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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2015)
S PORTS www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, March 4, 2015 A7 Horizon is heading to state after trouncing Triangle Lake Hawks beat Lakers 52-21, receive fifth-straight state berth By MIKE WEBER For the News The No. 1 ranked Horizon Christian boys basketball team moved one step closer toward its goal of winning the 1A state championship with an impressive 52-21 sec- ond-round state playoff win over Triangle Lake Friday at Horizon Christian High School. The Horizon Hawks (25-3) took control from the outset of the contest, jumping ahead 14-0 to the delight of an enthusiastic and capacity crowd at Horizon’s “Hawk Nest” gym. The Triangle Lake Lakers (15-11), of the Mountain West Conference near Eugene, never provided the high-flying Hawks with much of a challenge at any point of the one-sided matchup. Horizon, guided by coach Darrin Lingel, advanced to the OSAA/U.S. Bank/Les Schwab Tires State Champi- onship Tournament Mar. 4-7 in Baker City for a fifth straight year. Horizon was scheduled to play Crosshill Christian at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in a quarterfinal game. “I’m extremely proud of the seniors, who have been with us since they were in junior high,” said Lingel. “Their commitment to the program and the amount of time spent in offseason ac- tivities really shows how dedicated they are to the team. This wasn’t the best game we’ve had, but every- one played really, really hard. All I ask of these guys is to come out and give it all they have and they did that. We’re excited to be heading off to Baker City and we’re looking forward to another matchup against Crosshill Christian.” The five-time Big Sky Con- ference champion Hawks utilized an aggressive and suffocating defense to com- pletely overwhelm the Lak- ers. The Hawks went up 9-0 at the end of the first eight- minute period, marking the second time this year they’ve limited a team to a scoreless quarter. “Our zone defense was very effective, just like it has been all year long,” said Lin- gel. “The kids all did a good job with our variety of de- fensive concepts. Our full- court and half-court presses worked well for us. We really have a number of different schemes that we use in our defensive arsenal that we can utilize depending on each game situation. The kids are ready to go to Baker and hopefully stay there until Saturday. We have two more games that we need to win to get to the champi- onship game.” The Lakers, who had some momentum by winning seven of their last nine games, couldn’t establish any of- fensive rhythm, as they were stymied by the Hawks’ two-three zone defense and full-court press. A young Lakers squad, with just two seniors, did- n’t get its first basket until Cole Younger’s (eight points) layup with 5:51 left in the second, making it 14-2. A more experienced Hawks team (six seniors) continued to maintain its intensity level while displaying a po- tent offensive attack that’s ranked fifth at 61.9 points a game. Senior Nick Andersen (two pts.) grabbed a rebound and scored on a put-back shot underneath late in the second to provide Horizon with a 20-8 halftime advan- tage. “We played good defense Photo by Mike Weber SENIOR JARED DAVIS drives to the basket during the third quarter of Friday’s game. Davis was a key contributor, hitting double digits with 10 points as well as notching five assists. and that’s what we like to focus on,” said Andersen, who made the game-winning free throw in Horizon’s 48-47 win in their last game Feb. 21 versus Sherman. “We re- ally made them work hard for every point. I felt like we kind of had a little bit of a letdown, but we’ll be ready to play up to our maximum potential at the state tourna- ment. We’ll take it one game at a time though and we won’t look ahead to any g ame other than our matchup against Crosshill Christian on Wednesday.” Led by seniors Jared Davis (10 pts., five assists) and cen- ter Mason Bloomster (18 pts., 12 rebounds, three blocks), the Hawks continued their strong performance in the third. Two free throws by se- nior Ryan Aldrich (two pts.) and a jumper in the lane by junior Jared Bryan (eight pts., eight rebs.) helped Hori- zon extend its lead to 31-14 after three quar ters. “It was definitely a pretty weird