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