A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, SEpTEMbER 11, 2019
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Pasco shocks Hermiston
Pasco rallies for a 27-20
win in MCC opener
By ANNIE FOWLER
HERMISTON HERALD
T
he minute Angel
Valencia
inter-
cepted Hermiston
quarterback Rob-
ert Sloan with 2 minutes
left to play in the game, the
Pasco Bulldogs knew the
game was theirs.
Pasco rallied from a 14-0
first quarter deficit for a
27-20 victory Friday over
Hermiston, avenging a 45-0
loss from last year.
“They came out and they
fought,” Hermiston defen-
sive back Trevor Wagner
said. “They are 10 times bet-
ter than they were last year.”
The game wasn’t without
intrigue. Hermiston quarter-
back Chase Elliot went out
in the first quarter with a
leg injury, and running back
Guiomar Garay went down
with an ankle injury.
“It’s part of football,”
Hermiston coach David
Faaeteete said. “Not every-
thing goes perfect. When
we are healthy and mov-
ing, things are great. We just
didn’t get up when we got
punched down.”
Pasco
coach
Leon
Wright-Jackson has built the
program from the bottom up
since he took over last year,
and Friday’s win is a step in
the right direction after win-
ning one game last year.
“This is nothing short
of a blessing from God,”
Wright-Jackson said. “The
guys are buying in. We are
all in. This is what you get
when you are all in.”
Leading 14-13 at the half,
Hermiston came out in the
third and went to work. Two
long pass plays to Spencer
Juul (12 yards) and Garrett
Walchli (19) put the Bull-
dogs on the Pasco 11-yard
line.
Two plays later, Daniel
Faaeteete took the ball into
the end zone for an 11-yard
touchdown. The PAT failed,
leaving Hermiston with a
20-13 lead.
Hermiston went on to
block a field goal to keep
their lead intact heading into
the fourth quarter.
That’s when Pasco came
to life.
Armani Reyes scored on
a 2-yard keeper, and the PAT
by Ivan Cortez tied the score
at 20-20 with 9:28 to play.
Pasco took the lead for
good when Reyes connected
with Tucker Philmlee for
Staff photo by ben Lonergan
Hermiston’s Daniel Faaeteete (28) runs the ball in for a touchdown. The Pasco Bulldogs defeated the Hermiston Bulldogs 27 to 20 at Edgar Brown Memorial
Stadium in Pasco, Wash.
BOX SCORE
HERMISTON 14
0 6
0 — 20
PASCO
0 13 0
14 — 27
Scoring plays
H — Garrett Walchli 6 pass from Chase
Elliot (Trevor Wagner kick)
H — Guiomar Garay 1 run (Wagner kick)
p — Alan Muniz 41 INT return (Francisco
Valle kick)
p — Desmian Licon 56 pass from Armani
Reyes (kick failed)
H — Daniel Faaeteete 11 run (kick failed)
p — Reyes 2 run (Ivan Cortez kick)
p — Tucker philmlee 11 pass from Reyes
(Valle kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
HHS – Chase Elliot 2-0; Guiomar Garay
8-24; Garett Walchli 3-7; Trevor Wagner
2-4; Daniel Faaeteete 11-35; Robert Sloan
10-37.
pHS – Armani Reyes 12-(minus-19); Sergio
Avina 14-53; Alan Muniz 3-7.
passing
HHS – Chase Elliot 6-7-1-95; Robert Sloan
14-24-3-97.
pHS – Armani Reyes 16-31-1-214.
Receiving
HHS – Garett Walchli 7-116; broc Remmer
4-2; Trent pitney 2-5; Trevor Wagner 3-29;
Daniel Faaeteete 2-(minus-2).
pHS – Alex DeLeon 2-34; Desmian Licon
7-134; Miguel Alcaraz 2-12; Eric Correa
3-18; Tucker philmlee 2-16.
Staff photo by ben Lonergan
Hermiston’s Garrett Walchli (5) is brought down by a group of Pasco defenders. The Pasco Bulldogs defeated the Hermiston
Bulldogs 27 to 20 at Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium in Pasco, Wa.
an 11-yard touchdown with
4:20 to play.
“They have athletes
everywhere,” Faaeteete said.
“They out competed us at the
end of the game.”
Reyes hit Desmian Licon
for seven receptions and
134 of his 214 yards to lead
Pasco.
“It all starts with the
O-line and the receivers,”
Reyes said. “I had a terrible
first half. I had to believe in
my receivers and line.”
