WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • B1
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DAWGS ‘READY TO HIT’
Practices begin for
all fall sports
By MATT ENTRUP
Staff writer
The Hermiston and
Pendleton football teams
took to the gridiron with ex-
citement and optimism for
the 2016 season this week,
which sees both teams join-
ing the eight-team mash-up
of the Columbia River and
Intermountain Conferences
that will be called Special
District 1.
“It’s hype, we’re all out
here’s having fun and put-
ting in work. We’re looking
good,” said senior Herm-
iston wide receiver Tucker
Salinas. “We’re ready for
pads. Can’t wait actually.
I think we’re ready to hit
each other.”
“It’s fun to get going
again, back from summer
RODEO:
continued from Page A1
The Hermiston cowboy
was a bit disappointed with
the overall performance, but
was happy he could have
one more run at the arena.
“It’s just so much fun
here,” he said, “I’m so for-
tunate that my hometown
rodeo is so nice and so fun,
because a lot of people
don’t have that luxury. It’s
an awesome event from the
committee and the fans that
come out.”
The Hermiston native
that had the best evening
came in barrel racing as
Callahan Crossley sped her
way to a time of 17.21 sec-
onds which earned her the
top time of the night and
a third place ¿nish overall.
The placing brought her
a nice $2,920 check and a
$100 dash-for-cash bonus.
“It was de¿nitely one
of the best rides I’ve ever
had,” Crossley said follow-
ing her run, “So I guess I
just gave the best for last
here.”
Also competing on the
night in front of their home-
town fans were Stan¿eld’s
Travis Taruscio in steer
wrestling (16.8 seconds
on two), Hermiston’s Dal-
ton Massey in steer wres-
tling (5.6 seconds on one),
Hermiston’s Andy Carlson
in team roping (5.5 seconds
on one), and Hermiston
bull rider Cody Ford.
Ford, a 2006 graduate
of Echo High School, fell
just short of a Tuali¿ed ride
getting bucked off his bull
at 6. seconds in his ¿rst
professional trip back to
the Farm-City rodeo. Af-
ter ¿nding out it would be
the last rodeo in the fair-
grounds arena, he knew he
had to come back.
“I’ve watched so much
rodeo here since I was a
kid, and it woulda been
cool to come here and win
it,” he said, “but there’s al-
ways next year, I guess.”
Saturday also brought
the most successful night
for bull riders of the week,
as four riders garnered
Tuali¿ed rides after only
¿ve did in the three nights
break, it’s go time now,”
said Pendleton junior wide
receiver Shaw Jerome.
Both Hermiston coach
David Faaeteete and Pend-
leton coach Erik Davis re-
ported strong turnout in
their summer camps and
weight lifting programs,
and like the players were
just happy to have the fall
activities of¿cially under-
way.
“We had about 75-80
kids out all summer long,
working out, doing stuff
and getting after it from
freshmen on through se-
niors,” said Faaeteete, who
enters his second season as
the Bulldogs’ head coach.
“It’s always exciting when
we start. We wonder if all
this hard work we put in is
going to pay off.”
Pendleton’s turnout was
a bit lower, but the players
that are there are dedicated,
Davis said.
prior. Liberty, Texas’ Cole
Melancon mastered Corey
& Lange’s Comatose for
the eight seconds he needed
and the judges liked what
they saw as they award-
ed him an 83.5 point ride,
vaulting him into the victo-
ry and a $4,935 payday.
“It feels good, it’s been
a rough few weeks for
me, but I think it’s turn-
ing around,” Melancon
said, who sat in 25th in
the PRCA world standings
coming into the weekend.
In bareback, Jessy Da-
vis of Power, Montana kept
his hot streak going with
an 86.5 point ride on Kor-
kow’s Onion Ring for the
top score of the night and a
second place overall ¿nish
with a $4,394 payout. Da-
vis only started competing
in May after missing the
previous six months rehab-
bing from a shoulder injury,
and has since worked his
way up to 15th in the world
standings. He said follow-
ing his ride that he was
happy to be healthy enough
to make the trip to Hermis-
ton, which is a staple on his
schedule each year.
“I love it here. You can
always win a lot of mon-
ey and the best contrac-
tors come here and the
bucking horses are really
good,” Davis said. “You
gotta take advantage of a
great rodeo like this.”
In saddle bronc, Cody
DeMoss of HeÀin, Loui-
siana, took advantage of
his re-ride chance with
the top score of the night
with an 80.5 on Korkow’s
Free Sample. His score
put him into a tie for
fourth place overall be-
hind co-champions Ster-
ling Crawley and Tyrell
Smith’s 83 points. Else-
where, Terrebone’s Shane
Erickson had the best
night with a 9.3 second
time in calf roping and
Wenatchee, Washington’s
Colinn Wolfe soared at
steer wrestling with a
time of 5.8 seconds.
