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S PORTS www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, February 11, 2015 A7 Horizon hoops rolls Dufur on path to Big Sky title followed by a 54-45 come-from-be- hind home win Saturday over the No. 11 ranked Dufur Rangers (9-2, 13-7). Horizon, guided by coach Dar- rin Lingel, is seeking to capture a fifth straight league title. The powerhouse Hawks continued their run at the Big Sky title with road games Tuesday and Friday before returning home this Satur- day, 5:30 p.m., for senior night and the team’s final regular season home contest vs. South Wasco. Horizon will compete in the Big Sky District Playoffs Feb. 20-21 at Hawks pull off key comeback vs. Rangers By MIKE WEBER For the news The 1A No. 1 ranked Horizon Christian School varsity boys basketball team continued to dominate the Big Sky Conference as it notched two more wins last week to extend their conference win streak to 44 games. Horizon (11-0 Big Sky, 19-3 overall) won 58- 25 Friday at Arlington (1-10, 3-18), Hermiston High School. “It was a good game versus Dufur and a hard battle in which we overcame a halftime deficit to get the win,” said Lingel. “We were able to take control of the game with a strong fourth quar- ter to pull out the win at the end. The kids are really playing with a high confidence level right now.” In a low-scoring first half, Hori- zon trailed 19-14 at the break. Led by s e n i o r s J a r e d D av i s ( 2 6 points), Wes Johnston (10 pts.) and Mason Bloomster (14 pts., 17 rebounds), the Hawks gained the momentum in the second half and outscored Dufur 40-26, in- cluding 22-11 in the fourth, to get the victory. On Friday, Horizon held Arling- ton to single digit scoring in every quarter except the fourth to get a blowout win. The Hawks led 18-6 after one and built a 34-10 halftime advanta g e. Horizon maintained its momentum for the entire contest in leading from start-to-finish. The trio of Bloom- ster (14 pts.), Davis (nine pts.) and RJ Hicks (10 pts.) helped lead the Hawks to victory. Horizon girls The Horizon girls team lost a pair of Big Sky games but is still in the playoff picture. The girls lost 48-27 on the road Friday to the Arlington Honkers (6-5 Big Sky, 12-9 overall) and 33-17 Saturday to the No. 13 ranked Dufur Rangers (10-1, 14-7). Horizon is in a three-way tie for sixth place in the eight-team confer- ence with two games remaining on the regular season schedule. The top six teams advance to Big Sky District playoffs Feb. 20 at Hermis- ton High School. State champs PATRICK CROMPTON Crompton honored as scholar athlete Submitted photos HRV WRESTLING brought home a state title over the weekend after six of the team’s female wrestlers competed in the Oregon womens state wrestling qual- ifier tournament in Cottage Grove. The girls overwhelmingly claimed the team title against the field of 36 teams. Pictured are (left to right) coach Josh Lane, Beatrice Najera, Monique Yanez, Sarah Sullenger, Jessica DeHart, Payton Rigert, Joanna Endow, Martika Lane and coach Scott DeHart. Below are tournament winners Rigert and DeHart in action. Rigert won her bracket with two pins and DeHart won with three pins. HRV girls bring home team title from state qualifier By PAYTON RIGERT and ADAM LAPIERRE News intern, News staff writer Six Hood River Valley High School wrestlers traveled to Cottage Grove High School on Saturday for the annual Oregon womens state wrestling qualifier, and after a full day of wrestling, the Eagles had two champions, five state qualifiers and a new trophy hailing them the top fe- male high school wrestling team in the state for the 2014-15 season. The sport of women’s wrestling has been growing significantly in recent years, as was evident by the large turn-out of girls at the qualifier this year. Women from all over the state of travel to the event; in all more than 70 girls represent- ing 36 schools were on the mats for the all- day event. To qualify for the Oregon women’s wrestling championship tourna- ment, held Feb. 27 and 28 at the Memorial Coliseum alongside the OSAA state tour- nament, the athletes needed to place top four in their weight classes. Those top four wrestlers will face off at the Memori- al Coliseum to determin this year’s state champions. Representing HRV were Jessica DeHart, Sarah Sullenger, Monique Yanez, Martika Lane, Joanna Endow and Payton Rigert. Defending state champions, Dehart and Rigert, both went undefeated to win their brackets and qualify as the top seed in the 106 (DeHart) and 152 pound weight class- es. Sullenger and Yanez each had four wins and a loss to finish second in the 113 and 126 classes and Endow was fourth with three wins and two losses. Lane went 2-2 on the day to finish fifth, which places her as an alternate for the state tourna- ment. After a long day of wrestling, the Hood River girls were thrilled to learn that they had won the team trophy by almost twice as many points as the next-best team, Elmira. Since team points will not be tracked at the state finals, winning the qualifier tournament means winning the girls state team title. This is a first for the Eagles, but if momentum