Tigers head to Grant Union to face Prospectors

Another road game and another opponent that’s a former state champion for the La Grande Tigers’ football team this Friday night against Grant Union.

La Grande is coming off a 33-6 loss to Idaho powerhouse Fruitland last weekend, and now the Tigers will travel to play the defending state 3A champion Prospectors in John Day.

But the win streak was snapped just one game into this season when the Baker Bulldogs defeated the Prospectors 32-14 Sept. 11.

Grant Union got its first win of the season at home against Lakeview last week 35-14.

La Grande will be looking for win No. 1 on the season and will try to put together a complete game, something the Tigers have struggled to do in their first three games this year.

Against Fruitland last week, LHS only trailed by eight at halftime but got outscored 19-0 in the second half.

The week before that, La Grande was down big at halftime only to outplay Umatilla in the second half in a 12-point loss.

“We play in spurts,” La Grande head coach Matt Wolcott said. “We still haven’t played four solid quarters of football and it’s cost us so far this year.”

One thing that is for certain, is that when the Tigers do have it rolling they are a tough offense to stop. It’s just the getting started part that they have struggled with.

“Anytime we get a drive going we make a mistake,” Wolcott said. “Whether it’s a penalty or turnover or whatever, we have to be a disciplined team.”

For Grant Union, the Prospectors have many weapons on offense and seem to get all of the players the football.

Quarterback Jake Combs spreads the ball around to all of his playmakers. Connor Smith and Cody Williams combined for five touchdowns in their win against Lakeview last week.

But there is a chink in the armor of the Prospectors, like La Grande, they hurt

themselves more often than not.

“I think we can compete with anyone and we’ve shown that,” Wolcott said. “We just have to not hurt ourselves.”

This week could very well be a game where the team that commits the fewest mistakes walks away with the victory.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. A live broadcast of the game will be available on 99.9 KWRL. The pre-game show starts at 6:40 p.m.