8A — THE OBSERVER
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019
SPORTS
Badgers take OOL tourney title; Bobcats win BMC tourney
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
The Powder Valley
Badgers may be down one
of their best players as they
head into the state playoffs.
That didn’t hinder them,
however, from claiming the
Old Oregon League tourna-
ment title.
The Badgers, the No.
1 team in the OSAA 1A
rankings, swept Wallowa in
the semifinals of the OOL
tournament, 25-20, 25-20,
25-19, and topped Joseph in
four sets in the champion-
ship match, 25-19, 24-26,
25-18, 25-16.
“It was a big adjustment
after losing one of our strong
players, but the girls came
and (said), ‘We can read-
just,’” head coach Marji Lind
said of her Badgers, who
are without junior middle
blocker Belle Blair for the
duration of the season after
an ankle injury last week.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
“All the girls have stepped
Keanna Bingham (2) and Autumn Davis reach up for a block during Powder Valley’s
up two levels to come to-
semifinal match against Wallowa Saturday. The Badgers won the OOL district title.
gether.”
The Badgers were able
The Eagles, who had won
to string big runs together
10 of 11 matches prior to
throughout the season, and
the championship match,
did so again to finish the
clinched the No. 2 seed from
tournament, ending the final the OOL into the state play-
match on an 8-3 run. Kills by offs, and will host Prairie
Keanna Bingham and Trin-
City in a first-round contest
ity Nesser helped Powder
Wednesday night.
Valley push its lead to 21-13
“I’m very proud of all the
in the fourth set against
girls,” Joseph head coach Jill
Joseph. Kills by Josi Krieger Hite said. “They continued to
and Autumn Davis offset
play each point against both
a trio of kills by Joseph’s
teams and were able to make
Sabrina Albee and helped
adjustments on the fly.”
the Badgers reach match
Joseph (16-13 overall)
point, and Krieger sealed the reached the title match and
match and tournament title
earned a state playoff berth
with another kill.
by outlasting upstart Elgin
“We’re a pretty versatile
in the semifinals earlier Sat-
team,” setter Brooke Allen
urday, 25-22, 26-24, 25-17.
said. “We were determined
While the match ended as
to come together and make
a sweep, the Huskies had op-
it happen, even without
portunities to win each of the
Belle, because we wanted it
first two sets. Elgin led the
so bad.”
first set, 22-19, before Joseph
Lind said serving was
ended it on a 6-0 run. The
vital for the Badgers in both Huskies rallied from behind
their matches on Saturday.
to pull even at 24-24 in the
“The girls can really hit
second set before Joseph
spots when they need to (on
grabbed the final two points.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
etty serves),” she said. “Commu-
The Eagles pulled away in
nication is great. We worked the third set.
Shelby Sannar sets a ball for Elgin, which took fourth
on our defense. Both those
place at the OOL district tournament in La Grande.
Wallowa (21-8) earned
teams (Wallowa and Joseph) the third and final playoff
ge 8A have great defense. They can berth from the OOL, and
The Cougars never trailed
Elgin head coach Tiana
over the floor well. And the
will travel to South Wasco
in the final set against Cove, Murphey was pleased with
girls worked hard at having
County for a first-round
and ended it on a 10-1 run.
her team’s progress during
a vision of the court.”
match Wednesday night.
An ace by Bailey Hafer and
the season and effort in the
Powder Valley heads into
The Cougars rebounded
a kill by Hailey Brockamp
tournament.
the playoffs as the most
from their loss to Powder
took Wallowa to match point,
“They fought hard against
dominant team in 1A with
Valley and got by Elgin
and the Cougars finished the Imbler and wanted to win
a record of 31-1 and an 83-9
(11-14) in four sets in the
win on a Cove error.
more than anything. It was
margin in sets won versus
third-place match, 25-11, 23-
On the day, Shanna Rae
tough to lose to Joseph and
sets lost.
25, 25-17, 25-22, to clinch the Tillery led with 36 kills.
Wallowa but we’re proud of a
After a first-round bye,
final state playoff berth and
Elgin, meanwhile, had
fourth-place finish regardless.”
