THE GORGE — Hood River Middle School (HRMS) served as the site for the unofficial Gorge-wide middle school football championship on Oct. 9. On one of the final weeks of the season, the HRMS Panthers hosted the Henkle Middle School Grizzlies. Both teams entered the contest undefeated, but it was Henkle who returned home with its perfect record intact, with a 20-6 win.
The Panthers (4-1 overall record) are coached by third-year coach Jesse Miles and assistants John Ritchie and Tim Saur. Miles said his team had to overcome adversity in nearly every game this season.
“Our season has been marked by really tough, hard-fought battles,” he said. His team’s match-ups with The Dalles and Wy’east were its closest games — both Panther victories.
HRMS defeated The Dalles, 14-12, but not before a dramatic finish against Corbett in the first game of the season. Miles described his team breaking a zero-zero stalemate in the final minutes to pull out a win.
“It was 0-0 all game. And then in the fourth quarter, [Corbett] fumbled a pitch, and Kase [Sietstra] — who also plays cornerback on defense — ran up and scooped it and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. And that was the first score of the game, and the first score of our season,” Miles said.
Sietstra, a quarterback on offense and cornerback on defense, was the heartbeat of his team. He and the Panthers rattled off four straight wins that included victories over Corbett (14-0), Stevenson (26-7) and rival Wy’east (26-21).
Sietstra, an eighth grader, said his highlight of the season was beating Wy’east.
“That was the best game of the year,” Sietstra said talking about the win over the Eagles. Sietstra praised the offensive line. More than half of the line is comprised of seventh graders. According to Miles, eighth-grade lineman Marcus Johnson has “turned the tide,” and Noah Cheli, also an eighth grader, was the team’s “biggest defensive player.” Cheli has three interceptions in four games for the Panthers.
“I think for seventh graders they played so well,” Sietstra added.
The Henkle Grizzles (5-0) are led by head Coach Dean Russum and assistant coaches Matt Graves and Jack Marti.
“It was a good season for us. We had good leadership from our eighth graders, with our quarterback Ryder Graves and running back Sam Knott, they killed it for us,” Russum said.
During Thursday’s game, eighth grader Cassidy Ebbert led Henkle with a tenacity that is unmatched. He recorded two interceptions, and both coaches acknowledged them as momentum changers in favor of the Grizzlies.
“I was guarding my guy, and then he went in, and he did a slant, and my teammate, Sam [Knott], tipped it, and I caught it,” Ebbert said. “On the first interception, my guy did an out route, and the QB ran out of pocket, and he missed the throw, and I caught it.”
HRMS Athletic Director Kyle Turner said the two teams will meet again this week to for the second and third string players to get some playing time.
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