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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2015)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, November 7, 2015 NASCAR Logano focused on title chase with Kenseth absent By STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Joey Logano arrived at Texas with a clear conscience, an easy smile and a new focus after being intention- ally wrecked by Matt Kenseth last weekend. Kenseth’s two-race suspension begins Sunday after his appeals were rejected. Logano said the inci- dent at Martinsville when he was leading might not have been such a bad thing. ³2XUWHDPLVPRUH¿UHGXSWKDQ ever, I’m more focused than ever, I’m pretty pumped up about being here at the race track,” Logano said Friday. “We’ve still got plenty of FRQ¿GHQFH´ Logano is last among the eight drivers still in contention for the Chase for the Sprint Cup champi- onship. He had won three consec- utive races and was leading with 47 laps left when he was wrecked by Kenseth as payback from an incident three races earlier. NASCAR suspended Kenseth, so Erik Jones will be in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing for Sunday’s race. Kenseth’s probation was reduced from six months to the end of the year, but he remains suspended and promised Thursday to race as he always has going forward. With Logano qualifying fourth and Jones sixth, they will start nose- to-tail Sunday. Brad Keselowski earned the pole, and will be on the front row with Kevin Harvick, the defending Chase champion who is currently fourth in the standings. Herm- iston’s Robert Cole- man rum- bles up field in the Bull- dogs’ loss to Wilson- ville on Friday in Hermis- ton. TIGERS: No. 1 awaits in second round Continued from 1B helped us was us eating up clock and sustaining long drives,” he said. “Vernonia scored on four big plays, but at that point we were up so big and we kept running the ball and relying on our power running game.” Quarterback Dylan Grogan led the team with 20 carries for 180 yards and four touchdowns, and added a passing touchdown to Jason Fitzpatrick on 2-of-6 passing for 43 yards. Thyler Monkus, a game- time decision with a tender ankle, added 18 carries for 120 yards and three touch- downs. Makiah Blankenship added 62 yards on 12 rushes. A package of aggressive blitzes held Vernonia’s offense in check. “Offensively and defen- sively we challenged our line because their quarterback is really quick and can really make things happen with his feet,” Salas said. “We were able to collapse the pocket tonight, we were sending blitzes all night.” Vernonia hadn’t been to the state postseason since 2008. 6WDQ¿HOG PRYHV RQ WR face No. 1 Central Linn in the second round since the Cobras beat No. 16 Nestucca 42-14 on Friday. That game will be next Friday in Halsey. Staff photo by E.J. Harris BULLDOGS: ‘Phantom interception’ turns game “That phantom intercep- tion pass interference when But after the Bulldogs’ second-straight punt to the guy trips over the line, begin the game, Wilson- that’s a game changer,” he ville’s offense found its own said. “(It would have) gave rhythm and started to put the us the ball on the 15 (yard line) going in, and we got a Bulldogs in a big hole. ³:LOVRQYLOOH GH¿QLWHO\ kicker that can boot it from a came out to play, and I don’t distance.” Following the touch- think we came out at nearly the level that they did,” said down, the Bulldogs still Hermiston senior running couldn’t get the offense to back Bob Coleman after the click, turning in a three- game. “It’s hard, because and-out and their third punt nothing was clicking for of the game. A good punt us and it’s hard to build return from the Wildcats set them up at Hermiston’s 27 momentum that way.” On Wilsonville’s second yard line. And Neville didn’t waste possession, stud junior quar- terback Conner Neville led any time to cash in on the his team on 10-play, 73-yard ¿HOGSRVLWLRQDVRQWKH¿UVW drive that Neville capped off play Neville connected with with a one-yard touchdown his brother Jonny Neville plunge to put his team up down the seam for a 27-yard touchdown pass to put HDUO\LQWKH¿UVWTXDUWHU But the drive did come Wilsonville up 14-0. On Hermiston’s next with a little controversy. On the second play of possession, the Bulldogs that drive, Neville threw an RIIHQVH ¿QDOO\ JRW D OLWWOH interception deep in Wilson- spark on offense, as senior ville’s own territory that Hayden Simon bullied his would have set the Bulldogs way for a six-yard gain on up well. However, a penalty third down to give Herm- ÀDJ ZDV WKURZQ IRU SDVV LVWRQ LWV ¿UVW ¿UVWGRZQ RI interference against Herm- the game, coming at the 1:45 iston, giving Wilsonville PDUNRIWKH¿UVWTXDUWHU However, that spark new life. Bulldogs head coach would be short-lived as quarterback David Faaeteete said after Bulldogs the game that he believes Nathan Hunsaker threw an that’s where the game interception on the very next play. turned. Continued from 