WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016
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Tigers fall to Regis in title game
Stanfield finishes as
Class 2A runner-up
By ERIC SINGER
Staff Writer
The Stanfield Tigers
walked onto the turf of Ken-
nison Field on Saturday
night determined to bring
home the town’s first foot-
ball state championship in
nearly six decades.
Instead, the 59-year
drought will continue for at
least one more year.
The No. 2 Tigers were
pushed around by the No. 1
Regis Rams in all four quar-
ters and it was the Rams that
ended a title drought, win-
ning the 2A championship,
53-14, over Stanfield. It is
Regis’ sixth state champion-
ship and the first since 1987.
“Regis just outplayed us
and their effort was better
than ours,” Stanfield coach
Davie Salas said follow-
ing the game. “We were in
a position to make some
plays early on but I think
they (Regis) just wanted this
game more than we did.
“When you’re dealing
with kids sometimes the
moment can get too big and
I think tonight it might have
gotten too big for us.”
Stanfield (11-2) was done
in by numerous mental mis-
takes in the game, turning
the ball over five times —
two fumbles and three inter-
ceptions — as well as seven
penalties for 68 yards.
“In a state championship
game you just can’t afford to
have miscues,” Salas said,
“and tonight we just had too
many against a great team.”
The field position battle
played a big part of Regis’
fast start on Saturday. The
Rams average starting spot
was in Stanfield territory
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Stanfield’s Thyler Monkus looks to make a move off the block
of Regis’ Brandon Piete from Justin Keeley in the Tigers’ 53-
14 loss to the Rams in the state 2A state championship game
Saturday in Hermiston.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Stanfield’s Thyler Monkus (21) takes the handoff from quarterback Dylan Grogan as Makiah
Blankenship runs a fake in the Tigers’ 53-14 loss to Regis on Saturday in Hermiston.
Winter sports
Look or our annual winter sports preview section in the Wednesday, Dec. 7, editions of the Hermiston Herald and East Oregonian.
while the Tigers average
spot was its own 23.
“You can’t give a good
team a short field,” Salas
said. “When they only have
to go 40-50 yards to score a
touchdown it makes it easi-
er and (Regis) took advan-
tage.”
Quarterback Dylan Gro-
gan led Stanfield’s offense
with 107 passing yards on
7-19 passing with three in-
terceptions. He also added
47 rushing yards on 15 car-
ries with two touchdowns.
Grogan scored Stan-
field’s first touchdown of
the game with less than 10
seconds left in the first half,
running a perfectly-called
quarterback draw 36 yards
up the middle and into the
end zone. The score capped
a 73 yard drive, which Stan-
field covered in just four
plays and 31 seconds to cut
the deficit to 27-7.
“It was a designed call,”
Salas said of the touchdown
run. “Regis opened the field
a bit and we saw it and just
went for it. It was a momen-
tum shift for us, we felt good
at the time but just made too
many mistakes and when
you’re trying to get momen-
tum back you can’t shoot
yourself in the foot and we
did that.”
Regis (11-2) had its way
with Stanfield’s defense,
averaging nearly seven
yards per-play and gaining
343 total yards in the game.
Quarterback Brandon Piete
completed eight passes in
the game and five of them
ended in touchdowns — all
to receiver Eric Gustin, who
caught seven passes for 136
yards and five scores.
Regis coach Kyle Mc-
Grath said that he did not
envision his team winning
in the manner that they did
on Saturday to win the title.
“Last week we had 37
rushing yards and relied on
two big special team plays
to help us through,” he said.
“We were biting our nails
and hoping we could score
on offense coming in. We
knew our defense was good
we just needed to score
points on offense and oh
man did those kids put up
points in a hurry.”
The game was also a far
cry from the 20-14 one that
played out between the two
teams in September, though
McGrath said he was very
confident that his Rams
squad was going to get its
revenge for the title.
“In the film session on
Thursday, Dec. 1st
Starting at 9am
Visit the Hermiston
Winter Festival Tree
Lighting from 5:30-8pm
Monday we thought that
they (Stanfield) didn’t get
better,” he said. “They didn’t
get any worse, but they were
stagnant the rest of the year.
I thought we played really
bad the first time but we’ve
gotten a whole lot better
over the year and I think that
was the big difference.
“I didn’t see anything
new from them and we just
played a whole lot better.”
Many tears were shed by
Tiger coaches and players in
the postgame huddle, under-
standably disappointed in
the result. But Salas told his
team that a second place tro-
phy is nothing to hang their
heads for.
“It’s special, regardless,”
he said. “Win or lose, what
we did this year hasn’t been
done in 58 years in Stan-
field. I told my kids before
the game that if you would
have told me a few years
ago that I’d be coaching
Stanfield in the state cham-
pionship I would’ve said
you were crazy.
“I grew up around here,
went to Umatilla, and I saw
Stanfield teams struggle
over the years and what we
did was special.”
Seniors say goodbye
The loss ends the football
careers for the 12 Stanfield
seniors who compiled a
30-14 career record and a
5-3 mark in the postseason.
Salas emphasized following
the game that those seniors
are one of the best groups of
kids he’s ever been around.
“This group of seniors
I love them to death and
I’m going to miss them,”
he said. “I told them next
summer when I open the
weight room and they’re
not there, it’s going to be
an odd feeling. We went
through a lot together and
I’m not sure if I’ll ever
have a bond with a team
like this again, not because
I won’t care about my
teams but because of what
we went through ... we’re
bonded for life now.”
————
SHS
0 7
0
7 — 14
RHS
14 13 20
7 — 53
Statistics
PASSING — SHS: D. Grogan 7-19-3, 107.
RHS (9-16, 173, 6 TD) Bry. Piete 8-15, 139,
5 TD; A. Wiltsey 1-1, 34, TD.
RUSHING — SHS (32-116, 2 TD) D.
Grogan 15-47, 2 TD; T. Monkus 9-52; M.
Blankenship 3-6; J. Keeney 3-2; A. Renner
2-9. RHS (34-170, 2 TD) Bra. Piete 19-117,
2 TD; A. Pelayo 5-27; E. Gustin 2-17; A.
Wiltsey 1-23.
RECEIVING — SHS: B. Woods 5-75; T.
Monkus 1-31; A. Renner 1-0. RHS — E.
Gustin 7-136, 5 TD; B. Woodcock 1-34, TD;
C. Gescher 1-3.
PENALTIES — SHS: 7-68. RHS: 4-30.