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John L. Braese
LA GRANDE – Vale senior Kase Schaffeld continues to pound over opponent defenses. After leading the entire state in rushing yards last week with 252, Schaffeld dialed it back some on Friday, Sept.6, finishing with 130 yards and leading 3A Vale to a 30-8 victory over 4A La Grande in nonleague play.
Schaffeld hit the Tiger defense on 20 carries, scoring one of Vale’s touchdowns on the night. Senior Landon Haberman used one of his five carries to walk into the endzone for a second Viking score, ending his game with a total of 72 yards.
The Vikings pounded the La Grande defense for 207 yards on the ground game.
Vale’s Canon Hiatt picked up his first varsity touchdown of his career, a stunning catch in the back corner of the endzone versus good coverage by the La Grande secondary. Senior Skylar Cade added to his career touchdown catches with the second of Vale’s scores through the air.
If one dent can be found in a stellar Vale performance on both sides of the ball, the Vikings struggled with yellow flags, picking up 136 yards of penalties 13 errors. On two occasions, Vale faced a third down and over 30 yards due to penalties.
The Viking defense held La Grande to nine yards of total offense in the second half with the Tigers managing a lone score in the second quarter and only 159 yards of total offense for the game.
Junior quarterback Mathias Fields saw little time to get the ball off and finished with two interceptions while finishing 8-for-17 for 140 yards. The Tiger ground game never could get going against the Vale front line, finishing with 19 total yards on 29 attempts for the game.
La Grande (1-1 overall) attempts to regroup with the team’s first road game of the year on Friday, Sept. 13 in Tillamook (0-2 overall). The Cheeseheads are back home after a 13-42 road loss to Marist Catholic.
Vale (2-0 overall) is home for the first game this season, welcoming 4A Ontario on Friday, Sept. 13. Ontario makes the short trip after overwhelming Nyssa, 49-0 in a mercy-rule shortened game.
Photo courtesy of Jessie Cox and sponsored by Schaffeld Ranches
