Tigers head to focused Fruitland

GRIZZLIE HUNTING: The La Grande Tigers football team will have its hands full with Fruitland Friday. - Observer file photo

The Grizzlies (1-1) are coming off a 40-21 loss against Columbia last Friday, their first loss at home since 2003.

Fruitland got outscored 26-0 in the second half after taking a seven-point lead into halftime. But the Tigers won’t be getting ahead of themselves because of the Grizzlies’ slipup.

“It would obviously feel great to go in there and get a win,”

La Grande head coach Matt Wolcott said. “But I’m sure they’ll be even more prepared for us this weekend because of that loss. They’re a football school, and they’ve shown that over the years with all the success they’ve had.”

The Grizzlies have set a tradition of great play throughout the years, appearing in three straight state championship games, and winning the title in 2006.

La Grande will see the same offense that they did last week against Umatilla, the run-heavy Wing-T.

The Vikings were coming off a game where they rushed for over 300 yards, before the Tigers held them to 246 for the game.

“They definitely like to run the ball,” Wolcott said of the Grizzlies offense. “They just pound it and pound it and try to break you. We want to take away their bread and butter though, and we’ve been working hard this week to try and do that.”

Another problem that has plagued the Tigers this season has been inconsistent play and penalties in crucial situations.

“Discipline is a big part of this game. We need to not make those mistakes and we have to convert on third down if we want to win,” Wolcott said.

Through the first two games La Grande has made progress on both offense and defense. The second half against Umatilla saw the Tigers put together scoring drives by the offense and huge plays by the defense that nearly led to a comeback.

“We still have yet to play a complete game. I want to see us do it for an entire game with all-around execution, in all aspects of the game” Wolcott said.

One thing that Wolcott stressed is that his team has not lost motivation despite the 0-2 start to the season.

“It’s a long season and we are still progressing as a team. The big thing for us is to take it one game at a time. I know it can be easy to start to look forward to league play, but we’re going to be ready for Fruitland Friday night.”

Whether or not they are able to hand the Grizzlies a second consecutive home loss remains to be seen.

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