WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
SPORTS
Bulldogs pull away Hermiston looking to continue
after halftime
their dominance over Pendleton
Hermiston boys
soccer outlasts
defensive Bucks
By MATT ENTRUP
Staff Writer
Facing a determined
Pendleton defense, the
Hermiston
Bulldogs
proved they were the
team with lasting power
in Monday’s Columbia
River Conference finale
between the cross-coun-
ty rivals, and scored six
goals in the second half to
pull away for an 8-0 win
in Pendleton.
After surrendering 12
goals its last time facing
its rival, Pendleton (1-
11-2, 0-6 CRC) came out
looking to minimize the
damage this time around
and dropped nine or 10
white jerseys back on
defense for most of the
game.
“We knew that we had
to play more defensively
and we had to be smart,”
said Pendleton coach Jer-
emy Talbot. “As much
as we possibly could we
wanted to defend.”
The strategy was pro-
ducing the desired result
for the most part, and
Hermiston (10-3-1, 4-2)
led just 2-0 after one half
of play. A goal by Isaac
Munoz in the ninth minute
and one just before half-
time by Noe Silva weren’t
nearly enough to make the
playoff-bound Bulldogs
content with themselves.
“(Pendleton) just kind
of sat in and defended and
we had a hard time break-
ing them down,” said
Hermiston coach Rich
Harshberger.
The Bulldogs were
quickly back in front of
Pendleton’s net once the
second half started, but
Bucks’ goalkeeper An-
Bulldogs have won
four straight in
rivalry series
drew Wolotira made save
after save to turn them
away. Hermiston had
eight corner kicks in the
first 10 minutes, but didn’t
break through until Mu-
noz scored his second goal
of the game on a give-and-
go at the top of the box in
the 63rd minute.
That was where the
floodgates opened as
Joel Mendez scored from
about 10 yards out in the
64th minute, then Mark
Mejia bicycled in a loose
ball on the back side of the
goal in the 65th minute.
Noe Silva, Emilio Leal
and Freddy Rodriguez
also added goals.
“We just really have to
continue to just develop
our mental toughness,”
Talbot said. “It was great
for about 50 minutes, but
we just have to get over
that mental hump … giv-
ing the same effort no
matter what the score is.”
The loss ended the sea-
son for the Bucks. Over-
all youth and a few key
injuries put a damper on
Talbot’s second season as
head coach, but he said the
team took some important
steps forward despite win-
ning just one game.
“This season I feel like
just having them buy into
more complicated defen-
sive principles, that was
something that was great,”
he said. “We had a lot of
injuries, so something
that I really enjoyed about
this year was we had guys
from the JV team come
up and contribute, and
although they were incon-
sistent at times, they defi-
nitely progressed.
“We’ll be young and
inexperienced next year
but they’ve played in
some tough games here
at the end of the season so
we’d like to build off of
that so we can be compet-
itive next season.”
games combined.
However,
Hermiston
was unable to keep that
success going last week
when the Dawgs racked up
five turnovers that contrib-
uted to a 26-14 defeat at the
hands of the Redmond Pan-
thers. Hermiston’s offense
will need to fix that issue
to beat Pendleton, which
forced a pair of fumbles last
week against Bend.
PLAYOFF
STAND-
ING AT STAKE: With the
Bulldogs loss to Redmond
last week, Hermiston fell to
the fourth-and-final playoff
spot in Special District 1.
Hermiston will make the
playoffs, but the team needs
to win over Pendleton as
well as a loss or two from
either Bend or Redmond
ahead of them in order to
earn the chance to host a
first-round playoff game at
Kennison Field.
Redmond travels to Rid-
geview and Bend will host
Mountain View this week.
———
Contact Eric at (541)
966-0839. Follow him on
Twitter @ByEricSinger.
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
When Hermiston and
Pendleton hit the practice
fields for the first time on
August, there was much ex-
citement surrounding both
teams as three months and
nine games stood in front of
them and a postseason trip.
But since that day, the
Bulldogs and Buckaroos
season trajectories have
gone in different directions.
After a sluggish non-
league performance, Herm-
iston (4-4, 4-2 SD1) has
won four of its six games
so far in Special District
1 play and secured a post-
season spot for the sixth
straight season.
Pendleton (3-5, 2-4) has
been up-and-down all sea-
son and dealing with nu-
merous injuries. The Bucks
are on the outside looking
in on the postseason for the
second straight year.
But both teams’ prior
eight games go out the win-
dow on Friday night, when
they play under the lights at
Kennison Field for the 89th
all-time meeting.
Last week, Hermiston
lost 26-14 on the road at
Redmond, while Pendleton
fell 22-7 on a muddy field
at the Round-Up Arena.
Scouting Pendleton
Offensively, the Bucka-
roos try to stay as balanced
as possible, but at times
they have to lean on the
pass game as the offensive
line has been inconsistent
at times.
Quarterback Nick Bow-
er has thrown for 1,592
yards and 12 touchdowns,
but has completed just over
48 percent of his passes
(112-231). He is coming off
of his worst performance
of the season, completing
5-21 passes for 37 yards
and an interception.
Pendleton will be with-
out its top two wide receiv-
ers, junior Shaw Jerome
and sophomore Cam Sand-
ford, as both suffered sea-
son-ending injuries in Week
7 against Hood River. The
Bucks will have a strong
backfield, though as De-
ven Page and Gabe Walker,
both seniors, will be hungry
to leave a mark in their final
game. Page leads the team
with 382 rushing yards and
five touchdowns, while
Page will be playing in just
his second game this season
after missing the first seven
games due to a preseason
knee injury.
On defense, the Bucka-
roos have been susceptible
to the run game all season
long and have struggled to
contain it, allowing an aver-
age of more than 250 yards
over the past four games.
Other storylines for Fri-
day’s game:
CAN
BULLDOGS
KEEP STREAKING?:
Pendleton holds the advan-
tage in the all-time series
between the schools, 76-13,
but the Bulldogs have been
the dominant team over the
past five years.
Hermiston is 4-1 against
Pendleton since 2011, and
has won four straight in
the series by an average
margin of 47-17. Pendle-
ton’s last win came in
2011 when the Bucks took
down the Bulldogs 26-12 at
Round-Up Arena.
The Bulldogs won last
year 49-14, which clinched
the Columbia River Con-
ference title.
FIGHT OFF THE
TURNOVER
BUG:
When Hermiston recently
won three straight games
against Hood River, Rid-
geview, and Bend, a big
key for offensive success
was the drastic decrease
in turnovers. The Bull-
dogs went from averaging
roughly two turnovers per
game to totaling just two
turnovers in those three
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Hermiston Herald
Despite a disastrous first
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dogs were in position to
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After turning the ball
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ran 12 times for 76 yards.
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