THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015
Sports shorts
Nike extends deal
with NWSL
BEAVERTON(AP)
— Nike has extended its
sponsorship deal with the
National
Women’s
Soccer
League
through
2019.
The
Beaverton, Oregon-based
shoe and apparel company
has out¿ tted the women’s
professional league with
uniforms and training gear
for each of its teams since it
launched in 2013.
The announcement
Wednesday comes as
the NWSL prepares for
its championship game
Thursday night between the
Seattle Reign and FC Kansas
City at Providence Park
in Portland, Oregon. Both
teams worked out at Nike’s
headquarters Tuesday.
Nike will also supply the
league’s of¿ cial game ball.
SPORTS
PENDLETON
Bucks run defense to get big test
Ridgeview brings
potent rushing attack
to Round-Up grounds
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
For the ¿ rst two home games of
the season, the Pendleton Buckaroos
were not able to enjoy the ‘Friday
Night Lights’ atmosphere.
With the Round-Up grounds
being prepared for the rodeo, the
Bucks were forced to play on their
practice ¿ eld at the high school
at 3 p.m. because the ¿ eld is not
“The kids are pretty excited about the change
of venue. It’s a different atmosphere, for sure,
and our kids accept it for what it is, that this is
our home fi eld.”
— Erik Davis,
Pendleton head football coach on the team’s fi rst game of the season
at the Round-Up grounds.
equipped with lights.
But with the Round-Up now in
the past, the Bucks are ¿ nally able
to enjoy their regular home ¿ eld.
“The kids are pretty excited
about the change of venue,” said
Buckaroos coach Erik Davis. “It’s
a different atmosphere, for sure, and
our kids accept it for what it is, that
this is our home ¿ eld.”
The Bucks (2-2) spent the entire
practice session on Wednesday in
PENDLETON
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1961 — Roger Maris
hits his 61st home run of the
season, against Tracy Stal-
lard of the Boston Red Sox
at Yankee Stadium. The blow
gives New York a 1-0 victory
and eclipses Babe Ruth’s
34-year-old
single-season
home run record.
1975 — In the “Thrilla
in Manila,” Muhammad
Ali beats Joe Frazier in 14
rounds to retain his world
heavyweight title.
1977 — Pele plays his
farewell game at the Mead-
owlands before a crowd of
75,646.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Ridgeview
Pendleton
Ravens
Buckaroos
(2-2)
(2-2)
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• at Round-Up grounds
• Radio: KTIX 1240 AM
the Round-Up grounds, as Davis
wanted to acclimate the kids to the
arena and the turf.
“I think we’re actually at an
advantage because the turf here is
See BUCKS/3B
BMCC
notches
win No. 25
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton’s Nicholas Zdroy runs past Hood River defender Carlos Marquez to get to the ball in the
Bucks’ 10-0 loss to the Eagles on Wednesday in Pendleton.
Hood River blanks Pendleton
East Oregonian
“Not to sound
cocky or anything,
or confi dent, but
yeah, I do feel like
I could have came
out my senior
year of high
school and played
in the NFL.“
— Adrian Peterson
Minnesota Vikings run-
ning back responding to
statements made about
LSU sophomore RB
Leonard Fournette skip-
ping his junior season
next year to preserve his
potential NFL Draft sta-
tus. Peterson, 30, rushed
for 1,860 yards and 15
TD’s as a freshman at
Oklahoma in 2004 and
ended up as a Heisman
trophy fi nalist. Fournette
currently has 631 yards
through three games.
Football
PENDLETON
MLB Commsioner
plans for more
game experiments
NEW YORK (AP) —
Rob Manfred envisions
more experiments with
speed-up rules, such as
limiting pitching changes
and trips to the mound, or
each
FACES requiring
pitcher to
face multiple
batters.
On
Wednesday, the
commissioner
said he doesn’t
Manfred
see any need
to expand
the designated hitter to the
National League. Manfred
also expects teams and
the players’ association to
discuss possible changes to
September call-ups during
collective bargaining.
Concerned the average
time of nine-inning games
climbed to 3 hours, 2
minutes in 2014, owners
and players agreed to install
clocks to time between-
innings breaks and pitching
changes, and to require
hitters to keep at least one
foot in the batter’s box in
many instances. The average
has dropped to 2:56 this
season.
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
The Pendleton Buckaroos boys soccer team has
already made great strides in 2015.
Last season the Bucks struggled through a
winless season in which they scored just seven
goals. Already in 2015, the Bucks have three wins
and 12 goals scored.
However, when they kicked
off
their league schedule on
Boys Soccer
Wednesday against defending 5A
state champion Hood River, their
overall inexperience showed in a
Hood River
10-0 loss.
