7A
Friday, December 27, 2019
The Observer
Prep football
Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
La Grande running back Nathan Reed, left photo, and defensive lineman Gabe Shukle, right photo, were named 4A offensive and defensive players of the year.
Reed, Shukle, McIlmoil named state’s best
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The La Grande
Tigers’ football season was already
perfect.
They added some icing on the
cake Tuesday and earned an early
Christmas gift.
After sweeping through the op-
position during the 2019 football
season, the Tigers swept the player
and coach of the year awards, The
Oregonian/OregonLive announced
on Christmas Eve, with running
back Nathan Reed earning Class
4A offensive player of the year,
defensive lineman Gabe Shukle
earning defensive player of the
year, and head coach Rich McIlmoil
being named 4A coach of the year.
“It’s awesome. Gabe totally
deserved it (and) Rich defi nitely
deserved it,” Reed said. “It’s super
cool to sweep that.”
Shukle said Reed “hands down
deserved” the offensive player of
the year award.
“Nathan is just so explosive and
physical at the running back posi-
tion, and he is an incredible leader
and we are very blessed to have
a player like him on our team,”
Shukle said.
Reed was among two Tigers in
the running for offensive player of
the year, along with quarterback
Observer fi le photo
La Grande head football coach Rich McIlmoil was selected as the 4A
coach of the year.
Parker Robinson, and Monday
night they were the fi nal two
standing as OregonLive gradually
eliminated players from the run-
ning over the weekend.
Reed, who credited the offensive
line all season with their effort
as he put up 1,725 yards rushing
on the season, said the line’s play
was what allowed both him and
Robinson to be the top two in the
player-of-the-year running.
Boys
soccer
lands six
on all-GOL
Observer staff
LA GRANDE — Six mem-
bers of the La Grande boys
soccer team earned all-Greater
Oregon League accolades fol-
lowing the 2019 season, includ-
ing three who landed on the
fi rst team.
A pair of seniors, defender
Ty Rivas and midfi elder
James Thurman, and junior
Callum Ebel, were each
named to the fi rst team, while
Lucas Young, Jarom Hunts-
man and Devin Ingram were
each second team selections.
Thurman and Ebel were the
top scorers for the Tigers on
the season, fi nishing with nine
and eight goals, respectively.
Ingram added two goals.
The Tigers reach the Class
4A quarterfi nals despite the
team fi nishing third in the
Observer fi le photo
Greater Oregon League. La
La Grande’s Callum Ebel was one of three Tigers
Grande fi nished with an
overall record of 9-5-1 in head named fi rst-team all-Greater Oregon League, after
coach Sid Rangel’s fi rst year. scoring eight goals this season.
“You’re not going to have two
offensive fi nalists without an
outstanding offensive line,” he said,
pointing to the linemen’s efforts
in opening up holes for both Reed
and Robinson, and for protecting
Robinson on pass plays.
Reed’s success in addition to the
blocking in front of him came from
having an attitude of not letting
the fi rst defender he came upon
beat him.
“I tried to never be taken down
by the fi rst man and always fall
forward for those extra yards,” he
said.
Shukle made his name in 2019
by being what Reed called “disrup-
tive” in his efforts to stop opposing
offenses.
“Coaches saw that, and saw he
was going to be a problem (for their
teams to handle),” Reed said. “A
lot of teams double-teamed him. A
good word I would say to describe
him is disruptive. He’s aggressive.”
As an example, Reed pointed
to a regular-season game against
Baker. Shukle had been battling an
injury and been in and out during
the game, but he came in at a key
point when Baker was driving
and single-handedly stopped the
Bulldogs’ drive.
“When he was on the fi eld, the
other team knew it,” Reed said.
McIlmoil in a previous interview
with The Observer said the Baker
coaching staff had a similar take
following that game.
“The Baker coach made a com-
ment, (that) it was evident (when
Gabe played),” McIlmoil said. “The
second time we played Baker, Gabe
didn’t start. He came in periodi-
cally, and you could tell when he
was on (the fi eld).”
Shukle said his goal was to sim-
ply help the team out.
“I wasn’t in on every tackle, but I
would try to take on multiple guys
so someone else could be unblocked
and make a play,” he said. “Another
goal of mine was just to make as
big (of) an impact on the fi eld as I
could.”
McIlmoil completed his second
season as head coach and has a
19-3 record in those two years.
“Coach Mac is an incredible
coach. He put so many hours into
helping our team be the best we
could be, and he truly cared about
us,” Shukle said.
Reed added the key for McIlmoil
was his ability to get all the players
invested in the program.
“We all trusted him and believed
in him,” he said. “He got us all to
buy in. No one was in 50% or 75%.
We were all in 100% this year
because of Rich.”
Prep basketball
Joseph girls, boys split
opener of road trip in Dufur
Observer staff
DUFUR — Sabrina Albee
scored 18 of her 30 points
in the second half Thurs-
day and single-handedly
outscored Dufur as the Jo-
seph girls basketball team
opened a three-game year-
end road trip with a 46-29
victory over the Rangers.
Albee had 10 in the fi rst
quarter and 12 by the half as
Joseph built a 26-13 halftime
lead, then scored all but two
of the Eagles’ points in the
second half.
Camille Crenshaw added
eight points for Joseph (7-1
overall) which continues its
road trip Friday in Perrydale
and Saturday in St. Paul.
EAGLE BOYS FALL SHORT
AGAINST RANGERS
The Joseph boys came
up short in their fi rst game
of the three-game road trip
Thursday, falling at Dufur
51-44.
Chase Murray scored 13
points and Carson Littlepage
and Mason Ferre added nine
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
Joseph’s Sabrina Albee, shown in a game Dec. 13,
scored 30 points in Thursday’s win at Dufur.
points apiece.
Josph was within a point
at the half, trailing just
23-22, but Dufur opened
up a 41-34 lead after three
quarters and maintained the
margin in the fourth.
The Eagles (5-3 overall)
face Perrydale Friday and St.
Paul Saturday.