SPORTS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016
1B
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College Football
Gonzaga’s
Karnowski out for
rest of season
Clemson to play Alabama
for national championship
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)
— Gonzaga center Przemek
Karnowski
will miss
the rest
of the
season after
undergoing
back
surgery.
Bulldogs coach Mark
Few said Karnowski had
surgery on Thursday.
The 7-foot-1 center has
been out since Nov. 27
due to a bulging disc and
has missed six games. He
averaged 8.8 points and 5.4
rebounds in ¿ ve games.
Karnowski has been
one of college basketball’s
best big men the past three
seasons, causing matchup
problems with his size and
footwork, while anchoring
Gonzaga’s defense.
The Zags (11-3, 1-0 West
Coast) opened the season
No. 9 in The Associated
Press Top 25, but dropped
Region’s largest
programs had
plenty to laud
from past year
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Cal QB Jared Goff
leaving for NFL
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)
— California quarterback
Jared Goff is skipping his
senior season to enter the
NFL draft.
He announced his deci-
sion Thursday,
days after
FACES two
capping his
stellar career
by throwing
six touchdown
passes in a
bowl victory
against Air
Goff
Force.
Goff is
widely considered to be one
of the top two quarterbacks
eligible for the draft and
is projected as a high
¿ rst-round pick. He is the
¿ rst Cal quarterback to leave
early for the NFL since
Aaron Rodgers following
the 2004 season.
Goff is the career leader
at Cal in just about every
signi¿ cant statistic for
quarterbacks. He broke
Marcus Mariota’s Pac-12
season record for touchdown
passes by throwing his 43rd
in the 55-36 win over Air
Force in the Armed Forces
Bowl.
“Maybe the ego
got in the way.
Too much power.
Control. Not
being human
about things; not
working together,
with the team,
instead of being a
dictator.”
— Lane Johnson
Philadelphia Eagles
offensive lineman
speaking to the media
about his now former
coach Chip Kelly’s i ring
after three seasons at the
helm. Johnson went on
to say that Kelly’s prac-
tice styles “take a toll on
you,” adding that the
“practices are the same
from April through the
end of the season.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
2006 — Seattle’s Shaun
Alexander sets the NFL mark
for touchdowns in a season
with 28 and wins the league
rushing title with 1,880 yards.
He breaks Priest Holmes’
mark of 27 set in 2003 with a
1-yard run, the 100th touch-
down of his career.
2007 — Boise State, after
tying the game with seven
seconds to go in regulation,
stuns No. 7 Oklahoma 43-42
in overtime to win the Fiesta
Bowl. The No. 9 Broncos
win on Ian Johnson’s 2-point
conversion run.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Dawgs,
Bucks
bid adieu
to 2015
(AP Photo/Joe Skipper)
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) poses with the Orange Bowl trophy following an NCAA col-
lege football semifi nal playoff game against Oklahoma, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Clemson defeated Oklahoma 37-17.
Dominant second half lifts
Clemson over Oklahoma
Alabama knocks out
Michigan State
By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP National Writer
By RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — So much for Clem-
soning.
The Tigers are headed to the national championship
game.
Deshaun Watson turned in another stellar two-way
performance, running for one
Orange
touchdown, passing for another and
accounting for 332 yards to lead
Bowl
top-ranked Clemson to a 37-17 victory
over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on
Thursday.
Oklahoma
Clemson (14-0) dominated the
second half and shut down Oklaho-
ma’s high-scoring offense, which had
averaged 52 points over its last seven
contests. The Sooners (11-2) actually
came into the game as favorites, but the
Clemson
Tigers showed their perfect record was
no À uke.
Until this season, the Tigers were
known for such inexplicable disap-
pointments that a term was coined for it — Clemsoning.
With one more win, they’ll be known as something
else.
National champions.
“How ‘bout them Tigers, baby?” coach Dabo Swinney
screamed from the middle of the ¿ eld, standing with a
trophy full of oranges. “It was an awesome second half.
It’s been 34 years since Clemson played for a national
championship. It won’t be much longer.”
See CLEMSON/2B
17
37
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jake Coker played the
game of his career, hooking up with Calvin Ridley for
two touchdowns, as second-ranked Alabama aired it
out to beat No. 3 Michigan State 38-0 Thursday night
and advance to the national champi-
onship game.
Cotton
Alabama (13-1) will face No. 1
Bowl
Clemson (14-0) on Jan. 11 in Arizona
looking for its fourth national title
in nine seasons under coach Nick
Michigan St. Saban.
