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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2018)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2018 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com SPORTS IN BRIEF Maldonado, White homer as Astros beat Mariners 10-7 Brittany Israel/For The Daily Astorian Left to right: Alivia Rickenbach (on Scatty), Olivia Rilatos (on Logan), Haylee Skipper (on Bluzee), Angelina Linares (on Shay is Good), Tony Sanchez, Allison Keeling (with That’s Your Story). Clatsop riders head for state fair The Daily Astorian T he Clatsop County state equestrian team hits the road Thursday, to take part in the state fair this weekend in Salem. Six students and their animals will take part — Allison Keeling, Angelina Linares, Alivia Rickenbach, Olivia Rilatos, Tony San- chez and Haylee Skipper. The state fair’s equestrian competition fea- tures an exhibition of riding skills and equine instincts. Top competitors from 4-H, FFA and open class vie for ribbons. Keeling and her horse, “That’s Your Story,” have been in 4-H three years, but this will be her first trip to state. Her favorite mem- ory: “Competing in the hunt seat over fences class and winning high point.” Linares and “Shay is Good” have been involved in 4-H for four years. This is her sec- ond visit to state. Her favorite memory: she “enjoyed the award ceremony, even though there were a lot of tears.” Rickenbach and her horse “Scatty” have spent five years in 4-H, but this will be her first time at the state fair. Her favorite mem- ory involves “having fun with everyone and playing games on the horses, especially musi- cal freestyle.” Rilatos and “Logan” are five-year veter- ans of the 4-H. She is making her second trip to state. Her favorite memory: “Winning the Jamie Nelson Award, which is the outstanding 4-H horse member award.” Sanchez has been in 4-H three years with his horse “Shay is Good.” It’s his first time to state. His favorite memory was “when Haylee Skipper helped me with my western pattern.” Skipper, with her horse “Bluzee,” is an eight-year veteran of 4-H, and is going to state for the third time. Her favorite memory: “Get- ting grand champion in showmanship.” Ex-Vikings Johnson, Stephen finding fit with Seahawks By CURTIS CRABTREE Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — As the Sea- hawks try to keep their defense play- ing at its traditionally high level despite the absence of five former Pro Bowl selections, a pair of vet- eran additions from Minnesota along the defensive line could help steady the ship. Seattle added former Vikings defensive tackles Tom Johnson and Shamar Stephen as veteran pieces along the defensive front on consec- utive days in March. While Johnson and Stephen don’t directly replace Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Rich- ard Sherman or Kam Chancellor, they are experienced veterans that played on a Vikings defense that was among the league’s best last season. Johnson and Stephen get a chance to return to Minnesota to face their for- mer team in Seattle’s third preseason game Friday night. “This was the place that kind of wanted both of us,” Johnson said. “I ended up telling him I was going to come here and shortly after he made the decision to come out. It was a great deal.” Johnson — one of the few play- ers still in the NFL to have played in NFL Europe — brings the ability to rush the passer from the interior. He posted a career-high 6.5 sacks with Minnesota in 2014 before net- ting just two in each of the last two seasons. “I wish we found him six or seven years ago,” coach Pete Carroll said UP NEXT: SEAHAWKS • Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings • Friday, 5 p.m. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren From left, defensive tackles Jarran Reed and Tom Johnson take part in an agility drill. of Johnson. “He’s one of our guys. He’s got the chip on his shoulder and he shows it day in and day out by the way he approaches his work. ... He’s fantastic and we love the fact that he’s in that room (and) got a lot of young guys with him. He’s got a fan- tastic influence on those guys.” Stephen is more of a space-eat- ing force that the Seahawks hope can help get the team’s run defense back on track after it had some uncharac- teristic struggles last season. After three straight seasons in the top five against the run, the Seahawks fell to 19th last year, allowing an average of 114 yards per game on the ground. “Shamar is big, thick, studly, big strong hands getting off blocks and filling up the line of scrimmage, and he’s a really good pursuit guy,” Car- roll said. