HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley, led by its quick defense and line play, dominated the first half and rolled to a 35-0 non-league high school football win Sept. 12 over the visiting Grant Generals of Portland. It was Hood River’s first varsity football shutout since a 41-0 win over Putnam on Oct. 22, 2021. (Putnam is HRV’s next opponent, with the Kingsmen coming to Henderson Stadium for a 7 p.m. tilt on Sept. 19 to start Special District 1 play.)
Hood River (2-0), ranked 15th in Class 5A, had four turnovers, but the Eagle defense neutralized any advantage that may have given the Class 6A Generals by flying around to the football. Jack Miller led the defensive front, with a couple of sacks and tackles for loss, and Bam Layna and Nick Tuttle were among those leading the charge from their linebacker spots.
Their play was noticed by Coach Caleb Sperry, who was quick to point out there were some other things that didn’t escape his notice. “We’ve got to take care of the ball,” the coach said. “We coughed it up too many times. And we’ve got to finish when we get down into our opponent’s territory. We had a few drives peter out on us.”
Hood River’s active defense limited Grant (0-2) to 25 yards from scrimmage before halftime — including four rushing yards on 18 carries — when HRV built a 27-0 lead. The defense also accounted for the Eagles’ first touchdown of the game with 2:53 left in the opening period, when Layna returned an interception 10 yards for a score. The errant pass was caused partly because of the pressure HRV’s defensive front put on Grant quarterback Nic Normington.
The host Eagles (2-0) scored three times in the second period. Layna followed the lead block of Ethan Duddles and scored on an eight-yard run 40 seconds into the quarter. The TD was set up by a 61-yard Bodie Stuben to Davin Snyder pass play. Five minutes later, Stuben threw toward Cooper Wells down the right sideline, and the senior receiver won a jump ball over a Grant defensive back to complete the 25-yard scoring play. Layna scored again 23 seconds before halftime on a four-yard run.
Grant couldn’t manage any sustained drives before halftime and the 6A Generals hurt themselves with 10 penalties for 84 yards before the break.
Layna’s fourth touchdown of the game with 9:21 to play — on a one-yard run — and subsequent two-point conversion, allowed the remainder of the contest to be played with a running clock.
The Generals played Hood River’s running game tough, obviously fueled by scouting reports indicating that Layna’s near-200-yard rushing performance in the Eagles’ season opener against Reynolds was something to be reckoned with. Grant Coach John Beck had his defense crowd the box, shadowing Layna’s every move, which opened up some passing routes for Stuben to exploit. Layna finished with 44 yards rushing on 13 carries; Stuben responded with an efficient 9-for-20, 176-yard passing effort.
Sperry said: “[Coach Beck] obviously did a great job of game planning for our run game. Also, there were some small execution areas where we didn’t do that great. We’ve got some things to clean up.”
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