The Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat High Cougars won their third straight in Special District 2 Class 1A eight-man football, 42-20, over the Sherman/Condon High Huskies on Friday in Moro.
The Cougars led 12-0 after one quarter and they extended their lead to 30-0 at halftime.
The Huskies (0-2) scored in the third quarter, making it 30-6 after three. The Huskies, guided by Coach Kyle Blagg, added a touchdown in the fourth, trimming the margin to 30-14 with seven minutes left in the contest. Cougar senior running back Aaron Smith scored on two touchdown runs to extend the margin to 42-20.
“They (Cougars) have a pretty good group of kids and Smith is a really good player and he’s an excellent athlete,” said Blagg. “They jumped out in front in the first half. We played a lot better in the second half and we kind of really started to come together and play pretty good football and we were moving the ball good.
“So, I think there’s some things that we can build on offensively and defensively. We were in pretty good position defensively, but it was just a matter of being able to make a play. I thought maybe we had a chance when we were within two touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter.”
Sherman faces the Imbler Panthers (1-3) in its next contest at 2 p.m. Friday at Imbler High School. The Cougars meet the Pilot Rock Rockets (2-1) in their next game Friday at 7 p.m. at Lyle High School.
Dufur wins on the road
In the first of four straight contests away from home, the No. 4 ranked Dufur High Rangers (3-1) proved to be road warriors in a 42-14 win over the host Enterprise Outlaws (1-3) in Special District 2 eight-man football Friday.
After a scoreless first quarter, Dufur outscored Enterprise 14-6 in the second quarter and 16-8 in the third to build a 30-14 lead. The Rangers, guided by Coach Jack Henderson, added two touchdowns in the fourth for the final margin.
“Our offense and defensive lines are really improving and doing a great job,” said Henderson. “August Harvey, Jacob Jones and Jerald Hernandez are doing a great job on our interior line on both sides of the ball.”
Dufur amassed a total of 418 yards of offense, while limiting the Outlaws to just 201 yards on offense. Dufur junior quarterback Josh Taylor (9-for-14 passing, 138 yards, 27 yards rushing) helped lead the Rangers to their second straight victory with his strong performance.
Senior running back Kaleb Pence (22 carries, 103 yards rushing, three TDs), sophomore running back/linebacker Cody Phillips (17 carries, 137 yards rushing, TD) and junior receiver Landon Ellis (five receptions, 86 yards receiving, TD) also helped lead the potent Ranger offense. Phillips led the Rangers defensively with seven tackles and junior defensive tackle/center Harvey had six tackles.
“Pence and Phillips both ran the ball really, really well and Josh Taylor is continuing to play really well, too, and he’s getting better every week,” said Henderson. “All the kids are getting better every week; they keep improving and that’s what it’s all about.”
In a battle between Class 1A top-10 ranked teams, the Rangers will meet the No. 10 ranked Crane Mustangs (3-1) in their next contest at noon Friday at Crane High School. The game will be broadcast by Stan Fargher and Shannon Milburn on radio station Gorge Country Y102.3 FM. The Rangers won’t play their next home game until Oct. 22 in a matchup versus the Imbler Panthers.
“Since we’re on the road a lot, we call this (four-game road trip) the magical mystery tour and it’s a good challenge for us,” said Henderson. “That’s the schedule and so we’ll go play the games and we’ll tough it out. I think this is the first time that we’ve ever had a situation like this. Crane is a good team and it’s going to be tough game for sure, but we like games like that and we’re hoping to get another win.”
Redsides lose to Loggers
The South Wasco County High Redsides lost 59-25 to the undefeated Mitchell/Spray/Wheeler High Loggers (4-0) in Special District 4 six-man football Sept. 24 at Wheeler High School in Fossil.
The Redsides, guided by Coach Mike Waine, will meet the Dayville/Monument Tigers (0-4) in their 7 p.m. Homecoming game Friday at Dufur High School. South Wasco doesn’t have any home games in Maupin this year, because of construction of a new athletic facility, so the Redsides’ homecoming is being held at Dufur.
“It was a good game, and we played our best first half of the season,” said Waine. “It normally takes us awhile to get going, but we came out gunslinging. We threw the book at them, and we tried to do everything we could to move the ball against them. We were relying on our running game mostly on offense throughout the game.”
Redside sophomore running back Joey Holloway and senior running back Remington Anderson-Sheer combined for 29 carries and 105 yards rushing. Holloway scored three rushing touchdowns and he had one reception for a touchdown.
Trailing 19-18 at halftime, Redside senior quarterback Ian Ongers (13-for-27 passing, 136 yards, three TDs) threw an interception early in the third quarter that was returned for a touchdown by the Loggers, making it 27-18.
“That kind of broke our backs a little bit and it took the wind out of our sails,” said Waine. “My hat is off to Spray/Mitchell, which has a lot of big players. They’re one of the hardest-hitting football teams we’ve played this year and they’re definitely one of the top teams. We played a championship-caliber type of game in the first half, but then we just got manhandled in the second half. Once things kind of started getting out of reach for us, then we started substituting our younger guys into the game and they (Loggers) did the same thing.
“We’re growing every week and I think if we can just put together a good first half and a good second half, then we’ll be all right and we’ll be more competitive.”
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