HOOD RIVER VALLEY — Bounce-back games sometimes are statement games, and Hood River Valley made an emphatic statement last week coming off its first loss of the 2024 season. A physical HRV defense held host La Salle Prep to 48 yards of total offense and four first downs and won its sixth football game, 20-3, on Oct. 18 in Milwaukie.
The win for HRV (6-1 overall, 4-1 Special District 1) kept alive the Eagles’ chances for a league championship. La Salle (5-2, 3-2) opened the game with a 61-yard kickoff return (leading to its only points). But Hood River limited the Falcons to net 10 yards rushing and 48 through the air the rest of the half. It was apparent early on that HRV had recovered from its lone loss, 28-14, Oct. 10, at Hillsboro.
HRV Coach Caleb Sperry said the question leading up to the La Salle game was how the Eagles would respond to that loss. “What’s gonna be the direction we’re gonna take?” he explained. “Are we gonna feel sorry for ourselves or figure out, to a man, what we can do better and go back to work and focus on what we can control? … We had a great week of practice.
“Sometimes a loss, a tough loss, helps you find those things that impact you in a negative way and you can change them. And we did that. I hate to take a loss, but sometimes that’s what it takes to jar your eyes open.”
Hood River, which plays next at winless Putnam on Oct. 25, dished out some jarring hits and controlled the line of scrimmage against La Salle. The Eagle linebackers and secondary played downhill the entire contest. La Salle’s second longest gain from scrimmage — a 17-yard pass — came on the game’s final play. Hood River, which has two regular season games remaining — at Putnam and Nov. 1 at home vs. 6-2 Glencoe — ran 73 offensive plays to La Salle’s 33.
“We did a great job of limiting them (on offense) … of keeping the ball and controlling the game,” Sperry said. “It was a great team win.”
Linebacker Bam Layna was his usual disruptive self. “He did a great job of just playing full speed and physical,” Sperry said of the 185-pound junior. “But also, the D line just did a great job of opening up opportunities for him by being gap sound. I thought Jack McLaughlin did a great job of getting to where he needed to be, too. And then the secondary just did a good job of tightening down coverage and taking away their quick game.”
Hood River led 14-3 at halftime, holding La Salle to two first downs before the break. The Falcons also were penalized seven times for 56 yards — and finished with 83 penalty yards.
La Salle’s first-half points came on the first Falcon possession which resulted in a 36-yard field goal from Vance Sheffield. The senior placekicker attempted a 55-yarder late in the first half, but the kick was blocked by a diving Toby Stintzi, who burst in unblocked from the left side. Stintzi added an interception later in the contest.
Hood River took the lead for good on a 15-play drive spanning the first two periods. Bam Layna did the honors from the 1-yard line, capping the 89-yard drive a few minutes into the second quarter. Deacon Ybarra scored from two yards out later in the period and a Layna conversion run made the score, 14-3.
Hood River added its third touchdown on its initial possession of the second half. Stintzi received two good seal blocks to create a seam from Isa Luna and Ybarra and returned the kickoff 61 yards to the La Salle 39. Layna scored on a 21-yard run four plays later. He finished with 168 yards rushing on 29 carries.
But the story of the game was the HRV defense. La Salle played early without its starting quarterback, senior Paul Skoro. But even when he later entered the game, the Falcons were unable to mount any sustained offensive drives.
“Our entire defense from the D line back to the secondary just took huge strides in doing a better job of playing forward and playing just good solid team defense, doing your job, playing physical and tough,” Sperry said. “It was a work of art, really.”
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