SPORTS
WEEKEND, NOVEMBER 25-26, 2017
1B
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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.
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sports@eastoregonian.com