1B Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hermiston sophomore Tyler Rohrman returns an inter- ception in the Bulldogs’ loss to Wilsonville on Friday in Hermiston. FUTURE: Faaeteete eager to promote talented underclassmen Continued from 1B In all, Hermiston was without six offensive starters and a handful of defensive starters in its 49-14 home playoff loss to Wilsonville. Faaeteete said the Bulldogs started 11 different sophomores throughout the 2015 season. For a program that was returning just a handful of starters from last year’s state championship run, “next man up” became the rallying cry for the Bulldogs as the injuries and losses mounted. Guys stepped up. Hunsaker took over under center and took the offense from stumbling to sprinting. Coleman and Hayden Simon took over the running back slot for the injured Jonathan Hinkle, and turned it into a physical ground game that wore down opponents. “I think if people work hard enough, with hard work that’s how the program runs,” junior center Kaden Caldwell said. “I think we’ll be OK next year. (The graduating seniors) were big guys for us, but I think we’ll be OK.” In all, 13 Bulldogs played their last game Friday night. But many strong contrib- utors will return. Neal, a sophomore, will return. Kick returner, wide receiver and defensive back Brady Chris- tensen is just a junior. Wide receiver Tucker Salinas, H-back Jerry Ramirez, line backer Ty Knutz and offen- sive lineman Beau Blake will all return, as well. Faaeteete is especially excited about some freshmen and sophomores who didn’t get any snaps at the varsity level this season. “It’s tough to replace guys like Bob and Tre and Hayden,” he said. “Those guys played a lot of games, won a lot of games, made a lot of plays. Those are ELJ VKRHV WR ¿OO EXW ZH JRW a young class of juniors, some sophomores and some freshmen. Watch out world, here we come.” Unlike last season into this season, Hermiston will return with depth. And some- thing to prove. “We’re good, just lock ourselves in the weight room. We know what we want,” Faaeteete said. “We wanted to upset a team who thought they were gonna do what they did tonight. We wanted WR¿JKW2XUSURJUDP¶VJRRG just keep working. It’s hard to replace those guys, Bob Coleman, Tre Neal, Nathan Hunsaker — our steddy Eddy, the guy who works hard — it’s tough. We’ll put our nose to the grindstone and get better.” After having a career game against Pendleton last week, Hunsaker really strug- gled against the Wilsonville defense, completing 12 of 24 passes for 119 yards three interceptions and a pair of touchdowns. In the second quarter, Wilsonville scored three touchdowns in a span of just under three minutes, with a pair of touchdown passes by Neville and a pick-6 of Hunsaker by defensive back Dom Schieres. The scores put Wilsonville up 35-0 on Herm- iston, which the two teams would take into halftime. 1HYLOOH¿QLVKHGWKHJDPH 13 of 25 passing for 297 yards and three touchdowns. At halftime, Coleman said the Hermiston coaches gave the Bulldogs a speech which served as a bit of a wake-up call. “It’s a pride thing, and you’re either going to be remembered as the team WKDW JRW FUXVKHG LQ WKH ¿UVW round, or the team that was getting crushed and stepped up and competed with them,” he said. And it seemed to work. 2Q +HUPLVWRQ¶V ¿UVW offensive possession, Hunsaker led the unit on a seven-play, 77-yard drive that he capped off with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Brady Christenson to cut the GH¿FLWWR Then after forcing Wilsonville into a turnover- on-downs, Hermiston went on another long drive, once DJDLQ ¿QLVKHG RII ZLWK D 16-yard touchdown pass from Hunsaker to Jerry Ramirez to cut the lead to 42-14 with 2:46 left in the third quarter. “Anybody can just (throw in) the towel there at the half but our boys came out and fought,” said Faae- teete. “It’s not in us to quit and we kept going up till the end. Credit this group of seniors, nobody gave them a chance in heck to compete with these guys.” After the game, the entire Bulldogs team lined up in one end zone, linked arms DQG PDGH RQH ¿QDO ZDON across the Kennison Field turf, which sent a rush of emotions through Cole- man’s head. “It’s over,” he said. “I mean it sucks that i’ll never be able to suit up and play football at Hermiston High School again. Endings suck but they make everything you do more meaningful.” ———— Contact Eric Singer: esinger@eastoregonian.com, (541) 966-0839, or follow on Twitter @ByEricSinger. VOLLEYBALL: Fourth place is best possible Burns and Culver play for the state championship )ULGD\¶V TXDUWHU¿QDO PDWFK Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Weston-McEwen (22-10) with a 25-17 win, but the No. 2 Bulldogs pushed back faces No. 6 Bonanza in an for wins of 25-20, 25-6, 25-8 elimination game Saturday to advance to that evening’s morning at 8 a.m. The VHPL¿QDOV PDWFK DJDLQ 1R winner will play either No. 4 St. Paul or No. 9 Imbler 3 Grant Union. Culver advanced to the in the 4th/6th place game championship