The Walla Walla defensive line takes down Hermiston’s Anthony Montez during Friday’s game at Hermiston. Staff photo by Sarah Britain

HERMISTON – Three fruitless trips to the red zone spelled a 14-10 season-opening loss for the Hermiston Bulldogs, but four quarters of good football made for a positive evening on the gridirion.

The Walla Walla Blue Devils (1-0), touted as one of the top teams in Washington’s Big 9 Conference, put up two touchdowns on the ground in the first half and held the surging Bulldogs (0-1) at bay. Senior Spencer Hessler scored both and ran for 157 yards in the game.

Hermiston crossed the Walla Walla 20 yard line five times in the game, kicking a field goal once and scoring a touchdown on another. The other three trips saw the Bulldogs come up short, missing two field goals and fumbling the ball once.

“It was a problem with execution,” coach Mark Hodges said, “and that’s going to come back to haunt you every time. And that starts with the coaches.”

The Bulldogs received the opening kick off and immediately opened with the new-look offense, throwing three passes and rushing twice to get to Walla Walla’s 17 yard line.

The Blue Devils beat them back to the 26, forcing a field goal attempt, and the front line got a piece of Luis Ortiz’s try to turn Hermiston away empty handed.

It was a similar story twice more in the game as the Hermiston offense would move smoothly down the field with quarterback Faafiula Ena at the helm, then freeze once the red zone was reached.

Ena did connect on one touchdown pass to Johnny Kayembe in the final seconds of the first half, but it would be the last score of the game. The junior finished the game with 271 passing yards, though he came up with a sore knee early in the game and was limited in his mobility.

In the second half the offensive line made some adjustments and running back Tyler Green reaped the rewards. After totaling just 14 yards on the ground in the first half, he found room to put up 100 in the second.

“The linemens’ gap were a little different and it broke me out for the big run,” Green said about his 16-yard sprint early in the third quarter.

Hodges said the difference had nothing to do with a change in formation, it was just the linemen remembering their zone blocking and working together as a more effective unit.

Walla Walla coach Marc Yonts said Hermiston’s team looked completely different this year, and he should know as the Blue Devils have beaten the Bulldogs the past two years in the preseason.

“They’re a whole new ball club,” the coach said. “They’re going to be a terror in the IMC.”

Walla Walla had trouble keeping its starters on the field late in the game due to cramps, something Yonts calls the team’s “September tradition”.

Hermiston’s condition was one of Hodges’ many points of pride, as no player left the game with cramps and the team kept its intensity up until the final buzzer.

“What we learned is we need to learn to take care of the ball better and do some things better in the red zone,” Hodges said about his first game with the Hermiston clipboard. “But I couldn’t be prouder of the way these guys played like men for the whole game. The whole game.”