A quarterback sneak for a touchdown from two yards out noticed that some of the physicality Hood River Valley was lacking in its season opener two weeks ago returned last week during the Eagles’ 38-12 football win over Gorge rival The Dalles.
HRV was dominant in the first half and played error-free football — other than an I-got-it-you-got-it onside kick miscue — on a pleasant Friday evening at Henderson Stadium. Hood River (1-1) scored on four of six first-half possessions to take a commanding 30-0 lead.
“We played more physical, and we were able to improve on what we needed to improve on from last week,” HRV Coach Caleb Sperry said. “We took care of the football. We had four turnovers the week before and zero (Friday). Actually, we gave up an onside kick, but beyond that I don’t think we threw any picks or had any fumbles, so that was good.”
On the flip side, The Dalles (1-1) fumbled twice in the second quarter and both miscues led to HRV touchdowns. The second fumble came late in the first half and HRV running back Shaw Burns scored on a 29-yard run two plays later — his second TD of the game - to give the Eagles their 30-point lead at the break. Hood River outgained The Dalles 238 yards to 94 before intermission.
Burns capitalized on HRV’s decisive advantage along the line to rush for 180 yards on 13 carries in the first half. The senior finished with 257 of his team’s 317 rushing yards on 19 carries. Teammate Ethan Rivera added an efficient 60 yards on six carries and a touchdown.
“Offensively, we did a good job of re-establishing our running game,” Sperry said. Part of that process included linemen and receivers staying with their blocks, especially downfield, as Burns and Rivera got into space beyond the line of scrimmage.
The Dalles got on the scoreboard after an 11-play, 72-yard, third-period drive. Andre Niko got around the edge of the HRV defense on the left side from four yards out to pull his team within 30-6. Hood River answered on its next possession, as Davis Parr — making his first varsity start at quarterback – connected with fellow sophomore Toby Stintzi on a seven-yard TD pass.
Redmond roughed up Hood River in the Sept. 2 opener, 44-8, and Sperry had said the Eagles needed to “get back to playing our style of football. We need to do a better job of getting back to being tough. Our toughness, that would be our edge. Blue collar, hard-nosed football.”
That came to pass against The Dalles (1-1) on the Eagles’ second drive of the game — an eight-play, 67-yard gem — which featured seven running plays behind the beefy HRV line (and one incomplete Parr pass). Back-to-back first-down runs (23 and 14 yards) by Rivera moved the ball to the Riverhawk 2, where Sperry called a quarterback sneak for Parr. The Eagles packed the formation and Parr followed 270-pound center Devon Boydston and 347-pound right guard Mynoah Iaulualo to score easily. The Eagles ran another sneak for the two-point conversion, which set the tone for the rest of the game.
“We might as well use those big guys and drive the pile,” Sperry said. “We tackled fairly well and played really physical on defense. We did a good job of rallying to the ball and gang tackling.”
The Dalles showed spurts of what enabled it to easily win its opener over outmanned Parkrose two weeks ago, 46-6. The Riverhawks have a number of offensive weapons but had trouble mounting sustained drives against HRV. One bright spot was the defensive play of 240-pound senior lineman Evan Baldy, whose effort disrupted a number of Hood River plays — whether by hurrying passes or making tackles for losses.
The other touchdown for The Dalles came on the second play of the fourth quarter, when senior running back Manatu Crichton-Tunai bounced outside to the left and scored from 31 yards out.
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