In a battle of top 10 5A teams Friday night, No. 7 Springfield turned back No. 5 Hermiston, 49-28, in Springfield.
The game was tight through two quarters, but the Millers dominated the Bulldogs in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 28-13 in the final two quarters and 21-6 in the fourth quarter alone.
Springfield got on the board first on their opening drive of the game when Trever Watson hit Taylor Travess on a 35-yard touchdown pass to cap off a 70-yard drive.
The Bulldogs tied it up on their first series when Costa Rodriguez scored on a 3-yard touchdown run. The score came at the end of a 10-play, 87-yard drive highlighted by a 31-yard pass play from Chase Knutz to Ramon Contreras and an 18-yard, fourth-and-13 play when Knutz hit Cole Smith to keep the drive alive.
The Millers capitalized on a Hermiston turnover in the second quarter. A fumble gave Springfield the ball at their own 37. Eight plays later, Travess took a pitch from Watson and ran it in for a 3-yard touchdown.
Trailing 14-7, Hermiston came right back and scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Knutz to Landon Gammell. The snap was fumbled on the extra point attempt, but Austin Monahan picked it up and ran it in for a 2-point conversion to give the Bulldogs a 15-14 lead.
The 1-point lead lasted all of two plays. A 72-yard pass gave Springfield first and goal at the eight and Watson ran it in on the next play to give the Millers a 21-15 lead that they took into halftime.
After a punt by Hermiston on the opening drive of the third quarter, Springfield embarked on an 87-yard drive in which they dominated the line of scrimmage. The long drive culminated when Watson hit Nicolas Ahsam on an 8-yard touchdown pass to push their lead to 28-15.
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 28-22 when Knutz hit Ethan Snow on a 14-yard pass into the corner of the end zone to cap off a 65-yard drive. On the first play of the drive, Knutz hit Snow on a 40-yard pass to give Hermiston a first down at the Springfield 25. A couple of runs for positive yards by Trenton Anteau set up the scoring play for the Bulldogs.
Springfield wasted little time regaining a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Three long pass plays set up a first-and-goal at the 1 and Alan Smeltzer ran it in for the Millers’ second touchdown of the second half.
The Millers struck again with about 8 minutes left in the game when Watson hit Braydon Haas on a 44-yard touchdown pass to make it 42-22.
The Bulldogs scored late in the fourth on a 4-yard pass from Knutz to Cole Smith to cut the Springfield lead to 42-28. Once again, the drive was aided by a fourth-down conversion when Knutz hit Contreras on a 16-yard pass. The touchdown to Smith was Knutz’ third of the game.
Springfield tacked on a late touchdown to make it 49-28.
The Bulldogs were hurt by penalties once again Friday night. Hermiston was hit with 12 penalties, the third straight game in which the Bulldogs had at least 10 penalties called on them. Nine of their penalties in Springfield came before the snap.
Hermiston (4-2 overall and 1-0 in the Columbia River Conference) will play host to Southridge next week at Kennison Field.