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed was perturbed early in camp by all the focus on the players who weren’t with the team: Avril, Bennett, Sher- man, Chancellor and Earl Thomas, whose holdout continues nearly a month into camp. “Too many people are worried about them being gone,” Reed said. “We got the team here right now that’s going to go out there and bat- tle with us on Sundays. I’m honestly tired of hearing it. We got guys right here and they can do the same thing and I just want everybody to believe in us.” Added Johnson: “We got a mix of guys that’s athletic enough and strong enough and smart enough to be the top defensive linemen in the league so that’s one of our goals to strive for right now.” Reed and Johnson have been Seattle’s starting defensive tack- les throughout the preseason with Stephen and second-year tackle Nazair Jones rotating in situation- ally. Though Johnson and Stephen have more experience in the NFL than Reed or top pass-rusher Frank Clark, they’ve assimilated into Seat- tle’s defensive line group seamlessly since joining the team this spring. “They’ve been very respectful in understanding the fact this is Frank and Jarran’s room,” assistant head coach Clint Hurtt said. “We’re just going to mesh and continue to build the cohesiveness of the unit and it’s been outstanding. They’re a pleasure to have.” Ohio State suspends Meyer for three games Coach will miss Oregon State game By MITCH STACY Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State sus- pended coach Urban Meyer for three games on Wednesday night for mishandling repeated professional and behavioral prob- lems of an assistant coach, with investigators finding Meyer protected his protege for years through domestic violence allegations, a drug problem and poor job performance. The superstar coach’s treatment of his now-fired assistant was also clouded by his abiding devotion to the legacy of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, the grandfather of former wide receivers coach Zach Smith and an early coaching mentor for Meyer. “I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt,” Meyer said. The investigation turned up “a pattern of troubling behavior by Zach Smith: pro- miscuous and embarrassing sexual behav- ior, drug abuse, truancy, dishonesty, financial irresponsibility, a possible NCAA violation, and a lengthy police investigation into alle- gations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes,” according to summary investi- gative findings released by the university on Wednesday night. Meyer knew about at least some of the issues. The report and punishment culminated a two-week investigation of how Meyer reacted to allegations that Smith abused his ex-wife, Courtney Smith. Zach Smith was fired last month after she asked a judge for a protective order. Courtney Smith alleged her husband shoved her against a wall and put his hands around her neck in 2015. Zach Smith has never been criminally charged with domestic violence. The university put Meyer on paid leave and began investigating after Courtney Smith spoke out publicly, sharing text mes- sages and photos she traded in 2015 with Meyer’s wife, Shelley Meyer. Shelley Meyer is a registered nurse and instructor at Ohio State. Meyer, 54, will miss Ohio State’s first three games against Oregon State, Rutgers and No. 16 TCU, though he will be allowed to coach practices leading into the Rutgers and TCU games. SEATTLE — Martin Maldo- nado and Tyler White helped the Astros build an eight-run lead, and Houston’s bullpen made it hold after a little scare in the sixth inning. Maldonado and White each homered and had three hits, Roberto Osuna got his first save with Houston and the Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 10-7 on Wednesday. The Astros led 9-1 before the Mariners got one back in the fifth and added five more in the sixth, all off starter Charlie Morton (13-3). No changes coming to NFL’s helmet rule NEW YORK — The NFL Com- petition Committee has recom- mended not making any changes to the helmet rule approved by own- ers in the offseason, which means instant replay use for officials will not be instituted for such calls. After members of the powerful committee held a conference call Wednesday, football operations chief Troy Vincent noted there would be no alterations. Vincent said the feedback after two weeks of preseason games was reviewed and “the committee resolved that there will be no changes ... “ “The committee also deter- mined that inadvertent or inciden- tal contact with the helmet and/or facemask is not a foul,” Vincent said. Vincent added that as players, coaches and officials adjust to the rule, the league will provide more feedback and examples of incor- rect calls. Ex-Brazil soccer boss gets 4 years in prison in probe NEW YORK — A former South American soccer official convicted on corruption charges in the sprawling FIFA bribery scandal was sentenced in federal court to four years in prison on Wednesday. Jose Maria Marin, a former president of Brazil’s soccer feder- ation, also was ordered to forfeit $3.3 million and pay a $1.2 mil- lion fine in connection with his participation in a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to various soccer tournaments, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. — Associated Press SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE TODAY Volleyball — Knappa at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Jewell at Columbia Christian, 6:30 p.m. AP Photo Paul Vernon Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer
