Sports
A9
Thursday, January 13, 2022
COLLEGE BASEBALL
EOU
releases
2022
slate
Eastern baseball
coming off five-win
season, opens Jan.
27 in Arizona
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Base-
ball season is right around
the corner in La Grande.
The Eastern Oregon
University baseball pro-
gram is set for its second
season after being rein-
stated in 2020.
The Mountaineers
announced their 2022
schedule on Tuesday, Jan.
11, setting the stage for a
51-game slate this season.
Of the 51
games listed,
27 will be
nonconference
bouts.
Eastern
Oregon com-
piled a 5-31
McInerney
record in its
first season back on the
diamond, with the pan-
demic limiting the scope
of a potential full season.
Now heading into 2022,
the Mountaineers have a
full schedule that includes
several top nonconference
opponents. Head Coach
Mike McInerney and the
Mountaineers are set for
opening pitch against No.
22-ranked MidAmerica
Nazarene at 9 a.m. on
Thursday, Jan. 27., at the
Coach Calderone Invita-
tional in Glendale, Ari-
zona. EOU will face four
different opponents over a
three-day span at the tour-
nament. After opening
with MidAmerica Naza-
rene, the Mountaieers will
face Embry-Riddle (Ariz.),
Oklahoma Panhandle
State, and No. 23 Benedic-
tine Mesa.
Eastern begins its
season with 19 straight
games on the road, before
returning home to the
newly renovated Pio-
neer Park to host a series
against the College of
Idaho on March 5.
Prior to returning to La
Grande, the Mountaineers
will close out the opening
road trip with four games
against reigning confer-
ence champion No. 4 Lew-
is-Clark State.
The Warriors will
face off again with the
Mountaineers for a four-
game series in La Grande
starting on April 8.
Eastern Oregon will
play 16 home games and
35 away games. The
Mountaineers conclude the
regular season with a four-
game conference series
against Corban at Pioneer
Park.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Powder Valley quarterback Reece Dixon breaks loose for a run during the OSAA Class 1A state championship game on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. Powder Valley High School was
adamant against a proposed nine-man football, with head coach Josh Cobb speaking out after the initial proposals at a December meeting.
BACKING OUT
OSAA committee nixes nine-man football initiative
By RONALD BOND
and DAVIS CARBAUGH
EO Media Group
SALEM — Nine-man football
appears to be off the table.
The Oregon School Activities
Association’s Football Ad Hoc
Committee dropped support of a
considered move that would have
drastically altered the 2A and
1A game and divided the schools
into large and small school divi-
sions of nine-man football.
Instead, 2A schools will con-
tinue to play 11-man football,
while larger 1A schools will
remain at the eight-man level.
Backing nine-man foot-
ball was shelved after the vast
majority of eight-man schools —
about 95% — said they favored
eight-man over nine, according
to an Oregonian report last week.
Powder Valley High School
was adamant against the pro-
posed nine-man football, with
head coach Josh Cobb speaking
out after the initial proposals
on Tuesday, Dec. 20. Superin-
tendent Lance Dixon and Ath-
letic Director Brad Dunten both
spoke at the most recent OSAA
meeting, on Jan. 5, and Dunten
presented a survey he conducted
among 1A representatives.
Dunten noted that the majority
of the survey took in results from
athletic directors and school
officials at the 1A level, with
a small number of principals
and coaches responding. The
survey showed that the majority
of the 80 responses from 95
1A schools and one 2A school
favored eight-man football
over nine-man. Just over 86%
of those surveyed were against
the six-man/nine-man/11-man
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Imbler’s Trevor Treat (2) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against Lyle/Wishram/Klickitat on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. The OSAA
Football Ad Hoc Committee dropped its support of a nine-man football proposal after 1A coaches voiced their opposition to the
change.
“Eight-man is the greatest form
of football in my opinion, and it is
one of the fastest growing forms of
football.”
Billy Wortman, Adrian High School head coach
model, while 79.5% voted that
2A through 6A classifications
should not have a say on the
future of eight-man football.
Dixon noted that the proposal
of doing away with eight-man
football united 1A schools and
representatives, which is not
always common. He also stated
that switching to nine-man foot-
ball could have a negative impact
on schools on the east side of the
state, which would be unable to
play non-league games against
Washington and Idaho schools
that play strictly eight-man and
11-man football. Dixon empha-
sized his concern over impacts
on the school’s budget if travel
plans were affected by the poten-
tial new football alignment.
Dixon further noted that
getting rid of eight-man football
would force schools with
See, Football/Page A10
SPORTS SHORT
Eastern athletes earn conference player of the week honors
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Two Moun-
taineers recently earned Cas-
cade Conference player of the
week honors after strong perfor-
mances this past weekend.
Men’s basketball guard
Cooper Lumsden and men’s
wrestler Jay Smith were both
named player of the week in
their respective sports in an
announcement from the Cas-
cade Collegiate Conference on
Monday, Jan. 10.
Lumsden was electric in his
The near dou-
first career start against
Washington to face off with
ble-double for
Multnomah on Jan. 8,
Northwest (6-8, 3-6) at
Lumsden was much
scoring a career-high 32
7:30 p.m. Jan. 14.
Sophomore wrestler
needed for a short-
points and nine assists.
Jay Smith had a strong
handed Mountain-
He added five rebounds
eers squad in a solid
weekend for the No. 20
and converted all 12 of his
conference vic-
Mountaineers, earning
free-throw attempts.
Lumsden
Smith
tory. Including a
two dual wins and helping
Lumsden was firing
COVID-19 forfeit by Warner
Eastern defeat conference oppo-
right from the start, going
nents Arizona Christian 30-12
Pacific on Jan. 7, Eastern has
7-for-16 from the field and
and No. 18 Embry-Riddle 36-15.
earned victories in its last three
6-for-13 from 3-point range.
The 197-pound wrestler
contests. The Mountaineers cur-
The freshman only turned the
rently stand at sixth in the Cas-
defeated Arizona Christian’s
ball over four times despite
cade Collegiate Conference stand- Va Ili by a 3-1 decision on Jan.
playing the full 40 minutes and
ings with a 4-5 conference record
7 to guide Eastern to a come-
functioning as the team’s main
from-behind victory. The Moun-
source of offense in a 102-93 vic- and 10-7 overall record. Up next,
tory over the Lions.
taineers trailed 12-10 midway
Eastern will travel to Kirkland,
through the match but went on
to win 30-12. On the following
day, Smith defeated Embry-Rid-
dle’s Michael Densmore by a 8-4
decision to help the Mountain-
eers roll past the Eagles 36-15.
Smith is 17-8 on the year,
which is a team high in victo-
ries for Eastern. This week’s
Cascade Collegiate Conference
men’s wrestler of the week will
look to lead the Mountaineers to
success as the team faces three
more conference duals before
taking part in the conference
championships in Havre, Mon-
tana, on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19.