Sports
A7
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Th e Observer
PREP FOOTBALL
Tigers begin march to postseason
La Grande looks
to keep momentum
going against Ontario
Mountaineers face
winless MSU-Northern
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
La Grande football team is
attempting to close out the
season strong.
The Tigers have found their
stride midway through the
season, gaining two straight
victories after a brutal 44-14
loss to Estacada on Thursday,
Sept. 23.
Ahead of a matchup with
Ontario, La Grande is keeping
its eye on the prize.
“Having that league champi-
onship has been our goal from
the beginning,” La Grande head
coach Rich McIlmoil said.
The two teams play at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 21, at Commu-
nity Stadium.
Ontario is one of two league
matchups left on the docket for
a La Grande team looking to
fi nish the season near the top of
the 4A rankings. Recent victo-
ries over Burns and Nyssa have
propelled the team to No. 7 in
the OSAA rankings.
A heavy dose of rushing
attempts combined with a hard-
nosed defensive eff ort have been
the key for McIlmoil’s squad
this year. The emergence of
running back Brody MacMillan
has been a major positive to the
team’s off ense, while Cole Jor-
gensen has been an anchor on
the defensive line.
Things are starting to peak
at the right time for La Grande,
who looked heavily outmatched
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
loss came to Adrian 24-0 in its
second game of the season, so it
will also be aiming to avoid the
Antelopes in the playoff bracket.
“We’re really looking for-
ward to playing the Mustangs
at Powder,” Cobb said. “They
always have a bunch of strong,
physical kids that play hard. Both
teams will know they played a
football game the next morning.”
Kickoff between the Bad-
gers and the Mustangs is 7 p.m.
Friday.
ADRIAN AT UNION —
Union draws a tough opponent
to close out the season with a
home contest against top-ranked
Adrian on Friday, Oct. 22. The
Bobcats (1-6) do enter the game
with momentum after getting
their fi rst win last week.
Union was able to break a
10-game losing streak with
a 34-26 victory over Lyle/
Wishram/Klickitat. The 34
points represented the most the
Bobcats have put on the score-
board this season.
The Antelopes (7-0) have
not played since Oct. 8 when
they handed Cove a 56-6 defeat.
Adrian received a forfeit from
Elgin on Oct. 15. A victory
LA GRANDE — Things
have taken a rough turn for
the Eastern Oregon University
football team, but this could
be a bounce-back week for the
Mountaineers.
Coming off a bye week,
Eastern will be looking for
a win against an 0-7 MSU-
Northern team on the road.
While the Mountaineers have
struggled off ensively this year,
the team will have a great
opportunity to get back in
rhythm in a matchup with the
Lights on Saturday, Oct. 23.
“The bye week was exactly
what the doctor ordered, getting
some guys healthy and getting
back to basics,” head coach Tim
Camp said. “We got work done
and worked on getting back to
fundamental football.”
Eastern has fl oundered in
its last three matches, dropping
games to the College of Idaho,
Southern Oregon and Rocky
Mountain. The team’s last win
came on Sept. 18 against Carroll
College in a low-scoring 10-7
victory.
Off ensively the Mountain-
eers have not scored 20 or more
points in a game since a Week 2
victory over Montana Western
by a score of 35-28. Eastern man-
aged 17 points in the fi rst half
against Rocky Mountain, but six
turnovers from quarterback Kai
Quinn proved detrimental.
“We did it to ourselves,
making mistakes that we need to
clean up,” Camp said. “It’s up to
us to make plays.”
The Mountaineers will look
to take advantage of a MSU-
Northern defense that is allowing
just under 35 points per contest
this year. The Lights are coming
off a 42-14 loss to the College
of Idaho, which dropped them
to 0-6 in conference play. Even
so, Camp and the Mountaineers
are not overlooking the team’s
upcoming opponent simply based
on record.
“They have guys that can
make plays. I think it will be
a great Frontier Conference
matchup,” he said. “They’re
hungry for a win and so are we.”
Eastern’s defense has played
admirably as a whole this year,
but had diffi culty slowing down
Rocky Mountain quarterback
Nathan Dick in the team’s most
recent loss. Dick threw for four
touchdowns and 224 yards and
ran for an additional 123 yards
on the way to a 34-17 rout.
