WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2016
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Tigers hold off Santiam in quarterfinals
Stanfield’s win
propels them to
semifinal match
against Kennedy
By MATT ENTRUP
Staff Writer
No team in Class 2A foot-
ball has found the end zone as
often as the No. 2 Stanfield
Tigers this season, and No. 10
Santiam wasn’t about to try
and match them in a shootout
when the teams met in the
state quarterfinals on Fri-
day night at Horyna Athletic
Complex.
The game started under
a thick fog that turned the
opposite sidelines into a me-
nagerie of ghostly figures.
For most of the first half Stan-
field’s offense was nowhere
to be seen as Santiam domi-
nated time of possession. But
the Wolverines were never
able to break an opportunistic
Tigers defense that came up
with five sacks and a pair of
turnovers, and Stanfield made
the most of its limited chanc-
es on offense for a 13-0 win.
Dylan Grogan and Maki-
ah Blankenship scored rush-
ing touchdowns, and Thyler
Monkus and Brody Woods
forced turnovers to help Stan-
field reach the state semifinals
for the second straight season.
“Santiam came to play to-
day and we had to respond.
Sometimes you get punched
in the mouth and you’ve got
to get back up and keep fight-
ing. My guys kept fighting,”
Stanfield coach Davie Salas
said. “Hats off to (Santiam).
They played a great game,
had a great game plan. If I
was coaching against the
Stanfield Tigers, I’d eat the
clock myself.”
The Tigers (10-1) had
just two possessions in the
first half, and their first was
a three-and-out. When Salas
called a timeout with 7:18
left in the second quarter after
Santiam drove the ball into
the red zone, the Wolverines
held a full 15-minute advan-
tage on the clock.
Out of the timeout, San-
tiam quarterback Riley Nicot
completed a pair of short
passes to move the ball to
the Stanfield 5-yard line, but
one of the Wolverines’ sev-
eral false starts immediately
backed them up to the 10.
Stanfield’s defense made
the first of its game-chang-
ing plays and jarred the ball
from Santiam’s runner as he
plunged into the line. Monkus
jumped on the fumble to give
the Tigers possession at their
own 5-yard line with a few
ticks past 5 minutes left in the
half.
“In that first timeout we
just talked about getting our
heads together. We didn’t ex-
pect (Santiam) to come out
and play as hard as they did,”
Grogan said. “When they’re
that close you want to get the
ball back and change the mo-
mentum of the game, it was
pretty big.”
A personal foul on San-
tiam helped jump-start the Ti-
gers’ drive, and a 17-yard run
up the gut by Blankenship got
them out near midfield. Fac-
ing 3rd-and-11, the Tigers
lined up in a run formation
and fooled the Wolverines
with a screen to Monkus in
the middle of the field that
picked up the first down and
took the ball into Wolverines
territory for the first time with
2:21 left in the half.
The Tigers were soon
looking at 3rd-and-long again
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Stanfield’s Justin Keeney breaks the tackle from Santiam’s Colton Craigmyle in the Tigers’
13-0 win against the Wolverines on Friday in Stanfield.
on Santiam’s 45, but dialed
up the perfect play to catch
the Wolverines cheating up to
stop the run. Grogan froze the
secondary with a fake hand-
off, then looked up to see
a wide-open Justin Shelby
waving his arm as he streaked
up the middle past the last line
of defense.
The pass came in just at
the edge of Shelby’s reach,
and he was able to secure the
ball just as a Santiam defend-
er dragged him down from
behind at the two-yard line
with 33 seconds left in the
half.
“We’d seen that on film,
seen that in their mistakes, so
we knew that was going to be
a pretty good play,” said Gro-
gan, who finished 5-of-11 for
89 yards and ran the ball 10
times for 61 yards. “I knew
where I was going to look
with my first read, and I saw
him open.”
“I seen the safety and he
was bout 10 yards under me
so I was just throwing my
hand up and hoping (Grogan)
would see me,” said Shelby.
“I was thinking, ‘You drop
this ball you’re fired.’”
A holding penalty on first
down pushed the Tigers back
to the 10, but they were back
on the shadow of the goal line
with two seconds to go after a
seven-yard quarterback draw
on third down. Needing just
two more yards to put his
team on top, Grogan called
his own number again. He
stretched over the line and
held onto the ball despite tak-
ing a hard hit that opened a
gash on the back of his right
hand.