The Badgers will host a
end the Huskies’ season.
grabbed an early two-set
Tymra Anderson led Elgin
second-round playoff game
Both teams, however,
lead against Imbler, watched on the day with 13 kills and
Saturday, looking to return
almost didn’t make it to
the Panthers rally, then sur-
give aces, and Gracie Evans
to the state tournament after the semifinals, let alone the
vived to win its own five-set
had 44 digs.
taking second a year ago.
third-place match, as they
thriller, 25-18, 25-19, 16-25,
The loss by Imbler (11-14)
Allen said the Badgers
had to both survive what
20-25, 15-12.
brought an end to its season
still believe they can reach
were arguably the top two
The Huskies took the lead in heartbreaking fashion.
their ultimate goal, even if
contests of the day early
for good in the final set, 10-8,
“Tough way to end the
they don’t have Blair for the
Saturday in elimination
on back-to-back Shelby San- season, but I am proud of
postseason.
matches. Wallowa rallied
nar aces. Jayden Palmer had our team for fighting back to
“Our goals haven’t
from two sets down to defeat a key kill for a 13-11 lead,
win sets three and four and
changed. We’re still going for Cove in five sets, 17-25, 18-
and Kaelin Evans finished
force set five,” Imbler head
the state title,” she said.
25, 25-16, 25-15, 15-4.
the match with a kill.
coach Jennifer Teeter said.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Madelyn Nelson serves for Joseph, which took second
place at the OOL district tournament in La Grande.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Shanna Rae Tillery attempts a kill for Wallowa, which fin-
ished third at the OOL district tournament in La Grande.
“We are looking forward to
next year, and hope to build
on this seasons growth and
improvement.”
Aspen Smith had 18 kills
and 11 digs for Imbler. Anika
McDonald had 30 digs and
Rylee Deal had 40 assists
and 12 digs.
Cove (13-9) also sees its
season come to an end.
“(Our) seniors Austin Ken-
dall, Ellianna Hines-Dunlap,
Riley Overton and Breanna
Harvey all stepped up and
worked hard and performed
well in a well-fought match,”
Cove head coach Brett
Moore said. “They played
well and will be missed.”
BOBCATS FINISH PERFECT
BMC SEASON
The Union Bobcats put
an emphatic stamp on their
TIGERS
Continued from Page 7A
after
alla
,
now
Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
ad of La Grande defensive back Blaine Shaw (3) intercepts a pass intended for Baker tight
end Spencer Smith (32). The La Grande Tigers defeated the Baker Bulldogs 34-0 at
Eastern Oregon University in La Grande Saturday afternoon.
weren’t flowing as well to the ball, and we
kept getting better and better.”
The outburst of offense capped a half in
which neither team was able to do much. La
Grande had just 98 yards of offense — 88 of
it on the ground, and 82 of that from Reed.
Baker struggled even more, gaining just 88
yards, and getting 60 of that through the air.
“The defense really stepped up today, and
we showed it on the scoreboard putting up
the zero,” Shaw said.
La Grande’s rushing attack finally took
off in the second half — particularly in the
fourth quarter — to put the game on ice.
Reed and Robinson scored on runs of 5 and
25 yards, respectively, five minutes apart for
the final margin. Robinson had 97 of his 98
yards rushing after the break, which offset
an afternoon that saw him throw for just 37
yards on four completions.
As a team, La Grande rushed for 242
yards.
Baker never did get its offense going in
the second half, finishing with just 139 total
yards.
“Our defense (has) been working really
perfect Blue Mountain
Conference season, sweeping
Stanfield for the third time
in the championship match
Saturday night in Union,
25-14, 25-7, 25-21.
The win capped a domi-
nant league slate for Union,
which won all 12 regular-
season BMC matches and
the championship match.
Union wasn’t often tested
in BMC play, sweeping nine
of its 13 opponents and only
getting pushed to the fifth
set in a match twice.
Union will host a state
playoff game next Saturday
against an opponent yet to
be determined. The Bobcats
will learn who their oppo-
nent is Tuesday night when
the OSAA 2A rankings
freeze.
hard, not just the last week but the last two
weeks,” McIlmoil said. “There are a couple
things that coach Walcott wanted to tighten
up, and he’s been doing a phenomenal job all
year. There are a few changes that he made,
and those changes paid off.”
Spencer Shirtcliff had 102 of those yards
through the air for Baker. However, the
quarterback was just 8-for-23 passing and
was picked off twice. The Tigers also held
running back Gauge Bloomer in check, as
he rushed the ball 19 times for just 38 yards.
Riley Flanagan had three catches for 58
yards.
“Offensively we just couldn’t get anything
going,” Baker head coach Jason Ramos said.
“We struggled. We had opportunities, but we
made too many mistakes, costly penalties,
interceptions, turnovers.”
The Tigers (8-0 overall, 4-0 GOL) await the
completion of next weekend’s state play-in
games to see who they play first. The Tigers
finished No. 3 in the OSAA rankings, mean-
ing they achieved another one of their goals
— the ability to host two playoff games if
they win in the first round.
“We wanted two home playoff games,”
Reed said. “We wanted to do the best we
could do to get that, and that’s what we did.”