with another at noon. Weston-McEwen’s four-set victory with scores most recent state trophy was of 26-28, 25-20, 25-23, ¿IWKSODFHLQ 25-19. )ULGD\¶V RWKHU VHPL¿QDO CLASS 1A saw No. 1 Burns take out NORTH DOUGLAS 3, No. 5 Kennedy 3-1 (23-25, IONE 1 — At Redmond, 25-19, 25-20, 25-13). the No. 7 Ione Cardinals Continued from 1B could not hang on in their TXDUWHU¿QDO PDWFK RQ Friday, falling to No. 2 seed North Douglas in four sets at Ridgeview High School. The Cardinals won the ¿UVW VHW EXW 1RUWK Douglas rallied to win the ¿QDO WKUHH 25-22. The loss drops Ione (21-7) into the consolation bracket with fourth place WKHLUKLJKHVWSRVVLEOH¿QLVK The Cardinals will play No. 6 Crane in an elimination game Saturday at 10 a.m. The winner plays either No. 9 Perrydale or No. 5 Powder Valley in the consolation ¿QDO DW SP ,RQH¶V most recent state trophy was 2011 when it won the championship. North Douglas went on to lose to No. 3 Hosanna Chris- tian in Friday night’s semi- ¿QDOV LQ ¿YH VHWV +RVDQQD Christian won 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 17-15. ,Q WKH RWKHU VHPL¿QDO No. 1 Country Christian beat No. 4 Trinity Lutheran in three 25-18, 25-12, 25-16. The championship game is Saturday at 6 p.m. CONCUSSION: Echo student-athletes undergo baseline testing on Friday Continued from 1B “Through (Dr. Earl’s) support and help, it’s really been impactful to have a specialist in concussion management who is on a national training level with concussion management, who can come in and help me understand why we should do the ImPACTing, and how to do it right,” Echo Super- intendent/Athletic Director Raymon Smith said. “If just would’ve implemented it under the pattern I was told to implement it without Dr. Earl, we would’ve been doing it wrong.” The test, Immediate Post-Concussion Assess- ment and Cognitive Testing or ImPACT, is administered Dr. Earl and measures reaction times and impulse control. The participant EHJLQVZLWKZRUGVÀDVKHGRQ the computer screen, and he or she must remember those words. Then they move to remembering the orientation of various geometric shapes, called “squiggles.” After that, a grid of X’s and O’s is shown with three yellow characters. The test taker must remember where the yellow characters were. Next they must count down from 25 on a grid with the numbers mixed up. After the ¿UVW FRXQWGRZQ WKUHH OHWWHUV DUHÀDVKHGRQWKHVFUHHQDQG after counting down from 25 again the participant types in those three letters. Finally, the words and VTXLJJOHV DUH ÀDVKHG DJDLQ as they were at the beginning of the test. The idea is brains IXQFWLRQ VORZHU DQG OHVV HI¿- ciently after concussions, so a baseline test, which some Echo student-athletes completed Friday, can be compared to a test after a potential concus- sion to determine if further action needs to be taken. “It gives us an opportunity to get kids back faster because we know where they started,” Echo boys basketball coach Ben Campbell said. “Other- wise, we never really know because it’s the brain. “We have the data, hope- fully by the end of this year we’ll have all our athletes tested. Dr. Earl has access to that, so when the kids go in he has their baseline, he FDQ UHWHVW DQG ¿JXUH RXW what they need to do to get better. With the big push in the media right now, it’s important we get this right and take care of this. Because that’s what it comes down to, the health of the kids.” Senior Kelsey Ranger, who completed her baseline test Friday, said it wasn’t GLI¿FXOW “Concussions are serious, so it’s good to (monitor them),” she said. The test also gives coaches and faculty hard data to tell them whether to hold an athlete out of competition or send them back in. It eliminates the possibility of a player convincing a coach KHRUVKHLV¿WWRSOD\ZKHQ actually in the throws of a concussion. One of those two Cougars football players ended up in a situation comparable to that. During the game in question, there was no indi- cation he was concussed. He showed no symptoms — no unsteadiness, no memory ORVVQRWKLQJ6RKH¿QLVKHG the game and went home still showing no symptoms. It wasn’t until the next morning when he awoke with dizzi- ness and nausea did anyone think that he might have been concussed the night before. “It shows even more in depth of how we have to make sure we have a specialist working with us because the standard protocol doesn’t apply to every kid,” Smith said. “A concussion is not a standard interchange- able injury.” The whole focus of the program, though, isn’t just to PDNHDWKOHWHV¿WWRFRPSHWH It’s to be as safe as possible when dealing with brain trauma. The three-step process implemented by Earl is “Get ‘em back to life, get ‘em back to education, then get ‘em back to sports.” Athletics is intentionally at the bottom of the list. “Kids struggle enough as it is,” Smith said, “let alone having to come to school with a concussion. If you’re sitting in calculus and you’re struggling with it anyway, and now the numbers are moving on you, it just doesn’t work.”