SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016
1B
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PENDLETON
Porter is Bucks’ next girls basketball coach
District names
former assistant
to head job
East Oregonian
With the 2016-17 season
fast approaching, the Pend-
leton School District assured
a smooth transition for the
Buckaroos girls basketball
team when it named Kevin
Porter as the next head coach
at the high school.
Porter spent one season
on the Buckaroos bench as
a volunteer assistant under
former coach Michelle
Gomez, who resigned in
August, and said in a press
release that he is excited by
the prospects of taking over a
team slated to return several
starters.
It is the fi rst time Porter
has led a high school
program, although
he has several years
of coaching at the
AAU level.
Porter is a
self-employed
farmer in the
Pendleton
area,
and said the most
rewarding part of
coaching has been Porter
the chance to give
young athletes the tools they
need to succeed in life.
“Working with
kids and seeing
them learn some-
thing from a sport
that they can apply
later in life is a
huge reward for
coaches,” he said.
“Coaching
isn’t
all about X’s and
O’s and winning,
it’s about teaching
skills to young people that
can help carry them through
their adult life.
“Working as a team,
being a leader, dealing with
adversity and sharing in the
successes are just a few of
the positives kids learn from
participating in sports. It is
my desire that these ideals
will be the backbone of our
program.”
The fi rst practice date for
basketball is Nov. 14, and
games can begin on Nov. 30.
Pendleton has yet to release
its 2016-17 schedule.
In three seasons with the
Buckaroos, Gomez compiled
an overall record of 37-42
(.468) while her teams went
13-14 in league play and 3-4
in the postseason. Pendleton’s
best season under Gomez
was the 2014-15 squad that
went 17-11, fi nished second
in the Columbia River
Conference and reached the
state quarterfi nals at Gill
Coliseum in Corvallis.
Prep Football
College Football
October means crunch time
EOU
benefi ts
from bye
Many local
teams need wins
to strengthen
postseason hopes
Mountaineers
look to get off
two-game skid
East Oregonian
It seems like not long ago prep
football teams were putting on the
pads and running through drills for
the very fi rst time to start prepara-
tions for the 2016 season. Yet here
we are approaching Week 5 already
and the calendar fl ipped over to
October.
With only four weeks of play
remaining a few area teams are
trying to solidify their resumes for
good postseason seedings, while
many others are on the outside
looking in at the postseason, trying
to scrape together some wins to
help fi eld a late-season push into the
postseason.
Let’s take a look at the Week 5
games for the local Class 4A-1A
teams and what the action may
bring:
MAC-HI (2-2) at ONTARIO
(4-1), 6 p.m. — The Mac-Hi
Pioneers come off their bye week
rested and ready to play their fi rst
Greater Oregon League game of the
season when they take on the upstart
Ontario Tigers on Friday night.
Ontario has already won as many
games in 2016 as it did in 2014 and
2015 combined (4), and have done
so with a mix of great offense and
shut-down defense. Since Ontario’s
lone loss in Week 1, the Tigers are
averaging 40.5 points for and just
9.8 points against.
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Cougar quarterback Devan Craig (2) looks for a receiver during Friday’s game in Echo against the Ione
Cardinals.
ECHO (2-2, 1-1) at POWDER
VALLEY (4-1, 2-0), 6 p.m. — Echo
fi nally got over a hump in Week 4 by
fi nally beating a Wallowa team that
had owned the Cougars in recent
years. Now the Cougars are gunning
to get over an even bigger hump —
beat a top 15 team.
Powder Valley is one of four
remaining unbeaten teams in Special
District 1, and has topped the 60
point threshold in each of the last
four games — all victories. Echo
will need another big game from
quarterback Devan Craig, receiver
Ty Mulder, and running back Zack
Gehrke if they hope to keep pace
with the Badgers.
UMATILLA (4-1, 0-1) at
RIVERSIDE (1-4, 0-1), 7 p.m.
— The Umatilla Vikings were off
to one of the best starts in recent
years, but their unbeaten streak
was halted at four games with a
tough 40-14 loss at No. 5 Burns
last week.
The Vikings hope to get back
in the win column this week with
a rivalry match-up against the
Riverside Pirates — a team that
struggled to fi nd a rhythm on
offense in last week’s 26-6 loss to
Irrigon.
Umatilla won last year’s battle
35-24, and holds a 7-3 record over
Riverside in the last 10 meetings.
IRRIGON (2-3, 1-0) at VALE
(2-3, 1-0), 7 p.m. — Irrigon won its
debut in the Eastern Oregon League
last week with a dominant 26-6 win
over Riverside, but Week 5 brings a
much bigger challenge.
Not only is it Irrigon’s fi rst
road game in the EOL, but it is a
match-up with the defending 3A
state champion Vale Vikings.
The Vikings aren’t quite as
strong of a squad this year, but it is
still brings a tough defense to the
fi eld that has allowed an average of
just 16.6 points per game.
