SPORTS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2017
1B
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HERMISTON
ATHENA
TigerScots take down Rockets Eagles
breeze by
Bulldogs
Hood River’s veteran team
deliveres tough loss
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The Hermiston
volleyball team hasn’t had the easiest
go this season. The young squad with
many fi rst time varsity players have
been up against well-seasoned and
veteran teams that
Volleyball have both the mental
and physical part of
the game down.
That was the tale
Hood River
again Thursday when
Hermiston
hosted
Hood River Valley.
The Bulldogs faced
the Eagles once this
season already, and it
Hermiston
was only a week ago
that they were handed
a 0-3 loss. This time,
on their court, it was
no different.
Hood River Valley dominated in all
three sets, winning 25-8, 25-5, 25-11.
The Eagles (8-4 overall, 4-1 CRC), who
are ranked No. 13 in the OSAA, had a
group of upperclassmen running the
show. Junior Katie Kennedy and seniors
Shae Duffy and Kennedy James were
too much for the Bulldogs (2-11, 0-5) to
contain. But it was for a lack of effort,
or even talent.
“Right now it’s not a physical thing,”
head coach Amy Dyck said. “It’s a
mental thing and we’ll get there.”
While attack errors and a break down
in communication plagued Hermiston’s
offense, there were moments where the
girls shined.
After coming out of a timeout in
the fi rst set with Hood River up 1-19,
Hermiston started one of its only runs
of the night. The Bulldogs quickly got
their second point of the day and then
went on a 6-0 run highlighted by back-
to-back aces from sophomore Halee
Stubbs. The Eagles didn’t take long to
bounce back and won the fi rst set on a
5-2 run of their own.
Stubbs led the Hermiston, fi nishing
with fi ve digs and the two aces.
The Bulldogs continued to struggle
throughout the night. In the second
set, four of its fi ve points were due to
Hood River’s errors. However, for the
fi rst time of the night Hermiston opened
the third set up 2-0. The score remained
close, and the two teams traded the lead
until the Eagles broke away on a 12-4
run to push their lead to a comfortable
20-10.
3
0
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Weston-McEwen’s Hailey Weaver, Alyssa Finifrock and Amie Jo Coffman go up to block a shot from Pilot Rock’s Grace Austin in
the TigerScot’s win against the Rockets on Thursday in Athena.
Finifrock leads Weston-McEwen to key league victory
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
ATHENA — With the
Columbia Basin Conference
being stacked with four high-
quality teams, every single
match is important as the four
— Culver, Weston-McEwen,
Heppner and Pilot Rock —
try to battle for the CBC’s two
automatic playoff berths.
Those circumstances made
Thursday’s match between
Weston-McEwen and Pilot
Rock nearly a must-win for
both sides. Coming into the
match, the TigerScots and
Rockets were tied for third in
the league, one game behind
Heppner and two behind
Culver. The two teams battled
hard and showed their respec-
tive talents, but in the end
the TigerScots prevailed on
their home fl oor in four sets,
winning 25-18, 20-25, 25-16
and 25-18.
“This was huge,” Weston-
McEwen coach Shawn White
said of the win. “Our league
is ridiculous this year and on
our home fl oor, we needed
this. I’m really proud of the
Volleyball
Pilot Rock
W-McEwen
1
3
Weston-McE-
wen’s Hailey
Weaver
spikes the
ball over
Pilot Rock’s
Abby Rig-
by in the
TigerScot’s
win against
the Rockets
on Thursday
in Athena.
Weaver, a ju-
nior, tallied 7
kills, a team-
high 8 blocks
and 4 digs in
the game.
girls, it’s homecoming week
and some of the girls are
exhausted, most of us are sick
but I was super, super proud
of the effort out there tonight.”
Alyssa Finifrock was
outstanding for the TigerScots
(13-7, 2-2 CBC), as the tall,
lanky senior put up a team-
high 12 kills with eight digs,
fi ve blocks and four aces.
“This was super important
for us,” Finifrock said.
“We needed this and it’s a
confi dence boost for us and
it shows what we can do. Our
crowd was going crazy and
we were all super intense and
it’s always fun playing Pilot
Rock.”
Behind Finifrock, Hailey
Weaver had seven kills and
a team-high eight blocks.
Bryce Thul had six kills with
a team-high 20 assists, while
Ellie Scheibner had 11 assists.
See VOLLEYBALL/2B
Staff photo by E.J.
Harris
See BULLDOGS/2B
Prep Football
New-look CBC opens play on Friday with no clear-cut favorite
East Oregonian
In 2016, the Columbia
Basin Conference was a
two-horse race in football,
with Stanfi eld and Heppner
running away with the
league’s two automatic
playoff berths.
