East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Halfway through the first quarter, Hermiston found itself in an early hole. Hood River Valley had just tossed a touchdown on third and goal and split the uprights on the extra point to give themselves an early 7-6 lead over the home team.
The lead didn’t last long, as the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-0 CRC) scored 28 more points by halftime to pull away from the Eagles on their way to a 55-14 homecoming blowout at Kennison Field on Friday.
Hermiston head coach Mark Hodges wasn’t worried about trailing early. He shook off the notion as quickly as his squad shook off opposing defenders.
“We seem to be slow starters sometimes, especially defensively, I don’t know why,” Hodges said. “We pick it up as we go along and pretty soon we had no trouble and they couldn’t run the ball ... It’s weird, it’s like a switch flips. If you were watching it out there all of a sudden it was like, ‘OK we’re going to play football now.’ ”
The Bulldogs rode running back Bobby Adams all the way to the top as the senior visited the end zone four times and broke the 300-yard rushing mark, his fifth consecutive game over 200 yards.
Adams’ runs mirrored the halftime firework display: some were quick bursts while others bounced around making loud bangs. And several of the explosions left the crowd in awe.
“We out physicalled them all night long,” Adams said of his team’s running game on the night. “We picked up well.”
Adams was far from the only Bulldog to reach the end zone.
Quarterback Alex Campbell tossed a pair of touchdowns while throwing the ball only a handful of times. With a running game performing miracles on nearly every drive, Campbell said his job was to dictate the pass and be efficient.
“It’s extremely easy on me,” Campbell said. “I just have to do my job and make sure I don’t drop the ball, just take care of it.”
The Hermiston passing game took a couple long shots that were set up by play action, including touchdown strikes of 37 yards to Jerod Munsterman and 29 yards to Rique Cardenas.
Coach Hodges said despite the gawdy numbers the offense put up, he was equally as proud of his defense. Bulldog defenders picked off Hood River Valley quarterback Cody Walker three times, including two from sophomore Costa Rodriguez.
Rodriguez returned one pick for a score while the other, in the defending end zone, prevented one.
“That’s a really good offense and to only give up 14 points, I can’t say who I’m more proud of,” Hodges said. “We were physical all the way around.”
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HERMISTON 55,
HOOD RIVER VALLEY 14
HRV (1-6, 0-2 CRC) 7 0 7 0 — 14
HHS (5-2, 2-0 CRC) 6 29 20 0 — 55
First Quarter
HHS — Rique Cardenas 11 yard run (PAT no good), 9:56
HRV — Cole Hunter 6 yard pass from Cody Walker ( PAT good), 5:51
Second Quarter
HHS — Bobby Adams 25 yard run (2 PT good), 11:15
HHS — Adams 1 yard run (PAT good), 10:08
HHS — Adams 66 yard run (PAT good), 6:48
HHS — Jerod Munsterman 37 yard pass from Campbell (PAT no good), 0:50
Third Quarter
HRV — Milo Herman 40 yard run (PAT good), 11:29
HHS — Adams 33 yard run (2 PT good), 8:49
HHS — Cardenas 13 yard pass from Campbell (PAT good), 6:21
HHS — Costa Rodriguez 29 yard interception return (PAT no good), 5:20
Individual Statistics
RUSHING — HRV (34-168, TD): Milo Herman 13-90, TD; Gabi Nuno 11-42; Eli Fults 2-25; Wyatt Webber 1-18; Kyle Beam 3-7; Jeremy Fischer 1-(-2); Cody Walker 3-(-12). HHS (46-336, 5 TD): Bobby Adams 34-305, 4 TD; DRique Cardenas 4-18, TD; Sterling Hall 2-10; Jacob Harmon 6-3.
PASSING — HRV (18-33, 164, TD, 3 INT): Cody Walker 17-32, 155, TD, 3 INT; Kyle Bean 1-1 9. HHS (7-9, 154, 2 TD): Alex Campbell 7-9, 154, 2 TD.
RECEIVING — HRV: Malcolm McCurdy 5-84; Cole Hunter 3-35, TD; Kyle Beam 3-20; Eli Fults 2-18; Bagi Nuno 3-3; Milo Herman 2-2. HHS: Alex Ortiz 3-74; Jerod Munsterman 1-37, TD; Rique Cardenas 1-29, TD; David PBarnett 1-16; Bobby Adams 1-(-2).
Penalties-Yards — HRV: 5-37. HHS: 5-35.