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John L. Braese
ADRIAN – Approximately at the halfway mark of the season, EOS was speaking with junior lineman Tyler Mundlin of the Adrian Antelopes. The Lopes had just finished a win on the Adrian home field and Mundlin was standing with his parents and girlfriend.
“It just feels right,” said Mundlin. “We are going to be the state champs.”
A few weeks later, a group of Antelope football players were catching a game in Vale during a bye week.
“We are playing better than ever,” said senior Rance Jordan. “The whole team can feel just how far we can go this year.”
His teammates surrounding agreed.
Mundlin and Jordan were correct. Adrian is the 1A 8-Man State Champions after a 66-12 overwhelming win over North Douglas on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Summit High School.
Adrian struck early and often with Jordan placing the first points on the board with a 70-yard TD run on only the second play of offense by the Lopes at the 9 minute, 7 second mark. Less than three minutes later, Jordan tacked on his second score, a 24-yard scamper. Colten Bayes upped the score to a three-touchdown lead on an 8-yard run and with just under four minutes left in the first quarter, Adrian was up 20-0.
After a score by North Douglas, Jordan scored his third score of the quarter on a 50-yard run. With just one quarter played, the Lopes led 28-6.
The second quarter saw much of the same as Adrian extended their margin on a 24-yard scoring run by Colten Bayes and on a what appeared to be a run play from the six-inch line on the North Douglas goal line, coach Billy Wortman called a pass play of one yard from Trey Bayes to Brooks Martin. The two teams hit the locker room with Adrian leading 42-6.
A running clock in the second half did little to slow down the Lope offense. The third quarter saw Kash Morford jump into the scoring on a one-yard push and Colten Bayes placed Adrian up 50-12 off a 14-yard run. He also added the final score of the game, a 46-yard run in the fourth quarter.
In total, the Antelope offense finished with 509 total yards with 481 of those on the ground game. In addition to the long runs for touchdowns, Adrian scored on each trip to the red zone, going 4-for-4. No scoring drive by the Lopes took over four minutes off the clock.
Not to be overlooked, the Adrian defense held North Douglas to only 161 total yards of offense. The Warrior offense had entered the championship game after scoring over 50 or more points in 10 of the team’s 11 games during the season. This included a 90-point game versus Riddle and three 80-plus point showings.
Mannie Mulrony was a nightmare for the North Douglas offense as the sophomore Antelope had 11 tackles on the day. Zeke Bayes added nine tackles, seven of those solo and Kash Morford was one behind with eight tackles, four of those solo.
For his efforts on both sides of the ball, Jordan was named Player of the Game after 220 all purpose yards including 209 rushing yards and 20 receiving yards. Throughout the game, it appeared numerous plays were over only for Jordan to continue for an additional five or ten yards, dragging Warrior defenders with him.
Colten Bayes wrapped up his day with 20 carries for 211 yards and four trips to the end zone. Sophomore quarterback Trey Bayes went 4-for-8 passing for 28 yards and a score.
With all the scoring came numerous kickoffs with Silvestre Rico sending 10 kicks off the tee with an average of 37.9 yards per kick.
Can the Lopes pull the repeat next year? Wortman will take his Adrian players to the field next fall without the services of only four seniors, Colten Bayes, Zeke Bayes, Jordan (an Eastern Oregon University commit) and Derek Faulconer.
