Sherman’s Class 1A football win streak over adjacent county rival South Wasco came to an end Saturday in Maupin. The host Redsides (2-0), guided by Coach Mike Waine, used some late-game defensive maneuvers to accomplish their goal, 62-44.
“Coach Michael Carter (assistant coach) made some adjustments on defense in the second half and we moved some people around, so that seemed to help us improve defensively,” said Waine, who led South Wasco to the 1A 6-man football state title in 2019. “The guys came around and did what they needed to do to get the win. It’s nice to finally get a win against Sherman for the first time in about seven years. We’ll go back to the drawing board on Monday and practice this week in preparation for Echo.”
South Wasco will try to win its third straight game when it meets the Echo Cougars on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Echo High School in a Special District 4 matchup. Sherman plays at home Friday at 7 p.m. against the Dayville/Monument Tigers (1-1). Both Sherman and South Wasco have three games remaining on their five-game schedules.
“We’ll take things one game at a time,” said Waine. “We have a couple of tough games coming up and the last game of the season against Joseph will be a hard-hitting game. We’re not really too concerned about Joseph right now, because we have to focus on getting ready to play Echo.”
South Wasco defeated Joseph in the 2019 6-man football state championship game. (This year marks the third year of 6-man football in Oregon.)
Saturday afternoon, South Wasco took the early advantage in building a 19-12 first-quarter lead. Sherman, guided by first-year Coach Kyle Blagg, came back to narrow the margin to 19-18 in the second period.
“We have lots of young kids (six freshmen) and I’m real happy with the performance of our team because everyone played their hearts out,” Blagg said. “From the start of the game to the end, we played evenly against a state championship caliber team which has three returning starters. I’m really proud of these boys to come out here and play so well after just three weeks of practice and many of them played in just their second high school football game and we went toe-to-toe against a great South Wasco team.”
The Redsides responded with a quick score, as senior receiver Garrett Olson caught a touchdown pass from Brock LaFaver, putting South Wasco in front 25-18 with 6:34 left in the quarter.
Olson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound receiver who has received an athletic scholarship to play football at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, said: “It was a great game and we really had lots of fun. Things started out kind of slow for us in the first half and so there’s some things that we need to improve on.”
The two teams matched touchdowns in what was an exciting, seesaw battle. LaFaver threw a long TD pass to junior receiver Remington Anderson-Sheer to give South Wasco a 37-31 halftime lead.
The Huskies received the second-half kickoff and then fumbled, with the Redsides recovering the ball near midfield. They capitalized on the turnover and scored to go ahead 43-31 with 7:57 left in the third quarter. Another Sherman turnover on its next possession proved to be too costly to overcome. The Huskies were in position for a possible score when South Wasco sophomore Ian Ongers intercepted a pass at the Redside 2-yard line and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown.
Sherman came back behind junior running back Braden Carnine (15 carries, 159 yards rushing), who scored on a TD run and a one-point conversion play which trimmed the margin to 49-38 with 4:18 left in the third. The Redsides answered with their own scoring drive, capped by another LaFaver-to-Olson TD pass, for a 55-38 lead after three quarters.
“We picked things up in the second half after making some adjustments at halftime,” said Olson. “I definitely tried my hardest to help my team win. Our coaches made adjustments which we were able to execute well in the second half, which helped us get the job done. It was nice to come out here and beat Sherman. Our goal is to remain undefeated this season.”
Startint the fourth quarter, both teams had interceptions on consecutive plays. South Wasco’s James Best intercepted and pass and then on the very next play, Sherman senior quarterback/defensive back Kole Martin (12 carries, 190 yards rushing), intercepted a pass and returned it 99 yards for a TD, making it 55-44 with 8:11 remaining.
“We made a lot of mistakes, but it’s all things that we can work on and fix hopefully,” said Blagg. “I’m happy with how the boys played and I’m happy with the leadership that they displayed, particularly by senior Will James, who really helped motivate his teammates and get them in a positive state of mind. Kole Martin played his heart out and had one heck of a game, too, and Braden Carnine had a great game, too. Our linemen Luke Fritts and Henry Poirer played in just their second varsity game and they did a pretty good job up front.”
The Redsides capped the game’s scoring with a 7:56 remaining on Olson’s 52-yard run and Best’s one-point conversion run.
In other 1A games last week:
Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat concluded its four-game schedule with a 42-14 loss to the DeSales in Walla Walla, Wash. The Cougars, guided by Coach Antoine Montoya, finished their abbreviated 8-man season with a 2-2 record.
“We had plenty of opportunities to take the lead and win, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Montoya said. “We had a fumble, an interception and a turnover on downs in their red zone, so we just couldn’t punch the ball in. We had two key players get hurt in the third quarter and they couldn’t return, which is crucial in 8-man football. Big plays by DeSales got them going and they did not look back.
“It’s one thing to be beat by a better team and accept it. However, when we’re an equally competitive team and we give a game away with errors and bad tackling, then it’s harder to swallow.”
In a matchup between teams that faced each other in the 2019 OSAA Class 1A 8-man football state playoffs, the Dufur Rangers got a bit of revenge against the Crane Mustangs. The Rangers (2-0 Special District 2), guided by Coach Jack Henderson, continued their impressive early-season success by winning 40-18 Dufur High School. Crane (0-2) ended Dufur’s season with 42-6 state quarterfinal win the last time the two teams met on Nov. 15, 2019.
“Crane is traditionally always a tough team, but we had to work hard to get things done and that’s what we did,” said Henderson. “It’s fun to be back out on the football field with this great group of kids. We’re trying to work our way into shape. We’re not there yet, but we’ll continue to work on it. It seems kind of weird to be playing in March, but this is a game that we all love and it’s fun to be playing now.”
Dufur will be seeking a third straight victory when it meets the Ione/Arlington Cardinals (0-1) on Friday at 6 p.m. at Arlington High School.
“Jacob Jones played really, really well at a new position for him - at defensive end - and he played well offensively, as well, so it was his best effort of the season,” said Henderson. “I think our offensive line played really well, too, in allowing Kaleb Pence to really run the ball well. I think our momentum will continue in our game next week against Ione/Arlington and, of course, our goal will be to remain undefeated and have a 3-0 record. We only play six games, and we would like to win them all.”
Crane took the initial advantage, 6-0, before the Rangers responded with a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback/safety Cooper Bales. He finished with 104 yards rushing on 15 carries and was 4-for-11 passing for 52 yards.
Dufur took the lead for good in the second quarter. The Rangers’ short three-play, 47-yard drive was capped by a 27-yard TD pass by Bales to sophomore receiver Josh Taylor. Senior Ben Schanno followed with a two-point conversion run, putting Dufur ahead, 14-6. Bales made it 20-6 on an 18-yard TD run before narrowed the margin to 20-12 at halftime. Dufur extended its lead in the third quarter when Pence (13 carries, 120 yards rushing) scored on a 16-yard TD run, capping an eight-play, 64-yard drive.
The Rangers put the game away with back-to-back TD drives. Senior running back Jacob Peters (five carries, 43 yards rushing) scored on a nine-yard TD run, and Bales capped the scoring with a six-yard TD run. Crane finished with 294 yards of total offense and Dufur had 328 yards. Bales and senior tight end/defensive tackle Trey Darden led Dufur’s defense with six tackles apiece.
Allen, Larsen and other neighbors are empathetic to the plight of the homeless, and believe society isn't providing the services they need, such as mental health or addiction treatment. But they also feel the St. Vincent site is not a good fit for a residential neighborhood. Larsen said St. Vincent’s no-loitering policy just forces people into neighboring properties.
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