Nine Tigers ready to tame season

Published 2:19 pm Tuesday, September 20, 2016

A young Monument/Dayville Tiger football team is ready to let their hard work play out on the field this season.

Although the team was handed a 56-24 loss by McKenzie in their first game Sept. 3 at the Dufur Classic, Tiger head coach Nathaniel Ashley had plenty of praise for his athletes.

“We lost but played really good,” he said. “I was happy with a lot of the things we did.”

Monument/Dayville, a junior varsity team, ran the eight-man game with eight players — one was out due to injury — against McKenzie’s varsity team of 12.

“That says a lot about them and their dedication as a team,” Ashley said of his athletes.

Tiger senior Tanner Walczyk played quarterback for the first time.

“He did very well for us in the game,” Ashley said.

He said the team made a few mistakes, and they’re ironing those out in practice, as well as shuffling some positions. The player out with an injury is now back in the game, and another player may join the line, the coach said.

Ashley, in his sixth year coaching the team, is joined by second-year assistant coach Darrin Dailey.

The roster consists of two freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and three seniors, and six are returning players. The seniors, all returners, are Walczyk, Jess Hoodenpyl and GW Clark.

Walczyk said although they have a young team this year, he’s excited for the season.

“We’re doing a good job of executing,” he said. “I’ve known all these kids since we were little.”

Hoodenpyl, a running back, said it’s been fun tackling and working on their plays.

“I’m looking forward to hitting and running the ball,” he said.

GW Clark, who finished 10th in steer wrestling at the Oregon High School Rodeo Finals in June, is a guard in his third year on the football team.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids, and we hope to get them started,” he said. “We hope to have a good and safe year.”

In the 1A Special District 1, the Tigers will face Prairie City/Burnt River, Adrian, Harper/Huntington and Crane. They’re also scheduled to face nonleague South Wasco County.

Ashley said he thinks Crane could be their toughest opponent, but he knows little about their junior varsity team, since this is the first year the Tigers moved from varsity to junior varsity.

As for his own team, Ashley said the athletes have varied backgrounds with the sport.

“We’re split between players with experience and inexperienced players,” Ashley said. “We only have nine guys, and they are all hard-working kids. Everybody seems to be stepping up.”

The Tigers will face Prairie City/Burnt River’s junior varsity team at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in Unity.

“We’re just getting ready for it as best we can and working hard,” Ashley said.

Sept. 23: @ Prairie City/Burnt River in Unity, 1 p.m.

Sept. 30: @ Adrian, 6 p.m. (Pacific Time)

Oct. 7: @ South Wasco in Maupin, 7 p.m.

Oct. 14: @ Harper/Huntington in Huntington, 1 p.m.

Oct. 20: vs. Crane in Monument, 1 p.m.

Oct. 28: vs. TBA in Dayville (senior recognition), TBA