SPORTS TUESDA<, OCTOBER 2, 2015 Sports shorts Cardinals hold off Ravens on MNF GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Chris Johnson rushed for 122 yards, 62 on a play where he rolled over the belly of a big defender and kept on running, and the Arizona Cardinals barely held off a late rally to beat the Baltimore Ravens 26-18 on Monday night. Baltimore (1-6) drove to the in the ¿ nal seFonds before 7ony Jefferson¶s interFeption deep in the end zone FlinFhed the viFtory for N)C :est- leading Arizona (5-2). Arizona led 26-10 before Asa JaFkson¶s bloFked a punt to set up Joe )laFFo¶s 1-yard touFhdown pass to .yle JuszFzyk. 7he 2-point Fonversion pass to NiFk Boyle made it an eight-point game with 4:26 to play. Baltimore got the ball baFk and )laFFo TuiFkly moved the team down¿ eld before the ¿ nal ill-fated throw. 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Prep Cross Country BXlldogs go Eig at distriFt ¿ nals Runners take off to start the boys CRC Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Sorosis Park in The Dalles. Hermiston (striped jer- seys) fi nished second at the meet to advance the entire team to the state fi nals. Hermiston sends boys team, two girls to state Pendleton has bittersweet ¿ nish East Oregonian THE DALLES — Things Fouldn’t have gone muFh better for the Hermiston Bulldogs on Saturday at the CRC Cross Country Championships at Sorosis Park in The Dalles. All of the Bulldogs’ top ¿ ve boys ¿ nished 11th or better to lead the team to a state berth, and sophomores Melany Solorio and Morgan HanFoFk eaFh Tuali¿ ed as individuals for the girls. Hood River edged Hermiston for the boys’ team title 2-, and was led by overall Fhampion Justin Crosswhite in 16 minutes, 56 seFonds. Senior Hayden Earl was Hermiston’s top plaFer in third with a time of 1:09 in a photo ¿ nish with The Dalles Munior Jony Nelson. See XC/2B Photo by Ray Rodriguez/ The Dalles Chronicle BOARDMAN PENDLETON More poplar than ever Portland trades Alex Morgan to expansion Orlando Blue Mountain seFures fourth FonseFutive league title 2RLAND2, )la. (AP) — Orlando is beginning its new era in the National :omen¶s SoFFer League by aFTuiring one of the sport¶s top players. The expansion FACES Orlando Pride announFed Monday they traded for Portland Thorns and U.S. women’s Morgan national team star Alex Morgan. Morgan’s husband, Servando CarrasFo, plays for MaMor League SoFFer’s Orlando City. In the deal with Portland the Pride also piFks up Canadian Kaylyn Kyle, in exFhange for Orlando’s ¿ rst seleFtion in the expansion draft, the No. 1 overall seleFtion in the 2016 Follege draft, and one international roster spot in 2016 and 201. “It is what it is. But we’ll remember these days, and we’ll look back one day when we’re winning games and taking care of business and say, ‘Remember when?“ — Gary Andersen Oregon State football coach after a 17-13 loss to Colorado on Saturday that snapped a 14-game Pac-12 losing streak for the Buffaloes. The Beavers are winless in league play and fell to 0-4, 2-5 overall in An- dersen’s fi rst season. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1973 — )our players rush for more than 100 yards as Alabama sets three NCAA reFords during a -6 romp of 9irginia 7eFh. Alabama sets reFords with 82 yards total offense, 4 yards rushing and four 100-yard rushers. Jim 7aylor gains 142 yards, :ilbur JaFkson 18, Calvin Culliver 12 and RiFhard 7odd 102. 2002 — Emmitt Smith breaks the N)L Fareer rushing yardage reFord held by the late :alter Payton on an 11-yard run in the fourth Tuarter. Smith has 10 yards and a touFh- down in Dallas¶ 1-14 loss to Seattle and ends the game with 16,4 Fareer yards, 1 more than Payton gained. