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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2019)
7A Monday, September 30, 2019 The Observer Simpson, Huskies top Powder Valley PREP FOOTBALL By Ronald Bond The Observer The Elgin Huskies started strong and finished strong offensively to win an early matchup of unbeaten teams — a victory that sets up another showdown next week. Tristan Simpson rushed for 191 yards, passed for 140 more and ac- counted for four touchdowns, and Elgin scored the game’s first 22 points on the way to a 62-32 win over the Powder Val- ley Badgers Friday in a Special District 3-East contest in North Powder. “I feel like the team played well,” Simpson said. “We had a few mistakes throughout the game that we need to fix this week, but overall we did really well.” The win means the Huskies will face Adrian/Jordan Valley at home Friday night with both teams 4-0 overall and 3-0 in SD3-E. First place in the district will be on the line. Elgin struck often and took it to Pow- der Valley early. In the game’s first 7:26, Simpson scored on a 68-yard run and hit Jordon Palmer for a 25-yard score. In between, Wyatt Hallgarth found paydirt from 3 yards out, and Elgin had a 22-0 advantage. “They’re a very good football team. There is no doubt about it,” Powder Val- ley head coach Josh Cobb said. “We had an off night against a good team.” The lead reached 34-6 midway through the second after touchdown runs of 19 and 4 yards by Simpson. It could have been worse going into the half, but an interception grabbed by Powder Valley’s Ethan Stephens stopped Elgin in the red zone. The Badgers followed with a 14-play, 84- yard drive that used up the rest of the One is enough for LHS By Ronald Bond The Observer Enough offense and a great play on defense. That was all the La Grande Tigers needed to stay undefeated in the Greater Oregon League. Callum Ebel scored the game’s only goal in the 47th minute, Owen Rinker made four saves — including a cru- cial stop in the closing sec- onds — in his first start as goalkeeper, and La Grande fended off the McLoughlin Pioneers, 1-0, Saturday in GOL action at Community Stadium. “I tried to step in and do some work. I tried to do my best and keep them out. Everyone believed in me,” Rinker, a freshman, said. The play of the game came in the final minute with La Grande nursing the one-goal lead. Mac-Hi’s Hector Castillo stepped into a long free kick and sent it directly at the upper-right corner. Rinker, though, made a leaping save to knock the ball over the goal and out of bounds. “I tried to position myself around the wall and see where I would shoot it. Luck- ily he put it where I wanted,” Rinker said. La Grande was able to turn Mac-Hi away on the ensuing corner kick, and the whistle blew moments later to end the match. “He stepped up and saved us at the end. It was awesome,” La Grande head coach Sid Rangel said of Rinker. It was the final of several missed opportunities for Mac-Hi, which dominated possession early. Ronald Bond/The Observer La Grande’s T.J. Clay, right, and Mac-Hi’s Carlos Martinez battle for possession Saturday. PREP BOYS SOCCER The Pioneers were the aggressors much of the first half but were unable to generate many good looks against La Grande’s defense. Mac-Hi did take six shots, but the two that were on goal were long shots off of free kicks that Rinker easily scooped up. “We had our chances and we did not take advantage of it,” Mac-Hi head coach Jose Garcia said. “That’s killing us. We cannot finish. We can- not score.” The coach said it has been “little” mistakes that have kept Mac-Hi from coming away with goals. It cost them in a match Saturday he felt was neck-and-neck. “We played (La Grande) evenly. We could have beaten them,” he said. La Grande was outplayed and flat much of the first half. The Tigers were miss- ing two starters, including regular goalkeeper Jacob Huntsman, and Rangel said that impacted his team early. “That threw us off. Players had to step up and play in positions (they) are not used to,” he said. “That’s part of soccer. You have to be able to adapt, and that’s what we did in the second half.” La Grande adapted indeed, dominating posses- sion in the second half. But the Tigers’ lone goal was somewhat advantageous, as it came partly as a result of a misplay by the Mac-Hi defense. “That was a mistake from our defender,” Garcia said of what proved to be the Ronald Bond/The Observer Elgin’s Tristan Simpson had a combined 331 yards in the See Elgin / Page 9A Huskies’ win over Powder Valley Friday. difference maker. Ebel made Mac-Hi pay with the goal. He agreed that the team started flat but got better as the match progressed. “We gotta keep on improv- ing. We played well, but there are things we need to improve on,” he said. Every other attempt in the second half was turned away by Christian Castillo, who had all seven of his saves after halftime after not facing a shot on goal in the first half. La Grande, in fact, took 11 second-half shots