La Grande’s Dominic Fields (7) scored the second touchdown of the game Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, against Pendleton High School at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

LA GRANDE – La Grande football fans were a happy group for the first half of the annual Tigers versus Buckaroos game on Friday, Oct. 20 on the Tigers’ home field. The La Grande offense put up a quick 14 points and the Tiger defense held Pendleton scoreless. Those happy faces turned sour in the second half as Pendleton rattled off 33 unanswered points to take a 33-14 4A Special District 5 victory.

Carter Peasley was back at the helm of the Tiger offense for his first complete game since returning from injury. However, a fumbled kickoff return and special teams allowing a Pendleton/Nixyaawii score on a punt return in the second half were evidence of the team’s youth showing in the loss.

“We just killed ourselves,” said La Grande coach Dalton Sheets. “The other thing was we just don’t have the depth to stay with Pendleton. Our starters matched up well, but they (Pendleton) were able to substitute in a high caliber of players during the game. They also made some good adjustments at the half.”

Sheets said he was impressed with the effort of sophomore Landon Hood for the Tigers on both sides of the ball.

“He really stepped up for us,” Sheets said. “Our youngness really showed up in this game.”

No individual statistics were available for the loss.

La Grande (2-6 overall, 1-3 4A Special District 5) is back at home again on Friday, Oct. 27 welcoming the other Tigers of the league, Ontario (5-3, 1-3) with a kickoff time of 7 p.m.

“It is great to be home for a second week and I think we match up really well against a team like Ontario,” said Sheets.