A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016
Herald Sports
PREP ROUNDUP
Boys soccer
PRESCOTT, Wash. — The Irrigon
Knights boys soccer team dropped its
second game of the year on Saturday
afternoon, coming up short on the
road against Prescott, Washington, 4-1.
“It just was not our day,” Irrigon
coach Paul Keefer said. “We did
not play together defensively, didn’t
communicate well enough which was
a little frustrating.”
Junior midielder and team captain
Alejandro Alvarez scored Irrigon’s (4-2-
1, 1-1-1) only goal of the game, boom-
ing one into the net unassisted in the
14th minute, which tied the game at
1-1. Prescott scored the go-ahead goal
one minute before halftime for the 2-1
lead, and then added goals in the 55th
and 75th minutes of the second half
to inish off the scoring.
Keefer added that while the Knights
defense struggled, he was happy
with what his offense brought to the
ield — even if the team only managed
one goal.
“We pushed the ball up quite often,
but just couldn’t push it into the back
of the net often enough,” he said.
Irrigon now has a week to prepare
for its next game at City Christian
Saturday at 1 p.m.
IHS (4-2-1)
———
PHS (2-1-1)
1
0
—
1
2
2
—
4
FOOTBALL
VALE 34, IRRIGON 28, — Not many
people were giving the young Irrigon
Knights much of a chance against the
defending 3A state champion Vale Vi-
kings on Friday night, but the Knights
made the trip and nearly pulled off
the upset. Vale had to get to overtime
before they could inally put the stingy
Knights away with a 34-28 victory.
“I think our kids faith in our process
grew a little bit tonight,” Irrigon coach
Steve Sheller said. “Vale just out-exe-
cuted us tonight.”
Josh Aguilera led Irrigon’s stable
of running backs with 130 yards and
two touchdowns on 27 carries. Carlos
Zacarias added 117 yards and a touch-
down on 10 carries and Lino Covarru-
bia ran for 89 yards and a touchdown
as well. Quarterback Austin Rice had
one of his best games of the season,
completing 8-9 passes for 115 yards
and zero turnovers.
Sheller said that the Knights are frus-
trated with the result, mainly because
the Knights had a chance to win the
game in regulation. Irrigon had a 1st
and goal inside the 10 yard line twice
in the fourth quarter, and didn’t score
either time.
“We just didn’t execute the play,”
Sheller said.
Irrigon will now regroup and get
ready for a home game against Nyssa
on Friday.
———
IHS (2-4, 1-1) 14 14
—
28
VHS (3-3, 2-0) 7 13
—
34
0
0
0
0
8
6
HEPPNER 52, PILOT ROCK 20 — At
Heppner, the Mustangs scored in
all phases of the game to beat the
Rockets in Columbia Basin Conference
action on Friday.
Kevin Murray returned an intercep-
tion 51 yards for a touchdown after
he stepped in front of a screen pass,
Jake Lindsay scored on a 96-yard punt
return, Coby Daugherty returned a
kickoff 88 yards to pay dirt, and Logan
Grieb added 110 yards rushing with
touchdowns on the ground and in
the air.
Pilot Rock (0-5, 0-1 CBC) didn’t
get on the scoreboard until the
fourth quarter and was led by Devin
Hasher’s 128 rushing yards with one
touchdown.
Heppner (5-1, 2-0) coach Greg
Grant said he was content with his
team’s defensive play, but their 227
total yards on offense left much to be
desired as the Mustangs had trouble
with their blocking.
“I thought Pilot Rock was improved
and to those guys’ credit they played
hard the whole game,” he said. “I
guess I was pleased with how we
played defensively, we had one break-
down on the long pass play but defen-
sively we were pretty consistent.”
Heppner is at Culver next Friday at
7 p.m.