“We had two seconds left,
I knew I had to put it in, it was
fourth down,” Grogan said.
“All in right there, so once I
got stood up I reached over
with my long arms.”
Enoel Angel kicked the
extra point to give the Tigers a
7-0 lead at halftime, and they
would have the ball coming
out of the break.
“I felt like we were in con-
trol,” Grogan said. “I knew
our defense would stand up
and I felt like the guys were
into it after that.”
Stanfield, which averaged
41.7 points a game coming
into Friday, had struggled to
get its running game going in
the first half against a physical
Wolverines front, totaling 56
yards on nine carries.
“Once we got everyone
into the locker room, our line
talked about their jobs, what
they needed to do, came out
in the second half and was
successful,” said Monkus,
who had a game-high 103
yards on 14 carries. “Our line
did a great job the second
half, a lot more room to run.”
The Tigers came out and
ran the ball 11 times for 56
yards on their first drive,
which Blankenship capped
with a two-yard plunge to
make it 13-0 with 6:58 left in
the third quarter.
The extra point sailed
wide, but the Tigers made
sure they wouldn’t need it
with a stifling defensive effort
that held the Wolverines to 71
yards in the second half and
190 for the game.
In their last four games
the Tigers have allowed just
26 total points and picked up
their second shutout in that
span.
“We’ve been harping on
defense, you know, defense
wins you championships,”
Salas said.
A major difference for the
Tigers in the second half was
in the passing game, where
Santiam’s Nicot went 3-of-
8 with an interception after
passing at will in the first half.
He finished 10-of-16 for 131
yards.
Brody Woods had a pair
of breakups and intercepted a
pass in the end zone with 3:12
left in the game to end San-
tiam’s final drive.
The Tigers would hold the
ball the rest of the way and
finished out in victory forma-
tion. Stanfield finished with
300 yards on offense and car-
ried the ball 33 times for 211
yards.
The Tigers’ semifinal op-
ponent will be No. 3 Kennedy
at 5 p.m. Saturday at Liberty
High School in Hillsboro.
———
SAN
0 0
0
0 — 0
SHS
0 7
6
0 — 13
Scoring plays
2nd Quarter
:02 — SHS Dylan Grogan 2 run (Enoel Angel
kick), 7-0
3rd Quarter
6:54 — SHS Makiah Blankenship 2 run (kick
missed), 13-0
Statistics
PASSING — Santiam: Riley Nicot 10-16-1,
131. Stanfield: Dylan Grogan 5-11-0, 89.
RUSHING — Santiam (37-59). Stanfield
(33-211, 2 TD): Thyler Monkus 14-103; Dylan
Grogan 10-61, TD; Makiah Blankenship 7-34,
TD; Justin Keeney 2-13.
RECEIVING — Stanfield: Justin Shelby 1-43,
Brody Woods 3-34, Thyler Monkus 1-12.
Mustangs stampede past Prospectors
Heppner back in
2A semifinals for
fourth straight year
By ERIC SINGER
SCOREBOARD
Local Slate
PREP FOOTBALL
Saturday
#4 Heppner vs #1 Regis (2A semifinals, at Liberty HS, Hillsboro), Noon
#2 Stanfield vs #3 Kennedy (2A semifinals, at Liberty HS, Hillsboro), 5 p.m.
Prep Scores
Staff Writer
On Saturday afternoon,
Heppner’s six seniors —
Jake Lindsay, Logan Grieb,
Kolby Currin, Tim Jaca,
Kevin Murray, and Trevin
Horne — stepped onto the
grass of Les Payne Field on
for one final home football
game.
Les Payne Field has been
a place of great success for
the Mustangs over the course
of the seniors’ four-year high
school career, with Heppner
winning 25 of 26 games in
that span. But this game held
more meaning than a typical
home game — a win over
Grant Union on Saturday
would send the Mustangs to
the state semifinals.
The senior six did their
parts to leave a lasting im-
pression on the Mustang fans
once the game was played,
leading the No. 4 Mustangs
to a 46-0 victory over No. 5
Grant Union, punching the
ticket to the semifinals for
the fourth straight season.