Hermiston got off to a
good start, scoring on the
eighth play of its first drive.
Wagner hauled in a
20-yard pass from Elliot
to put the ball at the Pasco
10-yard line.
Two plays later, Garrett
Walchli caught a pass off his
laces for a 6-yard touchdown
reception. Wagner converted
the PAT for a 7-0 lead less
than five minutes into the
game.
“I knew I had it,” said
Walchli, who caught seven
balls for 116 yards. “You
have to come with the ball
when it is thrown to you.”
On its next series, Herm-
iston used another long pass
play — this time from Elliot
to Walchli for 56 yards. Pas-
co’s Traeton Mitchell caught
Walchli at the 4-yard line to
prevent the touchdown.
Two plays later, Garay
took the ball in from 1 yard
out, and Wagner made good
on the PAT for a 14-0 lead
that would stand at the end
of the first quarter.
Elliot went down with
1:50 to play in the first quar-
ter and did not return. Pasco
went on to score 13 unan-
swered points before the
half.
Sloan struggled in his first
two series. On the second,
he was picked off by Pasco’s
Alan Muniz, who returned
the ball 41 yards for a touch-
down and a 14-7 game. Pasco
tacked on one more score
before the half as Reyes hit
Licon with a 56-yard touch-
down pass with 1:01 left on
the clock. A penalty negated
the PAT, leaving Hermiston
with a 14-13 advantage.
Dawgs looking to get back on track against Bombers
Hermiston having to
replace QB Elliot, who
suffered a broken leg last
week
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
H
ermiston coach
David
Faae-
teete was sport-
ing a football hel-
met at the start of Tuesday’s
practice.
It was suggested he don
some pads and lineup on
defense.
“They don’t want no part
of this,” the former Univer-
sity of Oregon defensive
lineman said.
The Bulldogs (0-1) could
use a boost in a few areas
come Friday night when they
host the Richland Bomb-
ers in a Mid-Columbia Con-
ference game at Kennison
Field.
Hermiston lost sopho-
more starting quarterback
Chase Elliot for the rest of
the season with a broken
leg, suffered in the first quar-
ter last Friday against Pasco.
Running back Guiomar
Garay also went down with
an ankle injury. He is listed
day to day.
“We didn’t finish the
game,” Faaeteete said of
the 27-20 loss. “We didn’t
respond when the guys went
down. They panicked and
didn’t recover. Our ability to
compete has to improve.”
Junior Robert Sloan
replaced Elliot at quarter-
back, throwing for 95 yards,
but was picked off three
times, including late in the
game that sealed the win for
Pasco.
Hermiston is looking at
Sloan, junior Sam Schwirse
and senior Nathan Wheeler
this week, but no decisions
have been made.
“We will have to see how
the next couple of days go,”
Faaeteete said.
The Bulldogs are facing a
Richland squad that suffered
a 38-7 home loss to Chi-
awana on opening night.
“For Hermiston it was
one game. For us it was one
game,” Bombers coach Mike
Neidhold said. “You have a
long season. I don’t put too
much stock in their loss.”
Staff photo by ben Lonergan
Hermiston Head Coach David Faaeteete speaks with his players during the first half. The Pasco
Bulldogs defeated the Hermiston Bulldogs 27-20 at Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium in Pasco,
Wa.
Richand managed just
123 yards of offense against
the Riverhawks, and never
got its run game going (neg-
ative 10 yards). Defensively,
the Bombers allowed 312
yards.
“I’m an old offensive line
coach,” Neidhold said. “I’m
more than disappointed in
how our offensive line per-
formed. We have to be bet-
ter. Two, our wide receivers
have to step up and catch the
football. Too many passes
dropped. Three, our defense
played way too long. We
need to get first downs and
sustain drives. We didn’t
help out our defense at all.”
Faaeteete said they have
seen some film of Richland,
but it’s hard to get a feel for
the Bombers.
“It’s hard to judge their
team,” he said. “They were
down the whole time. I do
know they have size, athletic
ability and depth.”
It will be Richland’s first
trip to Kennison Field, and
Neidhold is excited for his
players and their fans to
experience the quality of the
venue.
“They have a great facil-
ity,” Neidhold said. “We are
lucky to get to play them on
the road. It will be nice for
our levy people to see what
you get for your money.
Richland prides itself in hav-
ing the best of everything,
but we don’t when it comes
to this.”