LA GRANDE – For lovers of defense and the ground game, the place to be was La Grande on Friday night as the Tigers advance to semifinals of the 4A football state championships after a 14-0 win over the Gladstone Gladiators.
The two teams combined for only three passes for a total of 49 yards in the entire game. A total of only 14 passes were thrown during the rainy game.
Each team ran the ball 39 times. La Grande put up 282 yards on the ground while the Tiger defense held the Gladiators to 126 yards on Gladstone’s 39 attempts.
La Grande’s Nathan Reed picked up both scores on the night, amassing 188 yards. Reed’s first score came early in the second quarter as La Grande went 97 yards in nine plays. Reed went in on an 8-yard rush, putting the Tigers up 7-0 at the half.
The second score came after La Grande marched 70 yards in 10 plays with Reed finding the end zone on a 6-yard run early in the third quarter.
The two teams were not strangers coming into the game. Gladstone, on a late field goal last season, knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs in quarterfinal action last year.
La Grande now waits for an opponent as number 15 Tillamook visits number 10 The Dalles on Saturday. The winner will take on the Tigers.
