What looked to be another defeat for the Wallowa Cougars turned into a win for the struggling team Friday afternoon as they downed the Adrian Antelopes 36-28.

The turning point for the Cougars came midway through the third quarter on a fourth down punt by the Antelopes. Cougar defensive lineman Drew Mahon shot the gap for the block giving Wallowa the ball on the Antelope 30. Mahon’s defensive efforts re-energized the Cougar squad which was trailing in the contest 28-20.

A pass interference call on the Antelopes gave the Cougars the ball on the Adrian 10.

Two plays later junior running back Randy Spaur broke through the interior line driving into the endzone for the score.

On the PAT Wallowa quarterback Jeff Kendall kept the ball on a sweep to tie the contest at 28 all with 10:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Antelopes were pinned deep in their own territory by an illegal block in the back on the ensuing kick off. An energized Cougar defense rose to the occasion forcing Adrian to again punt. The Cougars took over on the 50 yard line and on the first play from scrimmage Spaur shot around the left side of the line dodging defenders to strike paydirt to give Wallowa the lead 34-28. The Cougars successfully went for the two point conversion on a halfback option pass play from Spaur to Ryan Harshfield upping the score to 36-28 with 7:44 remaining in the contest.

Adrian drove to the Wallowa 10 yard line late in the contest after a Wallowa fumble but was unable to cross the goal line with the Cougars taking over on downs.

Cougar running back Randy Spaur had an impressive game for the Cougars, racking up 208 yards on 28 carries.

“I was really worried at half time,” said Wallowa coach Greg Oveson. “I didn’t see much spark in the kids and really didn’t feel that the team thought that they could win this game,” he added.

According to Oveson the defense started hitting people and not just grabbing jerseys in the second half. “I think that we wore them out in the first half. They looked to me like they were really tired and our kids seemed to get stronger,” he said.

Grant Union plucks Eagles

Reality seemed like a bad dream for the Joseph Eagles Friday night as they were pummeled by the Grant Union Prospectors 56-12 in Wapiti League action at Joseph.

The Prospectors scored on their first possession at the 10:21 mark of the first quarter on an eight yard burst up the middle by junior fullback Cody Frazier.

G.U. continued their onslaught with 5:34 remaining in the first on a pitch from QB Trevor Simmons to Brandon Hueckman. The senior plowed his way nine yard to the score giving the Prospectors a 13-0 advantage.

A flat Eagle squad had no answers for Grant Unions offensive attack. The Prospectors flexed their muscle again with :48 seconds remaining in the first quarter on a short QB keeper over the middle by Simmons upping the score to 20-0.

Billy Colson did the damage on the Prospectors’ fourth score. Colson shot through the Eagles secondary on a 15 yard run at the 11:54 mark of the second quarter to give G.U. a commanding 27-0 lead.

Frazier and Colson out maneuvered Joseph’s defense late in the second quarter on a one foot dive and 15 yard screen pass TD respectively to give the Prospectors a 40-0 lead on what looked to be a shut out.

That was not to be. Joseph running back Dusty Witherrite energized the Eagles on a 45 yard breakaway run giving Joseph the ball on the GU 22. Two plays later the Eagles were in the endzone to prevent the shutout 40-6.

Joseph defensive back Cole Lathrop picked off a Simmons pass early in the third period. Eagle sophomore quarterback Kyle Hook connected with Chris Garrett on a 50 yard pass run play to put the Eagles in scoring position on the Grant Union nine yard line but the Eagles were unable to capitalize, losing the ball on downs.

The Prospectors drove the length of the field to punch the ball over the line on a 11 yard run by Frazier extending their lead to 47-6 with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter.

The Eagles got back on track again with time running out in the quarter on a 40 yard scoring pass from Hook to Garrett with 1:27 remaining to change the score to 47-12. The Prospectors added three on a field goal with a minute remaining in the third and finished out the contest with a 24 yard run back by Hueckman on a pass interception to win the game 56-12.

“It’s a learning experience for our sophomore quarterback Kyle Hook,” said Joseph coach Rusty Eschler.

The Eagles’ first string QB Randall Eschler broke his hand in the game last weekend at Union.

Coach Eschler was optimistic that Randall would return to play in a running back capacity next week if x-rays show that his hand had stabilized.

Score by quarter:

Joseph: 0 6 6 0 = 12

Grant Union: 20 20 9 7 = 56

Individual statistics

RUSHING: JHS; Witherrite 13/79, Garrett 4/9, Barstad 3/3, Hook 8/-26.

Grant Union: Hueckman-19/132, 1TD; Frazier-11/37, 3 TD’s; Simmons- 8/31, 1TD.

PASSING:JHS; Hook 3/11/142 1-TD 3-INT. Grant Union; Simmons 13/17/251 2 TD’s 1 INT

RECEIVING; JHS; Barstad 1/31, Garrett 2/111; Grant Union: Schmadeka 7/137; Colson 4/72 2 TD’s; Hueckman 1/23 1TD.

Panthers maul Enterprise 33-7

Enterprise’s football woes continued Friday afternoon with a 33-7 mauling at the hands of the Imbler Panthers in Wapiti League play. The loss dropped EHS to 0-3 in league action and 1-4 overall for the season while increasing Imbler’s record to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in league.

“Imbler’s defense was tough. We were able to marched up and down the field but our drives would stall inside of the 20 yard line,” said EHS coach Randy Morgan.

The Panthers mounted a convincing ground attack racking up 328 total yards on the turf including five touchdown runs.

Running backs Justin Volle and Steven Skillings inflicted the majority of Imbler’s damage on the Red and Black. Volle ran the ball for 196 yards on 15 carries including two touchdowns of six and 55 yards. Skillings racked up 113 yards on 13 carries and two back-to-back scores of 60 and 40 yards.

Enterprise’s only score of the contest came on a 15 yard toss from QB James Huffman to Grady Rawls with 19 seconds left in the half to narrow Imblers lead to 27-7.

” We showed improvement. I was proud of the kids. They kept going hard even though we were behind,” Morgan said.