SPORTS WEEKEND, NOVEMBER 25-26, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS BOARDMAN Castillo named district’s top player East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris In this Nov. 7 fi le photo, Riverside’s Quincy Castillo (10) charges through De La Salle defenders in the Pirates’ 4-0 win against the Knights in Boardman. Castillo earned Special District 4 Player of the Year honors this week. The Riverside boys soccer team was arguably the most dominant team in the entire state in 2017, breezing through its schedule and the Class 3A/2A/1A state play- offs to capture the schools’ second state championship. The Pirates were the highest-scoring team across all classifi cations with 116 goals and allowed a mere 16. In district play, Riverside was a perfect 6-0, winning those games by a combined score of 62-4. The season offi cially came to a close this week with the all-district teams being released, with River- side showing why they were far and away the best team in Special District 4 this season. The Pirates had nine total players voted into the two teams, with seven fi rst team selections and one second team. And for the cherry on top, senior Quincy Castillo was named district Player of the Year and head coach Francisco Velazquez as Coach of the Year. Umatilla, who fi nished tied for second in the district, had six selections led by sophomores Jose Alaniz and Roberto Lugo on the fi rst team. Irrigon had just three selections following an 0-14 season. The full teams are listed below. HERMISTON ———— Special District 4 Player of the Year — Quincy Castillo, Riverside Coach of the Year — Francisco Velasquez, Riverside First Team Kevin Madrigal, Riverside, sr.; Jose Per- alta, Riverside, sr.; Kevin Sanchez, Nyssa, sr.; Luis Olvera, Riverside, sr.; Jose Alaniz, Umatilla, so.; Alejandor Alvaez, Irrigon, sr.; Cristoval Alvarez, Nyssa, jr.; Miseal Madrigal, Riverside, sr.; Ulises Lopez, Riverside, so.; Kevin Altamirano, Riverside, sr.; Roberto Lugo, Umatilla, so. Second Team Roberto Amezquita, Nyssa, jr.; Abram Castro, Nyssa, so.; Omar Tellez, Nyssa, jr.; Javier Castro, Nyssa, fr.; Luis Castro, Umatilla, jr.; Cesar De la Cruz, Umatilla, so.; Pedro Arroyo, Umatilla, jr.; Armondo Verdin, Umatilla, sr.; Marcos Rangle, Irrigon, so.; Luis Cardenas, Irrigon, jr.; Kevin Ruelas, Riverside, so. Pro Basketball Blazers squeeze out win over Nets By ADRY TORRES Associated Press NEW YORK — Jusuf Nurkic apologized to Damian Lillard as they strolled back to their locker room, upset he had missed two free throws with less the three seconds NBA left, giving the Brooklyn Nets a chance Portland to either tie or win it at the buzzer. All Lillard could care Brooklyn about was Nurkic’s heads up play a couple of seconds earlier that even- tually served as the game- winner. Lillard scored 34, Nurkic added 29 and 15 rebounds, including eight in the fourth quarter, and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied from a six-point defi cit late in the fourth quarter to edge the Nets 127-125 on Friday. “After the game he was telling me, ‘Man, my bad I missed the free throws, I did this and I this that’,” Lillard recalled. “I stopped in the hallway, I said, ‘I don’t care about none of that, the most important thing is you made the biggest play of the game’.” Portland trailed 121-115 with 2:20 left after former Trail Blazers’ guard Allen Crabbe fl oater. The Trail Blazers then scored the next eight points, capped by Shabbaz Nappier’s three-point play with 55 seconds left. Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie then evened it 123 with a putback layup after missing his own 15-foot pullup shot. Lillard then freed himself off Dinwiddie’s tight defense as Nurkic set a pick at the 3-point arc, diving to the basket as the Portland point guard served him the ball. DeMarre Carroll then slid in to help on the coverage, blocking Nurkic right under the basket. Caris Levert briefl y had control of the ball before the Trail Blazers’ See BLAZERS/4B 127 125 Staff photo by E.J. Harris The Hermiston Bulldogs get ready to take the fi eld before the start of the their 42-15 win over Pendleton on Oct. 27 in Pendleton. Fast food, fresh shave and Phil Collins: How the Hermiston High football team gets ready for gameday By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian HERMISTON — You have probably seen some of Hermiston’s pre-game traditions at Kennison Field, where the Bulldogs (10-2) have gone undefeated, or on the road, where they suffered their only two losses. The players, donning the home purple and black uniforms, run out onto the fi eld from