10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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La Grande
catches
the wind,
advances
Seaside falls 3-1
in state soccer
The Daily Astorian
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande boys soccer team had the
wind at their backs in the second
half of Wednesday’s Class 4A
state playoff game with Seaside.
And the Gulls know a thing
or two about playing with and
against the wind.
In this case, it certainly
helped the Tigers, who snapped
a 1-1 tie at halftime with two
second half goals, in a 3-1 win
over Seaside.
La Grande advances to play
Madras Saturday in the state
quarterfi nals.
Despite the loss, Seaside still
managed to break new ground
this season, winning its fi rst
Regional Play-in game since
2011. The Gulls were 3-0-1 the
second half of league season,
and fi nish 8-2-4 overall.
Meanwhile, the Tigers came
in to Wednesday’s game sporting
a four-game win streak, having
outscored their last four oppo-
nents, 19-2.
And they grabbed a quick
goal for the early momentum.
After a Seaside foul in the
penalty area, the Tigers managed
to score the fi rst goal on a pen-
alty kick by senior Lewis Wright
in the 10th minute.
Seaside picked up the pace
in the fi nal 15 minutes of the
fi rst half, with a few corner kick
opportunities and shots on goal
from Hunter Thompson and
Jackson and Chase Januik.
Those three attempts were
stopped, but a shot on goal in
the 38th minute by Colton Car-
ter got through.
Carter carried from the left
side to the center, and managed
to push a shot past La Grande
keeper Jon Gonzales for a 1-1
halftime tie.
The momentum, however,
shifted back to La Grande in the
second half.
Consecutive shots on goal by
the Tigers midway through the
half were either saved by Sea-
side goalkeeper Jesus Perez, or
were off frame.
It was another penalty kick
that put La Grande back in front,
as Christian Miramontes con-
verted for a 2-1 lead with 17
minutes remaining.
La Grande scored again just
three minutes later, off the foot
of Michael Ebel.
Carter had a free kick that
was stopped in the closing min-
utes, and the Gulls were unable
to conquer the wind in the sec-
ond half.
The loss marked the end
of the line for eight Seaside
seniors — Perez and Thompson,
along with Dylan Wallis, Jack-
son Januik, Juneau Meyer, Will
Garvin, Brent Walsh and James
Kennedy.
The fall sports season con-
tinues for Januik, Meyer and
Thompson, who will be in action
this weekend, seeking a second
state championship as members
of the Seaside boys cross coun-
try team.
CLASS 4A STATE PLAYOFFS
Sisters 2, North Valley 1
Brookings-Harbor 3, Stayton 0
La Grande 3, Seaside 1
Madras 3, McLoughlin 2
Newport 7, Henley 0
North Marion 3, Tillamook 2
Molalla 2, North Bend 0
Phoenix 2, Philomath 1
QUARTERFINALS (SATURDAY)
1. Sisters vs. 8. Brookings-Harbor
2. Phoenix vs. 10. Molalla
3. Newport vs. 11. North Marion
4. Madras 5. La Grande
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
Football — OSAA 4A State Playoff:
Gladstone at Astoria, 7 p.m.; WIAA 2B
Playoff: Toutle Lake at Ilwaco, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Football — OSAA 2A State Playoff: St.
Paul vs. Knappa (at CMH Field), 2 p.m.
Round 1
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Nov. 4-5
Nov. 11-12
Nov. 18-19
Nov. 26
1. North Bend (7-0)
16. La Grande (4-5)
Friday, 7 p.m.
4A FOOTBALL
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
8. Marshfield (7-2)
9. Banks (6-3)
Friday, 7 p.m.
Football playoffs
set for Loggers
and Fishermen
The Daily Astorian
5. Estacada (7-1)
12. Sisters (7-2)
T
Friday, 7 p.m.
4. Ontario (6-2)
13. Scappoose (5-4)
Saturday, 1 p.m. (MT)
3. Astoria (7-1)
14. Gladstone (6-3)
Friday, 7 p.m.
6. Cottage Grove (8-0)
11. North Valley (8-1)
Friday, 7 p.m.
7. South Umpqua (5-3)
10. Baker (7-2)
Saturday, 2 p.m.
2. Mazama (7-1)
15. Cascade (4-3)
Note: Higher ranked
are the designated
home teams.
Friday, 7 p.m.
he Astoria and Knappa
football teams will both
be hosting state playoff
games at CMH Field, Friday
and Saturday.
Astoria kicks off the
action at 7 p.m. Friday, when
the Fishermen host Glad-
stone in a fi rst -round game of
the 4A state playoffs.
The Fishermen defeated
the Gladiators in Week 2,
49-42.
The gates open for admis-
sion at 5:30 p.m.
Reserved seats are now
on sale at the Astoria High
School main offi ce, starting
at 8 a.m. Reserved seats are
$10 or $8, based on avail-
ability and location. General
admission tickets are also on
sale for all fans and students.
General admission tickets
are $6 for adults and $4 for
high school-aged students
and younger.
Knappa will be the home
team at 2 p.m. Saturday
vs. St. Paul, in a fi rst -round
game of the Class 2A state
playoffs.
Gates open and tickets go
on sale at 12:30 p.m. All tick-
ets will be general admission.
Knappa fans will be encour-
aged to sit in the designated
‘Home’ areas of seating.
