Sports
A7
Saturday, January 8, 2022
TOP HONORS
COVID-19
impacts sports
season again
La Grande football, girls soccer haul in all-state honors
Outbreaks force EOU
opponents to cancel
wrestling, hoops events
By JEFF BUDLONG
For The Observer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
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.
La Grande’s Cole Jorgensen (51) sacks Burns quarterback Dalhton Proffitt (19)
during the Tigers’ 35-20 win over the Hilanders at Community Stadium in La
Grande on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
defensive player of the year and
MacMillan earned offensive
player of the year.
La Grande graduates seven
seniors, but 18 juniors from this
year’s roster are set to return to
compete next year.
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — It was a
strong showing for fall sports at
La Grande, with both the football
and girls soccer team making
solid runs in the teams’ respec-
tive playoff brackets. With stand-
outs leading the way, several
local La Grande athletes earned
4A all-state honors at the conclu-
sion of the fall sports season.
After a strong year in which
the Tigers football team went 7-2
and made it to the 4A quarter-
finals, four players were nomi-
nated for all-state teams. Seniors
Cole Jorgensen and Brody Mac-
Millan led the way, earning a
spot on both offense and defense.
Jorgensen was dominant in
the trenches for the Tigers this
year, earning first-team defen-
sive line. He was also an anchor
on the offensive side of the ball,
taking home honorable mention
at the offensive lineman position.
MacMillan’s return to the
football field after a serious
leg injury last spring provided
a huge spark for La Grande’s
offense. The 5-foot-10-inch, 210-
pound running back’s bruising
rushing style became the iden-
tity of La Grande’s successful
offense as he garnered a spot on
second team. Had MacMillan
played the additional two games
and racked up even more stats,
it is likely that he could have
earned first-team honors.
On defense, MacMillan was
a key part of a Tigers’ unit that
held opponents to fewer than 20
points per game. He earned hon-
orable mention at the linebacker
position to join Jorgensen with
honors on both sides of the ball.
La Grande’s defense got stronger
Two La Grande girls soccer
players earn all-state
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Rosie Aguilera (18) kicks the ball out at Community Stadium in La Grande on
Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. Aguilera was named Greater Oregon League player of the
year at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
as the season went on, holding
Baker to seven points in the reg-
ular-season finale and limiting
Gladstone to 12 points in a 34-12
victory in the first round of the
4A state playoffs.
Senior Nick Bornstedt earned
honorable mention at the center
position, while junior Noah
McIlmoil was awarded honorable
mention at tight end.
Two losses to Estacada were
the only things stopping La
Grande this year, as the Tigers
cruised through every other
opponent. A commanding
20-point victory on the road at
Baker sealed La Grande’s sole
possession of the Greater Oregon
League title en route to the sixth
seed in the playoffs.
The Tigers dominated the
Greater Oregon League all-
league nominations, totaling
13 total spots on offense and
defense. Jorgensen was named
LA GRANDE — The votes
have been tallied and two La
Grande girls soccer standouts
were nominated for 4A all-state
recognition.
La Grande junior Rosie Agu-
ilera earned a spot on the 4A
first team, while senior Susanna
Durvik was selected to the
second team. The pair led the
way for another strong year of
girls soccer at La Grande High
School, with the season ending
in the quarterfinal round of the
4A state playoffs.
The La Grande girls soccer
team kept up its dominance
at the league level, cruising to
another Greater Oregon League
title. The Tigers went 11-3-1 on
the year and earned the fifth seed
in the 4A state playoffs. Riding
a five-game winning streak into
the playoffs, La Grande defeated
Corbett 1-0 in the first round but
was upended by Woodburn 2-0
in the quarterfinals.
Durvik’s presence on the field
will be missed, alongside grad-
uating senior teammate Bethany
Brock. The Tigers have a huge
group of returning players, many
of which had central roles this
past season. Aguilera will be the
key piece alongside nine rising
seniors. The Tigers also have
two rising juniors and five rising
sophomores that contributed to
last year’s success.
LA GRANDE — Something
returned to Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity’s athletic schedule that the
school wishes could have been
left behind in 2021 — forfeits due
to COVID-19.
The women’s basketball team
will not play either home Cascade
Collegiate Conference game this
weekend, against Warner Pacific
and Multnomah, because of out-
breaks in those programs. The
men’s game with Warner Pacific
also was canceled while the Mult-
nomah contest on Saturday, Jan.
8, is still on. The wrestling team
lost a dual with Warner Pacific
scheduled for Jan. 12.
