NYSSA – The Bulldogs jumped on top of the visiting Caldwell Cougars early but were forced to hold back a late-game rally by the visitors to post a 28-20 nonleague victory in prep football action Friday night.
The Bulldogs led 22-7 – on touchdowns by Mason Thompson, Kayno Flores and Franny Miranda – at halftime but watched the Cougars cut the margin to 22-20 with 4:12 to go in the final stanza.
On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Spencer Tracy ran the ball back 90 yards for a touchdown and a 28-20 Nyssa win.
Tracy’s run was key, said Nyssa coach Lance Lovitt.
“That got us back into it,” said Lovitt.
Lovitt said the Bulldogs played especially well in the first half.
Still he said, there is work to be done.
“We are teaching these guys how to close out a game,” said Lovitt.
Nyssa (1-1) will take on Melba Friday night at 7 p.m. at Nyssa High School.
Meanwhile, Vale dominated New Plymouth in a game played in Fruitland Friday night.
The Vikings posted a 41-14 nonleague win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Eli Aldred piled up 142 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown to spearhead the Viking offensive attack while quarterback Colton Stepleton scored two touchdowns, amassed 88 yards on the ground and finished the night 8 of 17 for 74 yards. Kase Schaffeld ended the night with 60 yards rushing for Vale.
“We started a little bit slow,” said Vale coach Jeff Aldred.
The Vikings fumbled twice in the first quarter and the first miscue led to a Pilgrim touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Then the Vikings turned on the juice. Vale dominated the rest of the game and led 20-7 at halftime and 33-7 at the end of the third quarter.
“We handled adversity well. After those two fumbles in the first quarter we didn’t panic,” said Aldred.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Vikings (2-0). Friday night the Vikings face 3A Baker in a homecoming game and then on Sept. 23 Vale will face Melba in Melba in a nonleague contest.
“We are going into a couple of tough weeks, back to back. We got to make sure we are on our game,” said Aldred.
In other prep football action Friday night: La Grande defeated Ontario 62-30 while in 1A action, Adrian swamped Pilot Rock 96-0 Sept. 8 and Joseph beat Harper Charter 32-12 in six-man grid play Friday.
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