Grant Union defenders work to keep a Umatilla runner out of the end zone during their league game on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022 in John Day.

Nine-man football finally made its debut in John Day. The result wasn’t what local fans might’ve wanted as the Umatilla Vikings capitalized on five Grant Union turnovers to blank the Pros 44-0 in their 2022 season home opener on Friday, Sept. 16, at Grant Union High School.

The Vikings would score on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. In an event that would play out many times throughout the contest, Umatilla would recover a Grant Union fumble late in the first quarter to take possession and carry a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.

The Vikings would go on to complete passes of 33 and 7 yards to find the end zone and take a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter. After failing to get anything going on offense, the Grant Union defense took the field again, looking to hold the Vikings out of the end zone.

This time the Prospector defense rose up, stopping the Vikings on fourth down in the red zone to take possession of the ball with seemingly new life in the contest. The momentum was short-lived, however, as a stripped ball and recovery set the Vikings up on the 13-yard line with momentum back on their side.

The very next play following the fumble recovery resulted in a touchdown pass for Umatilla to push their lead to 21-0 with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

The score would remain 21-0 until the third quarter, when Umatilla would again find the end zone through the air, this time via a 19-yard touchdown strike. The extra point attempt was blocked by the Pros to keep the game at 27-0 with 6:54 left in the third quarter.

The following Prospector possession would result in another turnover, this time near midfield. The Grant Union defense was able to keep Umatilla from moving the ball in the subsequent series, but a well-placed punt pinned the Pros back inside the 5-yard line for their upcoming possession.

What followed was a series of unfortunate circumstances that doomed any chance the Pros had of clawing their way back into the contest.

Following the punt, the Vikings would tackle the Pro ball carrier in the end zone. The result was a safety, two points added to the scoreboard for the Vikings and possession of the ball. The safety pushed the Viking lead to 29-0.

The Vikings then took the ensuing kickoff and returned it to the Prospector 11-yard line. The Vikings would eventually punch the ball in from three yards out to take a commanding 35-0 lead.

In a play that was indicative of the night for the Pros, Umatilla mishandled the snap for the point-after attempt but managed to turn the broken play into a two-point conversion reception to take a 37-0 lead.

The Pros would throw an interception on the very first play of their next drive. The interception came with 10:31 left in the game. While chances of a comeback were slim at best before, the interception effectively ended those chances.

The Vikings would add one more score in the game, a 30-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes left in the game to push their lead to 44-0 following a converted extra point attempt. The Pros would fumble the ball again at the end of the game, this time with 2:45 left.

The Vikings would subsequently kneel and run the clock out to end the game and leave John Day with a league win.

Grant Union head coach Jason Miller said he saw a team in Umatilla that was “bigger, faster and stronger” than his squad. Despite that, Miller said his kids played hard, but offensive mistakes were too difficult to overcome.

“Our kids played incredibly hard, just too many mistakes on offense. We’d go toe to toe with them for a drive, stop them on fourth down and then turn the ball over, or get a good stop … and they’d throw a Hail Mary and we’d lose track of a receiver and they’d score a touchdown,” Miller said.

“Their effort was there, just too many mistakes,” the coach added.

“When you’re outmatched like that, you can’t have any mistakes. That’s a quality team up front and their skill positions and everywhere else. You gotta take advantage of every little thing, and we did not do that,” Miller said.

The loss keeps Grant Union winless on the season at 0-3 with a league record of 0-1. The Pros will look for their first win of the season on Friday, Sept. 23, in a league matchup with Irrigon.

The game is taking place at Hermiston High School. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.