The Tide looked like a team with
no weaknesses against overmatched
Michigan State (12-2). Coker, the
promising Florida State transfer who
sat the bench most of last season,
was nearly perfect. The senior
Alabama
completed 25 for 30 for 286 yards.
The freshman Ridley was brilliant,
streaking by defenders on deep
throws and out¿ ghting them on jump balls. He caught
eight passes for 138 yards.
Jonathan Allen and the ferocious Tide defensive
front sacked Connor Cook four times and allowed
the Spartans only one trip into the red zone — which
ended with Cyrus Jones intercepting a pass at the goal
line.
Jones added a high-stepping 57-yard punt return
touchdown for the Tide, which hardly even had to
0
38
See ALABAMA/2B
NBA
Burke’s season high leads Jazz over Blazers
Utah shoots 50
percent from field
By KAREEM COPELAND
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah
Jazz had horrendous shooting nights
in consecutive games before facing
Portland on Thursday.
Led by Trey Burke, they turned it
around in a big way
against the Trail
Blazers.
Burke scored
Portland
a season-high 27
points, and Utah
cruised to a 109-96
victory over Port-
land. The Jazz shot
50 percent from
Utah
the ¿ eld, making
at least half of their
shots for the ¿ rst
time since Nov. 25
and just the third time this season.
“We didn’t turn it over and we
made shots,” Jazz coach Quin
Snyder said. “I don’t know what
happens in 24 hours, but a lot of the
same looks we had last night, we
made them.
“It’s not like we came in and
shot last night or anything like that.
See BLAZERS/4B
96
109
Portland
Trail Blaz-
ers guard
C.J. Mc-
Collum (3)
shoots as
Utah Jazz’s
Gordon
Hayward,
left, and
Raul Neto
(25) defend
during
the fi rst
quarter of
an NBA
basket-
ball game
Thursday,
Dec. 31,
2015, in
Salt Lake
City.
AP Photo/Rick
Bowmer
When compiling the list
of the year’s top 10 local
sports stories that ran in
2015’s ¿ nal paper, several
worthy moments that may
have made it in past years
were bumped.
Many of those moments
came from the area’s two
largest programs, the 5A
Hermiston Bulldogs and
Pendleton Buckaroos, which
appeared the most on the
initial lengthy list but only
once each in the top 10.
Following are some of the
best that were omitted in the
form of a top ¿ ve moments
for both the Dawgs and
Bucks.
Hermiston’s Top Five
1. Wrestling dominance:
This item appeared as No. 6
on the regional list and has
to go down as No. 1 when
looking back on Hermiston’s
year in sports.
It’s easy for Hermiston
residents to feel entitled to
annual OSAA championships
these days, and the wrestling
program can be thanked for
beginning that culture back
in 2001 with its ¿ rst team
championship.
Fourteen
years and nine titles later
the program is still de¿ ning
the Bulldogs throughout the
Paci¿ c Northwest. That can
be attributed to a great youth
program, great coaching and
incredibly dedicated athletes.
The Bulldogs won their
third-straight title last season
in true team fashion with
eight placers and just one
champion — Sam Colbray at
195 pounds.
2. Silver streak: The
Hermiston girls basketball
team returned to the state
championship for the ¿ rst
time since 2008 and nearly
brought home the top hard-
ware in a 51-46 loss to La
Salle Prep to match the team’s
highest ¿ nish ever. It was the
Bulldogs’ sixth-straight state
bracket appearance with ¿ ve
trophies won in that span.
Guard Sara Ramirez
notched a double-double in
the title bout with 15 points
and 10 rebounds and returns
to lead the Bulldogs this
season along with guard
Jansen Edmiston, who had
10 points and ¿ ve rebounds
in the 2015 ¿ nal.
Their encore season is
starting well with a 9-3 record
that includes a 3-1 showing
at the Nike Tournament
of Champions in Phoenix,
Arizona.
3.
Bulldogs
retool:
Fans knew the Hermiston
football team was headed
for a rebuilding season after
graduating 22 players and
nearly the entire starting
lineup from 2014’s champi-
onship run, but a 0-5 start to
the 2015 season was tough to
watch.
First-year head coach
David Faaeteete kept the
team pointed in the right
direction, though, and despite
several key injuries the team
¿ nished the regular season
on a four-game winning
streak to win the Columbia
River Conference for the
fourth-straight season.
The Dawgs clinched the
CRC crown and a return to
the state postseason with a
28-12 win over Pendleton at
the Round-Up Grounds.
Despite a ¿ rst-round
playoff exit in a 49-14 loss
to Wilsonville, 2015 saw the
See 2015/4B