Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current, September 05, 2018, Page A10, Image 10

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    A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
Herald Sports
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BIG FIRST IMPRESSION
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Andrew James gets tackled by Pasco’s Oscar Rodriguez while rushing the ball in the Dawgs’ 45-0 win against the Bulldogs on Friday in Hermiston.
Hermiston
thumps Pasco
45-0 in
Mid-Columbia
Conference debut
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON
–
The Hermiston Bull-
dogs wasted no time in
announcing their pres-
ence in the Mid-Columbia
Conference.
Wyatt Noland ran for
four touchdowns and 255
yards, and Cash Camp-
bell had four quarter-
back sacks as Hermiston
pounced on Pasco 45-0 on
Friday night at Kennison
Field.
“We wanted to come
out with a bang coming
off a state championship,”
Noland said. “We wanted
to show we still had it.”
While the scoreboard
looked mighty pretty,
Hermiston (1-0) coach
David Faaeteete said there
still is much work to do.
“From a winning stand-
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Wyatt Noland dives forward while getting
tackled by Pasco’s Traeton Mitchell in the Dawgs’ 45-0 win
against the Bulldogs on Friday in Hermiston.
point, it’s good to get a
win and get off on the
right foot in the WIAA,”
he said. “We played in
spurts, not like I wanted.
But those are all things
that can be fixed.”
Noland, who took last
season off, showed no
rust in the first half, scor-
ing twice as Hermis-
ton stormed out to a 21-0
lead at the half. One of
his touchdowns was an
80-yard run right up the
middle of the field.
“I couldn’t have done it
without my line,” Noland
said. “Without them, I
would have gotten stuffed
in a hole.”
Noland added scoring
runs of 24 and 1 yards in
the second half.
“It’s good to see him
playing football again,”
Faaeteete said. “He is a
good leader physically
and emotionally.”
Hermiston quarterback
Andrew James threw for
just 27 yards, but he ran
for 91 and a 1-yard TD
before taking a seat mid-
way through the third.
“The first game, you
have to get the jitters out,”
James said. “We had no
clue about Pasco. They
have a new coach and
we hadn’t played them
before. The young guys
came out and shut the
lights out.”
Pasco, failing to move
into Hermiston territory
in the first quarter, put
together a couple of the
good drives in the second,
but could never finish.
Pasco finished with
15 yards rushing and 202
passing, but spent most of
the game on their own half
of the field.
“We are looking for-
ward to being in a new
conference,”
Camp-
bell said. “This is a little
accomplishment. We are
looking for a state cham-
pionship. We have to put
in the hard work first.”
Hermiston also got a
10-yard touchdown run
by Daniel Faaeteete, and
a 22-yard field goal and
six points after from Juan
Carlos Navarrete.
“It was a successful
group effort,” coach Faae-
teete said. “Our commu-
nity was awesome. We
will enjoy this week. The
measure of a good team
is how they improve from
week one to two.”
Champ vs. champ
On paper, it is one
defending state cham-
pion against another.
On the field, Herm-
iston and Richland are
vastly different teams
than the ones that brought
home state trophies last
year.
“The state champion-
ship game was last year,”
said Bombers coach
Mike Neidhold, whose
team won the 2017
Washington 4A state
title. “Same for Herm-
iston. That is all behind
us. We are anxious to see
what Hermiston can do.”
The Bulldogs (1-0),
who opened their first
season in the Mid-Co-
lumbia
Conference
last week with a 45-0
home win over Pasco,
will travel to Fran Rish
Stadium on Friday to
face the Bombers, who
dropped their opener to
Chiawana 19-0. Game
time is 7 p.m.
“Every team is dif-
ferent,” said Hermiston
coach David Faaeteete,
whose team won the Ore-
gon 5A state title. “When
they lost their quarter-
back (Josh Fonner) last
week, they lost their
wind. We are excited to
play Richland. They had
a lot of juniors last year
who know the system.
We have five or six guys
who played a lot for us
last year.”
Though the Bulldogs
shut out Pasco last week
and rolled up 463 yards
of offense, Faaeteete said
there still is much work
to be done.
“We played well in
spots,” he said. “They
extended drives and we
made mistakes. We have
to get a handle on those
things this week.”
Knights slay Tigers to open the season
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
S
TANFIELD — The Irrigon
Knights opened the 2018 foot-
ball season by dominating the
Stanfield Tigers in a 34-8 non-con-
ference win.
Stanfield struggled throughout
the night offensively, scoring its
first and only touchdown late in the
fourth quarter.
Irrigon was slow to start as well,
getting on the board when Payton
Smith ran the ball in for a touch-
down with 1:58 left in the first quar-
ter. Things started picking up in the
second quarter when Ruben Moreno
scored Irrigon’s second touchdown,
and Roberto Ayala caught a touch-
down pass followed by a rushing
touchdown by Jaben Boyer to give
the Knights a 28-0 halftime lead.
Much of the third quarter was
spent around the 50-yard line, with
both teams keeping each other at
bay until Irrigon’s Keith Flemming
rushed the ball to the 32-yard line.
On the next play, Smith carried
the ball to the 18 yard line before
senior running back Luis Covar-
rubia scored Irrigon’s final touch-
down of the night, making the score
34-0.
With just 1:06 left in the fourth
quarter, Stanfield’s Anthony Kee-
ney finally put his team on the score-
board with a rushing touchdown.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,”
said Stanfield head coach Davie
Salas. “We need more practicing.
Our first-year players are still learn-
ing the speed of a varsity game. We
did well in the second half – that’ll
give us confidence for next week.”
Irrigon left the game impressed
with their team’s victory – especially
considering that they were working
with an all-new coaching staff.
“The kids did really well,” said
Irrigon coach Ken Thompson. “Irri-
gon hasn’t had a ton of success in
football. We want to establish a cul-
ture of hard-working football players
here. We’re in a tough league, and
we’re taking things week-to-week,
but we’d like to make the playoffs
this year.”
Covarrubia says that his team,
filled with new players and new
coaches, is expecting even more suc-
cess during the coming season.
“Our new people are trying to fill
the spots that our old team left,” he
said. “We’re expecting big things
this year.”
Irrigon hosts Weston-McEwen
next Friday while Stanfield travels to
Central Linn.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Stanfield’s Mario Sanchez (55) and Rene Sanchez
(66) bring down Payton Smith (26), of Irrigon, during
Thursday’s game at the Horyna Athletic Complex.