LA GRANDE — The Pendleton boys soccer team won its first league title in school history with a 3-1 victory over La Grande on Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the pouring rain at Community Stadium.

The Bucks finished their Greater Oregon League season with a 5-1 record, edging Ontario (4-1-1) for the title. La Grande finished 1-4-1 in GOL play.

Pendleton coach Kevin Johnson, who broke his ankle at practice on Friday, was forced to watch the game online from home.

“I was yelling at the computer,” he said. “It was really heartbreaking not being there. We came out against all odds. No one was going to give it to us — we fought for it all season long. Big shoutout to (assistant coaches) Evan (Brandhagen) and Oscar (Alegria) for being on the sidelines today. We wouldn’t be there without them.”

Senior Rene Ortega scored a first-half hat trick for the Bucks, and goalkeeper Manny Lopez made a couple key saves in the win.

“It’s easy to get caught up in Rene doing Rene things,” Johnson said. “The 10 other players help facilitate Rene to do his thing. Huge praise to Andre (Lopez), who has been at the heart of everything we have done this season. This is a huge victory for these kids.”

The Bucks (9-3 overall) now wait for playoff pairings. The first round of the 4A state playoffs is Nov. 1.

Prep girls soccer

PENDLETON 1, LA GRANDE 1 — The Tigers took a 1-0 lead at the half, but the host Bucks came back with a goal by Kelsey Graham, assisted by Maddy Schumacher, 7 minutes into the second half as the teams played to a draw in their final Greater Oregon League game.

“The ladies fought hard tonight,” Pendleton coach Murilo Varela said. “After giving up a fluke goal early, they were able to hold off La Grande through the first half. In the second half, they made some adjustments and were able to even the score. After that, we had a few more opportunities, but we were unable to capitalize.”

La Grande won the league title with a 4-1-1 record, while Pendleton was third at 3-2-1.

UNIVERSITY 6, HERMISTON 0 — The Titans shut out the Bulldogs in the first round of the District 8 3A playoffs in Spokane.

“University was a really high team that pressed high the whole game,” Hermiston coach Omar Medina said. “We had a few good opportunities early on but we weren’t able to capitalize.”

Hermiston will play at Southridge at 1 p.m. Saturday in a loser-out game.