DUFUR – The weather for the opening game of the OSAA/US Bank/Les Schwab Tires at Dufur High School on Nov. 11 bore a striking resemblance to Hurricane Wilma – minus the wind.

When the Dufur public address announcer jokingly commented several times during the game that someone left the roof open at the Ranger Dome, he wasn’t lying.

A steady and at times strong rain fell the entire game but that didn’t do anything to slow down the Rangers’ offense.

Ignoring the sloppy playing surface Dufur, the No. 2 team from the Big Sky Conference, ran over, around and through Prairie City’s defense rolling up 443 rushing yards to bury the Panthers 68-22 and bring an end to the season.

“We just ran up against a better team today,” said Prairie City coach Rob Batease. “They were big, fast and they had a couple of good backs. They stayed on their blocks and ran hard. When you get to these playoff games you run into some good teams and I’ll be interested in seeing how far they’ll go.”

Putting together a 68-yard drive following the opening kickoff, Dufur’s Brandon Pullen gave the Rangers a 6-0 lead on a 6-yard run with 8:14 remaining in the first quarter.

Prairie City answered with a 72-yard drive on the ensuing kickoff to go ahead 8-6 when Cody Sederlin ripped off a 26-yard run on an end around at the 6:27 mark to give the Panthers the lead.

For a moment, it appeared like it was going to be one of those football games where whoever had the last possession was going to win.

However, Dufur answered on a 35-yard run by Jason Reed and Pullen followed with his second touchdown of the first quarter put the Rangers up 20-6.

“That No. 7 (Pullen) is a good football player,” said Panthers’ senior halfback Jay Adams. “He has a lot of speed and they are good blockers.”

Adams got Prairie City close with a 75-yard scoring burst late in the quarter to shave the Rangers’ lead to 20-16 after the first 12 minutes of action, and finished the game as the leading rusher with 279 yards on 18 attempts.

Early in the second quarter the rain began coming down in sheets, but it had no effect on the Rangers who scored 36 unanswered points to hold a 56-16 halftime advantage.

“We just came up against a team that was a little bit better than we were,” said quarterback Yazzie Voigt. “(We were) out manned, out gunned. One thing we didn’t do was quit.”

Dufur’s Brian Durham scored on a 2-yard run with 4:40 left in the third quarter and from that point, the clock ran unabated under the 45-point rule.

Prairie City’s freshman quarterback Dylan Hendriksen tossed a 16-yard scoring pass with 4:26 remaining in the game and Dufur’s Donald Arthur put a cap on the scoring with a 54-yard touchdown run as the clock wound down.

Prairie City finished a great season under a new head coach with a 6-3 record. Only three seniors will be graduating off the team and many players will be returning. The Panthers are already looking forward to another successful season in 2006.