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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Welcome to the Rock Pilot Rock High School hires three new coaches to helm four programs By BRETT KANE East Oregonian PILOT ROCK — Three Pilot Rock coaches are about to take on their fi rst-ever high school head coaching gigs. Starting this fall, Danielle Baleztena will take over the varsity volleyball program, while Tyler Zyph and AmyLee Perrine are set to helm the boys and girls basketball teams in the winter, respectively. Zyph will also head the Rockets’ cross-country team. Baleztena replaces Elainna Howland, who held the position for seven seasons. Zyph is taking over for former boys basketball coach Eric Smidt, and Perrine is stepping in for Dan Deist. Both Smidt and Perrine guided the Rockets on the court for two seasons. The new coaching trio was offi cially hired in the spring after the most recent basketball season came to a close. “Right after the season ended, we had some changes that were being made,” Rock- ets Athletic Director TJ Presley said. “We did a big search.” Zyph had previously coached at Clara Brownell Middle School in Umatilla. He also has experience teaching physical education and health. “Tyler is coming to us with experience as a teacher,” Presley said. “He’s a very Staff photo by Kathy Aney AmyLee Perrine and Danielle Baleztena start this year as head girls basketball and volleyball coaches at Pilot Rock High School. Tyler Zyph, not pictured, will helm the boys basketball team. versatile coach.” Born and raised in Pendleton, Zyph attended college at Blue Mountain, Lane, and Eastern Oregon University. As a Mountain- eer, he earned his Masters in Teaching before taking his fi rst job at Clara Brownell. He held the job for three years before making the move to Pilot Rock. “(Pilot Rock) is a lot closer to my fam- ily,” he said, “so, I just thought it’d be a bet- ter move to come back home. The coaching opportunity is defi nitely the cherry on top.” The Rockets are coming off a season where they went 3-19 overall and 2-10 in the Blue Mountain Conference. “As soon as I got hired, my main thing was that I wanted to meet the kids,” Zyph said. “Being local, I’ve seen Pilot Rock play. I knew what kind of kids I was going to receive. I wanted to get their pros and cons of the last season.” Zyph got the ball rolling right away. He formed a summer basketball league, opening the gym for potential varsity Rockets to come and play. “A bunch of guys stepped up,” Zyph said. “I wanted us to get to know each other, and to get familiar with the offensive things we plan on doing. Hopefully, we’ll start something more structured. We hit the ground running.” For help, Zyph didn’t have to look far. This winter, he’s enlisting his father Bill as an assistant coach. Bill, Zyph said, has a few years of college experience under his belt. “It’s a dream come true to coach with him,” Zyph said. “The kids bought into what’s going on. They’re excited. I’m getting messages every day about going over stuff and getting extra shots. I’m very confi dent in them and in myself. I want to provide new blood, new opportunities, and a new face.” Baleztena is following a season in which the Rockets’ volleyball team fi nished fi fth of seven in the BMC standings. “We’re going to improve the morale of vol- leyball in Pilot Rock,” she said. “We’ve been in a slump for a long time. We’re just going to have to start winning and get lots of people involved. When I came to these high school games, I’d only see about 10 people in the stands. I want to fi ll those stands again.” A BMCC graduate, Baleztena’s history is rooted in Pilot Rock. She played on the vol- leyball team for her freshman and senior years. Her husband Mike coaches the football team. Her daughter Bre plays basketball, and her son Bryson runs track. She’s also coached volleyball and girls basketball for the Rockets at the junior high level for a decade. “When I applied for the (high school See Coaches, Page B2 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW Ducks WR Juwan Johnson will line up at slot in certain receiver packages By JAMES CREPEA The Oregonian EUGENE — Juwan Johnson gives Oregon something it was sorely lacking last season at wide receiver: height. The 6-foot-4, 231-pound John- son is the prototypical X receiver. His size, speed and catch radius are the things offensive coordinators and wide receiver coaches fantasize about for the outside position. While Johnson has been with the starters at the X position, where he had 25 catches for 352 yards and a touchdown while at Penn State last season and 54 receptions for 701 yards and a score the year before, Oregon is also experimenting with the graduate transfer at slot, a role he has never played before. “I’ve always been outside so going inside is a bit of a change,” Johnson said. “Defi nitely different. I’ve never even thought