Pendleton (3-4-1, 0-1) coach
Jeremy Talbot believes his team
was simply intimidated by the
idea of Hood River.
“They said all the right things
Pendleton
to us during the week,” he said,
“but they played like they didn’t
believe they could win.”
It was a tough task for the
Bucks to open up their league slate with a Hood
River team that is showing they are just as domi-
nant as last season.
In nine games, the Eagles (7-0-2) have scored
26 goals while allowing just three total—following
up from last year in which they allowed just 10
goals while scoring 85.
The Bucks will look to rebound next Tuesday
when they travel to The Dalles for a 4 p.m. game.
10
0
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton’s Reilly Hegarty collides with Hood River’s
Carlos Marquez in the Bucks’ 10-0 loss to the Eagles on
Wednesday in Pendleton.
The Blue Mountain
Timberwolves said goodbye
to the month of September on
Wednesday with yet another
victory, this time a 3-0 sweep
over Yakima Valley.
The
Timberwolves
dominated each set, winning
with scores of 25-8, 25-12,
and 25-6. It also extended
BMCC’s consecutive set
wins streak to 20, with the
last coming set loss coming
to Tacoma on Sept. 20.
Kailey Buckner led the
Timberwolves (25-5, 5-0)
o ff e n s i v e
Volleyball
attack with
seven kills,
while Keri
Schwarz
Blue Mtn
and Miah
Perez each
a d d e d
six
kills.
Schwarz
did
Yakima Valley also
not record
a
hitting
error
on
Wednesday,
scoring a 100 percent hitting
percentage.
Setters Kylee Chavez and
Yakima-native Maci Beirle
were also consistent all game
long, recording a combined
29 assists.
Defensively,
Hannah
Bailey was the best player on
the court, recording 19 digs.
Overall the month of
September has been a pleasant
one for BMCC as they have
rolled to a 24-2 record in the
month, including a 20-match
winning streak since a 3-1
loss to Highline on Sept. 5.
The Timberwolves got
the win without head coach
Dave Baty present, as he
wasn’t able to get out of his
scheduled shift at the ¿ re
station.
BMCC hits the court
again on Friday when they
host Big Bend at 6 p.m. in
Pendleton as they look to
extend their winning streaks.
3
0
HERMISTON
Defending champs
prepare for another
tough opponent
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Heading into the ¿ fth week
of the season, it’s quite obvious
the follow-up to a Class 5A state
championship hasn’t gone the way
the Hermiston Bulldogs had hoped.
A team that was holding up the
trophy after a 12-1 season a year
ago ¿ nds itself 0-4 with a lot of
questions still to be answered.
However, one question might be
closer to answering after last week.
In the loss to Lewiston, the
Hermiston offense appeared to
¿ nally start to ¿ nd a rhythm, putting
up a season-high 37 points. Quarter-
Football
Coeur d’Alene
Hermiston
Vikings
Bulldogs
(4-1)
(0-4)
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• at Kennison Field, Hermiston
• Radio: KOHU 1360 AM
back Dayshawn Neal also showed
the potential the coaches believed
he has, passing for 236 yards and
two touchdowns while also running
for 125 yards.
It hasn’t been much of a surprise
to see the offense take some time
to work out the bugs, as the unit
returned just one starter — receiver
Ethan Snow — from last years’
team.
It also has shown how big the
loss of running back Sam Colbray
has been to the Bulldogs, as Neal
has carried the load running the
ball with 415 yards on 76 carries to
lead the team. Other than that it’s
been a running back-by-committee
philosophy for Hermiston, as
Hayden Simon, Jonathan Hinkle
and Mitchell Brown all combine for
377 yards rushing so far.
However, the biggest question
yet to be answered is with the
defensive unit. It was perhaps
the strongest unit one year ago,
allowing an average of 13.5 points-
per-game and a total of 175 points
for the 13-game season.
Already in 2015, the Bulldogs
have allowed 203 points in four
games, digging holes early in games
that are just too deep to climb out
of. The unit has been especially
susceptible in the passing game, as
they were picked on again last week
against Lewiston by quarterback
Colton Richardson to the tune of
398 yards and ¿ ve touchdowns
allowed.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs,
it won’t get any easier this week
when they host the Coeur d’Alene
Vikings (5-1) which is another team
that loves to throw the football, led
by quarterback Cole Yankoff who
has replaced senior stud Austin Lee
due to an injury.
Defensively, the Vikings are
a very aggressive and stout unit,
allowing an meager average of 9.4
points-per-game and pitching two
shutouts.
The defense is also terri¿ c
at getting to the quarterback,
combining for an astounding 23
sacks in the last four games —
including six sacks in last week’s
win against Highland.
The Bulldogs and Vikings will
kickoff at 7 p.m. in Hermiston.