SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015
1B
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WAR ON 84
Sports shorts
World Series TV
rating highest
since 2009
Bucks, Dawgs ready for CRC bout
NEW YORK (AP) —
The World Series opener
between the Kansas City
Royals and the Mets was the
highest-rated
Game 1 since
2009 — the
previous
time a New
York team
played for the
championship.
Kansas City’s 5-4,
14-inning win Tuesday night
was watched by 14.9 million
viewers, according to Fox.
The game received a 9.0
rating and a 17 share, the
network said Wednesday,
The rating was the
highest for Game 1 since an
11.9/19 for the Philadelphia
Phillies’ 6-1 win over the
Yankees in 2009. The
viewership was the most
since 15 million tuned in for
San Francisco’s 11-7 victory
over Texas in 2010.
The rating was up 22
percent from San Francisco’s
win over Kansas City in the
¿ rst game last year.
Conference title,
bragging rights on
the line on Friday
By ERIC SINGER & SAM
BARBEE
East Oregonian
The Columbia River
Conference is one of three
four-team leagues in the
state of Oregon, but the
only four-team league in the
Class 5A ranks.
This small set-up only
allows for three league foot-
ball games per season, often
creating
end-of-season
playoff scenarios that can
go any direction.
That’s exactly how the
2015 CRC season will
end on Friday, when the
Hermiston Bulldogs (3-5,
2-0 CRC) and Pendleton
Buckaroos (3-5, 1-1) clash
at the Round-Up Grounds
for the War on 84 with the
conference title on the line.
“When every game has
an implication, (the players)
don’t have to hear it every
day,” Hermiston coach
David Faaeteete said. “We
win all our games, we win
Football
Pendleton
Hermiston
Buckaroos
Bulldogs
(3-5, 1-1)
(3-5, 2-0)
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• at Round-Up Grounds
it outright. We lose a game,
and you leave your fate to
chance. You never want to
leave anything to chance.”
When
Faaeteete
mentions chance, he isn’t
kidding. A Pendleton
win coupled with a Hood
River Valley win creates a
three-way tie at the top of
the standings, with a coin
toss determining the odd
team out. With its own fate
in its hands, both Hermiston
and Pendleton are sixty
minutes of football from
guaranteeing one more
game.
WHEN HERMISTON
HAS THE BALL:
It took most of the season,
but the Bulldogs have found
their offensive identity.
Behind burly running backs
Bob Coleman and Hayden
Simon, Hermiston has used
a potent ground attack to
grind away at its previous
Prep Football
HELIX
Grizzlies build trust
McCollum lifts
Trail Blazers to
win over Pelicans
PORTLAND (AP) — CJ
McCollum scored a career-
high 37 points, including six
3-pointers, and the Portland
Trail Blazers opened the
with
FACES season
a 112-94
victory over
the depleted
New Orleans
Pelicans on
Wednesday
night.
McCollum
It was
Portland’s
15th straight home-opening
victory, surpassing Boston’s
record of 14 (1979-92).
Damian Lillard,
Portland’s only remaining
starter left over from last
season, had 21 points and 11
assists.
The Blazers are the
third-youngest team in the
NBA this season.
Anthony Davis had 25
points and 10 rebounds
for the Pelicans, who lost
111-95 at Golden State in
their opener on Tuesday
night.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
2005 — Top-ranked
Southern California wins its
30th straight game, routing
Washington State 55-13.
The Trojans tie Texas for the
11th-longest winning streak
in major college football
history.
2008 — Brad Lidge and
the Philadelphia Phillies
¿ nish off the Tampa Bay
Rays 4-3 in a three-inning
sprint to win a suspended
Game 5 nearly 50 hours after
it started, capturing their ¿ rst
World Series title since 1980.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
‘Scots
going
against
history
Heppner rolls into
Athena with chance
to wrap up CBC
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
“I don’t want to
be a liability.
I don’t want
somebody to have
to worry about if
I’m going to drop
on the fi eld.”
