Despite wet, sloppy conditions, the Hermiston Bulldogs had little trouble getting past the Hood River Valley Eagles Friday night, chalking up a 55-7 win to set up a home field battle for the Columbia River Conference title next week against Pendleton.
The road victory improves Hermiston’s record to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the CRC. Pendleton beat The Dalles on Friday, 30-12, to stay unbeaten at 2-0 in league play and 6-3 overall.
Hermiston got on the board on their second possession of the game on a 3-yard touchdown run by Sam Colbray.
The Bulldogs struck early in the second quarter when Chase Knutz hit Carson Morter on a 45-yard touchdown pass.
On the Eagles’ next possession, Trey Neal forced a fumble and recovered it on the Hood River Valley 25 yard line. The Bulldogs converted later when Cory Adams scored from a yard out to give Hermiston a 20-0 lead.
Hood River Valley threatened midway through the second and had the ball at the Hermiston 6 yard line, but penalties and a stingy Hermiston defense forced the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs.
Adams broke it open for Hermiston late in the first half on a 79-yard touchdown run, and with a 2-point conversion, the Bulldogs went into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
Hermiston had better luck on the ground than in the air Friday night. Knutz was only 9-for-18, but two of those completions were for touchdowns, including a 22-yard pass to Keegan Crafton that made it 35-0 Hermiston.
A 23-yard pass from Knutz to Morter set up a 1-yard score by Colbray, who found the end zone again a few minutes later on a nice 18-yard run to push Hermiston’s lead to 49-0.
Sophomore Mitch Brown scored his first touchdown of his Hermiston Bulldog career midway through the fourth to finish up the scoring for Hermiston. Hood River Valley later recovered a fumble in the end zone as the game was winding down.
Hermiston has outscored its last two opponents 130-13 following last week’s 75-6 thrashing of The Dalles. Adams finished the night with 13 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Colbray had 87 yards on 13 carries and three scores.
Next week’s Halloween showdown for the CRC title between Hermiston and Pendleton kicks off at Kennison Field at 7 p.m.
