Page 4B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, December 30, 2017
Pro Football
Wilson hopes win over Cardinals gets Seahawks to playoffs
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Russell
Wilson has never carried
this much of the load for
the Seattle Seahawks to be
successful.
They have been stretches
in previous seasons where
Wilson is the reason Seattle
would have offensive success.
But it’s never lasted for
an entire season such as this
where Wilson is the primary
offensive reason why Seattle
has playoff hopes going into
the regular-season finale
against Arizona.
Seattle (9-6) needs a
victory and an Atlanta loss to
extend its playoff streak to six
straight years. The Cardinals
(7-8) would like to see the
Seahawks joining them in
cleaning out their lockers
come Monday.
“This season there has
been a lot to it and guys
have been making a lot of
great plays and doing a lot of
special things,” Wilson said.
“That’s not me, that’s the
other guys making plays.”
Wilson’s season is not easy
to define. He’s been among
the best in certain games, yet
has forgettable mistakes no
quarterback with his experi-
ence should make.
He will join the rare
fraternity of quarterbacks
leading their team in rushing
for a season, yet is second in
the NFL with 32 touchdown
passes, including a league-re-
cord 18 in the fourth quarter.
Seattle has scored 36
offensive touchdowns this
season — Wilson is respon-
sible for 35 of those running
or passing. The Seahawks
have just one rushing TD —
J.D. McKissic — by someone
other than Wilson.
Of Seattle’s total offensive
yards this season, Wilson is
responsible for 81.6 percent
of those.
That doesn’t mean he’s
always played well. The past
three weeks are a perfect
example when Wilson went
from being in the MVP
conversation to some of his
more forgettable perfor-
F I T Z
mances.
NFL
K E E P S
Last week
ROLLING:
against Dallas,
Larry
Fitz-
Wilson threw
Seattle
gerald
has
two
touch- Arizona
Seahawks already posted
downs
and Cardinals
(7-8)
(9-6)
his fifth career
didn’t commit
•
Sunday,
1:25
p.m.
100-catch
a turnover, but
season. He’s
was
hesitant • TV: FOX
second in the
with his throws,
NFL with 101
finished with
just 93 yards passing and receptions entering the regu-
lar-season finale.
Seattle’s offense lagged.
He needs one catch on
Wilson knows he must be
better this week against an Sunday to have 211 straight
opponent that’s caused Seattle games with a reception,
issues in the past and has been tying Tony Gonzalez for
playing spectacular defense the second-longest streak in
league history.
for the past two months.
Even at age 34 and in his
The Cardinals are allowing
just 268 yards per game since 14th season, Fitzgerald has
Week 10 and are coming off not slowed down.
“He’s going to go down as
their first shutout in 25 years.
“I think the guys started a Hall of Famer but I really
playing together longer,” can’t say enough about the
Arizona coach Bruce Arians man because I mean he’s old
said. “Every year, you bring as dirt and he’s still playing
in some new guys and this at an extremely high level,”
time, it took us a little bit Seattle’s Doug Baldwin
joked. “He’s just a pro.”
longer to get going.”
RUN AROUND: Seattle’s
Here’s what else to watch
as the Cardinals try for a third run game has been absent
all season. Don’t expect it
straight win in Seattle:
to suddenly show up in the
season finale against Arizo-
na’s improving unit.
The
Cardinals
have
allowed just 139 combined
yards rushing in the past three
games, shutting down the
Titans, Redskins and Giants.
The Cardinals have allowed
just one team — Houston
— to rush for more than 100
yards since Week 7.
Seattle is averaging 101.9
yards per game rushing but
most of that is because of
Wilson, who is set to become
the first QB to lead his team
in rushing since Cam Newton
in 2012. Wilson has 550 yards
rushing.
“We’re not giving into the
circumstances,”
Cardinals
defensive tackle Frostee
Rucker said. “We have a lot
of guys who have pride and
they work very hard.”
SLOWING
JONES:
Arizona’s Chandler Jones has
a chance to set the franchise
record for sacks in a season
and become the first Cardi-
nals player to lead the NFL
in sacks. Jones has 15 sacks
and needs two more to set the
franchise mark.
Jones has enjoyed his
games against the Seahawks
in the past. Jones has 5½
sacks in four previous games
against Seattle.
“He’s creative with his
rushes and it really comes
down to he’s just such a
long guy and he’s just really
effective,” Seattle coach Pete
Carroll said.
NEW HOME: Arians
caught grief this week for his
postgame comments after last
Sunday’s win over the Giants
where he said about Seattle’s
CenturyLink Field, “We
know that’s our home field.