———
PRHS (0-5, 0-1) 0
0
0 20
—
20
HHS (5-1, 2-0) 16 12 12 12 —
52
Scoring plays
1st Quarter
HHS — Coby Daugherty 6 run (Beau
Walters run), 5:41, 8-0
HHS — Jake Lindsay 96 punt return
(Logan Grieb from Kevin Smith), 1:37,
16-0
2nd Quarter
HHS — Beau Walters 19 pass from
Kevin Smith (pass failed), 11:08, 22-0
HHS — Logan Grieb 15 pass from
Kevin Smith (pass failed), 8:38, 28-0
3rd Quarter
HHS — Logan Grieb 43 run (pass
failed), 7:25, 34-0
HHS — Kevin Murray 51 interception
return (pass failed), 4:06, 40-0
4th Quarter
HHS — Beau Walters 22 pass from
Kevin Smith (run failed), 11:59, 46-0
PRHS — Chris Weinke 22 pass from
Logan Weinke (kick good), 9:04, 46-7
HHS — Coby Daugherty 88 kick
return (run failed), 8:34, 52-7
PRHS — Cody Watson 23 pass from
Logan Weinke (kick good), 3:52, 52-14
PRHS — Devin Hasher 30 run (kick
blocked), 1:43, 52-20.
Individual stats
PASSING — Pilot Rock (5-12-1,
127, 2 TD): Logan Weinke 3-4-0, 74, 2
TD; Chris Weinke 2-8-1, 53. Heppner:
Kevin Smith 6-10-0, 69, 3 TD.
RUSHING — Pilot Rock (37-160,
TD): Devin Hasher 25-128, TD; Chris
Weinke 9-28; Anthony Matomoros 3-4.
Heppner (31-158, 2 TD): Logan Grieb
11-110, TD; Coby Daugherty 15-59, TD:
Gavin Hanna 1-11; Kevin Smith 1-(-9);
Amund Berg 1-(-2); Team 2-(-11).
RECEIVING — Pilot Rock: Chris
Weinke 3-51, TD; Cody Watson 2-23,
TD; Nychael Speaker 1-42; Devin
Hasher 1-11. Heppner; Beau Walters
4-50, 2 TD; Logan Grieb 1-15, TD: Jake
Lindsay 1-4.
UMATILLA 34, RIVERSIDE 0 — At
Boardman, the Vikings bounced back
from their only loss of the season
in a big way by earning their second
shutout for an Eastern Oregon League
win over their rival.
Trent Durfey and Kaden Webb
starred on both sides of the ball to
lead Umatilla (5-1, 1-1 EOL) to victory.
Durfey had two interceptions and also
added a 25-yard touchdown run in the
irst quarter. Webb also grabbed one
pick on defense, then ran for a pair of
touchdowns while throwing two more
on offense.
Umatilla was able to beneit from
good ield position as well, and
inished with just 290 total yards on
offense.
“It was a good bounce back from
the loss to Burns,” said Umatilla
coach Dan Durfey. “I was hoping the
kids would respond well to that and
they did.”
No statistics were reported for
Riverside (1-5, 0-2).
Next up, Umatilla will host Vale and
Riverside will host Burns, both on
Friday at 7 p.m.
UHS (5-1, 1-1) 13 8
6
7 — 34
RHS (1-5, 0-2) 0 0
0
0 — 0
Scoring plays
1st Quarter
UHS — Trent Durfey 25 run (kick
See ROUNDUP, A9
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JAMES, NEAL SHINE IN BULLDOGS WIN
James throws six
touchdown passes
in blowout
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
Friday night’s game be-
tween Hermiston and Rid-
geview turned into the An-
drew James and Dayshawn
Neal show.
At quarterback, James
tossed a career-high six
touchdown passes and
completed 16-20 passes for
255 yards and no intercep-
tions, while Neal hauled in
six catches for 156 yards
and four touchdowns. Their
performances led their
Bulldogs team to a domi-
nating 54-0 victory over the
Ridgeview Ravens at Ken-
nison Field.
