PHOTO BY CHRIS CLAYHOLD
The Hermiston Bulldogs had the tables turned on them Friday night as the defending 5A state champs and No. 1 ranked Sherwood Bowmen built up an early big lead and cruised to a 63-9 win at Kennison Field.
Just as the Bulldogs went into halftime with big leads each of the first two games of the season, the Bowmen had little trouble scoring early and often against Hermiston Friday.
On their opening drive in the first quarter, Sherwood’s Mickey Schaefer took the ball on the first play of the series and ran it 74 yards for a 7-0 lead. Schaefer scored again on the Bowmen’s second series and a two-point conversion made it 15-0.
Hermiston began to mount a drive later in the quarter, but Schaefer struck again when he intercepted Chase Knutz’ pass and ran it back 39 yards to put the Bowmen up 22-0.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard when Luis Medina recovered a Sherwood fumble to give the ball to Hermiston near midfield. Several plays later, Knutz connected with Ethan Snow on a 14-yard touchdown pass.
But Sherwood came right back on a 5-yard touchdown run by Keegan Lawrence to make it 28-7. Lawrence scored on another 5-yard run on Sherwood’s next series. The Bowman tallied another touchdown when linebacker Jake Reimer intercepted a tipped pass and ran it back to make it 42-7.
Hermiston had a scoring drive thwarted when a fourth-and-goal pass fell incomplete in the end zone giving the Bowmen the ball at their own 9 late in the second quarter. Facing a fourth down of their own, Sherwood faked a punt attempt and converted it for a first down and new life that led to yet another score when Kevin Larkin connected with Nick Dickson at the 2, with Dickson running it in one play later to make it 49-7 at halftime.
Sherwood tacked on two more scores in the second half. Hermiston’s only scoring play in the second half came late in the game when a snap flew over the punter’s head and into the end zone for a safety.
The 63-9 win improves the Bowmen to 3-0 and drops Hermiston to 2-1. The Bulldogs host Lewiston next week.
