark to receiver
Kaden Hedman, a 16-yard
screen pass from Clark to
Kindle, and a ¿ve-yard
touchdown run on an end-
around by Grieb to give
Heppner the 49-0 lead at
halftime.
Clark had a very ef¿-
cient game directing Hep-
pner’s offense on Saturday,
completing 9 of 15 pass-
es for 132 yards and three
touchdowns, as well as 58
rushing yards on four car-
ries.
“It’s what he does, he
throws the ball e[tremely
well,” said Grant. “I don’t
know if I’ve ever coached a
better thrower. He puts the
ball on the money and did
that tonight, and hit a few
shots early that really set
the tone and set up some
things for us.”
Heppner’s only score
of the second half came
on a 44-yard touchdown
run by Kindle to increased
the Mustangs’ lead to 55-0
with eight minutes left in
the third quarter. Kindle
¿nished the game with 53
rushing yards and 64 re-
ceiving yards and three to-
tal touchdowns.
“I’m happy we played
well,” Grant said. “It’s re-
ally a great thing for the
community, the school, and
our kids love home play-
off games and they worked
their tails off all year long to
really capitalize on these.”
Monroe did not get on the
scoreboard until the 10:42
mark of the fourth quarter,
when Kyle Bateman out-
ran the Heppner defense
for a 47-yard touchdown
run. The Dragons scored
their second touchdown on
a 1-yard plunge by Joseph
Ballard with just seconds
remaining in the game.
Heppner held Monroe
to just 169 total yards in
the game, and forced four
punts to go along with the
four turnovers. The units’
performance got a rave re-
view from Grant following
the game.
“I really liked those
guys tonight,” he said. “I
liked that we were ready
and we stepped up to it. I
was pleased that the kids
stepped up physically to
play like that.”
With the win, Heppner
advances in the Class 2A
bracket to play No. 7 seed
Reedsport Friday in Hep-
pner. The Braves (9-1) de-
feated Weston-McEwen on
Saturday, 14-0, to advance
in the 2A bracket.
runs. Stan¿eld hails from the
Columbia Basin Conference,
which at one point in the sea-
son had three teams at 5-0
and a fourth at 4-1. The CBC
sent four teams to the playoffs
this season, with just league
champ Heppner and Stan¿eld
advancing rounds.
Meanwhile, Central Linn
calls the ¿ve-team Tri-Riv-
er Conference home. There,
the Cobras dropped just
one game — a 35-18 loss
to league champ Regis —
and still managed to win the
league and take the top seed
in the bracket.
Statistically, Stan¿eld’s
offense is better than Central
Linn’s but the Cobras have
a better defense. The Tigers
have scored 409 points so
far this season, the third most
in the state behind Heppner
(501) and Vernonia (500),
who Stan¿eld beat 56-26 last
week. Central Linn, though,
has demonstrated a stout
defense by allowing just 14
points per game this season,
including two shutouts.
“What we’re good at, is
we sustain 10-, 12-play drives
and we eat clock,” Salas said.
“We’re not worried about the
big play.”
Stan¿eld is going to need
to do something like that to
keep Central Linn’s big-play
on-the-ground offense on the
sideline.
The rushing offense is
similar to Stan¿eld’s in that it
has multiple options to which
it can turn. Three Cobras have
more than 100 carries and a
fourth has 74. All four guys
have more than 500 yards,
all four have had a 100-yard
game this season, and all four
have scored.
Senior Ale[ Pettner leads
the way for Central Linn with
1,117 yards on 164 carries
(6.8 ypc) for 13 touchdowns.
Hiss 23-carry, 187-yard game
in the Regis loss was the most
productive rushing game by
a single Cobra this season.
But Braden Nightengale and
his 11.4 yards per carry aver-
age will have to be accounted
for, as well. The junior has
carried just 74 times for 845
yards — second-most on the
team — and 11 touchdowns.
Chandler Jeppson (619 yards,
8 TDs) and quarterback Jesse
Wibbens (504 yards, 7 TDs)
are also viable options to run.
Wibbens has also passed for
483 yards on just 20-of-34
passing for 10 scores and one
interception.
Salas is con¿dent in his
bunch.
“I respect everybody,”
Salas said. “But I’m not
scared of anybody.”
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