“I just ran my routes and
was lucky enough to get
open,” Neal said after the
game. “Andrew was great
tonight and just got me the
ball.
“It was nice to have a
win like this.”
It was the 10th total time
this season that James and
Neal had hooked up for
touchdowns, giving Herm-
iston (3-3, 3-1 Special Dis-
trict 1) a powerful passing
game threat that could be
key down the stretch.
“I trust him a lot and
the stats are showing that,”
James said.
The Hermiston offense
as a whole put the pedal to
the loor in the game, put-
ting up more than 400 total
yards of offense and inish-
ing all but two drives with
touchdowns. The Bulldogs
also had their irst turn-
over-free game of the year.
“It felt amazing,” James
said. “You could tell after
the irst (touchdown) that
we had something good go-
ing.”
Hermiston’s defense was
just as outstanding, earning
its irst shutout of the season
and doing so in utter domi-
nance. The Bulldogs forced
three turnovers — two fum-
bles and one interception
— and held Ridgeview (1-
5, 1-3) to under 150 yards
of total offense. To add on,
Hermiston did not allow
Ridgeview to cross mid-
ield until the 2:17 mark in
the second quarter, and the
Ravens only saw the other
side of the ield two more
times the entire game.
Linebacker Damien Mc-
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jonathan Hinkle runs the ball on his way to a touchdown in the Bulldogs’ 54-0 win against Ridgeview on Friday in
Hermiston.
Leod said that the defense
spent a lot of time on the
practice ield and in the
ilm room this week, and
felt very prepared for the
run-heavy Ravens.
“They’re a running
team, all they do is run,”
McLeod said. “We have
great coaches that told us
what to do, we stacked the
box and we just bought in
and the scoreboard speaks
for itself.”
McLeod was also happy
to be on the smiling side of
the scoreboard Friday. The
senior transferred to Herm-
iston before the season after
spending the previous three
years of high school at Rid-
geview, and admitted it was
a little odd for him to start.
“I’ve played with most
of those guys before, but
never played against them,”
McLeod said. “A few of my
good buddies I’ve played
with since third grade ... it
was a little different, but it
was a lot of fun for sure.”
Hermiston made it clear
from the irst drive of the
game that it had something
to prove, inding holes
in the Ravens defense by
running and throwing. The
Bulldogs quickly advanced
down to the 10 yard line,
where James connected
with Jerry Ramirez for the
game’s irst touchdown
with 7:40 left in the irst
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jerry Ramirez (33) celebrates a touchdown with Andrew James (8) in the end
zone in the Bulldogs’ 54-0 win against Ridgeview on Friday in Hermiston.
quarter. Ramirez added a
second touchdown later in
the half and inished with
four catches in the game.
On Ridgeview’s ensu-
ing drive, the Ravens found
themselves deep in their
own territory facing a third-
and-long. That’s when
quarterback Blaine Gibbs
dropped back to pass, rolled
to his left and fumbled the
ball as he got hit. Hermis-
ton recovered the fumble at
the Ridgeview six poised
for another score.
And the Bulldogs didn’t
wait long as Jonathan Hin-
kle barreled his way into
the end zone for the six-
yard score to put Hermiston
up 14-0 with just under six
minutes to play in the irst
quarter. Hinkle inished the
game with nine carries for
41 yards and the score.
Hermiston went on to
score four more times in the
half, but none were more
impressive than the inal
score. Staring at a 2nd & 11
from his own 30, James took
the snap and dropped three
steps back before locking
on to a streaking Dayshawn
Neal running down the near
sideline. James rocked back
and threw the perfectly spi-
raling ball like a rainbow
to Neal, who fought off the
Ridgeview defensive back
at the opposite 40 yard line.
After the catch, Neal
See BULLDOGS, A9
Pirates manage to hold off Vikings
Riverside gets win
over rival Umatilla
By MATT ENTRUP
Staff Writer
Sometimes all it takes is
being in the right place at
the right time.
