Tigers: Purrrfect
Ontario steamrolls Baker, improves to 8-0
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Sunday, October 21, 2007 1:03 AM PDT
Ontario - Make it eight straight for the Tigers and the first in the Greater Oregon League. The Ontario Tigers continue to dominate their opponents as they dismantled the Baker Bulldogs Friday night 56-14. Give the defense the credit for setting the tone early.
The Tiger D scored twice and set up a third score and did it all in the first half of play. Head coach Randy Waite took advantage of the early lead and got the offense into the two-minute drill so the team could get it in during a game situation.
“We have not had the opportunity to run our two-minute offense this year, so I ran one series of it so we could see where we are with it,” Waite said.
The Tigers jumped on the Bulldogs in the first quarter with 21 points. Loren Stewart got things started with a 10 yard run, Matt Mauney added a 2-yard run before Stewart reeled off an impressive 91-yard sprint down the sidelines in front of the Bulldogs bench.
Stewart picked up where he left off in the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown to start the second quarter to give the Tigers a 28-0 lead.
Stewart finished the game with 135 yards on seven carries.
Then it was the defense’s turn. With Baker deep in its own end of the field, the Tiger defense hit the ball carrier and stood him up while other Tiger defenders took swipes at the ball and knocked it to the turf where Bryson Sap scooped it up and trotted, untouched, 28 yards for the score.
Sap got in on the next Tiger touchdown as well when he went to the air and threw a perfect ball to the corner of the end zone to Ryan Laubacher who leaped high into the air and came down with not one but both feet in the end zone giving the Tigers a huge 42-0 lead with 6:33 to play in the opening half.
Sap connected on 5-of-7 passing for 117 yards and a touchdown in the win.
On the next Bulldog possession, the Tiger defense attacked once again. Chad Allen reached in and took the ball away from the Bulldogs running back and returned it 19 yards to paydirt and a 49-0 Tiger lead.
Baker’s problems did not end there. On its next possession the Bulldogs were forced to punt and what looked like what was going to be a good kick that would pin the Tigers back in their own territory turned out to be anything but.
Stewart watched the ball bounce on the grass a few times before he rushed in scooping the ball off the grass and bolted 74 yards for the touchdown and extended the Tiger lead to 56 points and four-plus minutes left on the clock.
Kicker Jacob Haueter was perfect on the night going 8-for-8 and tried a record setting 52-yard field goal, but the kick partially blocked by a Bulldog defender.
Waite opted to send in the second team players at that point, and that is when the Bulldogs scored.
Baker completed a huge 40-yard pass late in the second quarter to set up a first-and-goal from the Tigers four yard line.
The Tiger defense could not keep them out, and on a third-and-goal Baker was finally on the board, trailing 56-7. Baker added another score in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we came out with a lot of intensity and we did a great job on defense and offense in the first and second quarters and it gave us a big lead,” Waite said. “The defense definitely took over the game for us and it was exciting to see. ”
The Tigers will be on the road for their final two regular season games. This Friday they will travel to Mac-Hi, who lost its conference opener to La Grande Friday 28-7.
“We have two conference games left and we will take them one at a time. We are excited about the challenge of playing these final two games on the road,” Waite said.
The Mac-Hi game will kick off at 8 p.m. MST.