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com :olves top East again East Oregonian The Blue Mountain Timberwolves extended their reign atop the N:AC East Region even before stepping on the Fourt for Saturday’s battle with Yakima Valley at Mosby Court. By virtue of seFond-plaFe :alla :alla’s loss on )riday night, the T-:olves had a three-matFh lead with Must three matFhes left, and the head-to-head tiebreaker against the :arriors heading into Saturday afternoon’s matFh with the Yaks. That didn’t stop BMCC from putting a little punFtua- tion on its fourth-straight title with wins of 25-19, 25-9 and 25-10. It’s the sixth league title in the last seven seasons for the program. Like they had in reFent outings, the T-:olves (5-9, 12-0 East) saw several players making large Fontri- butions to Saturday’s win. Six hitters had at least 10 attempts, seven players reForded kills, four had assists, six served for aFes See WOLVES/2B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Sylvia Hines, of Pendleton, takes her time Saturday during the one-mile race at the Boardman Tree Farm, owned by GreenWood Resources. The event, called A Very Poplar Run,also included fi ve-kilome- ter, 10-kilometer and 15-kilometer races. Run at Greenwood tree farm paFks the trails By SAM BARBEE East Oregonian There’s something about the autumn that runners Fan’t resist. ³It’s like you’re traFking new ground,” Layne Papenfuss said Saturday at the 5th Annual A Very Poplar Run at the Green- wood ResourFes Tree )arm near Boardman. “In the fresh snow, nobody’s been there — at least it feels like that — or fresh leaves even if there has. It’s just the natural environment.” Papenfuss, from the Tri-Cities, had seen the tree farm on various oFFasions when passing through, and his wife found the raFe online reFently and deFided to go. “:e don’t have a lot of forest around (the Tri-Cities),” he said. “So this was our opportunity to get out and experienFe the tree farm.” He and about 600 others got one of those Fonditions: leaves. A Very Poplar Run weaves through the numerous poplar trees harvested by Green:ood ResourFes. Now a month into autumn, the poplar trees are beginning to shed their leaves, Freating an idylliF autumn sFene. That sFene has attraFted folks from all over the region. Jenny Van Cott, the girls Fross Fountry FoaFh at Shadle Park High SFhool in Spokane, has driven past the tree farm and had always wanted to run amongst the trees. ReFently, she Staff photo by Kathy Aney Jenny von Cott, of Spokane, led all women in Saturday’s 10-ki- lometer race at the Boardman Tree Farm. The event, called A Very Poplar Run, included one- mile, fi ve-kilometer and 15-kilo- meter races. heard about A Very Poplar Run and had to Fome down. “Oh my gosh, it was gorgeous,” she said. “There were some seFtions of the Fourse that were really sandy, so it was ... you were piFking up your knees. It was beautiful.” Some runners Fame for more than the raFe. Brady DiFkhaus and his family Fame to Famp along the Umatilla River in addition to running. This is the third year the DiFkhaus’s have Fome to Boardman and they’ve Famped all three years. “It’s a tradition with several families,” Brady said. “:e Fome down and do the run. As the boys get older, they go up in mileage. :hat originally brought us down was it was a fun run and it’s a weekend where there aren’t really any other runs going on. “:e live in the Tri-Cities, but we ¿ nd it’s better to Famp on the river, spend the weekend and hang out with family and friends.” A Very Poplar Run is a fun run — at least it’s supposed to be — and Pendleton resident Jim Youngman took that to heart. This was his ¿ rst Poplar Run, he said, but he wanted to have some fun with it. So he strung some fake leaves on the baFk of his long-sleeved white shirt to stand out and get a laugh. “Just stand out a little bit in the Frowd and make fun of the whole thing,” he said. “And be Folorful.” This was Youngman’s ¿ rst poplar run as well. He heard about it last year and immediately thought it was something he wanted to do. “It’s great. It was worth it,” he said. SinFe Green:ood ResourFes DireFtor of ResourFe Information Systems Andrew BourTue had the idea for A Very Poplar Run ¿ ve See POPLAR/2B Prep Roundup LoFals wrap up playoff positions TigerSFots, Cardinals, Cougars volleyball teams all moving on East Oregonian CULVER — The :eston- MFEwen TigerSFots may not have Flaimed the distriFt title on Saturday, but they Fame Flose enough that FoaFh Shawn :hite is Fon¿ dent a deep playoff run is possible. After sweeping Pilot RoFk 25-19, 25-14, 25-12 in the distriFt semi¿ nals, the TigerSFots went up against tournament host and No. 1 seed Culver for the third time this season. The TigerSFots won the ¿ rst and third sets 26-24, 25-21, and nearly brought the matFh to an end in a tight- ly-Fontested fourth before the See PREPS/2B