The Riverside Pirates
put themselves in position,
then got a couple fortunate
breaks for two empty-net
goals to beat Umatilla, 2-1,
in District 2 girls soccer on
Thursday.
The rivalry match-up
was played at a brisk pace
from the opening kick as
both teams looked to be
the aggressor, and when the
game went to intermission
still knotted in a scoreless
tie, both teams could sense
they were about to break
through.
“I told my team there’s
probably going to be a few
goals in the second half, it’s
going to happen,” Umatilla
coach Tim Lee said.
“We had to jump on it,
right now,” said Riverside
junior Skylar Wightman of
a sense of urgency felt in
the Pirate huddle. “We had
to get a goal somehow, ind
a way.”
About 10 minutes into
the second half Wightman
found a way, and got the Pi-
rates (3-3-1, 3-0-1 SD2) on
the scoreboard irst when
she was there to clean up
a loose ball in front of the
net after Karina Llamas
touched it past Umatilla
goalkeeper Maria Moreno.
Unshaken, the Vikings
(3-4-1, 2-2) continued to
attack and got the equaliz-
er about ive minutes later
when Jocelyn Guardado
controlled a long free-kick
by Mayra Ortiz near the top
of the box, beat her defend-
er to the right, then shot
back across the goal to beat
Riverside goalkeeper Abi-
gail Hernandez far corner.
It was a pretty shot that
Hernandez said she got a
good look at, “It was just
one of those goals where
you barely can’t get it.”
Riverside was quick-
ly back down in front of
Umatilla’s net with a corner
kick, which didn’t result in
a goal but did see Moreno
land awkwardly after going
airborne to turn away the
threat.
She stayed on the turf
for several minutes while
the coaching staff attended
to her before limping to the
sideline with a twisted an-
kle.
STAFF PHOTO BY MATT ENTRUP
Riverside’s Skylar Wightman (7) jukes Umatilla’s Patty Burres
(6) prior to centering the ball to teammate Brendy Avalos for
the game-winning goal in a girls soccer game on Thursday in
Boardman. Riverside won 2-1.
“She honestly just want-
ed to take a quick break and
get back in there,” Lee said.
“She’s our rock whether
she’s on the ield or in the
goal.”
But she wasn’t able to
make it back in before the
Pirates could take advan-
tage of Moreno’s freshman
backup.
At about the 65th min-
ute, Wightman penetrated
to the end line, faked out
Umatilla defender Patty
Burres and lofted the ball
to the front of the net where
Brendy Avalos stood all
alone. Avalos redirected the
ball into the empty goal for
the eventual game-winner.
“With Maria going down
for the second time with
her ankle, I think it kind
of pushed us into a little
defensive mindset and al-
lowed them to get that sec-
ond goal,” said Lee.
Moreno checked back
in after the goal, and the
Vikings were able to ad-
vance the ball deep into
Riverside’s half repeatedly
during the inal minutes,
but just couldn’t get off
a clean shot with Pirates
sweeper Faith Rosen lead-
ing the defensive stand.
Winning close games
wasn’t something the Pi-
rates were able to do last
season, but each of their
last two wins have come
by a single goal and coach
Carlos Velasco said it’s a
result of a mindset the team
established early in the
year.
“They’ve been preparing
mentally and physical a lot
better, and they’ve got in
their head what they need to
do and what they want to do,
and where they want to go,”
he said. “I believe it’s a big
mind change on their part,
and I’m happy for them.”
The win keeps River-
side atop the SD2 standings
while Umatilla dropped to
fourth with six more games
to play.
———
UHS
0
1 —
1
RHS
0
2 —
2
Goals
50’— RHS Skylar Wightman (Karina
Llamas)
55’— UHS Jocelyn Guardado (Mayra
Ortiz)
65’— RHS Brendy Avalos (Skylar
Wightman)
———
Contact Matt Entrup at
(541) 966-0838.