Only OSAA-approved
passes may be used for free
admission for any round of
the OSAA playoffs.
WORLD SERIES — COLUMN
MAGIC
IN THE
NIGHT
AP Photos/David J. Phillip
Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo reacts after scoring on a hit by Miguel Montero during the 10th inning of Game 7 of the Major League
Baseball World Series against the Cleveland Indians Wednesday in Cleveland.
Cubs fans keep
faith, rewarded
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
T
hey’ll relive the game for generations,
these Cubs fans, talking about the mag-
ical night in Cleveland when the skies
opened up and the curse of the Billy
Goat was buried once and for all.
Somewhere along the way the stories
will be embellished, as if that is even possi-
ble. Joe Maddon will be hailed as the great-
est manager ever, and Aroldis Chapman will
be remembered more for the W attached to
his name in the box score than how he actu-
ally ended up being the winning pitcher of a
Game 7 that was as thrilling as it was fl awed.
They might even make a movie out of
it, though they’ll have to write a new script.
The way it all went down was too corny, too
implausible for even Hollywood to believe.
The manager who led the Cubs to the
promised land seemed to be trying his best to
extend the curse rather than fi nally putting it
to rest. Not once, but twice, Maddon took his
best pitchers out of the game just when they
seemed to be cruising and almost paid for it
dearly.
The closer he seemingly couldn’t wait to
put in every game of this World Series was
ripe for the picking, and that was Maddon’s
fault, too. He didn’t trust his bullpen and was
determined to ride Chapman even when he
was clearly a thoroughbred who had been rid-
den too hard.
That it all turned out fi ne will be all that
will be remembered, not that a pitcher who
had never saved a game in his career was on
the mound with the weight of the city of Chi-
cago on his shoulders as he tried to get the
fi nal out.
That the Cubs are the World Series cham-
pions for the fi rst time in 108 years will be all
anyone wants to talk about, not the fact the
Cubs were up by three runs and needed only
four more outs before Chapman imploded
and they seemed cursed yet again.
Actor Bill Murray, a Cubs fan, attended
Game 7 of the World Series in Cleveland.
“Another team might have folded,” Cleve-
land manager Terry Francona said. “And they
didn’t.”
Give some of the credit to an intervention
from above, when the baseball gods fi nally
decided the Cubs had suffered enough and
interrupted the game just as it was going into
the 10th inning. It wasn’t a long rain delay,
far from it, but just long enough for the play-
ers to gather in the strength room and listen to
outfi elder Jason Heyward tell them they had
come too far to get too down at this point.
“The best rain delay of all time,” Anthony
Rizzo said.
Give some credit, too, to Kyle Schwarber
capping the most improbable postseason ever
by leading off the 10th with a base hit. Don’t
forget Ben Zobrist, either, and the double that
would give the Cubs a lead and make him an
equally improbable World Series MVP.
But it was the manager who encouraged
them to dress up in Halloween costumes on
the fl ight to Cleveland who brought them to
that point. It was the manager who scoffed
at the idea of a curse and got his players to
be aggressive early in the deciding games
because he didn’t want to face the Cleveland
bullpen from behind.
Yes, the same manager who pulled both
Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester too early
because, well, just because.
Had the Indians managed to scratch across
the winning run in the bottom of the ninth
inning, Maddon would have taken his place
in the Cubs’ Hall of Shame, probably along-
side Steve Bartman, the unfortunate Cubs fan
who until Thursday morning had been unable
to shake the blame for the Cubs losing in the
2003 playoffs.
Instead, he’s the fi rst Cubs manager in
more than a century to hoist the World Series
trophy aloft. That’s enough to secure his leg-
acy alone, though he’d prefer not to go down
in baseball lore as a curse buster.
Like superfan Bill Murray, he ain’t afraid
of no goat.
“It has nothing to do with curses, supersti-
tion,” Maddon said. “If you want to believe in
that kind of stuff, it’s going to hold you back
for a long time. I love tradition. I think tra-
dition is worth time mentally and tradition is
worth being upheld. But curses and supersti-
tions are not.”
Tell that to long-suffering Cubs fans, thou-
sands of whom made their way to cheer
loudly in Cleveland, and millions more who
jumped on the bandwagon late. The Cubs
were such a great story that baseball got tele-
vision ratings not seen since before the ste-
roid era for the World Series, and anyone who
watched Game 7 in its entirety has to be a
baseball fan for life.
It was 108 years in the making, and it was
epic. The Cubs and Indians made a divided
country feel better about itself, and the sight
of thousands in the streets outside both ball-
parks made a lot of people feel better about
the game of baseball.
The Cubs are no longer lovable losers,
and that will take some getting used to. So
will the expectations for future seasons with
a team built for success and a manager com-
fortable with making whatever decisions he
thinks are right to get them there.
“I’m really proud of the attitude, the cul-
ture that we’ve created,” Maddon said. “I
think it’s something that carries for many,
many years to come. Just like in the past, not
having won a World Series trophy in 108
years, this is a breakthrough year. So now that
standard of excellence can be carried through
for many years to come.”
The goat is gone and they’re singing in the
streets of Chicago.
As if that somehow isn’t good enough, the
“W” fl ags could be fl ying at Wrigley Field for
quite some time.