We’re goin’ up there and kick
their (behinds).”
The Cardinals have won
two straight in Seattle and
three of the past four. The
road team has enjoyed the
upper hand in the series in the
past few years with Seattle
winning three of the past four
in Arizona.
“I saw what their coach
said, it’s kind of funny,” Seat-
tle’s K.J. Wright said.
TOP 10: Nixyaawii girls basketball, Riverside boys soccer wrap up state titles
Continued from 1B
beginning with the 2018-19
school year.
The petition was approved
in June by the WIAA’s
executive board, allowing
Hermiston to become the
first out-of-state school to
join the association, and one
of only a few schools across
the country to compete across
state lines.
So after years of
competing in leagues with
the likes of Pendleton, Hood
River Valley, The Dalles,
Redmond and the Bend-area
schools, Hermiston will join
a league with Tri-Cities-area
schools as well as Walla
Walla in the Mid-Columbia
Conference.
3 . Nixyaawii girls rule
the state
There might not have been
a basketball team that was
more dominant last season
than the Nixyaawii Golden
Eagles’ girls team. Powered
by 1A Player of the Year
Mary Stewart, who averaged
27.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.8
rebounds, and 6.4 steals,
and guard Milan Schimmel
(12.8 points, 8.2 assists, 6.7
rebounds), Nixyaawii went a
perfect 27-0 and captured the
1A state championship with
a 68-39 victory over Country
Christian on Mar. 4. It was
the second state champion-
ship in school history, with
the first coming in 2011.
The Golden Eagles were
not challenged many times in
its 27 games, winning by an
average of 27.8 points. Their
up-tempo offense scored an
average of 57.6 points per
game only won three games
by 10 points or less.
4 . Riverside boys soccer
wins state championship
Just as the Nixyaawii girls
were dominant in basketball,
the Riverside Pirates boys
soccer team was by far the
best in the Class 3A/2A/1A
classification in 2017 and
they proved it with a state
championship trophy.
Riverside compiled a
17-0-1 record in 2017 where
it oustscored opponents by
a whopping 116-16 margin.
The only blemish on the
season was a 2-2 draw with
Catlin Gabel on Oct. 28, the
same team that the Pirates
defeated 4-1 in the state
championship game just two
weeks later.
Six Pirates earned all-state
honors and senior Quincy
Castillo was voted as Player
of the Year for the state and
3A Special District 4.
5 . Stanfield comes up
short thrice
It was quite the school
year for the Stanfield Tigers’
boys athletic teams in the
traditional sports of baseball,
football and basketball.
Led by a special group
of seniors including Dylan
Grogan, Thyler Monkus,
Ryan Bailey, Tony Flores,
Jose Garcia, Noe Sanchez
and junior Brody Woods,
the Tigers put together an
unfathomable
combined
record of 58-7 in those
three sports with two state
runner-up finishes.
With a 2016 3A baseball
championship in their back
pocket and a Class 2A
runner-up finish in football,
Photo by Mark Ylen for the East Oregonian
Pendleton’s Caden Smith holds Pendleton’s 5A fourth-place trophy after defeating Summit 50-42.
EO file photo
EO file photo
The Stanfield Tigers react after losing to St. Marys’ 3-2
on in the semifinals of the 3A state baseball playoffs
in Stanfield.
Cyd Cimmiyotti, left, receives her Pendleton Lineback-
er’s Club Hall of Fame plaque from club President Tom
Melton at the induction ceremony at the Pendleton
Convention Center.
EO file photo
EO file photo
Pendleton’s Lauren Richards, Elli Nirschl and Haley
Greb celebrate after the Bucks’ 53-48 comeback win
against Hermiston in Pendleton.
Pilot Rock’s Tehya Ostrom (2) consoles teammate Jil-
lian Adlard after the Rockets’ 3-1 loss to North Doug-
lass in the 2A/1A state championship game in Corvallis
the Tigers put together an
incredible stretch in basket-
ball by winning 21 consec-
utive games, winning the
Columbia Basin Conference,
and running through the
2A state tournament before
falling short 57-54 to Santiam
to finish as runner-up again.
Then in baseball, Stan-
field steamrolled through
its schedule and through the
first two rounds of the 3A
state playoffs and seemed
destined to repeat as champs.
However, just like football
and basketball, the Tigers
fell just short again as they
lost a 3-2 heart-breaker to St.
Mary’s in the state semifinals.