— Jerry Kill
The Univeristy of
Minnesota football
coach after announcing
his immediate retirement
on Wednesday. The
54-year-old has dealt
with issues from epilep-
sy since 2005 and has
had numerous seizures
in that span. Kill said at
the press conference that
he has “no more ener-
gy”and that he ultimately
made the decision to re-
tire after consulting with
his doctor following two
seizures he suffered on
Tuesday. Kill has been
the coach at Minnesota
since 2010.
three opponents.
In those three games, all
wins, Hermiston has aver-
aged 41.6 attempts on the
ground resulting in 212.7
yards per game. But that’s
nothing new. In Hermiston’s
¿ rst ¿ ve games, all losses,
the Bulldogs ran the ball
well, averaging just more
than 200 yards per game in
those contests.
“We’re gonna do what
we’ve been doing. We’re
not gonna change what
we’re doing,” Faaeteete
said. “We’ll make a few
adjustments here and there.
See WAR ON 84/2B
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Helix players have a group hug with head coach Tammie Parker after winning three straight games
Wednesday against the Jordan Valley Mustangs.
Comeback wins give Helix momentum, hope for playoff run
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Admittedly, the Helix Grizzlies
didn’t always do a great job of
fostering trust within their ranks
during the regular season despite
posting a .850 winning percentage
and ¿ nishing second in league play.
For the team to reach its postseason
goals, that needed
to change.
Volleyball
“ W e ’ v e
kind of been
struggling with
that recently, not
Helix
working together.
There’s been a
little
conÀ ict,”
said senior Paden
Flerchinger. “Our
coach yesterday Jordan Valley
was like, ‘You
know what? It’s a
new season. You
guys go out there
and you have fun.’ And I think that’s
what it was.”
The Grizzlies took a huge step
toward building that trust by opening
their new season victoriously on
Wednesday with a three-set win over
Jordan Valley in the ¿ rst round of the
Class 1A playoffs.
The Grizzlies would be tested in
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
each set with early de¿ cits, and each A trio of Mustangs scramble for the ball after a block by Makenzie
Mize (49), of Helix,during Wednesday’s playoff game in Helix.
See GRIZZLIES/2B
3
0
When
the
Heppner
Mustangs won their only
football state title in 1992, no
team played them tougher in
the regular season than the
Weston-McEwen TigerScots.
First-year
TigerScots
coach T.J. Bailey remembers
the game well because he
was a senior on that season’s
Weston-McEwen squad. With
the undefeated Mustangs
(8-0, 4-0 CBC) poised for
another deep playoff run,
Bailey is hoping history can
at least repeat itself when the
TigerScots (6-2, 3-1) host
them on Friday at 7 p.m. in
Athena.
“You’d like to treat it like
every other game but you
can’t because it’s Heppner,”
he said. “We’ve got to take
it one play at a time, and I’ll
be happy if it’s just compet-
itive.”
Heppner has outscored
its four Columbia Basin
Conference opponents by a
combined tally of 229-39 and
Bailey said it’s with the same
concepts the Mustangs were
using to roll over opponents
in his playing days.
“I’m honored to coach
against (longtime Heppner
coach) Greg Grant,” Bailey
said. “He was a great coach
then and he’s an outstanding
coach now.
“There’s some things that
he still does that are pretty
consistent from when I was
playing. The thing with Greg
is the formations may change
but the purpose behind them
won’t change.”
Figuring out how the
Mustangs have beaten their
opponents so soundly this
season isn’t the dif¿ cult part,
Bailey said. Stopping it, well
that’s a different matter.
“It’s Heppner so there’s
never really a key match-up.
They are so fundamentally
sound in everything they do,”
he said. “We’ve got to make
sure that we keep our defen-
sive line as fresh as possible,
and then they’ve got to do
what they’re taught all year.”
Bailey’s defense has
À own to the ball in allowing a
CBC-low 37 points in confer-
ence play, but got caught out
of position trying to go for the
big play at times last week in
a 36-6 win at Culver. They
will need to show greater
discipline against Heppner.
“Our No. 1 goal is to
make sure that we don’t have
athletes try to freelance and
be All Americans,” Bailey
said, adding playing through
See PREPS/3B