East Oregonian : E.O., February 06, 2018, Page 1B, Image 9

SPORTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018
1B
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Foles outduels Brady as Eagles win Super Bowl
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — Nick Foles
did his best Tom Brady imperson-
ation, leading a late-game come-
back to cap a season that began as
a backup and ended as Super Bowl
MVP.
Foles’
journey
mirrored
Brady’s 16 years ago and ended
late Sunday night, with green-and-
white confetti falling as delirious
Philadelphia Eagles fans cele-
brated their first NFL title since
1960.
No quarterback has gone from
backup to title game MVP in
one season since Brady replaced
Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia
New England
41
33
Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 season.
Foles topped the 40-year-old
Brady, football’s greatest winner,
in the most prolific offensive
game in NFL history, with the
Eagles defeating the favored New
England Patriots 41-33.
Foles finished it off by engi-
neering the type of game-winning
drive that made Brady famous,
and he watched his defense stop
Brady to seal the victory and the
Eagles first Super Bowl — their
earlier titles came before the Super
Bowl era.
“The stage was never too big
for him all year,” said Zach Ertz,
who caught the game-winning
11-yard touchdown pass from
Foles with 2:21 remaining. “To get
in a shootout with that guy on the
other team is probably not ideal
for anyone ever. The guy is the
best quarterback to ever play the
game.”
But on this night Brady played
second fiddle to Foles despite
throwing for a playoff record
505 yards. Foles was nearly as
See FOLES/2B
Phila-
delphia
Eagles’
Nick Foles
holds up
the Vince
Lombardi
Trophy
after the
Super Bowl
52 win
against
the New
England
Patriots on
Sunday in
Minneap-
olis.
AP Photo/Matt
Slocum
BOARDMAN
Saturday Prep Roundup
Rockets
send seniors
off in style
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — On Saturday
evening, the Pilot Rock Rockets
honored their four seniors before
their final home game of the season
and with it defeated
Boys
Weston-McEwen
Basketball 62-53 to send them
out with a bang.
However,
the
W.-McEwen win came with a
fight — at least in
the opening quarter.
At one point
Pilot Rock was
Pilot Rock down by 10 points,
but worked its way
back to finish the
first eight minutes
of play up 18-15.
The Rockets (15-6 overall, 6-0
Columbia Basin Conference), led
by senior Levi Thieme with 19
points, remain perfect in league
play with their eighth consecutive
win.
The TigerScots (7-14, 2-4) early
lead was the only one they would
hold for the rest of the evening.
Leading their efforts was senior
Brett Speed with a game-high 28
points.
For Pilot Rock, fellow seniors
Bryson Pierce and Chris Weinke
also put up double digits. Pierce
scored 18 points on the night
and Weinke pitched in 11. Both
Thieme and Pierce finished with
double-doubles, and rebounding as
a whole was on display tonight for
the Rockets. They out-rebounded
the TigerScots 49-28.
53
62
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Riverside’s Fernando Ortega attempts to pin Nyssa’s Efrain Caldera in the 106-pound championship match at the 3A district 3 tour-
nament Saturday in Boardman. Ortega pinned Caldera in 3:04 to capture the district championship.
Locals successful at districts
Irrigon, Riverside, Echo/Stanfield combine to qualify 18 wrestlers to state
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — For three
seniors, a chance to wrestler in
their final state championship was
at stake — and each had different
things on the line at Saturday’s
Class 3A Special District 3 district
tournament.
For Echo’s Logan Butler, his
final postseason appearance as a
high school athlete came down
to a tough third place match. For
Riverside’s Andrew Barker, he
was wrestling in his own gym for
his third consecutive trip to state.
For Irrigon’s Alex Miranda-Walls,
his first ever trip to state was on the
horizon to cap off an impressive
season.
Butler, at 182 pounds, was
knocked into the consolation
bracket after getting pinned by a
Nyssa Bulldog in just 33 seconds.
