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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2017)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Mustangs stampede past the TigerScots Heppner earns first league victory By ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER The Heppner Mustangs began the season with an uncharacteris- tic 0-3 start, as a tough preseason schedule had the team searching for success. The Mustangs appear to be headed on the right track now with two consecutive victories now after thumping Weston-McEwen on its home field 52-12 on Friday night in the Columbia Basin Conference opener for both teams. Heppner (2-3, 1-0 CBC) dominated the game on the stat sheet, out-gaining Weston-McEwen (1-3, 0-1) 315- 154 and winning the field position battle all game long. “Obviously the win is great, but we all really came together as a team tonight and it felt good,” Heppner senior Beau Wolters said. “All of those little things you do in practice, it comes together with the whole team like tonight ... We’ve always had a rivalry with Weston-McEwen but we just came together and got a good team win tonight.” Wolters stole the show for Heppner’s offense, as he fought through tackles and showed off his speed on numerous occasions and rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries and also added one touchdown catch. Se- nior running back Coby Dougherty also got plenty of action out of the backfield, rushing for 72 yards on 10 carries with another three touch- downs for the Mustangs. “I want to give a shoutout to my lineman,” Wolters said. “They’ve really been stepping up this week and worked on a lot of things in practice and stepped up this game. The one things I’ve really come to appreciate playing here is a good offensive line and they’ve really improved from that first game get- ting beat by St. Paul.” Heppner scored the first points of the game in the first quarter when it capped off a 8-play, 61- yard drive when Coby Dougherty took a handoff on 4th-and-4 and ran it 14 yards into the end zone. A good two-point conversion made it an 8-0 lead for Heppner early in the first. But Weston-McEwen answered Heppner’s drive with one of its own, and found the end zone on an inside handoff to Kelen McGill who broke a tackle and bounced outside for a 14-yard touchdown, but a failed two-point conversion kept Heppner in front 8-6. After that, it was all Mustangs. Wolters took over on the next drive, breaking off a 41-yard rush that took Heppner into the red zone and then finishing off the drive with STAFF PHOTOS BY E. J. HARRIS Hermiston quarterback Andrew James rushes the ball for a touchdown chased by Hood River’s Matthew Tichenor in the Bulldogs’ 40-14 win against Hood River on Friday in Hermiston. Bulldogs overpower Hood River at home Hermiston defends turf with 40-14 victory By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ STAFF WRITER he Hermiston Bulldogs handily defeated the Hood River Eagles, 40-14, Friday night at Kennison Field. The game started under cotton candy skies as the sun set, and it seemed as soon as it got dark the Dawgs were unleashed. “As the game progressed and our guys got comfortable we started picking up some things and started playing,” head coach David Faaeteete said. Hermiston scored 34 of its 40 points in the second quarter, and pounded the ground for 220 total rushing yards. Senior run- ning back Jonathan Hinkle led the charge with 61 yards on eight carries and added a touchdown to increase the Bulldogs’ lead late in the first half. However, it was junior quarter- back Andrew James who was the first to find the end zone. After a lackluster first quarter where both teams went three-and-out on their first drives, Hermiston worked its way into Hood River territory to start the second quarter on the Eagles’ 11-yard line with a fresh set of downs. James on the quar- terback keep ran the ball in for 11-yards and got the first seven points on the board. T Hermiston’s Keaton Mikami runs the ball as Hood River’s Matthew Tichenor wraps him up in the Bulldogs’ 40-14 win against the Eagles on Friday in Hermiston. See HEPPNER, A11 In a unique turn of events that the Bulldogs (3-2 overall, 2-1 Special District 1) can thank Mother Nature for, they recov- ered an accidental on-side kick — which was caused by heavy winds — and James took the field again, and again found the end zone. He first connected with senior wide receiver Dayshawn Neal for 21 yards, and then carried for a lone yard and his second and final rushing touchdown of the night. A little more than five minutes later, still in the second quarter, Hinkle rushed 19 yards to push the score to 20-0 in favor of the Bulldogs. The Eagles (2-2, 1-2) strug- gled in the first half and desper- ately needed something to click. But nothing did. Hood River an- swered the Bulldogs’ third touch- down by giving Hermiston the ball right back after an unsuccess- ful try on fourth down. Although the run game was the focus of the night, James did make some exceptionally good passes. The 66-yarder to senior wide receiver Tyler Rohrman for a touchdown highlighted his performance. James finished 10- of-11 passing on the night, rack- ing up 200 yards and two touch- downs. The second came minutes after his connection to Rohrman. With less than 30 seconds until halftime, James found Neal for 42 yards to push Hermiston’s lead to 34-0 at the break. See HERMISTON, A11 Echo falls to Wallowa in battle of Cougars By PAUL WAHL EO MEDIA GROUP In a game whose final score was more reminiscent of the basketball game, Wallowa High School’s foot- ball team defeated Echo Friday night in Wallowa. Coach Matt Brockamp said he wasn’t certain the 88-68 outcome was a record for Wallowa, but it was the highest-scoring game he had ever coached. Wallowa opened the night with four touchdowns in the first quarter and three in the second. Echo answered with one touchdown in the first quarter and fired back with a vengeance scoring four in the second quarter for a 52-32 tally at halftime. The blazing scoring pace slowed a bit in the second half. Wallowa and Echo had two touchdowns apiece in the third quarter and Wallowa added three in the final stanza to Echo’s two. Echo had two big runs during the game, a 65-yard kickoff return in the second and a 64-yard run for a touch- down near the end of the game. Coach Brockamp said his team had a few things to fix defensively partic- ularly in the second half. The Wallowa trio of running backs Austin Brockamp and Patrick Ritthal- er and quarterback Gus Ramsden. Brockamp led the team with 226 yards rushing, followed by Rams- den with 186 and Ritthaler with 156. Ramsden also completed two of three passes for an additional 43 yards. Gus connected with his brother Zeb Ramsden for 28 of those yards. Ethan Burns led a well-rounded defensive attack for Wallowa with nine tackles, Sam Hilliard and Joe Robb added eight apiece, Brockamp six, Gus Ramsden 5, Ritthaler four, Quinten Tillery three and Cameron Salmon two. Ritthaler was also credited with a pass interception. Coach Brockamp said Pine Ea- gle has been struggling this year and added Wallowa would wage a physi- cal battle as has been the custom this season. Wallowa is 4-1 for the season and Echo is 3-2. Next the Echo Cougars will face Powder Valley at home at 7 p.m. Friday. PHOTO BY PAUL WAHL/EO MEDIA GROUP Echo senior Zack Gehrke pursues Wallowa quarterback Gus Ramsden running a quarterback keeper during the early going of Friday’s game against Echo in Wallowa.
