10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Court rejects
appeal from
football coach
on prayers
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
Photos by Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Portland Timbers’ Diego Valeri (8) celebrates a goal against the Colorado Rapids.
Valeri sets goal records, leads
Timbers to 2-1 win over Rapids
Associated Press
P
ORTLAND — Diego Valeri
broke Portland’s career goals
record and set another team mark
by scoring in his fifth straight game,
leading the Timbers to a 2-1 victory
over the Colorado Rapids on Wednes-
day night.
Valeri opened the scoring in the
21st minute, heading a left-wing cross
from Vytautas Andriuskevicius past
goalkeeper Tim Howard. Valeri broke
a tie with teammate Fanendo Adi for
the club record with 52 goals with his
career-high 15th of the season.
“It’s an honor. To me, most impor-
tantly, the numbers reflect that we
have a (good) team. That’s the most
important for me,” Valeri said. “And
it’s the most important part of the year,
so I’m thinking more about that, to be
honest, than thinking about numbers.
And it made me feel good.”
Portland (11-9-7) made it 2-0 two
minutes later when Darlington Nagbe
received a pass from Andriuskevicius
just inside the penalty area, turned and
chipped a floating shot over Howard
and into the top right corner for his
third goal of the season.
Colorado (6-14-4) scored in the
28th minute. Mohammed Saeid inter-
cepted Portland defender Lawrence
Olum’s pass, dribbled toward the pen-
alty area, and sent a rolling shot from
the top of the area past goalkeeper Jeff
Attinella for his first goal this year.
“We didn’t do anything wrong, as
a team, on the goal we gave up, other
than pass the ball to them,” Portland
coach Caleb Porter said. “And if that
goal doesn’t happen, I think it’s prob-
ably going to be a three, four, five-
zero game. I mean, we were abso-
lutely electric the first 25 minutes of
the game.”
The Timbers had an opportunity
to restore the two-goal lead almost
immediately. Video review ruled that
Rapids defender Mike da Fonte pulled
Valeri down in the penalty area, giv-
ing Portland a penalty kick, but David
Guzman pulled his shot wide of the
post. Guzman also received a yellow
card in the 73rd minute, and will have
to sit out Sunday against Seattle.
Portland has won four of its last six
to move into a tie for second place in
the Western Conference with Sporting
Kansas City, a point behind Seattle.
SEATTLE — A Washing-
ton state high school foot-
ball coach took advantage of
his position when he prayed
on the field after games, and
he’s not entitled to imme-
diately get his job back, a
federal appeals court said
Wednesday.
The three-judge panel of
the 9th U.S. District Court of
Appeals unanimously held
that Bremerton High coach
Joe Kennedy’s prayers did
not constitute protected free
speech because he was act-
ing as a public employee,
not a private citizen, when he
conducted them.
“By kneeling and praying
on the fifty-yard line imme-
diately after games while in
view of students and parents,
Kennedy was sending a mes-
sage about what he values
as a coach, what the District
considers appropriate behav-
ior, and what students should
believe, or how they ought to
behave,” Judge Milan Smith
wrote for the court.
The judge added that
Kennedy “took advantage
of his position to press his
particular views upon the
impressionable and captive
minds before him.”
Kennedy had previously
led players in postgame
prayers, but the Bremerton
School District ordered him
to stop in 2015, saying the
practice violated the sepa-
ration of church and state
required by the U.S. Consti-
tution. He lost his job after he
defied the ban.
Kennedy then sued, say-
ing his religious rights had
been violated. He asked
U.S. District Judge Ronald
Leighton to force the dis-
trict to re-hire him while the
case proceeds, but Leighton
refused — a decision the 9th
Circuit opinion upheld.
The case has drawn broad
national attention, includ-
ing when President Donald
Trump featured Kennedy at
Larry Steagall/Kitsap Sun
Former Bremerton High
School assistant football
coach Joe Kennedy pos-
es for a photo in 2015.
a campaign event in Virginia
last October.