“It’s awesome, really
awesome,” Grieb said of the
victory. “I never thought it
(home finale) would come
this fast but it did and it’s a
heck of a way to go out.”
Fellow senior Kevin
Murray recognized the home
crowd for supporting the
team.
“We’re playing in the best
town with the best fans and
atmosphere you could ask
for and we played as hard
as we could to get the best
memory here,” Murray said.
With a steady wind blow-
ing for most of the game Sat-
urday, Heppner (8-2) did not
venture into the pass section
of the offensive playbook
except for one play — an
incomplete pass in the first
quarter. The Mustangs didn’t
need the passing game to be
effective, running the ball
IMMEDIATE
CASH FOR
GOLD & SILVER!
FOOTBALL
Class 2A Quarterfinal
Stanfield 13, Santiam 0
Heppner 46, Grant Union 0
4 BIG DAYS! • Nov. 16th-19th • 9am-5pm
See Ray Fields at Conference Room #3
43 times for 380 yards and
seven touchdowns scored by
four different players.
“Coach Grant gave us a
great game plan and we fo-
cused on the fundamentals a
lot because that’s what wins
games in the playoffs,” Grieb
said. “
Grieb led the way with
three of those touchdowns
from his running back spot
— all scored in the first half
— and finished with 145
yards on 18 carries. Junior
running back Coby Dough-
erty had a solid game with
103 yards on 16 carries and
two scores.
“It’s the greatest thing
ever to block for those guys,”
Jaca said, “and when you
feel their hand on your back
to follow, you just know
you’re doing the right thing
and when you pick your guy
and see them going for six,
it’s amazing.”
The offense did not start
the game as dominant, as the
Mustang’s first drive resulted
in one first down before they
were forced to punt. But on
the next drive, Heppner was
able to get the ball moving
and Dougherty finished the
possession with a 9-yard run
up the gut into the end zone
to put Heppner in front, 8-0,
with just more than one min-
ute left in the first quarter.
Grant Union’s offense
started to show some life ear-
ly in the second quarter and
were finally able to move the
ball into Heppner territory.
But on a 4th-and-6 from the
Mustangs 35, Grant Union
quarterback Wade Reimer’s
attempted screen pass was
intercepted by a leaping Tim
Jaca, who used every bit of
his 5-8 frame to make the
snag, and then returned the
ball all the way to the Pros-
pectors 27.
“I got let off easy and im-
mediately clicked in my head
to read a screen and watched
the QB’s eyes and then just
jumped,” Jaca said. “I wasn’t
sure if I could reach that one.
I don’t get those very often so
it was an awesome feeling.”
The turnover set up a
1-yard touchdown by Grieb,
which put Heppner up 28-0
at halftime.
Heppner’s defense didn’t
have its sharpest perfor-
mance overall Saturday, but
did enough to earn the team’s
first shutout of the season.
The Mustangs forced a total
of three turnovers — two in-
terceptions and one lost fum-
ble — and held Grant Union
to just 165 total offensive
yards.
The Mustangs will now
hit the road for the first time
in the playoffs this week
when they take on the No.
1 seed Regis Ramson Sat-
urday, Nov. 19, at Liberty
High School in Hillsboro.
The Mustangs and Rams met
in the semifinals last year as
well, when the then-No. 2
seed Mustangs beat the No.
3 seed Rams, 26-3.
Kick-off is set for noon.
———
GUHS
0 0
0
0 — 0
HHS
16 12 12
6 — 46
Statistics
PASSING — GUHS (6-16-2, 76) W.
Reimers 3-10-2, 37; Z. Deiter 3-6, 39. HHS:
K. Smith 0-1.
RUSHING — GUHS (42-90) C. Weaver
12-16; W. Reimers 11-25; Z. Deiter 9-47; D.
Stokes 5-10; E. Carniglia 1-1; Team 4-(-9).
HHS (43-380, 7 TD) L. Grieb 18-145, 3 TD;
C. Dougherty 16-103, 2 TD; B. Wolters 4-62,
TD; G. Hanna-Robinson 2-53, TD; K. Smith
2-7; J. Lindsay 1-10.
RECEIVING — GUHS (6-76). W. Reimers
3-39; D. Stokes 1-15; E. Carniglia 1-14; K.
Shelley 1-8.
FIRST DOWNS — GUHS: 9. HHS: 15.
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