E AST O REGONIAN
Saturday, September 18, 2021
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B1
Bull riding the Wright way
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Sept. 18
Prep cross-country
Hermiston at Oregon City
Invite,11:30 a.m.
Prep volleyball
Umatilla, Stanfield at River-
side Tournament, 10 a.m.
Girls prep soccer
Baker at Riverside, 1 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Riverside at Catlin Gabel,
1 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Blue Mountain at Columbia
Basin, 2:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Blue Mountain at Columbia
Basin, noon
Monday, Sept. 20
Prep volleyball
Walla Walla Valley Academy
at Weston-McEwen, 4 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Baker at Pendleton, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 21
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Stetson Wright, of Milford, Utah, is bathed in the afternoon sun Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, as he rides Longmire for 87 points on the second day of the
Pendleton Round-Up.
Work on gym displaces Pilot Rock team
the rockets have
played every game on
the road this season
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
pILOt rOCK — danielle balez-
tena’s volleyball team is paying the
price as the pilot rock gymnasium is
getting much needed improvements.
the rockets have been forced to
play all of their games on the road, and
practice has been a comedy of errors.
“It’s been very challenging,”
said baleztena, whose team has
been practicing at the middle school
gym, which doubles as the cafeteria.
“We have JV and varsity practicing
together in small quarters. the ceil-
ing is short, the net is not regulation
height. It’s either this or the grade
school, which is worse.”
With a low net, the players do not
get the proper training for attacks or
serving.
“It does make a big difference,”
baleztena said. “the net is not the
right height, the serves are off, the hits
are off. They do awesome on this net,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Construction equipment and protective sheeting line the gym Thursday,
Sept 10, 2021, at Pilot Rock High School amid renovations to the school.
heck I could jump up and hit off this
net. We do see it in the games. When
we scrimmage, we just play the ball
off the ceiling. We are challenged with
the amount of kids we have. We have
15 for two teams. their heads are still
in it, and their hearts are still in it.”
the rockets are 1-7 overall and 0-2
in blue mountain Conference play.
Improvements are needed
the school received a seismic grant
awarded by the state of Oregon for
about $2.5 million in spring 2019. the
project will reinforce the exterior walls.
“Our gym is in pretty good shape,
but we are also getting a new weight
room and concession stand,” pilot
rock athletic director tJ pres-
ley said. “the public restrooms and
access to them will be improved.”
the gym has been closed to the
student-athletes since the beginning
of august. the volleyball team is
hoping the construction work will be
done so they can at least play a couple
of matches at home.
“there have been no summer
workouts and no official practices so
far,” presley said. We are looking to
get it back for the week of Oct. 12.
Riverside back on track
after ‘payback’ victory
pirates set the tone
by beating their
nemesis OeS
By JERRY ULMER
OSAAtoday
bOardmaN — Since
winning the 3a/2a/1a
boys soccer title in 2017,
riverside’s path to another
championship has been
blocked by its nemesis,
Oregon episcopal School.
the pirates had strong
teams, but lost to OeS in
the 2018 semifinals and
2019 quarterfinals. They
even dropped nonleague
games to the aardvarks in
both seasons.
So riverside – which
didn’t meet OeS in the
C OV I d -19 - s h o r t e n e d
spring schedule – took
great satisfaction when it
opened the season aug. 27
with a 3-1 home win over
the aardvarks, the state
runners-up in 2018 and
2019 and the No. 1 team in
the OSaatoday preseason
3a/2a/1a coaches poll.
“a lot of our guys were
freshmen and sophomores
those years, and now that
they’re seniors, it’s kind
of like payback time,”
said riverside coach Jose
d uena s, whose tea m
is No. 4 in the coaches
poll. “We were ready. We
knew we couldn’t put our
guard down at any minute
because OeS is OeS.”
It was the perfect way
to start a season filled with
promise for the pirates,
who improved to 4-0 after
beating portland Christian
8-0 on Sept. 14.