“Teachers and coaches
don’t get to pressure students
to pray,” Richard B. Katskee,
legal director of Americans
United for Separation of
Church and State, said in a
statement Wednesday. “Stu-
dents and families have the
right to decide whether and
how to practice their faith.
Public schools should be
welcoming places for all stu-
dents and families, and no
student should feel like an
outsider at his or her school.”
First Liberty Institute, the
religious-freedom law firm
that represents Kennedy in
the case, criticized the deci-
sion — saying that by its
logic, coaches would not be
allowed to bow their head in
prayer or make a sign of the
cross when players get hurt.
The organization said it was
reviewing Kennedy’s legal
options.
“Banning all coaches
from praying individually in
public just because they can
be seen is wrong,” First Lib-
erty President Kelly Shackel-
ford said in a statement. “This
is not the America contem-
plated by our Constitution.”
The school district said
in a statement that it “appre-
ciates the well-reasoned
decision.”
Portland Timbers’ Diego Valeri, left, tries to head the ball on to a team-
mate as Colorado Rapids’ Eric Miller (3) defends.
UP NEXT: TIMBERS
• Portland Timbers (11-9-7)
at Seattle Sounders (11-7-8)
• Sunday, 6:30 p.m. TV: FS1
Portland Timbers’ Darren Mat-
tocks (11) works against Colorado
Rapids’ Kortne Ford.
Colorado Rapids goalie Tim How-
ard gestures.
The Timbers have a chance to over-
take the Sounders on Sunday.
“We have confidence in the qual-
ity of this team. It’s a good time, it’s a
good moment, in (terms of) points and
wins,” Valeri said. “But we are always
confident in the quality of this team,
of these players.”
Colorado is winless in its last seven
and has lost both games under interim
head coach Steve Cooke. Cooke took
over for Pablo Mastroeni on Aug. 19.
“They put everything out there,
they worked as hard as they possibly
could. They’re absolutely devastated
they haven’t got something, but that’s
football, you know?” Cooke said.
“Sometimes it comes down to a couple
of moments in a game and the Port-
land Timbers had two great moments.”
While the Timbers got the win, the
game ended on a scary note in Port-
land when Dairon Asprilla appeared
to collapse after the final whistle. He
was prone on the field for several min-
utes while he was attended by train-
ers, who appeared to administer an
IV. Even team owner Merritt Paulson
came on to the field to see what was
happening.
Asprilla was able to get up with
help and was eventually carted off
the field. Porter said he was taken to a
local hospital as a precaution.
AP Photo/John Bazemore
Seattle Mariners’ Jean Segura (2) celebrates with Nel-
son Cruz, right, after scoring on a two base hit by Taylor
Motter in the eighth inning.
Motter replaces injured
Cano, lifts M’s past Braves
By CHARLES ODUM
Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Seat-
tle Mariners are hoping Rob-
inson Cano avoided a serious
injury when he was pulled
with tightness in his left
hamstring.
If Cano misses one or
more games, Taylor Motter
made a case that he can keep
the offense moving.
Motter replaced Cano and
gave Seattle the lead with a
two-run single in the eighth
inning, lifting the Mariners
over the Atlanta Braves 9-6
on Wednesday night.
Cano pulled up approach-
ing second base in the third
inning after his second dou-
ble of the game. The Mari-
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Seattle Mariners (65-63)
at New York Yankees
(68-57)
• Friday, 4:05 p.m.
TV: RTNW
ners also lost center fielder
Guillermo Heredia, who left
in the eighth after being hit
on his right forearm by a
pitch from Jason Motte in the
seventh.
“The initial signs are
they’re going to be all right,”
said manager Scott Servais.
Servais said Cano had
“pretty good strength” in
the hamstring when tested.
He said Heredia has been hit
in the same spot “a couple
times the last week or so.”