Three big, first-half plays staked Hillsboro to a 21-0 lead Oct. 26 and the Spartans went on to beat Hood River Valley 21-7 in a Northwest Oregon Conference football game at Hare Field.
The cross-over contest pitted the No. 2 NWOC team from the West Division, Hillsboro (6-2), vs. the No. 2 team from the East Division, HRV (4-5) – essentially for state playoff seeding purposes. Hood River will find out Oct. 28 if it will qualify as one of the 16 Class 5A state playoff teams. To do so, the Eagles will have to finish ranked higher than – likely - Forest Grove in the final OSAA rankings.
Entering the final week of the regular season games, HRV was ranked 18th and Forest Grove 21st. The Vikings were scheduled to host Centennial (1-7) on Oct. 27 in the NWOC cross-over game of No. 3 division seeds.
Hillsboro scored on plays of 74, 67, and 78 yards before halftime to build their three-touchdown lead. The Eagle defense held the Spartans to 14 yards of total offense on Hillsboro’s 21 other plays in the first half.
Offensively, Hood River had three first downs in the first half. Hillsboro stopped the Eagles three times before intermission on fourth-and-short plays – and a fourth time when HRV faced a fourth-and-16 at the Hillsboro 29. Hillsboro’s linebackers, Preston Echeverria and James Blackwell, combined for 12 first-half tackles, including three on the fourth-down plays.
Hood River avoided the shutout with an 11-play, 79-yard drive in the fourth quarter to pull within two scores. A Jerry Serrano 20-yard run on a reverse set the tone on the first play of the drive. Quarterback Davis Parr was sharp in the series, completing 5-of-6 passes, including a nine-yard TD throw to senior Grady Williams. He finished with seven catches on the cool evening at Hare Field. Senior Ethan Rivera led the Eagle ground game with 18 carries for 122 yards.
Defensively, sophomore lineman Jack Miller had an interception with five minutes remaining in the game giving the Eagles life near midfield. That drive stalled two minutes later when Hillsboro stopped Hood River on yet another fourth-down play.
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