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LA GRANDE – “When you give a good team a short field, you are going to lose.”
Sound words from Vale Head Coach Jeff Aldred. With the La Grande Tigers football team capitalizing on five Vale Viking turnovers, the Tigers rolled to a 37-12 win on Friday, Sept. 17 in La Grande.
The Tigers started quickly, taking the opening kickoff and driving the field for a quick score. The first possession by the Vikings turned ugly with a fumble picked up by the Tigers. La Grande wasted no time in picking up their second score and with Vale only touching the ball for one offensive possession, La Grande led by two scores.
The Tigers continued to roll in the first half, putting up 17 points in the opening quarter and adding another score in the second quarter.
La Grande was able to put up 158 yards of total offense in the first half on their way to 282 yards of total offense for the game.
The Tigers added 13 additional points in the second half while Vale finally found the end zone for one score in the third quarter and adding an additional score in the final quarter.
La Grande quarterback Logan Williams was 9-for-16 in the air and picked up 51 yards on 13 carries and a score. Cesar Rodriguez handled the ball 15 times, picking up 49 yards while finding the end zone once.
The Tigers were balanced offensively, rushing for 121 yards in the game and 161 yards in the air.
“La Grande is just very deep and very talented,” said Aldred.
The Vale offense garnered 249 yards of total offense, but managed only 51 of those in the first half. Tanner Steele threw for 195 yards, going 11-for-23, but was picked off three times. John Wolfe had five catches totaling 121 yards and Nathan Kimball ended his night with 60 yards on nine rushes.
“We really had a fantastic practice on Tuesday and then things just started going wrong,” Aldred said. “We had a flu bug hit the team and some injuries. I think our offensive line improved greatly in this game and I was please to see the work of Adam Diaz and am excited he is playing. He has not played football since middle school and shows great things on the field.”