underneath a enormous infl atable bulldog tunnel. Or, the team is led by one of their seniors, all dressed in the road all-white uniforms, onto the opponents gridiron with the wave of a giant Hermiston Bulldogs fl ag. These are the obvious rituals, unchanged and for all to see. But there are plenty of other supersti- tious practices that the players, and even coaches, do leading up to each game. They may not be logical, or help the 11 boys on the fi eld come kickoff but when you’re on a nine- game winning streak and playing for the program’s second state title they are as important as ever. So, senior Joey Gutierrez — who plays both sides of the ball as a wide receiver and defensive back — will enjoy his “ritual dinner” from See GAMEDAY/4B Three keys to a Hermiston victory Class 5A Championship By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian After nearly a century of playing foot- ball, the Hermiston Bulldogs will compete in their fi nal game as a member of the OSAA with a state championship up for grabs. Hermiston takes on Churchill for the Class 5A championship at 6 p.m. Saturday in Hillsboro, as the Bulldogs (10-2) aim to end their self-proclaimed ‘OSAA Farewell Tour’ in the best way possible with the schools’ second-ever state championship. However, it will not be easy against the undefeated Lancers (12-0), who are fresh #4 Churchill #3 Hermiston Lancers Bulldogs (12-0) (10-2) • Saturday, 6 p.m. • at Hillsboro Stadium off a win over the No. 1 seed Mountain View last week. Here are three keys to a Hermiston win: RUN EARLY AND OFTEN After a slow start, Hermiston’s offense See KEYS/4B The Oregonian/Chase Allgood Hermiston’s Tyler Rohrman looks upfi eld after inter- cepting a pass during the Bulldogs’ Class 5A semifi nal win over Wilsonville on Nov. 18. Sports shorts Atkinson helps Blue Jackets beat Ottawa for 6th straight win COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Cam Atkinson scored twice to lift Columbus over the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Friday night, extending the Blue Jackets’ league-high winning streak to six games. Sergei Bobrovsky turned back 24 shots for his 14th win in 19 starts. Columbus improved to 15-7-1 and leads the Metropolitan Division with 31 points. Ottawa’s Craig Anderson Atkinson stopped 27 shots as the Senators (8-7-6) lost their fi fth straight. Leading 3-2 in the third period, Columbus’ Nick Foligno added insurance when he rifl ed his fourth goal over Anderson off an assist from Sonny Milano. Tyler Motte added an empty- netter with 50 seconds to go, with assists from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lukas Sedlak. “When I go to bed tonight, I’ll be hoping for that, because I would love to do this. I truly believe I’m exactly the right person to do this. The football parts, I’ve been doing it so long, we know how to fi x, and we also are doing a good job recruiting.” — Mike Riley Former Oregon State coach following his Nebraska team’s 56-14 loss to Iowa on Friday. The loss ended Nebraska’s season at 4-8, the worst fi nish since 1961. The Cornhuskers are 19-19 in three seasons under Riley. Miami’s perfect season over as Pitt pulls off 24-14 upset win PITTSBURGH (AP) — Miami’s perfect season is over. The Hurricanes can only hope their shot at a spot in the College Football Playoff isn’t gone too. Freshman quarterback Kenny Pickett ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Pitts- burgh stunned the second-ranked Hurricanes 24-14 on Friday. Pickett completed 18 of 29 passes for 193 yards and the one score while adding 60 yards rushing in his fi rst career start as Pitt (5-7, 3-5 ACC) fi nished a disappointing season with a stunner that could dent the Hurricanes’ national title hopes. Miami’s Malik Rosier completed 15 of 34 for 187 yards and two scores but was ineffective for most of the day, even briefl y getting replaced in the fourth quarter. The Hurricanes (10-1, 7-1 ACC) were held to a season-low 229 yards. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1980 — “No mas, no mas.” Roberto Duran quits with 16 seconds to go in the eighth round at New Orleans, allowing Sugar Ray Leonard to regain the WBC welter- weight title. 2007 — San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson becomes the 23rd player in NFL history rush for 10,000 yards, reaching the milestone on a 36-yard run in the Chargers’ 32-14 win over Baltimore. 2015 — The Boston Celtics rally to beat Philadel- phia 84-80, handing the 76ers their 16th straight loss to open the season and record- tying 26th in a row overall. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com