“It is really disappointing, but
it is something that we are all
dealing with,” said Anji Weissen-
fluh, Mountaineers head women’s
basketball coach and EOU ath-
letics director. “It could and most
likely will happen to all of us
because the new variant is highly
contagious.”
Conference COVID-19 guide-
lines state that anytime a school
elects not to participate or has
been required to cease based on
federal, state or county mandate,
the contest will be a forfeit for
record and standing purposes.
“It doesn’t feel good to win
by forfeit,” Weissenfluh said. “It
never feels good to any coach
or team. Student-athletes and
coaches do this because they love
this and they want to play.”
The EOU women’s basketball
team sits at 10-7 overall and 7-2
in conference play after receiving
the pair of forfeits. It is the third
forfeit the Mountaineers have
received this season after Corban
forfeited a Dec. 31 contest. The
men are losing a game because of
COVID-19 for the first time this
season.
Weissenfluh said the start-
stop nature of seasons during the
pandemic can create problems
with conditioning for all athletes.
The Mountaineer women are not
scheduled to return to the court
until Jan. 14 when they travel to
Kirkland, Washington, to take on
Northwest.
This is the time of season
when teams are looking to make
their mark in conference play and
begin to ramp up for postseason
action, Weissenfluh said.
The Mountaineer women did
not practice on Thursday, Jan.
6, and Weissenfluh said they are
evaluating the best way forward.
That could include practices
or even giving the players the
weekend off.
“The health and safety of our
players is most important,” she
said.
See, Cancel/Page A8
Class 1A schools concerned with potential changes
Small-school coaches,
leaders put off by plan
to reorganize football
By NIK STRENG
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — During a
Wednesday, Jan. 5, meeting of the
Oregon School Activities Associa-
tion’s Football Ad Hoc Committee,
coaches and administrators from
Oregon’s Class 1A schools voiced
concerns over a proposal that could
completely change how small-
school teams operate.
In December, the ad hoc com-
mittee met and officially sup-
ported a reorganization of the
state’s smallest football teams. This
would combine Oregon’s 2A and
1A schools into three groups: a
nine-man football Division 1 classi-
fication mostly made of 2A teams,
a nine-man football Division 2
classification made of smaller 2A
teams and bigger 1A teams, and a
six-man football classification for
the smaller 1A programs. Teams
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Powder Valley’s Casey Vaughan (4) and Kaden Krieger (5) lead the team onto the
field at Baker High School on Nov. 27, 2021, during the OSAA 1A state title game.
that do not want to participate in
nine-man leagues would have the
option to compete in Class 3A.
During that Dec. 20 meeting,
representatives from 2A schools
said they would support the move
to nine-man football. Nestucca
head coach Jeff Schiewe said it
would be better than an eight-man
game.
But one thing that the 1A repre-
sentatives agreed on Jan. 5 was that
there was not enough representa-
tion from 1A schools when making
this decision.
“After visiting with a lot of the
1A schools, we feel like eight-man
football should be a 1A deci-
sion,” Powder Valley High athletic
director Brad Dunten said. “But the
last proposal that came from the ad
hoc football committee, it was like
we were getting pushed out of what
our tradition and what we want as a
classification.”
Dunten surveyed athletic direc-
tors at other 1A schools. Of the 80
responses he received, 95% said
they would prefer to play eight-man
football rather than nine-man foot-
ball. And the number of responses
showed how passionate 1A schools
are on the matter, Powder Valley
Superintendent Lance Dixon said.
“1A schools have not been the
most unified and come together in a
large format matter to represent 1A
until this nine-man proposal came
out,” Dixon said.
Another frustration raised sur-
rounded finances. Billy Wortman,
the football coach and principal
at Adrian High School, noted that
many small rural schools save
money by having volleyball and
football teams travel together to
play at league opponents. A com-
plete redistricting would increase
the number of buses needed, thus
increasing travel costs.
Also, any changes to nine-man
football would limit playing options
because it would eliminate out-
of-state competition, since Wash-
ington and Idaho do not have
nine-man football.
Wortman also voiced con-
cerns over the OSAA sponsoring
the six-man league, saying many
eight-man teams would drop to
six-man. He said there needs to be
a roster cap in place in six-man to
make sure that teams aren’t drop-
ping down in hopes of competing
for a state championship when they
could otherwise play eight-man
games.
Oregon has been running a pilot
six-man league for four years. The
teams compete for an unofficial
state championship, which is orga-
nized by the teams involved. The
state canceled its six-man league in
1960, creating eight-man football in
order to create more opportunities
to play for student-athletes.