Riverhawk Football Team Wins Their First Game of the Season in a Shootout
Top ( L to R ) Coach Lamont Crichton-Tunai, Marquis Sagapolutele, Merik Peacock, Jaxon Pullen, coach Jacob Taase, Andre Niko, Anthony Jara, Riley Brock, Manatu Crichton-Tunai
Bottom ( L to R ) Joe Codding, Majestic I`aulualo, Chase Sam, Evan Baldy, Mynoah I`aulualo
By Xavier Orion Olaez
The Dalles Riverhawks football team played La Salle Prep on Friday, September 24th in Milwaukee, and oh boy it was a shootout with the Hawks winning 76-44. Coming into this game 0-2, the Hawks had some really tough losses and were needing a win to gain some confidence back. With coaches starting to make final position changes the team was getting way more comfortable. The Hawks racked up 720 total yards of offense which is unbelievably amazing.
The first quarter started a little slow for the Hawks on both sides of the ball. La Salle was on the board first with a field goal at the start of the first quarter. Riverhawks then fumbled the ball with La Salle recovering and La Salle took advantage by scoring off a pass and leading 10-0 in the first quarter. The Hawks came right back and drove the ball down the field and on La Salle’s 30-yard line quarterback Riley Brock hands it off to junior Manatu Crichton-Tunai who breaks a couple of tackles and runs it in for the touchdown. They didn’t succeed on the 2 point conversion making it 10-6 with La Salle leading still and after that, the first quarter ended.
The second quarter started with La Salle’s offense being shut down and the Hawks coming back on offense and scoring with senior Jaxon Pullen keeping it on a read-option and running 20 yards for the touchdown. They converted on the 2 pt conversion with a wild tip and the Hawks coming down with it making it 14-10 Hawks. La Salle then comes back and throws a deep ball that’s tipped by a Riverhawk but a La Salle receiver catches it and runs in for a touchdown. They converted on the PAT making it 17-14 with La Salle leading. The Dalles gets the kickoff and brings it to their own 45. Riley Brock then throws a screen pass to Jaxon Pullen who cooks the La Salle defense, scoring a 55-yard touchdown. They could not convert the 2 pt conversion making the score 20-17 with TD leading. The Hawks shut down their offense again and came back on offense and scored again with a wide receiver sweep by senior Riis LaRoux. They converted the 2 pt conversion making it 28-17 at the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, La Salle came out ready to score and scored off of a passing touchdown and getting the PAT making it 28-24. The Hawks came back on offense and moved the ball to La Salle’s 48-yard line when junior Quarterback Riley Brock Drops back and throws a 50-yard bomb to Jaxon Pullen who catches it over a defender and scores. One of the best throws I’ve seen in high school football. They didn’t convert on the 2 point conversion and that made the score 34-24. The defense shut down La Salle again and the Hawks got back on offense and kept scoring. Another touchdown pass to Jaxon Pullen and the PAT being made had the score at 41-24. La Salle then drove the ball down the field and scored and making the PAT with the ball game at 41-31 to end the third quarter.
The 4th quarter was a touchdown fest for the Hawks. It started off with Riley Brock keeping the ball and trucking a defender to score and the Hawks made the PAT with the score being 48-31. On defense, the Hawks were holding them and the next thing you know Jaxon Pullen picks it off and returns it 70 yards for a touchdown but was called back due to a roughing the passer penalty. La Salle capitalized on the penalty and ran in a touchdown but failed on the 2 pt play now making it 48-37 with the Hawks leading. La Salle couldn’t stop the Hawks's offense and scored again with Andre Niko stiff-arming a defender and scoring on a running play and our phenomenal kicker making the PAT again and the score is 56-37. Once again La Salle came back and scored another rushing touchdown and making the PAT with the score being 56-44. From then on it was all Riverhawks. The Hawks score again the next drive with a dump-off pass to Andre Niko. PAT was good making it 63-44. We shut down La Salle by making them fumble and the Hawks recovering. Senior Riis LaRoux then scores off of another sweep making the score 70-44. At the end of the game, junior Marquis Sagapolutele gets the ball and runs it up the middle breaking a couple of tackles and absolutely trucking the defender to score. Our kicker missed the pat and the final score was 76-44 with the Riverhawks winning.
Such an exciting game and a huge win for the Hawks with their record now being 1-2. I said the past couple of weeks that the team is young and will make mistakes but they’'ll get comfortable soon and that's exactly what happened Friday night. Super impressed with this team and especially their offense. Manatu Crichton-Tunai ran for 213 yards and so many other Hawks ran for big yards. The o-line was fantastic and should get a lot of praise for the team’s success. The Hawks play next Friday against Pendleton in Pendleton at 7 Pm.
