Congratulations to Solomon Helms on being selected as a defensive back for the South team for 2010 5A/6A All Star Game.

COUGARS WIN, FACE 2-TIME DEFENDING STATE CHAMPIONS NEXT!

Mountain View took care of business Friday night at home in the opening round of the 2009 state playoffs, beating PIL opponent Madison 39-14. Their next foe, a team who not only scored 75 points in an playoff win Friday night (11/20), but who are also the defending 5A state champions, the Bulldogs of West Albany.

The Cougars, ranked #8 in the state 5A rankings have played their last 2 games without it’s top offensive weapon, All-IMC running back Solomon Helms who has been nursing a high ankle sprain. But on this night at Jack Harris stadium in Bend, Helms returned to score a touchdown, helping Mountain View to a convincing win.

Also back from injury was senior quarterback Zach Johnson who played briefly and led the Cougars to a touchdown drive. But the quarterback who has filled in nicely over these past 6 weeks Jacob Hollister threw 3 touchdown passes as Mountain View took a 39-0 lead and never looked back.

The game next week against #2 West Albany will be either Friday or Saturday (11/27 or 11/28) at West Albany High School.

COUGARS BEAT CROOK COUNTY TO CLINCH ANOTHER IMC TITLE

Mountain View played without it's star running back Solomon Helms on Friday night (10/30) in Bend (Helms was nursing a high ankle sprain), but junior Austin Sears stepped right in, scoring 3 touchdowns in a dominating 38-7 win over the Cowboys.

The Cougars will share the IMC title with Bend if the Lava Bears beat Summit next week (with Bend getting the #1 seed to the 5A state playoffs, while Mountain View would get the #2 seed).

Mountain View will face non-league opponent Century at home Friday night (11/6) in their final regular season game.

COUGARS TURN BACK THE DALLES-WAHTONKA!

On a windy night by the Columbia River Friday night (10/23), two teams battled it out for IMC supremacy. The Dalles-Wahtonka, unbeaten in their previous 6 games and leading the conference was hosting the 3-time defending IMC champion Mountain View Cougars, who came in with a 5-1 record.

Since 2006, The Eagle-Indians have been dominated by Mountain View, having been outscored 125-14 in that span. But the 2009 Dalles-Wahtonka squad was a different team, entering the game with an unblemished record and a #8 state ranking.

And this game turned out to be everything that the fans had hoped for. Both teams traded field goals in the first quarter, with Mountain View kicker Skyler Laughlin putting the Cougars on the board first with a 32 yard field goal.

In the second quarter, after a Eagle-Indians touchdown, Mountain View running back Solomon Helms scored from 46 yards out to tie the game at 10.

But with just :15 seconds left before halftime, Eagle-Indians quarterback Duncan Wilcox connected on a 69 yard touchdown pass to put The Dalles-Wahtonka ahead 16-10, but a missed extra point by the Eagle-Indians would turn out to haunt them later in the game.

In the third quarter, Mountain View would get 2 touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Jacob Hollister , one for 49 yards to Cody Davis , and the other a 23 yarder to Jesse Zapata to put the Cougars ahead 24-16.

As the fourth quarter began, both teams would trade possessions until Eagle-Indians quarterback Duncan Wilcox would strike again. This time Wilcox threw a 30 yard pass that wide out Nate Timmons caught with one hand in the end zone for a touchdown, pulling The Dalles-Wahtonka within a 2-point conversion of tying Mountain View.

But the Cougar defense stepped up once again by stopping the Eagle-Indians runner short of the goal line, and preserving a 2 point lead.

The Mountain View defense would be called on one more time before the clock struck zero, but came through again as the Cougars not only held on to a 24-22 win, but moved one step closer to a 4th straight IMC championship.

With the win, tenth ranked Mountain View moves to 4-1 in the IMC (6-1 overall), and has a home game against Crook County Friday night (10/30). If the Cougars win, they will share the IMC title with either The Dalles-Wahtonka or Bend.

COUGAR DEFENSE TOO MUCH FOR #9 HERMISTON!

Two weeks ago, Mountain View and Hermiston each lost their first game of the season. Last week, both teams bounced back with big wins, The Cougars beating Summit 52-0 and the Bulldogs blowing past Crook County 58-0.

On Friday night (10/16) in Hermiston, something had to give as the ninth ranked Bulldogs hosted the twelfth ranked Cougars. The winner of this game would have the inside track for a playoff berth, and a possible IMC title. But it was the Mountain View defense on this night who really showed up to play, picking off 6 passes from reigning IMC offensive player of the year Faafiaula Ena in a 28-14 Cougar win.

Mountain View running back Solomon Helms ran the ball 39 times (the 2nd most in school history) for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns, while also picking off 2 passes on defense. The rest of the Cougar defense, which has given up the least amount of points in the state, hounded the Bulldog offense all night in creating those 6 turnovers.

With the win, Mountain View improves to 3-1 in league play, and 5-1 overall and will be on the road again next week (10/23) in The Dalles to face the #8 ranked and undefeated Eagle Indians.

MOUNTAIN VIEW BACK ON TRACK!

