Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008

Hermiston falls to Glencoe

LAWRENCE KREIFELS SPECIAL TO THE HERALD

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- The Hermiston Bulldogs ran into a team with nine lives Friday night.

With a four-point lead on Glencoe with just over two minutes to play, Faafiula Ena -- punting from his own 44 -- drilled a low kick right into the teeth of the onrushing Crimson Tide defense.

Glencoe's Sean LaRue recovered it and the Tide rolled into the end zone for the

30-27 Oregon 5A quarterfinal win at Hare Field.

"Give them credit," said Hermiston coach Mark Hodges. "They came out and executed well enough to win and I think we did, too."

LaRue's recovery gave the Tide the ball at the Bulldogs' 35-yard line.

Hermiston forced a fourth-and-4, but Glencoe quarterback Conor Lien connected with Nick Marinello, who rumbled all the way to the 1.

However, a flag was thrown and it appeared at first that the play would come back.

After much discussion by the referees, the flag was waived off and Glencoe's Cole Johnson pounded into the end zone for the game-winner on the next play.

"It came down to the refs making the calls at the end," Ena said. "We could only do so much. We weren't getting the same calls they were getting. The refs didn't help us at all."

Glencoe led 23-14 going into the final quarter, but Ena connected with Luis Ortiz with a floater in the end zone over Glencoe's Brian Linhares, pulling the Bulldogs within three with 10 minutes to play.

Then Hermiston's Nate Barak recovered a Kyle Hogan fumble, setting up Tyler Green's 3-yard run for a 27-23 Hermiston lead with 6:12 left in the game.

But for the second week in a row, seventh-ranked Glencoe (10-3) got the ball back late and made it look easy on offense.

Last Friday at Madison, Glencoe's Alex Davais recovered a Madison fumble to set up Hogan's game-winning touchdown in the closing seconds.

"They kept controlling the ball the whole night," Green said. "It doesn't feel good. I wish we could go back and change stuff, but we can't, so we'll move on."

"My mom came up to me after the game and said, 'I think I had a heart attack,' " said Hogan, whose team now advances to take on Thurston in the semifinals next Friday at Hare Field.

The fifth-ranked Bulldogs, winners of four straight entering Friday's game, were in just their second-ever quarterfinals appearance.

"I really felt like we were going to win the game," Hodges said. "I knew all we needed was a stop because I didn't feel like they could stop us."