Roosevelt,
Utah’s
Rhen Richard took home
the coveted trophy saddle
and a $5,333 paycheck as
the top all-around cow-
boy.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
0ason &lements of 6antaTuin 8tah rides 7rail Dust for
Soints in barebacN ridinJ 6aturday at the Farm&ity
3ro 5odeo in Hermiston
New conference
The Columbia River Conference and In-
termountain Conference have merged for this
athletic season. Here are the teams in the new
league, and how they ¿nished last season over-
all (including playoffs) and in league play.
Summit
Redmond
Bend
Hermiston
Hood River Valley
Ridgeview
Pendleton
Mountain View
“We took 55 kids down
to the Western Oregon (Uni-
versity) camp and we have
a great foundation coming
into the fall,” he said. “That
just kind of spring-boarded
into our summer workouts,
and we had a consistent
group that were lifting and
12-1
8-3
6-4
4-6
5-5
4-5
3-6
1-8
(4-0 IMC)
(3-1 IMC)
(2-2 IMC)
(3-0 CRC)
(2-1 CRC)
(1-3 IMC)
(1-2 CRC)
(0-4 IMC)
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston football head coach David Faaeteete runs defensive drills
0onday durinJ the Àrst day of Sractice in Hermiston
running all summer long.
“The ¿rst day is always
trying to get the paperwork
and trying to get all the kids
here and back from vaca-
tion and seeing who you
have to work with, so I’m
just excited to get every-
body out here and going.
Put the helmet on and get
things started.”
Pads come on Wednes-
day for both teams, and
both teams open the season
on Friday, Sept. 2. Hermis-
ton hosts Union (WA) at 7
p.m.
Here are a few things to
watch this season:
PONDERING PASS-
ERS: Hermiston will hold
a quarterback competition
between incumbent junior
Dayshawn Neal and soph-
omores Andrew James and
See BULLDOGS, B2
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
6teer Zrestler 0iNe 0c*inn of Haines turns his steer in seconds Friday at the Farm&ity 3ro 5odeo in Hermiston
Highlights from the Farm-City Pro Rodeo
HERMISTON HERALD
In what is expected to
be its ¿nal go-round at the
downtown arena, the Farm-
City Pro Rodeo went out
with a bang last week.
Here are the highlights
from the ¿rst three days of
action.
Wednesday
For 10 years, bareback
rider R.C. Landingham
called Umatilla County —
Pendleton, speci¿cally —
home.
So every year the
25-year-old cowboy, who
now resides in Hat Creek,
California, makes sure he
can make it back to his
hometown rodeos. And he
was, indeed, in Hermiston
on Wednesday night to help
open the 28th Farm-City
Pro Rodeo at the Umatilla
County Fairgrounds and
gave many of his family
and old friends a good show
as he rode Kesler Rodeo’s
Double Dippin for 81.5
points. His score was the
best of the night and earned
Landingham the $100 dol-
lar dash bonus.
“I’m glad to ¿nally per-
form well for you,” Land-
ingham said to the crowd
following his victory lap
around the arena.
The performance was a
continuation of what has
become a breakout season
for Landingham, who is in
his seventh year on the Pro-
fessional Rodeo Cowboys
Association tour. He sits
in ¿fth place in the bare-
back Weather Guard PRCA
World Standings with
$89,068 in winnings and is
poised for his ¿rst-ever trip
to the National Finals Ro-
deo in Las Vegas, Nevada
in December. He credits
his success to a better
understanding of how to
take care of himself and
his health.
“I tried to workout
more, eat more healthy,
and learned to turn away
a lot of horses,” Landing-
ham said. “Guys give me
heck about turning away
so many, but I’ve learned
if you don’t feel you can
place, there’s no point in
(hurting) yourself ... it’s
worked and I’ve probably
placed at 75 percent of
the rodeos I’ve been to.”
Another Oregon cow-
boy that was happy to be
back on Wednesday was
Terrebone native Russell
Cardoza. The all-around
cowboy, who recently
vaulted into the No. 1 spot
in the all-around World
Standings with more than
$82,000 in winnings,
gushed about Farm-City
following his turn in steer
wrestling.
“It ... sure feels good to
See HIGHLIGHTS, B2
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
5& /andinJham of Hat &reeN &alif rides Double DiSSin for
Soints in barebacN ridinJ Wednesday at the Farm&ity
3ro 5odeo in Hermiston