All season long, Mountain View running back Sean Koepf has said his team does not get the respect it deserves.

But that should all change now, after the Cougars’ stunning 7-6 upset of seventh-ranked Hermiston on Friday night at Mountain View High School.

With the victory, the Cougars put themselves in contention for the Intermountain Conference title and handed the Bulldogs their first league loss of the year.

Mountain View, Hermiston, Bend and Pendleton are now tied for first place in the IMC at 5-1.

The Cougars host the Lava Bears next Friday, and the Bulldogs host the Buckaroos in two games that will decide the league championship and the four IMC playoff spots.

”We played this game for respect tonight,” said Koepf, who finished with 101 yards rushing on 23 carries. ”I think we’re gonna get it. Everyone stepped up, especially the defense. The defense won that game. We worked hard, and we stepped it up this week during practice.”

Hermiston’s Mike Hoston ran for a one-yard touchdown to make it 7-6 with 1:12 left in the game. The Bulldogs then appeared to fake the extra point when holder Shae Schimmel took the snap and ran toward the right sideline. He was tackled at the 5-yard line and the Cougs hung on to win.

”This is such a great group of kids, and they deserve good things to happen to them,” said Mountain View coach John Nehl. ”Everybody kind of wrote us off after losing to Pendleton. We just kind of fought back and never complained.

”We had a great defensive game plan. Our defense just kept it up. The defensive coaches did a great job.”

Mountain View (5-1 IMC, 6-2 overall) and Hermiston (5-1 IMC, 5-3 overall) battled to a 0-0 tie by halftime. The Cougars had just 53 yards in the first half, but scored on their first possession of the second half when quarterback Seth Davies found Pat Cashman on a 34-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.

Hermiston appeared it would answer early in the fourth quarter as it sustained a drive all the way to the Mountain View 14-yard line. But quarterback Michael Ramirez fumbled and the Cougars recovered.

But Mountain View had to punt on its ensuing possession, and Hermiston went on a four-minute drive capped by Hoston’s touchdown.

When Schimmel took the snap on the extra point, it appeared as if the Bulldogs had planned to fake the point after and go for the two-point conversion. But Hermiston coach David Lewis said it was just a muffed snap.

”We lost our long snapper for disciplinary reasons, and it was just a muffed snap,” Lewis said.

”They (Mountain View) came out hard and ready to play. We lost a little bit of focus and made some mistakes, and they did what they had to do to win the game.”

After Hermiston’s missed conversion, Mountain View went three and out and the Bulldogs got the ball back with 44 second left. But they hurt themselves with four penalties and eventually turned the ball over on downs with five seconds left.

Mountain View hosts rival Bend next Friday in the final regular-season game for both teams. The contest will have huge playoff implications for both the Cougars and the Lava Bears.

”We haven’t won any part of the league championship in seven years, so this is huge,” said Davies, who was seven of 14 passing for 102 yards. ”It should be a huge atmosphere – big title implications. They (the Bears) are a good football team, we know they are, and we’ll just get prepared for them next week.”