after only taking two in the first half. La Grande (7-1 overall, 2-0 GOL) hosts Ontario Wednes- day in its regular season home finale. The winner will take over sole possession of first place in the league. Mounties knock off No. 5 Southern Observer staff COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL After appearing as if they would dominate the No. 5 team in the nation, the eighth-ranked Eastern Or- egon University Mountain- eers had to fight to survive a five-set thriller against Southern Oregon. EOU came away with the victory in an important Cascade Collegiate Conference and national showdown, win- ning 25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 17-25, 15-11 Saturday night in Ashland. The victory wrapped up an undefeated weekend as Eastern also claimed a four-set win at Oregon Tech Friday. “Really proud of our girls for their perseverance in one of the toughest road trips,” head coach Kaki McLean-Morehead said. “Neither gym is an easy place to play, and I was impressed with our consis- tency in pressure situations and our composure when times got tough.” EOU played clean vol- leyball in the first two sets Saturday, with just four at- tack errors and kill percent- ages of .324 and .333. A 5-0 run gave EOU the lead for good in the first, and a 4-0 run later, capped by a Jessie White ace, gave Eastern a 17-10 lead. Sade Williams had an ace to cap a 7-1 run in the sec- ond for a 12-7 lead, and a 6-2 run later pushed the lead to 10 before Madison Pilon and Cambree Scott teamed for a block to take the set. But Southern Oregon ral- lied, ending the third set on a 7-2 run and finishing it on a Makayla Hoyt kill to get back in the match, then roll- ing in the fourth set. An 8-1 run put the Raiders ahead for good, and they finished the set with a 5-1 run to See Volleyball / Page 8A Obser early Skin 13 m Oreg rival legia Ronald Bond/Observer file photo Cald Taylor Tibbetts, right, and the Eastern Oregon volley- ball team moved to 17-1 with two more wins. Tigers solve Mac-Hi defense in 5-0 win Bulldogs send EOU to fourth loss By Ronald Bond the g said. on go portu and h PREP GIRLS SOCCER The Observer The La Grande Tigers saw something new in Saturday’s Greater Oregon League matchup against the McLoughlin Pioneers. Mac-Hi, knowing La Grande has a powerful of- fense, loaded the defensive end of the field in an effort to clog passing lanes and slow down the Tigers. “I know La Grande has an awesome passing game, so we went with a more defensive strategy,” Mac-Hi head coach Martin Martinez said. “We held them the first 20 minutes, hoping they would get frustrated and then we could get loose on their defense and we could get a long ball, and one of our fast girls could get it and score. But Sam (Brown) is a good coach. He adjusted to it right away.” Eventually, La Grande broke through, and two goals by Audrey Garlitz midway through the first half got the Tigers’ offense rolling as they went on to a 5-0 win at Com- munity Stadium. “They played with five in the back, which is way more difficult to find passing angles and through balls,” La Grande’s Lauran Rinker said. “But once we figured that out, we got in the groove of passing around them.” The Tigers, who are av- eraging 6.4 goals per game, were stymied early by Mac- Hi’s formation. Head coach Sam Brown, though, said the key was to just wait and let the offense come. “Patience,” he said. “Pa- tience and not feeling like you have to score 1,000 goals. They’ll get it. It’ll come. It did, and once it did, we were able See Tigers / Page 9A Observer staff Ronald Bond/The Observer La Grande’s Taryn Miller, right, tries to maneuver away from Mac-Hi’s Giselle Ruiz Saturday. Jon Jund threw four touchdown passes and ran for another, and No. 19 Montana Western scored the game’s final 28 points on the way to a 49-13 win over Eastern Oregon University Saturday in Frontier Conference play in Dillon, Montana. The blowout loss halted what has been a trend of close matchups in the series. Entering Saturday, six of the previous seven games had been decided by fewer than 10 points. UMW’s 36-point victory, however, was the most lopsided since EOU earned a 54-13 victory in Dil- lon during the 2011 season. EOU, which never led, did get within a touchdown early in the third quarter. Kai Quinn found Phoenix Millhollen for a 27-yard COLLEGE FOOTBALL score to make it 21-13 just 89 seconds into the second half and cap a quick five- play, 75-yard drive. It was all Bulldogs after that. Jund, who threw TD passes to four different players, connected with Nate Simkins, Jamison Herman- son and Chayce Morgan on passes of 11, 45 and 5 yards, respectively, to put Western ahead 42-13, and Joe Caicedo capped the scoring with an 86-yard interception return for a score with 11:20 to play in the game. Western gashed the EOU defense to the tune of 575 yards, 407 of which came through the air. Jund was 22-for-30 for 378 yards. He also rushed for 31 yards as the Bulldogs totaled 168 on See Football / Page 9A