feeling playing in our final home game ever,” said See HORIZON, Page A8 Marquez gets second at state HRV wrestling places two; three girls claim state titles By ADAM LAPIERRE News staff writer Surrounded on all sides by bright lights and the buzz of thousands of spectators, 12 mats filled the floor of Portland’s Memorial Coliseum over the weekend for the 2015 OSAA state wrestling championships. Friday’s preliminary rounds cut the 16-man brackets in half, and intensity picked up con- siderably Saturday, when the best of the best went toe-to-toe in the double-elimination tournament. Four boys and five girls representing Hood River Valley High School were among the masses to advance to the tour- nament by placing among the top four at their regional qual- ifiers earlier this month. Below is a breakdown for each wrestler. With 36.5 points, HRV finished at about the middle of the pack for team results. Hermiston repeated as team champion with 161 points, followed by Hillsboro (154.5), Sandy (147.5), Churchill (145) and Dallas (141.5) as the top five. Christian Marquez, 132 pounds: In a much-anticipated re- match of last year’s 126-pound state finals, Marquez and Dal- las High’s Matt Hofenbredl squared off in Saturday’s cham- pionship match. Marquez advanced to the finals by steam- rolling his first three opponents with a caliber of athleticism that few in the state possess. Three first-round pins put him well-rested going into Saturday night’s showdown against Hofenbredl, who made his way to the finals with two pins and an 11-1 decision. The two Oregon talents hadn’t met on the mat since last year’s state finals, when Marquez upset Hofenbredl — the two-time defending state champion — in a thrilling overtime victory. This time around, it would be Hoffenbredl’s hand raised at the end of six minutes, with a 7-1 margin over Marquez. In a matchup between Marquez’s fast-paced dynamic style and Hofenbredl’s impenetrable defensive wrestling, it was Hofenbredl who eventually took control of the match and its outcome. The first round ended scoreless; Marquez did a nice job of setting the offensive tempo but was unable to break Hofen- REMATCH: HRV’s Christian Marquez goes low on Dallas’ Matt Hofenbredl during the final match of the OSAA state wrestling championships Saturday night. Marquez ultimately lost to Hofenbredl, placing second. The two also met in the final match of last year’s competition. Photo by Adam Lapierre See WRESTLE Page A8 Submitted photo ALEAH VADAY, a junior at Hood River Valley High School, hits a jump during a recent Hood River Snowboard team competition this year. Snowboard needs donations for state championships Despite the lack of snow this year, the Hood River Snowboard team is back into action. The team has four coaches this year: Kate Reid, Connor Goodwillie, Loretta Duke and Christy Field as well as volunteer Brandon Fisher. The team has been able to have a few competitions this year and have two more coming up at Timberline: a slopestyle on March 6 and a halfpipe on March 8. OISA State Competitions take place in Bend again this year, but Field says a lack of snow has made it very difficult for the team financially. The Hood River Snowboard team is asking the community for help again in getting them to state. Field said that last year, many businesses and people stepped up with donations for the team. This exchange gets donors’ logos on the team banner to display at the state com- petition in Bend next week. If you have an interest in donating to the team, please email hrvsnowboardteam@gmail.com. Submitted photo SKI TEAM AWARDS The Hood River Valley High School Ski Team took home plenty of honors during the Mt. Hood League Awards banquet last weekend, including Patrick Crompton and Hannah Bergemann (above), who won the Ski Meisters award for highest points combined in the alpine and freestyle events. Girls over- all results were First: Lucy McLean, Third: Marina Levy (Stevenson), Fifth: Kelli Clarke, Sixth: Claire Davies, Seventh: Sarah Hall, Eighth: Mattea Schwab (Horizon) and 13th: Jesse Nunn (CHS). Boys over- all results were: First: Austin Keillor, Second: William Lamer, Fourth: Colin Howe (CHS), Sixth: Patrick Crompton, and Eighth: Charlie Sutherland. The team will be at Mt. Hood Meadows March 4-6 for the state championships. See stateskirace.com#!schedule/c66t for more info.