But this season the
CBC has a vastly different
landscape. Through four
weeks, the four teams in the
league — Heppner, Weston-
McEwen, Stanfi eld, Culver
— have combined for a
record of 2-12, with the lone
wins coming for Heppner
(46-6 win over Toledo) and
Weston-McEwen (17-0 over
Union) each last week.
And now as the teams
begin CBC play this
weekend, it is set up to
be an exciting few weeks
of football with no clear
favorite set to run away with
the league title — at least as
of yet. The league kicks off
Friday with Heppner (1-3)
Heppner
W-McEwen
Mustangs
TigerScots
(1-3)
(1-2)
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• at Weston-McEwen HS
traveling to Athena to take
on Weston-McEwen (1-2)
and Stanfi eld (0-3) going to
Central Oregon to take on
Culver (0-4).
With the Mustangs and
Stanfi eld
Culver
Tigers
Bulldogs
(0-3)
(0-4)
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• at Culver HS
TigerScots, Heppner has
dominated the series over
the last 10 years with a 9-1
record and an average score
of 36-10. Weston-McEwen’s
last win came in 2010 when
it beat Heppner 38-8. But
the TigerScots have a more
experienced
quarterback
in senior Brett Speed and
some defensive talent in
the trenches to combat a
Mustangs’ rush attack that
has struggled to fi nd consis-
tency, which should make for
a fun game.
And keep an eye on
Heppner’s Wyatt Steagall
on defense, as the senior has
28 tackles, 13 tackles-for-
loss and eight sacks in four
games.
For Stanfi eld and Culver,
both teams are hungry to get
its fi rst win of the season,
with Stanfi eld coming off a
19-8 loss at Regis and Culver
lost 25-12 at Vernonia.
Stanfi eld comes in scoring
more than 10 points just
once in three games while
the defense has allowed a
total of 98 points. Culver,
meanwhile, has scored less
See PREP FOOTBALL/2B
Sports shorts
Rodgers, Packers beat Bears
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers
threw four touchdown passes and the injury-rid-
dled Green Bay Packers converted three turnovers
into scores in an eventful 35-14 victory over the
mistake-prone Chicago Bears on Thursday night.
Rodgers connected with Davante
Adams and Randall Cobb on short
touchdown passes to help build a
21-0 lead in the second quarter of a
game delayed 45 minutes by light-
ning between the fi rst two quarters.
The Packers overpowered the Bears
down the stretch to slog out a win
Rodgers
as intermittent rain fell at Lambeau
Field.
The Packers (3-1) lost two more key players to
injuries. Adams left the fi eld on a stretcher after
getting hit in the head during a tackle by Danny
Trevathan in the third quarter. Running back Ty
Montgomery was knocked out in the fi rst quarter
with a chest injury.
“It’s a lot better than
losing 100. I’ve been on
that team before ... I’ve
been on the teams where,
no matter what you do,
you’re going to lose. This
is one of those teams
where, no matter what
you do, it feels like you’re
going to win.“
— Jason Kipnis
Cleveland Indians infi elder after
Cleveland defeated Minnesota
5-2 on Thursday for the teams’
100th victory of the season.
Cleveland is 31-3 since Aug.
24 and get 100 wins for just the
third time in franchise history.
NBA passes new rules on draft
lottery, resting players
NEW YORK (AP) — NBA owners have
passed rules designed to prevent healthy players
from sitting out games, and teams
from losing games on purpose to
improve their draft position, which
was fi rst reported by ESPN.com
Under the new draft lottery
rules, the teams with the three worst
records will all have 14 percent
odds to land the No. 1 pick. The
team with the worst record previously had 25
percent odds to win the lottery.
Also Thursday, the Board of Governors
voted to allow Commissioner Adam Silver
to fi ne teams who violate the league’s new
guidelines about resting players. They are
discouraged from resting multiple healthy
players on national TV games, and are encour-
aged to rest them during home games when
necessary.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1954 — Willie Mays makes
his over-the-shoulder catch
of Vic Wertz’ long drive to
center fi eld and pinch-hitter
Dusty Rhodes homers off Bob
Lemon in the 10th inning to
lead the New York Giants to a
5-2 victory over Cleveland in
Game 1 of the World Series.
2002 — Seattle’s Shaun
Alexander scores an NFL-re-
cord fi ve touchdowns in the
fi rst half of a 48-23 rout of
Minnesota.
2004 — Major League
Baseball announces the
Montreal Expos will move
to Washington to begin play
at RFK Stadium in the 2005
season.
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