B2 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
5A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2017
OUT WITH A BANG
STAFF PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jordan Ramirez celebrates as time runs out on the clock in the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win against Churchill in the 5A state championship game Saturday in Hillsboro.
Bulldogs say
goodbye to
OSAA in style
By ERIC SINGER & ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITERS
H
ILLSBORO — Four years
ago, Tyler Rohrman stood
with his fellow Hermiston
students in the south end of
the bleachers at Hillsboro
Stadium, watching the Hermiston Bulldogs
win the first state football championship in
school history.
He remembers the game well, sitting
through cold and rainy weather, and he dis-
tinctly recalls rushing the field to celebrate
with his classmates and thinking “I want
that.”
Three years later, Rohrman and his 2017
Bulldog teammates got that feeling that
they craved with a 38-35 victory over Chur-
chill on Saturday night at that same stadium
to clinch the Class 5A state championship.
“It’s indescribable,” Rohrman said on
the field, smiling and proudly wearing a
state champion medal around his neck. “I
can’t put it into words right now. It hasn’t
hit me yet and I can’t wait for when it does.”
Senior Joey Gutierrez, who was one
of the players responsible for setting up
Hermiston’s first scoring drive, shared sim-
ilar feelings.
“It doesn’t feel real,” he said, “to think
that we ended out on top, just a bunch of
guys just playing ball and end up right here,
it’s just crazy.”
And to make the championship win
even sweeter, Hermiston’s OSAA Farewell
Tour ends with the Bulldogs on top.
They have talked the talk since presea-
son about how they wanted to end their
membership in the OSAA as champi-
ons. And after a slow start to the season,
the Bulldogs backed up their talk with 10
straight wins to bring home the trophy.
“Ever since January we’ve been talking
about winning the state championship,
and it hasn’t been out of arrogance but out
of confidence for each other,” Rohrman
added. “We always talked that we were
going to get to state, we wanted to practice
on Thanksgiving and no matter what adver-
sity happened we had faith that we were
going to do what it took to get the job done
and we did it.”
That job Saturday night, however, was
a little tougher than Hermiston’s previous
post season victories.
Instead of getting off to a quick start
like the Bulldogs have in each of the past
two weeks, their run game took a while to
develop with workhorse Jonathan Hinkle in
the backfield, and the first time quarterback
Andrew James tried to get the ball out, it
fell incomplete.
But the iffy start lasted only a few min-
utes as James quickly made up for that
incompletion by connecting with Gutierrez
Hermiston quarterback Andrew James splits Churchill defenders Jax Arnold (12) and Kannon
Ruano in the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win against the Lancers in the 5A state championship game.
Hermiston’s Dayshawn Neal goes up for the
ball covered by Churchill’s Lucas Schwin in
the 5A state championship game.
Hermiston’s Jonathan Hinkle breaks free
from the grasps of Churchill’s Evan Powell
and Aidan Fox (7) Saturday in Hillsboro.
on a wheel route on third-and-8 to set up
Hermiston’s first scoring drive.
Churchill answered like a then-unde-
feated team should and scored in 10 plays
to take a 7-6 lead.
“Churchill’s a tough team,” James said.
“You have to give it to them, they didn’t
back down once. But it’s that drive, it’s that
drive we’ve had since day one, all of the
guys, every single one of them, none of
them gave up and it showed.”
The Bulldogs answered the Lancers
score with a fundamentally sound defense
that forced two four-and-outs and two inter-
ceptions, all while James led the offense in
adding 19 unanswered points to the board.
In the scoring span that gave Hermiston
its lead back, the Bulldogs ran in two touch-
downs and James connected with Neal on a
quick three-yard slant route.
The pass to Neal wasn’t the most excit-
ing of the game and certainly wasn’t the
biggest play the junior-senior duo would
come away with but it showcased some-
thing Bulldog fans have witnessed all year:
the unwavering trust between a quarterback
and his receiver.
“It’s a trust thing,” head coach David
Faaeteete said. “It’s a long time coming
for those guys. You know, last year was
Andrew’s first year at the helm and he’s try-
ing to find trust with his guys.”
The trust extends beyond the line of
scrimmage, as Faaeteete said the wide out
called the play that aided in Hermiston
re-gaining a lead it would never again relin-
quish before halftime.