While Quinn did what
he could to spur the Eastern
off ense, risks taken in the pocket
resulted in turnovers that killed
momentum throughout the loss.
However, he accumulated 201
yards passing and 82 yards on
the ground.
If the redshirt-senior can
See, Previews/Page A8
See, Streak/Page A8
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
La Grande’s Brody MacMillan (11) looks for running room against the defense during the Tigers’ 35-20 win over Burns at
Community Stadium in La Grande on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
in the early-season contest
against No. 1 Estacada. The
off ense went stagnant in the
team’s only loss, but exploded
for 35 points in the fi rst quarter
against Nyssa in what became a
blowout victory.
“I felt like it was our best
game of the season, to be
honest,” McIlmoil said. “It was
a whole team eff ort. Our off en-
sive line played super well.”
Ontario has struggled this
year, going 1-5 so far. The
team’s only win came in a 52-0
rout against McLoughlin on
Oct. 8. In the team’s fi ve losses,
Ontario is being outscored
39-10.
Ontario lost to Baker in a
contested 27-14 matchup last
week, while La Grande was able
to take the week off for a bye.
McIlmoil emphasized that the
team is always training toward
getting better, but that the bye
week was good timing in terms
of allowing injured players to
heal.
“We’re never going to take
a week off , but the bye will
allow us to get back into playing
shape,” McIlmoil said.
Powder Valley competes to secure No. 2 seed
Badgers host No. 5
Crane on Friday in
regular-season finale
By JEFF BUDLONG
and DAVIS CARBAUGH
EO Media Group
NORTH POWDER — The
stakes are high for Powder
Valley.
The Badgers are looking to
close out the regular season with
a victory Friday, Oct. 22, in a
matchup with No. 5 Crane. Not
only will it give the Badgers
a three-game winning streak
heading into the postseason, but
it will keep them on the oppo-
site side of the bracket from top-
ranked Adrian.
The second-ranked Badgers
are coming off a 62-24 victory
over Wallowa on Oct. 15. Powder
Valley raced out to a 42-8 half-
time lead and never looked
back, getting contributions from
players up and down the roster.
Freshman Tucker Martin pro-
vided a big spark last week with
three touchdowns. Martin is back
to full strength after dealing with
injuries earlier in the year and
provides Powder with yet another
EOU
takes aim
at losing
streak
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Powder Valley wide receiver Kaden Krieger hauls in a pass in the Badgers’ win
over Elgin on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021.
explosive option on off ense next
to a slew of upperclassmen.
“The team is feeling great,”
head coach Josh Cobb said. “Got
most bumps and bruises patched
up the last few weeks.”
Powder Valley is 6-1 on the
year, with the team’s lone loss
coming from Adrian on Oct. 1.
Fifth-ranked Crane improved
to 6-1 with a 16-6 victory over
Cove on Oct. 16. The Mus-
tangs held an 8-6 lead before
pitching a shutout in the second
half, knocking out a pair of
Cove quarterbacks. Crane’s only
SPORTS SHORT
EOU picked to finish second in preseason CCC coaches’ poll
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — There are high expec-
tations this year for the Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity women’s basketball team, coming off
a 16-4 record in the shortened 2021 spring
season.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference
announced its preseason women’s coaches’
poll, with Eastern projected at second in the
conference with 127 points. Atop the confer-
ence projections with 142 points is Bushnell,
the reigning conference champions.
The Mountaineers return a strong group
from last year’s team that went 8-2 in con-
ference play. All-conference players Bev-
erly Slater, Sailor Liefke and Taylor Stricklin
will lead the way for an experienced Eastern
squad this year.
Eastern edged out Lewis-Clark State,
Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon, who
round out the top fi ve in the poll. The Moun-
taineers garnered one fi rst-place vote.
The Mountaineers open their regular
season on Friday Oct. 22, competing at the
Simpson Basketball Classic in Redding, Cal-
ifornia. Eastern will play UC Merced on the
fi rst day of competition, followed by Simpson
on the second day of action. Eastern’s home
opener is set to take place against Whitman
on Nov. 5.
Eastern Oregon’s
Taylor Stricklin
looks for a team-
mate during a
contest in the 2020
season. Stricklin is
a key returner for
the Mountaineers
this season, as the
team was picked
second in the
preseason coaches’
poll on Tuesday,
Oct. 19, 2021.
The Observer, File