By Jeremy Lanthorn
Sherman/Condon dominate Echo Cougars in opener 54-19
The first football game of the truncated 2020-2021 “fall” sports season took place in Echo Saturday.
The Devildogs (a co-op team with the Huskies of Sherman County and Blue Devils of Condon combined to become the Devil Dogs) took to the field and jumped out to an early lead that they never surrendered.
The team was anchored by Condon native Braden Carnine (more on him later) but saw contributions from many young faces.
Freshman Talon Dark of Wasco had 5 carries for 18 yards (3.6 avg.). Casey Nelson, another freshman from Condon had 7 carries for a total of 32 yards (5.1 avg), and a reception for a touchdown. Sophomore Kole Martin of Sherman County had 9 carries for 136 yards for an incredible 15.1 yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns. Martin also completed both of his passing attempts including one to Nelson for a touchdown.
Now back to the team’s anchor – Braden Carnine. Braden had 27 carries for 363 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Carnine averaged 13.4 yards per carry and was unstoppable.
When the dust settled your Devil Dogs had racked up 54 total points to Echo’s 19.
There were many things different this season, beginning with playing high school football in March. The post-game handshakes were missing, and most notably there was a giant hole that should have been filled with cheering parents, siblings, classmates, and community members for both schools. Once you get past the empty stands, missing handshakes, and covered faces it was still high school football—something that has been desperately needed for far too long.
Next up the Devil Dogs travel to Maupin to face the South Wasco County Redsides, last year’s 1A (6-man) state champions. Kick off is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Saturday March 13.