“He looked at me and said, ‘we’re going
to run 92 (route) and we’ll catch this touch-
down,’” Faaeteete recalls.
The trust in Neal’s ability to finish plays
extended late into the fourth quarter during
the seven-play, 54-yard drive that ended
with the game-clinching touchdown with
2:52 left.
Prior to the scoring play, Hermiston
called timeout after seeing a mismatch
with Neal to set up a new play. Neal came
out and lined up as a tight end on the right
end of the line, broke out of his three-point
stance 10 yards up the field before breaking
off to the right where James hit the wide-
open receiver for the score.
“We saw their adjustment,” Faae-
teete said. “They were adjusting to where
Dayshawn was and we put him away
from everybody and got him matched up
with another corner, someone who hasn’t
guarded him all night. So anytime (there’s)
a one-on-one matchup that tight in the box
within four or five yards, Mr. Neal should
win.”
James ended the night 11-of-15 for 162
yards and two touchdowns, and relied
heavily on one of his favorite targets, as
Neal was good for 80 yards and two touch-
downs off five catches in his final game as
a Bulldog.
Neal’s best catch of the night came in the
first quarter, when he climbed the ladder to
snag a high throw from James on fourth-
and-14 from the Lancers 32 for a first down
conversion, which set up Hermiston’s sec-
ond touchdown.
“This is something else,” he said, “it’s
crazy, man, to go out on top. I love it.”
Hermiston’s run game was not as effec-
tive as it was in the first three rounds, but
was still effective enough. Hinkle topped
100 rushing yards yet again on Saturday,
finishing with 115 yards on 22 carries with
two scores.
He did cough up a fumble on the Bull-
dogs’ own 25 late in the third quarter with
Hermiston clinging to a 31-28 lead, making
for nervous moments among Bulldog fans.
However Hermiston’s defense picked
up its running back and forced Churchill
into a 42-yard field goal attempt, which
Trevor Groves pushed wide left, proving to
be the difference in the game.
Churchill scored its final touchdown
with 33 seconds left, but an onside kick
attempt bounced into the arms of Gutierrez
and Hermiston’s ‘hands team’, sealing the
win for Hermiston.
“That’s why they are out there, they
nicknamed that team AllState so we’re in
good hands with all-state, right?” Faaeteete
joked. “It’s one of those things we rehearse
on Thursday mornings. We rehearse those
plays, those moments, those opportunities
and that kid grabbed it on a good bounce,
covered it up and then we hit victory twice
and ended the game.”
Seventeen Bulldog seniors suited up for
the final time in purple and black uniforms,
each leaving their own mark in their own
way in a program that has made it to the
playoffs every year since joining Class 5A
in 2006.
The goal was always a state title, but
the Bulldogs also wanted to leave a last-
ing footprint on their way out of Oregon
this year before heading to compete in the
WIAA — they wanted to end with a bang.
“I think we left with a pretty big one,
yeah?,” Faaeteete said. “You know, these
guys before last week the one memory they
remember is sitting in the stands and rush-
ing the field after Chase Knutz’s group won
it and for them to end their senior career the
way that they saw fit.
“Leaving Oregon with a bang?,” Faae-
teete asked. “Bang!”
————
CHS
7 7 14
7 — 35
HHS
6 19
6
7 — 38
PASSING — (CHS) J. Blackburn 14-29, 204, 3TD, 2INT. (HHS) A.
James 11-15, 162, 2TD.
RUSHING — (CHS 38-180) D. McDaniel 23-130; T. Bennion 8-37,
1TD; L. Schwin 2-10; J. Blackburn 5-(-5). (HHS, 48-221) J. Hinkle
22-116, 3TD; A. James 17-51; K. Mikami 2-13, TD; P. Earl 3-7; D.
Neal 1-4; J. Gutierrez 1-0.
RECEIVING — (CHS) L. Schwin 7-88, TD: J. Arnold 4-41, TD; M.
Tucker 2-60, TD; D. McDaniel 1-15. (HHS) D. Neal 5-80, 2TD; J.
Gutierrez 2-36; J. Ramirez 2-33; K. Mikami 1-11; L. Walchli 1-2.
TOTAL YARDS — CHS 376; HHS 343. TURNOVERS CHS 3,
HHS 2.