of playing inside. It’s a new world in there. You can go inside or outside (running a route). I know outside you can go both ways, but inside it’s a whole different world, you got to face safeties and corners and read line- backers. It’s such a different world. I commend guys like Mycah (Pitt- man) and (Jaylon) Redd, you got to play smart to play that position. It’s defi nitely raising my IQ of playing football and letting me go out there and do some things I’ve never done before.” The personnel package with See Ducks, Page B2 AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File Wide receiver Juwan Johnson warms up before an October 2018 game in Bloomington, Indiana. Johnson played at Penn State before trans- ferring to Oregon. Stoudamire bets on himself By NICK DASCHEL The Oregonian CORVALLIS — Cam Stoudamire is one of 29 true fresh- men on Oregon State’s football ros- ter, a walk-on at that. But his last name is as familiar to Oregonians as anyone on the team. Cam is the brother of former Portland Trail Blazer great Damon Stoudamire. Stoudamire was 26 and well into a 14-year NBA playing career when his father, Willie, told him he was going to have a half brother. Wil- lie and his family lived near Atlanta when Cam was born. Fast-forward 18 years later, and the brothers are as connected as ever, but vastly different. Damon is 5 feet 10 and nick- named Mighty Mouse, a basket- ball star at Portland’s Wilson High School and the University of Ari- zona before hitting the NBA. Cam is taller at 6-1, and although he played basketball at Roosevelt High, also in Portland, his sport is football. Col- leges were only moderately inter- ested in Cam, who took a walk-on offer from the Beavers. The guy with scholarship offers aplenty tells Brother Walk-on he can become anything he wants to be. “He has great size. He’s a pretty good athlete. He’s got genes. That’s what I tell him. There’s no deny- ing that,” Damon Stoudamire said. “My only advice to him was bet on yourself. When you’re an athlete and you’re trying to make it, you have to have so much confi dence in yourself. It can’t waver.” By betting on himself, Stoudamire encouraged Cam to take a long look at Oregon State after it offered a walk-on spot. It did not escape Damon’s notice that Bea- vers coach Jonathan Smith once was Cam, a former walk-on at OSU who became one of the school’s most suc- cessful and popular quarterbacks. “My whole thing with him was, you’re playing for a dude who believes in guys like you,” Damon said. “Your head coach wasn’t sup- posed to make it. Not only did he make it, he’s was all-conference. He bet on himself. You have to feel the same way.” Cam Stoudamire lived in Geor- gia most of his life, moving to Port- land midway through high school to attend Central Catholic, and then Roosevelt for his senior year. Damon has been on the move for much of Cam’s life, fi rst fi nishing his NBA playing career, followed by several stops as a coach. Damon, now coach at Univer- sity of the Pacifi c in Stockton, Cal- ifornia, says he would not describe his relationship with Cam as “close,” but the two began increasing their communication after Cam moved to Portland. “I think we’re fi ne,” Damon said. “Cam, he’s just trying to fi gure it all out right now. When we do talk, I just try to tell him, you got to work your ass off. Nothing is given in life.” Cam Stoudamire was not able to comment for this story, as Oregon State does not allow fi rst-year fresh- men to speak to the media during preseason camp. Roosevelt coach Tim Price says Cam Stoudamire probably fell through the recruiting cracks See Beavers, Page B2 SPORTS SHORTS Wagner returns to practice for Seahawks By TIM BOOTH Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — Bobby Wagner was back in pads and on the practice field for the Seattle Seahawks on Friday although it remains unclear when, or if, the All-Pro line- backer will see any action during the preseason. Wagner missed most of the past two weeks following a minor procedure on his knee. He took part in Seattle’s mock game on Aug. 3 then became a spectator. The question now is whether Wagner will see the fi eld in one of Seattle’s fi nal three presea- son games. It’s unlikely he will play Sunday night when the Sea- hawks face the Vikings in Min- nesota, but there’s a chance he could play in the third game against the Los Angeles Char- gers. Seattle has traditionally not played many — if any — start- ers in the fi nal preseason game. “I’m ready. I’m good,” Wag- ner said. “I defi nitely want to get out there because we don’t get a chance to tackle at practice. I’ve been trying to get as many men- tal reps as I can but it would be good to hit somebody.” Seattle Seahawks line- backer Bobby Wagner heads to the locker room after giving autographs following NFL football training camp on Aug. 5 in Renton, Wash. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
