1A Football: Dufur, Lyle, Sherman and South Wasco

The Rangers, guided by Coach Jack Henderson, have a chance to bounce back in their next contest Thursday at 7 p.m. versus the Pilot Rock Rockets (1-2 league, 2-2 overall) at Pilot Rock High School. The game will be broadcast by Stan Fargher and Shannon Milburn on radio station Gorge Country Y102.3 FM.

“It was a tough game and we had five turnovers, but we would’ve had a better chance to win and it would’ve been a closer game for sure if we didn’t make those costly mistakes,” said Henderson. “Crane scored a couple of times near the end when we had all our younger kids playing, so it was actually a closer game than indicated by the final score.

“Crane is a good football team, and we knew that we were going to have to play well to go there and be successful. We didn’t play well, but hopefully we’ll learn from that and get back and turn things around next week against Pilot Rock.”

The Rangers (3-1 SD2, 3-2 overall) left at 5 a.m. last Friday on a five-hour road trip (one way) to Crane for the noon contest. The long bus ride certainly didn’t seem to faze the Rangers, as they came out strong to gain the early advantage. Dufur scored on its opening possession on a 10-play, 67-yard scoring drive, capped by a five-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back/linebacker Cody Phillips (15 carries, 62 yards rushing). A two-point conversion run by Phillips put Dufur on top 8-0 with 8:05 left in the first quarter.

After an exchange of possessions, Crane scored on its next two possessions to build a 14-8 lead after one quarter. Dufur’s defense, led by Phillips (team high seven tackles), was solid and the Rangers held the Mustangs scoreless in the second quarter.

Dufur regained the upper hand on a seven-play, 39-yard drive, capped by a seven-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Josh Taylor to Phillips (three receptions, 12-yards receiving). Dufur added a two-point conversion on a Taylor pass to junior receiver Landon Ellis (two receptions, 25 yards receiving), to help put the Rangers ahead 16-14 at halftime.

“There were times when our offensive line (Isaac Anthony, Jerald Hernandez, Peyton Beeks, Cameron Bostick, August Harvey, Jacob Jones) blocked well, and we did lots of other things well too,” said Henderson. “You just can’t give the ball away five times and expect to be successful. We’ll get back to work in practice and we’ll get better.”

The Mustangs had everything going their way in the second half, as they shut out the Rangers in third and fourth quarters, while taking advantage of four Dufur turnovers. Crane built a 22-16 lead after three and then took control of the contest by outscoring Dufur 20-0 in the fourth.

As Henderson pointed out, the game was evenly played. Crane outgained Dufur by four yards (242-239); Dufur had time of possession advantage, controlling the ball for more than 27 minutes to Crane’s 21 minutes. The Rangers had 62 plays and 13 first downs. Crane had 51 plays and 10 first downs.

A bright spot for Dufur was the performance of senior running back Kaleb Pence, who led the Ranger ground game with 20 carries for 114 yards.

Sherman offense excels, defense can’t slow Imbler

The Sherman High Huskies had their highest scoring game of the season, but it wasn’t enough as they lost 52-28 to the Imbler Panthers (1-2 league, 2-3 overall) in a Class 1A Special District 2 eight-man football game Oct. 1 at Imbler High School.

The Huskies, guided by first-year Coach Kyle Blagg, led much of the first half, but the more experienced Panthers (five juniors, four seniors) were able to pull ahead in the second half on their way to the victory over a younger (13 freshmen, one senior) Husky squad.

“We were dominating the game early and we had a lead, and we didn’t fall behind until midway through the second quarter,” said Blagg. “They (Panthers) took a three-touchdown lead and then we scored to get to within two scores at halftime, which kind of gave us a little momentum going into the second half. We got to within one score in the fourth quarter. The game was really closer than was indicated by the final score. We had a handful of kids who probably played their best football game of their career.”

Sherman senior linebacker Braden Carnine and sophomore linebacker Talon Dark suffered ankle injuries in the first quarter and were unable to play for the remainder of the game. The Huskies (0-3 SD2, 0-4 overall) will meet the No. 9 ranked Ione/Arlington Cardinals (2-1 SD2, 2-2 overall) in their next contest Friday at 7 p.m. at Arlington High School.

Lyle wins fourth straight

The No. 10 ranked Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat High Cougars won their fourth straight in Class 1A Special District 2 eight-man football, 52-28, over the Pilot Rock Rockets Oct. 1 at Lyle High School.

The Cougars, guided by Coach Antoine Montoya, scored on their first possession to go ahead 6-0, but the Rockets came back and built a 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Cougars then outscored the Rockets 28-0 in the second to take a 40-14 halftime advantage. The Cougars extended their lead to 56-14 after three quarters. Pilot Rock scored twice in the fourth for the final margin.

“It was nice to be back on the field and be with my team,” said Montoya, who was unable to attend the last two contests after he recovered from COVID-19. “It was nice getting a win against Pilot Rock. In the second quarter, we started playing better defense on pass coverage and we put more pressure on their quarterback. Our offensive line did a good job of blocking and opening holes for Aaron Smith, who really had some good touchdown runs. We just take it one game at a time, and we just go out there and try and do our best every week.”

Smith, a 5-foot-6 senior running back, had 24 carries for 391 yards rushing and scored eight touchdowns.

The Cougars (3-1 SD2, 4-1 overall) will play the Imbler Panthers (1-2 SD2, 2-3 overall) in their next contest Friday at 2 p.m. at Imbler High School.

Homecoming away from home a shutout success for Redsides

The South Wasco County High Redsides celebrated homecoming with a 45-0 win over the Dayville Monument Tigers in Class 1A Special District 4 six-man football Oct. 1 at Dufur High School. The contest was at Dufur because the Redsides’ athletic facility and football field is closed because of a construction project.

The Redsides (2-3), guided by Coach Mike Waine, snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory over the winless Tigers (0-5), who had only eight players on their team.

“It was our homecoming, it was a fun game, and it was a great win for our kids,” said Waine. “We knew going in that we were facing a team that would allow us to rotate our freshmen players into the game early and our starters only played the first four offensive series.

“It was a good opportunity for our young kids (seven freshmen) to get lots of playing time, so it was a good experience for them, and it was nice to see them play at a high level. Our freshman quarterback, Storm McCoy (11-for-17 passing, 144 yards), had a really good game. After playing three really tough teams the last three weeks, it sure felt nice to come out here and get a win.”

The Redsides jumped in front 32-0 by halftime and they went to on to record their highest point total of the season. Junior cornerback James Best had a team-high eight tackles to help lead the Redside defense, and freshman defensive back Colby Brace had six tackles. Dominic Marquez had six tackles and one sack.

On offense, junior quarterback Ian Ongers was 3-for-4 passing for 61 yards and one touchdown. Senior running back Remington Anderson-Sheer had two carries for 55 yards rushing and a TD. Freshman running back Nick Packard led the Redsides ground game (340 yards rushing) with 10 carries for 91 yards rushing and a TD.

The Redsides meet the Echo Cougars (3-2) in their next contest at 7 p.m. Friday at Echo High School.