A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017
Herald Sports
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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.