TDHS Football Team Loses a Heartbreaker on Senior Night
The Riverhawks running onto the field.
By Xavier Orion Olaez
The Dalles Riverhawks football team played against the Rex Putnam Kingsmen last Friday night in The Dalles. It was a cold night and senior night for the 7 seniors on the team. It was also the last game of the season for the team and they were ready to go out there and win. Unfortunately, they lost 55-41.
Seniors Majestic I`aloualo, Jaxon Pullen, Chase Sam, Mattieu Polliard, Lance Parke, William Ione, and Riis La Roux were emotional before and after their game as it was their last home game and high school game in general. They’ve been together from the start and were ready to finish together.
Senior Jaxon Pullen doing anything he can to score.
The first quarter went by very fast with both defenses shutting each other down. The only score came from Rex Putnam on a 20-yard touchdown run. They made the PAT and the score was 7-0. The first quarter ended with Rex Putnam having the ball in the Hawks's Redzone.
The second quarter started off with a Rex Putnam touchdown as they have a quick 5 yard run into the endzone and they made the PAT so the score sat at 14-0. The Hawks didn’t let that bring them down as they drove the ball down the field and sophomore running back Andre Niko ran in a 11-yard touchdown to get on the board. They didn’t get the 2 point conversion making the score 14-6 with Rex Putnam still leading. Rex Putnam came right back and scored another touchdown but this time the receiver was wide open for a passing touchdown. They made the PAT and were leading 21-6. The Hawks came right back down and had a great trick play up their sleeve with quarterback Jaxon Pullen pitching it to running back Manatu Crichton-Tunai who then dropped back and passed it to Pullen who ran it in for a touchdown. They got the 2 point conversion and the score was 21-14 and the hawks were making a comeback. A couple of drives later Rex Putnam ran in another touchdown but missed the PAT and at halftime, it was 27-14
The Hawks were on a mission coming out of the locker room at halftime. They got the ball at their 34 yard line and on the first play sophomore running back, Andre Niko Runs 66 yards for a touchdown. They made the PAT and it was a one-score game at 27-21. But Rex Putnam wasn’t ready to give up and came back with a rushing touchdown of their own and making the PAT they were up by two scores again 34-21. The rest of the 3rd quarter was a slugfest with both defenses making stops.
The fourth quarter started off with another Riverhawk touchdown with Riley Brock throwing a beautiful pass to Jaxon Pullen in the end zone. They made the PAT and the score was 34-28. It was a close game and an exciting one at this point. But Rex Putnam wasn’t giving up either and scored two straight times off rushing touchdowns and took a 20 point lead at 48-28. The Hawks did everything they could to fight back with Andre Niko scoring another rushing touchdown and breaking the lead to two scores. But Rex Putnam came right back and drove the ball down the field and scored a big rushing touchdown to get that 20 point lead back. With not that much time left the Hawks still worked hard to score again and made it to the redzone where they gave the ball to senior lineman Majestic I`aloaulo and he scored his first and last touchdown. He walked to the sideline with his head held high and tears down his face as all the emotions hit him. The game ended with the Hawks losing 55-41 in a hard fought game.
The team met in the endzone and the coaches gave their final words telling them how proud they were and how they’ll work hard in the offseason and thanked the seniors for everything. The team broke their huddle some more time and hugged each other. It was an emotional ending to the season but the team should be proud of how hard they worked and how well they did. They ended the season 2-6. Go Hawks!
