SPORTS
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2018
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YOUTH FOOTBALL
‘A natural progression’
Rookie Tackle aims
to make football safer,
more fun for youth
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
G
reg Grant felt it was time
for a new perspective.
As a member of the
OSAA’s Football Ad Hoc Advi-
sory committee, Grant, the long-
time head football coach at Hep-
pner High School, took part in
ongoing discussions happening
between the several experienced
coaches on the committee on ways
to make the game safer and more
enjoyable at the youth level.
“It became really evident that
there needed to be a better to intro-
duce kids to tackle football,” Grant
said recently.
The discussion soon centered
around Rookie Tackle, a relatively
new initiative from USA Foot-
ball that aims to bridge the gap
between flag football and full-
fledged 11-person tackle football
at the youth level, similarly to the
way baseball goes from T-Ball
to coach pitch and then to player
pitch. The Tualatin Valley Youth
Football League, which covers the
Tualatin Valley and Portland metro
areas and includes more than 6,500
players, were part of the 2017 Pilot
Program for Rookie Tackle. Seven-
teen teams playing Rookie Tackle
and the feedback was positive.
Grant decided to research it fur-
ther with the possibility of bring-
ing it to Heppner this fall. Unlike
most youth leagues, Heppner has
not started tackle football until fifth
grade, but even then Grant said he
and the youth coaches sometimes
thought it was still too early.
“We always struggled with
making sure kids didn’t sour early
with tackling,” Grant said. “And
when I saw this (Rookie Tackle),
it’s just like a natural progression.
Plus I also felt like it’s time to look
at things a little bit differently ...
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton Gold and Athena, teams comprised of kids grade 5-6, play in Pendleton Youth Football’s 2017 Requa Bowl on Nov. 2.
Courtesy of USA Football
From the 2017 Pilot Program, Rookie Tackle splits a regulation-sized
football field in half into two 40-yard-by-35-yard fields to better
suit athlete’s age and skill level.
because it’s not all about teaching
kids to hit each other hard.”
Grant pitched Rookie Tackle to
his youth coaches and the group
liked the idea. So starting this fall,
Heppner will keep its flag foot-
ball program in place for grades
3-4, implement Rookie Tackle for
grades 5-6 and then will imple-
ment 11-man tackle football begin-
ning in seventh grade.
Here is an overview some of the
key components of Rookie Tackle:
● Smaller field: Rather than
playing on the full regulation-sized
100-yard-by-55-yard football field,
the field is split into two 40-yard-
LeBlanc shuts down White Sox
Mariners start second
half with 3-1 win
SEATTLE — Wade LeBlanc
and two relievers combined on a
five-hitter, and the Seattle Mari-
ners beat the Chicago White Sox
3-1 on Friday night.
LeBlanc (6-1) gave the Mar-
iners 7 1/3 strong innings in the
team’s first game after the All-
Star break. LeBlanc surrendered
two hits in the first, including Dan-
iel Palka’s RBI double to center
field, but gave up only two hits and
a walk in his next 6 1/3 innings.
He finished with a season-high 10
strikeouts.
Seattle answered Chicago’s
early run in the bottom of the first.
Dee Gordon, who went 4 for 4, sin-
gled to lead off the game against
White Sox right-hander James
Shields (4-11) and scored on Nel-
son Cruz’s sacrifice fly.
The Mariners took the lead in the
fourth. Kyle Seager hit a one-out,
ground-rule double and advanced
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Wade LeBlanc throws to a Chica-
go White Sox batter during the first inning.
to third on Denard Span’s single.
Ryon Healy followed with a hard
grounder that bounced off third
baseman Yolmer Sanchez’s glove,
allowing Seager to score on the
fielder’s choice.
Reliever Alex Colome finished
off a scoreless eighth, and Cruz
singled in a run in the bottom of
that inning to give Seattle a two-
run lead. Mariners closer Edwin
Diaz, pitching for the first time
See MARINERS/3B
See FOOTBALL/3B
Legion baseball
La Grande tops Hodgen
Distributing with walk-off
East Oregonian
By DOUG MILLER
Associated Press
by-35-yard fields, with a gap in the
middle for the coaches to watch the
action.