From the opening kickoff (a 79 yard return by Solomon Helms), the Mountain View Cougars were in command. The Cougars scored on every possession of the first half, including 3 touchdowns by Helms, and a blocked punt for a touchdown by defensive end Tye Abbey on their way to a convincing 52-0 blowout of Summit.

Coming off a heartbreaking 28-21 loss last week to cross town rival Bend (their first lost of the season), and in addition losing their leader and team captain, senior quarterback Zach Johnson to a season ending injury (a broken collar bone), Mountain View would turn to a sophomore, Jacob Hollister to take over under center.

And Hollister did not disappoint, throwing 2 first half touchdowns, a 12 yarder to Jesse Zapata and a 22 yarder to Jo Carrol. In addition, Carroll took a 3rd quarter punt and returned is 89 yards for the final score of the game. The 89 yard punt return by Carroll was the second longest in school history.

This was the second home game of the year for Mountain View and so far, the Cougars have not given up a single point at Jack Harris Stadium. Mountain View now moves to 2-1 in IMC play, and 4-1 overall and will travel to tenth ranked Hermiston next week (10/16) to face the Bulldogs.

BEARS DEFEAT COUGARS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2005

Through three quarters it looked like Mountain View might just beat Bend for a fourth straight year, but then the Cougars lost their starting quarterback Zach Johnson with a broken collar bone, and the Lava Bears came back with 2 touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull out a 28-21 win in the 2009 Civil War game.

The loss, was the first of the year for Mountain View who fell to 3-1 and 1-1 in league play. The Cougars will continue IMC play on Friday night for homecoming against Summit.

COUGARS PITCH A SHUTOUT!

The last time Mountain View lost to Pendleton was 2006, when the Cougars traveled to the Roundup and got walloped 41-14. That turned out to be their last league loss in more than 2 years as Mountain View reeled off 14 straight league wins on their way to 3 consecutive IMC titles.

In 2009, the 2-0 Buckaroos came into Jack Harris Stadium on the campus of Mountain View High School with a chance to open league play with a win on the road. Instead, it was all Mountain View from the beginning as the Cougars dominated on both sides of the ball in a 48-0 blowout of Pendleton.

Solomon Helms was nearly unstoppable as he scored 4 touchdowns (that’s now 9 in two games), and quarterback Zach Johnson connected with wide receiver Jesse Zapata for 2 scores. In addition, the Cougar defense forced 5 turnovers as they had leads of 21-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, and 41-0 at halftime.

The final touchdown of the game came on the second half kickoff as Mountain View running back Austin Sears took the kick and ran 77 yards for a touchdown to put the Cougars up 48-0. The clock would then run continuously during the second half (an OSAA rule for teams leading by 45 points), with not much offense the rest of the game.

Mountain View now moves to 1-0 in IMC play, and 3-0 overall and will face cross-town rival Bend next week (10/2) in the annual Civil War clash at Bend High School.

HELMS RUNS WILD IN COUGAR VICTORY

The last three years at Mountain View has seen three first team all-IMC running backs - Sean Koepf in 2006, Ash Gibson in 2007 and Scott McCreery in 2008.

This year's starting running back Solomon Helms looks like another winner for the Cougars. Helms rushed for 240 yeards and 5 touchdowns as Mountain View beat Eagle Point 41-21 Friday night (9/18).

With the win, the Cougars move to 2-0 on the season and will open league play next week at home (9/25) against Pendleton.

COUGARS BEAT ROYAL SCOTS 14-6!

For the third straight year Mountain View opened their season against 6A McKay, and for the 3rd time the Cougars came away with a win. The 3-time defending IMC champions traveled to Salem on Friday night (9/4) and beat the Royal Scots 14-6.

Zach Johnson threw a 33 yard touchdown pass to Jesse Zapata at the end of the first quarter for the first score of the game, while Solomon Helms led Mountain View in rushing with 19 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown. In addition, the Cougar defense showed once again why it is always among the best in the state forcing 2 turnovers and blocking a field goal.

Mountain View will have a bye next week before taking on the Eagles of Eagle Point on September 18.

COUGARS OPEN THE 2009 SEASON FRIDAY NIGHT (9/4)!

The 2009 football season kicks off around the state Friday night (9/4), and the defending IMC champion Mountain View Cougars will travel to Salem to take on the McKay Roayl Scots. Game time is 7:00pm.

RED/BLACK SCRIMMAGE SATURDAY (8/29)!

The annual Red/Black Scrimmage will be played on Saturday August 29th at 6:00pm at Jack Harris Stadium.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

DAILY DOUBLES BEGIN AUGUST 24th!

The 3-time defending IMC champion MVHS Cougars begin work toward another title with two-a-days beginning Monday August 24th

The morning practice will begin at 8:00am and run through 11:00am, while the second half of the double practice will be from 3:00pm-5:00pm each day through Friday (8/28).

Please look at the Team Report to the right for more information.

COUGAR CAMP OFF & RUNNING!

The 2009 MVHS Cougar Football Camp is open to incoming 9th-12th graders. Registration cost is $50 and includes a shirt and pair of shorts.

The camp runs 8/17-21 from 3:00pm-5:30pm. Please email Coach Huff with any questions.