The Hermiston defense takes down Pendleton’s Dan Fisher Friday at Kennison Field in Hermiston. Sarah Britain/The?Hermiston Herald

The Hermiston football team defeated the ghosts and goblins of rivalry games past on Halloween Friday to beat the Pendleton Bucks 41-20 and take a share of the Intermountain Conference title.

The Bulldogs (6-3, 5-1 IMC), in the midst of one of their most promising seasons in school history, came in the heavy favorites and flexed every muscle through the middle portion of the game to defeat Pendleton (5-4, 3-3 IMC) for just the fifth time in school history.

After the game the Hermiston players, coaches and fans celebrated to Queen’s “We Are The Champions” blaring over the loud speakers, a tribute to Hermiston’s co-championship with Mountain View in the IMC. The Bulldogs go into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed with a loss to the Bend school earlier in the month.

Though the Bulldogs seemed to have everything in their favor heading into the game – from offensive production to defensive stopping power – the first half saw Hermiston struggle to exercise its dominance.

“We knew we were doing bad,” junior quarterback Faafiaula Ena said. “Knowing you’re doing bad is not going to make you play as well as you can. Going into the locker room we knew we needed to come out and get after it again.”

The Bulldogs turned over three fumbles before intermission and had just a one-point lead with time winding down to the break.

That’s when the team decided Pendleton had hung around long enough, getting an early jump-start to a second-half surge.

Junior quarterback Faafiaula Ena orchestrated a 12-play drive through the heart of the Pendleton defense, capped it off with a six-yard run into the end zone, and the Bulldogs didn’t look back.

“It’s always good to score, it drives the fire,” said senior Tyler Green who rushed for 206 yards and scored two touchdowns in three quarters of play. “It gave us the bigger lead and a momentum switch because we got the ball after halftime. At halftime we made some adjustments … we decided to settle down and play as a team.”

Hermiston went on to score 20 more points unanswered through the third quarter to give the team its first win in the rivalry series since 2004.

Ena ran the ball six times in the final drive of the first half and found Luis Ortiz and Anthony Montez open for long receptions to set up the score.

Once the Bulldogs had the 21-13 advantage at the break Green, Ben Wood and Ena rushed the team to its next two touchdowns and Ena put the cap on the victory with a passing drive at the end of the third quarter. He hit Dorian Williams with less than 30 seconds in the frame to make a comeback nearly impossible for Pendleton at a 41-13 disadvantage.

One of the team’s focuses in the week leading up to the game was beating Pendleton at the line and in physicality. Coach Mark Hodges said the young men up front did a good job of pushing the Bulldogs forward.

“When we needed plays our offensive line got off the ball and out-physicalled them,” Hodges said. “By in large we were the most physical team and that’s what wins big games, physical play.”

The mounting lead in the third quarter also kept the Bucks from going to their feature back Jared Standley, who is a constant first-down threat but couldn’t break open any huge gains.

Pendleton’s final gasp came early in the fourth quarter as the Bucks scored on a short run by Standley and recovered the ensuing onside kick.

The team marched the ball to the three yard-line but Hermiston held steady, knocking Pendleton back on four plays to keep the opposition out of the end zone and the upset out of reach.

“It was really important (to stop them) that time,” Ena said. “They had hope still. Getting that stop shut down the game. That was a big stop for us defensively.”

The win secured a bye week and a home game for Hermiston in the Class 5A state playoffs, which begin for much of the state – including Pendleton – Friday.

Hermiston welcomes Corvallis to town the following weekend in hopes of keeping the season alive as long as possible.

“We wanted the IMC title since the beginning,” Ena said, “but we looked into the bracket and we’re happy with where we are.”

The quarterback said the thing he will remember most about beating Pendleton to end the regular season was doing so with his brother, senior lineman Lale, and how the team is dedicated to keeping the seniors on the field as long as possible.

“We know nothing’s guaranteed after next week,” he said. “We want to keep going now.”