● Smaller rosters: Teams will
be comprised of six, seven or eight
players on each side and the play-
ers will play multiple positions on
the field during the game and will
not be limited to only one posi-
tion. The smaller rosters and posi-
tion rotation maximizes space on
the field and allows for more play-
ing time and skill development
and fewer kids standing on the
sidelines.
Hodgen Distributing suffered
its first loss of the La Grande tour-
nament on Friday afternoon as it
fell 4-3 to the host La Grande on
a walk-off single in eight innings.
Hodgen Distributing () was
held scoreless until the top of the
seventh inning, where it trailed
3-0 and down to the final three
outs. Tanner Sweek and Cooper
Roberts led off the frame with
back-to-back singles and Kyle
Field was hit by a pitch, which
loaded the bases with no outs.
Sweek would score on a passed
ball, and three pitches later Ryan
Stahl came through with a two-
run single to left field that tied the
game at 3-3.
But in the bottom of the eighth,
La Grande got something going
against Hodgen’s pitcher, Field,
as a leadoff single, a hit batter
and a sacrifice bunt put the win-
ning run on third base with only
one out. Field couldn’t hold the
La Grande offense any longer, as
two batters later a La Grande bat-
ter singled to the right side of the
field, scoring the winning run for
a walk-off.
The game was a pitcher’s duel
between Hodgen Distributing’s
Matt Demianew and La Grande’s
Gus Ramsdan. Demianew threw
six innings and struck out seven
while allowing only six hits,
three runs and one walk. Rams-
dan went seven innings and
struck out six, giving up four hits
and three runs.
Aside from Sweek, Roberts
and Stahl, Ty Beers was the only
other Hodgen hitter to record a
hit in the game, which was a one-
out single in the first inning.
Hodgen Distributing will wrap
up the tournament on Saturday.
————
R H E
HDG
000 000 30 — 3 4 3
LAG
000 012 01 — 4 8 1
(H) M. Demianew, K. Field (7). (L) Ramsdan,
Rogers (8).
See LEGION/3B
Sports shorts
Cards’ Carpenter hits 3 HRs,
2 doubles in 6 innings
CHICAGO (AP) — Matt Car-
penter hit three home runs and
two doubles in just six innings for
the St. Louis Cardinals, then was
pulled from the game against the
Chicago Cubs.
Carpenter went 5 for 5 and
drove in seven runs at Wrigley
Field on Friday before exiting with
the Cardinals leading 15-1.
The St. Louis leadoff man has
homered in four straight games.
During that stretch, he is 9 for 16
with six home runs, three doubles
and 10 RBIs.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1968 — Arnold Palmer becomes
the first PGA golfer to earn $1 mil-
lion over his career.
1985 — John Henry, the great-
est money winner in horse racing
history, is retired. The 10-year-
old won 39 races in 83 starts and
earned $6,597,947 in total purses.
1989 — Mike Tyson knocks
down Carl “The Truth” Williams
in 93 seconds into the first round
of his heavyweight title defense.
It is the fifth shortest heavyweight
title fight in history.
Kyle Busch wins the pole at New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) —
Kurt Busch has turned a lap of
133.591 mph in the No. 41 Ford
to win the pole for the NASCAR
race at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway this weekend.
The 2004 series champion
hasn’t won a race since the 2017
Daytona 500 and has just three
top-five finishes this season for
Stewart-Haas Racing.
Martin Truex Jr., who won
last week at Kentucky, will start
second in Sunday’s race and
Kyle Busch third. Chevrolets
and Fords took eight of the top-
10 qualifying spots Friday.
Kevin Harvick starts 14th.
Truex, Busch and Harvick have
14 of this season’s 19 victories.
Harvick and Busch each have
five wins, Truex has four and the
16-spot playoff field is set to have
more drivers qualify on points
than through the automatic
berths that come with a win.
AP Photo/Mary Schwalm
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