By ANNIE FOWLER, The CUJ
BEND — Missed opportunities in the red zone, a blocked PAT and a late interception hurt Pendleton/Nixyaawii in a 21-20 nonleague loss Friday, Sept. 6, to 5A Caldera.
“We are young and inexperienced,” Bucks coach Erik Davis said. “We will figure it out at some point. “They (Caldera) had a good game plan defensively. They double and triple teamed Mason Strong, and rightly so after last week.”
Tugg McQuinn scored on a 70-yard pass from Colson Primus, and Dakota Malin scored on a fumble recovery as the Bucks (0-2) and Wolfpack were tied 14-14 at the half.
Caldera took a 21-14 lead after three quarters as the Bucks struggled offensively.
“We just couldn’t get much going offensively,” Davis said. “We just didn’t click. It didn’t feel like Week 1, where I thought we had a grasp on things. We were inside the 6 twice and came away with no points. We need to finish in the red zone.”
The Bucks scored in the fourth quarter as Keegan Kline hauled in a touchdown pass from Primus, but the PAT was blocked, leaving the Wolfpack with a one-point lead.
“I think it’s good for the young kids to see that it’s not all Xs and Os, but special teams as well,” Davis said. “One little thing can put you behind the eight ball.”
The Bucks still had a shot late in the game, but squandered the opportunity.
“We had the ball with a minute to go and turned the ball over with an interception,” Davis said. “Moving forward, we need to work on finishing a game. There are some growing pains. We are going to prepare for Redmond.”
Primus completed 12 of 24 passes for 164 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. McQuinn caught five passes for 91 yards, while Strong had two catches for 37 yards. McQuinn also ran for 53 yards on 22 carries.
Defensively, Landon Van Pelt and Zannan Bane each had five tackles, while Kline had four. Van Pelt also had a fumble recovery, while Aidan Perkins had a quarterback sack.
COLLEGE PLACE (WA) 27, WESTON-MCEWEN 26 — Three missed extra point attempts in the first half came back to haunt the TigerScots in a nonleague road loss to the Hawks.
“The kids played tough,” W-M coach Morgan Dunlap said. “College Place was a good team. We had lots of injuries, but had our chances to win.”
Playing an 11-man format, Weston-McEwen scored on its first possession of the game, but missed the PAT for a 6-0 lead. The Hawks came back with a touchdown to take a 7-6 lead.
The TigerScots scored twice more in the first half, and had an 18-14 lead at the half.
College Place scored twice to open the third quarter, taking a 27-18 lead with a 1:53 left in the quarter.
W-M scored with 9:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, and converted the 2-point conversion, to pull within 27-26.
Neither team would score the rest of the way as the Hawks held on for the win.
Jace Dunlap, Easton Berry, Maddox King and A’Tish Williams all scored touchdowns for the TigerScots, while defensively, Lokaa Tso had an interception.
BOYS SOCCER
RIVERSIDE 8, PENDLETON 1 — The Pirates scored five unanswered goals in the second half to hand the host Bucks a nonleague loss.
“We had a rough game, but there are some good takeaways for the future,” Pendleton coach Evan Brandhagen said.
Colin Harrington scored Pendleton’s lone goal in the first half as the Bucks trailed 3-1 at intermission. Goalkeeper Jared Pace had 12 saves for the Bucks (0-4).
Hugo Ceron and Francisco Jimenez each had two goals each for the Pirates (1-2), while Martin Landeros, Shalom Mendoza, Jose Flores and Edgar Gutierrez each had one. Keeper Hector Magallanes had six saves.