With a bye in the next round,
Butler had time to recoup and went
on to defeat senior Chris Ramirez
of Nyssa by 7-0 decision. He was
Irrigon’s
Alex
Miran-
da-Walls
controls
the legs
on Nys-
sa’a Adam
Simpson
in the
170-pound
match at
the 3A
district
3 tour-
nament
Saturday
in Board-
man.
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
then pitted against Irrigon’s Reece
Sheller, with the winner of the
third place bout advancing to state.
The two scoped each other
out for the first 30 seconds of the
match, and then Butler made his
first move — a lunge at the feet of
Sheller. No points came from those
efforts, but he would later get two
points for a take down and then
build his lead to 4-1 after the first
round.
Through the second, Butler had
a 9-2 advantage and he eventually
See DISTRICTS/3B
HEPPNER 54, CULVER 28
— At Heppner, the Mustang boys
notched their eighth win in their
last nine games with a dominant
win over the Culver Bulldogs on
Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs (11-7 overall,
6-1 Columbia Basin Conference)
were led by Trent Smith’s 13
points while Wyatt Steagall
finished with eight. Weston Basl
led the Bulldogs (4-19, 0-7) with a
game-high 15 points.
POWDER VALLEY 57,
ECHO 41 — At Echo, the
Cougars took a commanding 12-6
lead after the first quarter, but the
visiting Powder Valley Badgers
quickly woke up and scored 22
points in the second to take a lead
they would never relinquish.
See PREPS/2B
Sports shorts
Texans’ Watt wins NFL’s Walter
Payton Man of the Year Award
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Houston Texans
star defensive end J.J. Watt won the NFL’s Walter
Payton Man of the Year Award on Saturday night.
The award recognizes a player’s contribution
in his community and to society in
general. It was given out at NFL
Honors, when The Associated
Press announced its individual NFL
awards.
Tight ends Benjamin Watson
of the Baltimore Ravens and Greg
Olsen of the Carolina Panthers also
Watt
were finalists.
Watt, in his seventh NFL season, had the goal
of raising $200,000 for Hurricane Harvey relief
in Houston. His fundraising did a whole lot more,
bringing in an incredible $37 million in 19 days.
Watt has dedicated himself to finding orga-
nizations that will apply the funds in a fair and
effective manner.
“I think it’s different from
every game I’ve ever
played ... You always
want to win don’t think I’m
going to block anything
out, either. I think it’s going
to be a special moment for
me, the first game back. I
want to remember it and
remember my time here.”
— Marc-Andre Fleury
Vegas Golden Knights goalten-
der will play his first game back
in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night
since being picked by Vegas in
the expansion draft last summer.
Fleury is the all-time winningest
goaltender in Penguins history.
Frazier switches New York
City boroughs, signs with Mets
NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press
learned Monday that free agent third baseman
Todd Frazier and the New York Mets have agreed
on a two-year contract for $17 million.
Frazier turns 32 next week. He
hit a combined 27 home runs and
76 RBIs last season for the Chicago
White Sox and New York Yankees.
A two-time All-Star, Frazier hit
35 homers for Cincinnati in 2015
and 40 for the White Sox in 2016.
The Mets still have David
Frazier
Wright on the roster, but the third
baseman’s future is in doubt after injuries limited
him to 75 regular-season games over the last three
years. He hasn’t played in MLB since May 2016.
Frazier was a 1998 Little League World Series
champion in nearby Toms River, New Jersey, and
later starred at Rutgers, finished up last season
with the New York Yankees.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1958 — Ted Williams
signs a contract with the
Boston Red Sox for $135,000,
making him the highest paid
player in major league history.
1970 — The NBA
expands to 18 teams with
the addition of franchises in
Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston
and Portland.
1990 — Brett Hull of the
St. Louis Blues scores his
50th goal, making him and his
Hall of Famer father, Bobby
Hull, the only father-son
combination in NHL history
to reach that milestone.
2005 — The New England
Patriots win the Super Bowl
24-21 over Philadelphia.
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