See PREP FOOTBALL/2B
LA GRANDE — Going
into his team’s bye off back-
to-back home losses, Eastern
Oregon football coach Tim
Camp was at a bit of a loss
himself.
After putting up 80 points
in their fi rst two games, both
wins over ranked opponents,
the No. 16 Mountaineers had
managed just 31 over the
next two.
Their most recent defeat
was 37-24 to Montana
Tech in a game that saw the
Mountaineers rush for just
32 yards while quarterback
Zach Bartlow was sacked
eight times.
Camp said he wasn’t sure
if the problem was scheme or
See EOU/2B
NAIA
#16 EOU
MSU-Northern
Mountaineers
Lights
(2-2, 2-2)
(1-3, 1-3)
• Saturday, 5 p.m.
• at Blue Pony Stadium,
Havre, Mont.
• Radio: NewsTalk 103.1 FM
College Football
Pac-12 pecking order shifting unexpectedly this season
Washington, Colorado
among surprise leaders,
while Oregon drops
By JOHN MARSHALL
Associated Press
AP Photo/Ryan Kang
In this Oct. 10, 2015, fi le photo, a PAC-12 logo is seen
painted on the fi eld before a game between Washing-
ton State and Oregon in Eugene.
PHOENIX — The Pac-12 may be
going through a geographical shift in its
pecking order.
Oregon and Southern California,
once the power centers of the confer-
ence, have dropped to the bottom.
Washington and Colorado, typically
near the cellar, have shifted toward the
top.
It’s still too early to know if this
movement is permanent; there’s nearly
two months until the Pac-12 Champion-
ship game in Santa Clara.
Even if the changes aren’t for good,
it’s sure made for an interesting season
in the Pac-12 so far.
A look at how the divisions stand
heading into this weekend’s games:
———
NORTH DIVISION
Oregon and Stanford have domi-
nated the division and, for that matter,
the conference. The Cardinal and Ducks
have combined to win the last seven
conference titles, including fi ve times in
the Pac-12 Championship game.
This season, the Washington Huskies
have been the top dog. The Huskies
are 5-0 and lead the Pac-12 North after
beating Arizona and Stanford to open
conference play. They moved up to No.
5 in the AP poll this week, their highest
ranking in more than a decade.
Washington has a chance to end a
long streak this weekend when it faces
Oregon, a team that’s beaten the Huskies
12 straight times.
“We’re kind of burying our head in
the sand,” Huskies coach Chris Petersen
said. “I think they have done a good
job of just paying attention to what’s
important and practicing hard and all
those type of things.”
Stanford appeared to be the team
to beat in the North after crushing
Southern California and holding off
See PAC-12/2B
Sports shorts
Oilers make McDavid youngest
team captain in NHL history
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) The Edmonton
Oilers have made Connor McDavid the
youngest captain in NHL history.
McDavid will wear the “C” despite being 19
years and 266 days old and having
just 45 games of NHL experience
under his belt. He had 16 points
and 32 assists in his rookie season
in 2015-16 despite missing 37
games with a broken collarbone.
The native of Newmarket,
McDavid
Ontario, who was the No. 1 overall
pick in the 2015 draft, will follow
in some big footsteps as captain, including those
of Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Mark
Messier.
The Oilers hope a healthy McDavid and a
revamped roster will put an end to their decade-
long postseason drought.
“I don’t think I’d want
to ignore it. There’s a
lot of history there, a lot
of people I really care
about. But I’ve been
here four years. It’s not
a bad thing when you
move on. Sometimes it’s
just time to move on.“
— Terry Francona
Cleveland Indians manager on
his connections to the Boston
Red Sox, who the Indians play in
Game 1 of the AL Division Series
tonight. Francona led Boston to
two World Series titles and last
coached there in 2011.
Bumgarner, Gillaspie lead
Giants to NL Wild Card win
NEW YORK (AP) Madison Bumgarner
pitched a four-hitter in his latest postseason
gem, Conor Gillaspie hit a
three-run homer off Jeurys
Familia in the ninth inning, and
the San Francisco Giants beat the
defending NL champion New
York Mets 3-0 Wednesday night
in the wild-card game.
Trying to follow their World
Series titles in 2010, ‘12 and ‘14, the Giants
open the NL Division Series on Friday at the
best-in-the-majors Chicago Cubs.
Bumgarner has pitched 23 consecutive
scoreless innings in winner-take-all postseason
games all on the road following a four-hitter
at Pittsburgh in the 2014 wild-card game and
fi ve innings of relief at Kansas City to save
Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1993 — Michael Jordan
announces his retirement after
nine seasons in the NBA.
1995 — The Colorado
Avalanche edge the Detroit
Red Wings 3-2 in the fi rst NHL
game in Denver in 13 years.
2007 — Chadron State
running back Danny Wood-
head breaks the NCAA all-di-
visions career rushing record
in a game against Western
New Mexico. Woodhead
gets the 121 yards he needed
by the third quarter to
surpass the previous record
of 7,353 yards held by R.J.
Bowers, who set the record
from 1997-2000 at Division
III Grove City (Pa.) College.
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