Hampshire slips to 0-3
HAMPSHIRE -- Statistically, Hampshire had its best game of the season on Friday night.
The Whip-Purs finally put together an efficient offensive attack but Oregon was able to work with a short field all night and scored touchdowns off two turnovers as the Whips fell 35-13 in a Big Northern Conference crossover game.
Hampshire (0-3) put up 277 yards of offense compared to the Hawks' 195 thanks to a new-found passing attack.
Senior Ryan Burke started at quarterback for the first time this season and was 14 of 21 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Six of those completions went to senior receiver Alex Niccum as he ended with 90 yards receiving.
"He threw well," said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh. "Ryan gives us a dimension where we can get him out on the perimeter and he's got good feet."
Burke completed his final six passes of the game and led the Whips on a 12-play, 72-yard touchdown drive and a six-play, 67-yard scoring drive, each in the fourth quarter.
But the game was decided in the first three quarters.
Hampshire had its biggest mental mistake of the game on the opening kickoff. The Whips were back to receive, but the kick was so short and high that the front line backed away from the ball and Oregon ended up recovering at the Hampshire 42-yard line on what was essentially an onside kick.
Oregon (1-2) then converted on three fourth downs, the final of which was a 2-yard pass from quarterback Cole Barringer to Karl Williams for a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Oregon recovered a fumble deep in Hampshire territory and scored two plays later from 25 yards out to go up 14-0.
However, on the very next possession is when the Whips discovered their passing game. They ate up just under 10 minutes of the clock, but turned the ball over after Burke was sacked at the 9-yard line on a fourth-and-goal from the 4. The drive started at Hampshire's 8-yard line and included 20 plays.
"We're on the 5-yard line going in, we can't punch it in. That's the big difference," Cavanaugh said. "Some key mistakes how we started the game and so forth. I thought we fought back. We moved the ball well, so we have a lot of positives we can take out of it."
The Whips had another drive stall at the at the Oregon 30-yard line after failing on a fourth-and-three.
Oregon again used a short field to take a 21-0 lead with 1:44 left in the third.
Down 28-0, Burke connected with Ray Quesada for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 5:46 left in the game.
Hampshire's final score came with 40 seconds left when Burke found Jared Wienke across the middle for a 20-yard strike.
"We put people where they should be now," Cavanaugh said. "We had a lot of places we had to fill and now we have to cut down our mistakes. I felt good that we were able to find another way to move the ball tonight."
OREGON 35, HAMPSHIRE 13
Oregon 7 7 7 14 -- 35
Hampshire 0 0 0 13 -- 13
Oregon – Wiggins 2 pass from Barringer (Yount kick), 6:10
Oregon – McKeown 25 run (Yount kick), 10:18
Oregon – Shaulis 28 pass from Barringer (Yount kick), 1:44
Oregon – Fagan 14 rush (Yount kick), 10:55
Hampshire – Quesada 5 pass from Burke (Yount kick), 5:46
Oregon – McKeown 4 rush rush (DeChant kick), 3:04
Hampshire – Wienke 20 pass from Burke (kick failed), 0:40
Team stats Oregon Hampshire
First downs 14 16
Comp. att- int 3-5-0 14-21-1
Passing yards 47 188
Rush att- yard 42-148 37-89
Total yards 195 277
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 0-0 6-60
Individual stats
Rushing
Oregon – McKeown 16-71, Skoumal 3-6, Fagan 9-44, Wehmhoefer 7- 31, Barringer 1- (-2), Miller 5-21, C McKeown 1-12
Hampshire – Laramie 13-33, Burke 6 –(minus-7), Kendrick 11-44, Kuefner 4-3, Sabate 1-8, Lundry 2-8
Passing
Hampshire – Burke 14-188
Oregon – Barringer 3-47
Receiving
Oregon – Wiggins 2-19, Shaulis 1-28
Hampshire – Niccum 6-90, Quesada 6-69, Wienke 1-20, Laramie 1-9
