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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2018)
SPORTS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS WSU stuns UO in the Palouse By RICKY HESTER Associated Press PULLMAN, Wash. — One of the biggest days in program his- tory for Washington State started with a celebration outside the gates of Martin Stadium and ended with fans partying on the field. Gardner Minshew threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Dez- mon Patmon in the back of the end zone with 3:40 left and No. 25 Washington State beat No. 12 Oregon 34-20 on Saturday night. The Cougars (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) capped a long, crazy day on the Palouse by taking control of the North Division race. Washing- ton State hosted ESPN’s “College GameDay” starting before sun- rise, and later celebrated its fourth straight victory over Oregon (6-1, 3-1). Minshew was 39 of 51 pass- ing for 323 yards and four touch- downs, picking up his biggest win since arriving at the school as a transfer during the offseason. “He is a very inspired player and I think (it) inspires the rest of the units,” said Washington State head coach Mike Leach on Min- shew’s late game-winning drive. “So, down the stretch, he does a good job inspiring and they draw from him some.” Down 27-0 at the half, Oregon pulled to 27-20 on Adam Stack’s 23-yard field goal with 6:38 left and started to create restlessness for Washington State fans who had seen big leads disappear in the past. The Cougars got a huge play on the next drive from Trav- ell Harris, when he stole a pass from Oregon’s Jevon Holland for a 37-yard gain into Oregon terri- tory. Minshew then hit Harris for 11 yards to convert fourth-and-6 and, two plays later, Minshew hit Patmon for the touchdown that finally put away the Ducks. AP Photo/Young Kwak Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew (16) throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Oregon in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday. Grant Union wins fourth district title Farewell tour Pendleton trio has been competing together for nearly a decade By BRETT KANE East Oregonian W hen she was only 8 years old, Kirah McGlo- than moved 300 miles from Christmas Valley, a small rural community in central Oregon, to Pendleton. She knew she wanted to be a cheerleader, but her mom, Jenn, disagreed, hop- ing for her to compete on the field of play instead of stay- ing the sidelines. So when she was a fourth-grader at Washington Elementary, she joined the local youth soft- ball and baseball leagues. That’s where she met Elli Nirschl and Aspen Garton, who were already on the Phillies Little League team. “We were hitting fly balls, and I needed glasses,” McGlothan, 17, recalled. “One hit me in the face. I was worried they wouldn’t think I was good.” Nirschl, 18, and Garton, 17, had known each other since they were toddlers. Garton’s dad Kelsy was the Phillies head coach. “I remember thinking, ‘Who is that good?’” Aspen Garton said. “And I had never seen anyone with such curly hair.” Fast forward nine years, and McGlothan, Nirschl, and Garton are all senior cap- tains on Pendleton’s varsity volleyball team. They’ve played on city and school leagues together since they were kids, including Lit- tle League, club volleyball, middle school volleyball, and the Bucks’ varsity soft- ball team. “I was nervous. I didn’t know anyone,” McGlothan said. “They were really nice. We were instant friends.” The Bucks (5-11, 4-5) will close out their 2018 league season at home Tues- day when they host Crook County. “Stats aren’t everything,” See FAREWELL/2B By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton seniors Aspen Garton, left, Kirah McGlothan and Elli Nirschl have been playing sports together since the fourth grade. Grant Union has quite the collection of Blue Mountain Conference district champi- onship trophies. The Prospectors picked up their fourth consecutive title on Saturday, Oct. 20 with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 victory over Weston-McE- wen at Stanfield High School. “It’s a pretty special team,” first-year coach Ali Abrego said. “It’s exciting to keep the tradition alive.” Grant Union and W-M advance to the 2A state tour- nament, and will host first- round games on Saturday, Oct. 27. Heppner, which fin- ished third, and fourth-place Union will play state play-in games this week. Kaylee Wright had 18 kills and four digs for the defending state champions, who improved to 25-4 on the season. Hailie Wright handed out 14 assists, and had six kills. After a 7-7 tie in the first set, the Prospectors slowly pulled away from the Tiger- Scots (23-6). They held leads of 18-11, 20-14 and got a kill from Kaylee Wright to put the set away. Grant Union got on a roll early in the second set, and a string of 7 consecutive points by Sydney Brockway gave the Prospectors a 9-1 lead. Trailing 17-7, W-M went on a little run of its own, get- ting three points from Tyree Burke to make it 17-10. Car- rie Hazen later dished up a pair of aces to pull the Tiger- Scots within 19-15, but it was all Grant Union from there, with Kaylee Wright See TITLE/2B Sports shorts THIS DATE IN SPORTS WWE star Roman Reigns announces he has leukemia PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — WWE wrestler Roman Reigns says he will step away from the ring because he has leukemia. The 33-year-old Reigns, whose real name is Joe Anoa’i, made the announce- ment Monday night to open the episode of “Raw.” He was originally diagnosed in 2008 at age 22, though he quickly went into remis- sion. He’s been fighting the disease since. Anoa’i, who played football at Geor- gia Tech, has appeared in the last four main events at WrestleMania. The WWE’s uni- versal champion said during the announce- ment that he plans on returning to the ring when he gets healthy. “Reigns is taking his battle with leukemia public in an effort to raise awareness and funds for research in order to advance cures for the disease,” WWE said in a statement. Jae S. Lee/ The Dallas Morning News via AP, File 1999 — Florida State’s Bobby Bowden gets his 300th win with a 17-14 win over his son, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. Bowden joins Bear Bryant, Pop Warner, Joe Paterno and Amos Alonzo Stagg as the only major college coaches to reach 300 victories. 2011 — Tim Tebow rallies the Broncos for two touchdowns in the final 2:44 of the fourth quarter to force overtime, and Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal gives Denver an 18-15 victory over Miami. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