for the sport continues the way it has at HRV, it likely won’t be the last. Hood River Valley High School senior Patrick Crompton has been selected as one of 16 Oregon high school football players to be hon- ored next month as a top scholar athlete at the 54th annual Portland Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame awards banquet. Crompton will receive a $1,000 scholarship and will be honored at a March 8 ceremony along with 15 other players who were selected from 79 high schools in the greater Portland region. To be considered for the award players must be seniors, must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and must have made first-or sec- ond-team All-League during their senior football season. “The thing that is special about this award is it combines all of the attributes that make Patrick great,” said head HRV football coach Caleb Sperry. “He is a great football player for us, but he is an outstanding student and person. Combining those three areas makes Patrick very deserving for this distinction.” See CROMPTON, Page A8 HRV Nordic team finds snow in Bend for skate race The Hood River Valley Nordic team traveled to Bend over the weekend, where it found enough snow to continue the season’s OHSNO league race series. The race was originally scheduled for Mt. Hood, and was planned to be a “Pursuit” style race with both clas- sic and skate legs, but the lack of snowpack and dire weather predic- tions forced a move to central Ore- gon, where the mountains have a bit more snow. Due to the move, the event was changed to a 5K skate style race at Mt. Bachelor, with mass starts and some thrilling downhill in which racers were challenged to stay up- right and avoid downed skiers blocking the course. HRV Nordic showed their skills by placing four HRV girls at state qualifier Jessica DeHart, 106: 1st, 3-0 (WBF, WBF, WBF) Sarah Sullenger, 113: 2nd, 4-1 (WBF, LBF, WBF, 17-1 win, WBF) Monique Yanez, 126: 2nd, 4-1 (WBF, WBF, WBF, LBF, WBF) Joanna Endow, 126: 4th, 3-2 (WBF, LBF, WBF, WBF, LBF) Martika Lane, 132: 5th, 2-2 (LBF, WBF, LBF, WBF) Payton Rigert, 152: 1st, 2-0 (WBF, WBF) Team results (top five, 36 total) 1st: Hood River, 123.5 2nd: Elmira, 66.5 3rd: Ashland, 52 4th: Cleveland, 48 5th: Westview, 46 See NORDIC, Page A8 Eagles lose close one to Bucks By MIKE WEBER For the News A thrilling Columbia River Con- ference matchup between league title contenders Hood River Valley and Pendleton resembled the inten- sity and atmosphere of the state fi- nals, with a near capacity Vannet Court crowd providing the Eagles an emotional boost as they took on the No. 12 ranked Buckaroos. After four quarters of action- packed basketball, it was the visiting Buckaroos who prevailed with a slim 61-58 win. “We came out and we were on fire from the outside early … and we con- tinued working hard the entire game,” said coach Steve Noteboom. “We played good, tough, aggressive defense, but … there were some things that we definitely need to im- prove on, and we’ll do that so that Photo by Mike Weber we can become a better team. We NOAH NOTEBOOM drives through two Pendleton players in a tense fourth- played a pretty good game, but I know we can play better.” quarter of Friday night’s thriller between the Eagles and the Buckaroos. After Hood River senior post Scottie Ziegner (team-high 13 points) drove into the lane for a layup, the Eagles were within one point of Pendleton (59-58) with 11 seconds left in the game. The Eagles fouled Pendleton sophomore guard Caden Smith, stopping the clock with four seconds left, to give themselves a chance to win at the end. Despite the roar of a large home crowd that tried to distract him, Smith sank two clutch free throws to give the Bucks a three-point lead. Stymied by Pendleton’s pressing defense, the Ea- gles were unable to get a good look at the hoop as the time counted dwin- dled down to zero. “It’s tough to come from behind at the end, and with only four seconds left it just wasn’t enough time to get a good shot,” said Ziegner. “It’s defi- nitely exciting to be in position to have a chance to go to the playoffs this year, for the first time in a long, long time. We just need to continue working hard in practice every day.” The No. 28 ranked Eagles (2-2 CRC, 9-9 overall) hosted a key game Tues- day (results unavailable as of press time) against the No. 23 ranked Her- miston Bulldogs and will follow with four more CRC games over the next couple of weeks to close out the reg- ular season. The top-three teams in the conference qualify for postsea- son play; a trip to the playoffs would be the first for the Eagles since 1994. HRV took the early momentum Friday night, jumping in front 9-2 as Kaydin Gibbs (eight pts.), Ziegner and Tyrone Stintzi (10 pts., five re- bounds) sunk consecutive three- pointers. Led by 6-6 senior post Wes Persinger (28 pts., 11 rebs), Pendle- ton came back with a 17-0 run to build a 19-9 lead. A three-pointer by junior Dallas Buckley (six pts.) helped the Eagles trim the margin to 19-12 after one quarter. “We just didn’t make the tough plays at the end that we needed to,” said Buckley. “We have thrived in the See EAGLES, Page A8