“We felt like all the
hard work that they’ve
been doing in the offsea-
son on their own, and a lot
of conditioning, that whole
week we grinded, was for
one reason, and that was to
win,” duenas said.
the pirates g radu-
ated high-scoring forward
Gerardo Lopez, but have
plenty of experience with
nine seniors on their roster,
including five four-year
varsity players in midfield-
ers adair rodriguez, erick
Zavala, diego magana and
Jose Napoles and defender
Humberto Sanchez.
the attack is adjusting
to the loss of Lopez.
“We lost a really good
forward up top, but every-
body stepped up,” duenas
said. “as a coach, that’s
what you want. you want
your full team focused
and playing as one. I think
losing him, it was like a
silver lining.”
Senior midfielder Pablo
Claustro scored twice and
freshman forward darek
Castaneda had a goal in
an earlier win over OeS.
Napoles and sophomore
forward Wyatt browne
scored as riverside beat
mcLoughlin, avenging a
loss from the spring. Soph-
omore Juan medina was
the goalkeeper in both
matches.
Sanchez anchors a
defensive line that includes
benny Sanchez and Ivan
Franco, seniors who joined
the team in the spring after
not playing since youth
soccer.
“ t hey were really
rusty,” duenas said. “they
put in the work out of the
season on their own, and
they sharpened up their
tools, and right now they’re
at a really good level.”
riverside will play at
two-time defending state
champion Catlin Gabel on
Sept. 18. the eagles are
ranked No. 2.
Our last three league matches (against
Heppner, Grant union and union) are
scheduled for home, but those schools
are prepared to host if need be. It’s
been pretty hard on our girls.”
the seismic project is part of the
improvements the school’s campus is
getting.
a $12 million bond, passed by
pilot rock voters in November
2020, will fund a variety of projects,
including school safety, deferred
maintenance, a new gym (though the
original gym will remain the main
gym) and more.
Companies working on the proj-
ect include mcCormack Construc-
tion as the contractor, Straightline
architecture as the architect and ZCS
engineering and architecture for the
seismic projects.
the gym also will get a new paint
job inside, a new roof, and the team
locker rooms will be remodeled.
“It’s going to be great,” presley
said. “part of the bond project will be
adding a second gym. Once we get the
gym back, we anticipate no interrup-
tions for basketball season.”
Kathy Aney/
East Oregonian
Jose Napoles (21),
of Riverside, gets
by De La Salle de-
fender Alexander
Rivera-Morena
during a 2019
state semifinal
game. Napoles
is one of nine
seniors on this
year’s roster.
Prep volleyball
The Dalles at Pendleton,
6:30 p.m.
Eisenhower at Hermiston,
7 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Stanfield, 6 p.m.
Ontario at McLoughlin,
6:30 p.m.
Irrigon at Umatilla, 5 p.m.
Riverside at Columbia White
Salmon, 6:30 p.m.
Griswold at Nixyaawii, 5 p.m.
Condon at Echo, 5 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Bickleton,
5 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Chiawana at Hermiston,
7 p.m.
McLoughlin at Umatilla,
3 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
McLoughlin at Umatilla,
6 p.m.
Prep slowpitch softball
Sunnyside at Hermiston (2),
4 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 22
Prep cross-country
Hermiston at MCC meet in
Walla Walla, 4 p.m.
College volleyball
Blue Mountain at North
Idaho, 6 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Treasure Valley at Blue
Mountain, 4:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Treasure Valley at Blue
Mountain, 2 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 23
Prep volleyball
Pilot Rock a Heppner, 5 p.m.
Crook County at Pendleton,
6:30 p.m.
Walla Walla at Hermiston,
7 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Union,
5 p.m.
Stanfield at Enterprise, 5 p.m.
La Grande at Irrigon, 5 p.m.
Umatilla at Riverside, 6 p.m.
Nixyaawii at Cove, 6 p.m.
Mitchell/Sprat at Ione/
Arlington, 5 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Walla Walla at Hermiston,
7 p.m.
Redmond at Pendleton,
4:30 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Pendleton at Redmond,
4:30 p.m.
Prep slowpitch softball
Hermiston at Eisenhower (2),
4 p.m.