6 . Farm-City Pro Rodeo
opens new arena
For the first 29 years, the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo grew
from a small-time pro rodeo
tors, who are now able to
keep the stock on-site for
the week instead of having
to truck in the animals from
farms outside of town.
7 . Pendleton boys
basketball finishes fourth
in the state, snaps drought
The last time the Pendleton
boys basketball team had
earned a trophy at the OSAA
state basketball tournament,
the year was 1959 when
Dwight. D. Eisenhower was
President of the United States
and Neil Armstrong was still
10 years away from stepping
foot on the moon.
However, that drought
finally ended this year. The
Buckaroos’ finished off one
of the best seasons in school
history, a 17-5 overall record
and its third consecutive
league title, on Mar. 10 when
into a top-notch event on the
PRCA circuit in its home at
the Umatilla County Fair-
grounds in Hermiston.
Now the rodeo has more
space to continue to grow
as it moved, along with the
county fair, to its brand-new
arena on the outskirts of town
at the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Events Center. A slow
bid process and harsh winter
gave the rodeo committee a
very short window to get the
new arena built in time for
the early-August rodeo, but
it was completed just in time.
It debuted to grand
reviews from the fans, who
have more room on the
concourses to move around
and a bigger Chute 8 bar, to
the cowboys who have more
room to park their trucks and
trailers, to the stock contrac-
they defeated Summit 50-42
to claim a fourth place finish
in Class 5A.
It also marked the icing
on the cake for senior star
Caden Smith’s career, who
finished as a four-year varsity
starter, the program’s all-time
leading point scorer and a
three-time all-state player.
8. Pendleton girls basket-
ball ends Hermiston’s decade
of dominance
Since the mid-2000s, the
rivalry between the Pend-
leton and Hermiston girls
basketball programs has been
heavily one-sided towards
the Bulldogs. Going into the
first meeting of the season
between the teams on Jan.
31, Hermiston had won each
of the previous 28 meetings
dating back to Feb. 17, 2006.
However, in that Jan. 31
game, the Pendleton girls
finally got some revenge as
they defeated the Bulldogs
53-48 at Warberg Court.
Then just three weeks later
on Feb. 21, the Buckaroos
bested the Bulldogs again
59-37 but this time the
victory gave Pendleton its
first league championship
since 2005.
9 . Pendleton Lineback-
er’s Club widens Hall of
Fame scope
For the first 12 years of
its existence, the Pendleton
Linebacker’s Club Hall of
Fame aimed to recognize the
best individuals and teams of
Pendleton’s storied football
history.
However, as the school’s
de facto athletic Hall of
Fame, the Club decided to
expand its scope for inductees
outside of just football.
“We felt it was time to
open it up,” Club president
Tom Melton said in June.
“We just feel like being inclu-
sive now is very important
for us. There are other sports
and very impressive athletes
from other sports we felt
were due to be recognized.”
In early July, the Line-
backer’s Club welcomed
in a class of 16 individuals
that included some of the
best men’s and women’s
athletes and supporters
that Pendleton High had
ever seen, including Kelli
Chandler-Read Bullington,
Cyd Cimmiyotti, Clarence
Cowapoo, Mike Scheiwe,
John Eggers, and Lew Beck.
10 . Rockets fall short of
threepeat
With a pair of state cham-
pionships from 2015 and
2016 in their back pocket, the
Pilot Rock Rockets softball
team set out to do something
only four other teams had
done in OSAA history: win
three straight championships.
The last time it had been
done was Crater in Class
5A and Valley Catholic in
Class 3A both winning three
straight from 2007-2009.
With most of the core from
2016 returned, Pilot Rock
put together a 25-5 season to
advance to the championship
game yet again and were
paired with a young North
Douglas squad in its first title
appearance since 2003.
However, the Rockets’
magic ran out at the OSU
Softball Complex that day,
as Pilot Rock could muster
only one run and fell 3-1 to
North Douglas. It brought the
end to the careers of Rockets’
stars such as pitcher Tehya
Ostrom and infielder Bekah
Roe, who both played crucial
parts in all three postseason
runs.
Honorable mention
Ladies breakaway roping
added to Round-Up; BMCC
men’s soccer team starts
inaugural season; Clayton
Hass wins 107th Pendleton
Round-Up; Heppner gifted
all-new,
state-of-the-art
football uniforms; Herm-
iston native Lee Fiocchi
named head strength and
conditioning coach with
MLB’s Los Angeles Angels;
Weston-McEwen boys win
2A track and field champion-
ship; Pendleton High School
unveils lights, new track
surface at athletic field.