A late interception helped the Hermiston Bulldogs stave off Hood River Valley at Kennison Field, securing a 36-28 victory on Homecoming night.
Vaemu Ena ended the Eagles’ final drive with his third interception of the night. The win improves Hermiston to 3-5 overall and 2-0 in Columbia River Conference play and sets up a battle for the league title next week against Pendleton.
Hermiston scored first when Bob Coleman plunged into the endzone around midway through the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead. The lead increased to 14-0 late in the quarter when junior Darren Gossett picked off a Dallas Buckley pass and ran 34 yards for the score.
Hood River tied the game up at 14 in the second quarter before quarterback Nathan Hunsaker connected with Jerry Ramirez on a 22-yard pass to give Hermiston a 20-14 lead at the half.
The third quarter was dominated by a 20-play, 79-yard drive that only resulted in a field goal, but ate up about 8 minutes of the quarter.
Hood River cut the lead to just 2 when Buckley ran it in from 7 yards out to make it a 23-21 Hermiston advantage. Hunsaker had a big hand in the final two Hermiston scores, thanks to a 70-yard touchdown pass to Ena and a 17-yard run for Hermiston’s final score of the game.
Hermiston totaled 270 yards on the ground, led by Coleman’s 95 yards. The Bulldogs held Hood River to just 47 yards rushing, but Eagles quarterback Buckley threw for 308 yards and three scores.
The Bulldogs are now on a three-game winning streak after dropping the first five games of the year.
Hermiston will travel to Pendleton on Friday for the season-ending matchup.
