E AST O REGONIAN
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2021
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
B1
Pendleton’s Reilly Lovercheck kicks the ball Thursday, Sept. 23,
2021, during the Bucks 3-2 win over the Redmond Panthers at Pend-
leton High School. Lovercheck is closing in on the school’s record
for career goals and goals in a season.
Luke Ovgard/Contributed Photo
A black bullhead catfi sh.
LUKE
OVGARD
CAUGHT OVGARD
Bullish on
bullheads
Photos by Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton’s Kelsey Lovercheck drives the ball up the sideline Thursday,
Sept. 23, 2021, during the Bucks 3-2 win over the Redmond Panthers at
Pendleton High School. The win moved the team to 4-0.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Twins Kelsey and Reilly Lovercheck potent duo in Pendleton sitting at 4-0
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Reilly and
Kelsey Lovercheck have been
playing soccer since they were
5 years old. That’s 13 years the
identical twins have been confus-
ing youth coaches, high school
coaches and opposing coaches.
Pendleton High School coach
Kiana Rickman, who started
with the Bucks last year, still has
moments when she gets the two
confused, but she’s come to real-
ize it doesn’t matter who is who,
they will get the job done on the
fi eld.
“I had seen them play their
sophomore year, I knew there
were two of them,” Rickman said.
“They are very connected. If one
is not wearing glasses, I mix them
up.”
Both girls have been starters
since they were freshmen, but
Reilly is the one who gets a little
more glory as the team’s leading
scorer the past three years. This
season, she leads the team with
nine goals in three games.
Reilly also has two hat tricks
this season, has been the team’s
leading scorer the past two
seasons. She is sneaking up on
the school records for career goals
and goals in a season.
“Ultimately, my goal is to do
as well as we can,” Reilly said.
“The records are a side quest, but
it would be pretty cool. I would
not be there without my wonder-
ful coaches and teammates to play
the beautiful game with.”
A big part of the Bucks getting
off to a 4-0 start to the season is
Kelsey’s unselfi sh move of going
from left wing to midfi eld. This
has helped strengthen the middle
of the fi eld of play.
“I really do like being in an
offensive position, but I knew
being in the midfi eld was best for
the team,” said Kelsey, who is the
older of the two by 5 minutes. “We
wouldn’t be where we are now.
We are undefeated because we
learned to work as a team.”
See Twins, Page B2
OSAA panel weighing proposals for classifi cations
By JERRY ULMER
OSAAtoday
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Griswold’s Ellery Flerchinger spikes the ball as two
Pilot Rock defenders attempt to block during a game
on Aug. 26, 2021 in Helix. Griswold beat Pilot Rock in
four games. The Oregon School Activities Association
is considering changes to the classifi cations system.
WILSONVILLE — Proposals for both
six and fi ve classifi cations remain under
consideration for the Oregon School Activ-
ities Association classifi cation and district-
ing committee, which began meeting last
month.
The OSAA sent updated drafts of both
proposals to the schools on Sept. 17, as it
moves forward in the plan for the four-year
time block that begins in 2022-23.
The committee revised the drafts after
meeting Sept. 13. It will meet again Oct.
11, Nov. 1 and Nov. 22 before presenting a
fi nal recommendation to the executive board
Dec. 13.
“We’re still looking for feedback from
schools,” OSAA Executive Director Peter
Weber said. “We haven’t gotten a ton, but we
anticipate that we’ll get some more because
we’re heading for the halfway point of the
process.”
The six-classification proposal would
keep schools from Bend and the Salem area
together in the 6A Mountain Valley Confer-
ence. The fi ve-classifi cation plan would have
the Bend schools in a conference with those
from the Eugene area and southern Oregon.
Representatives from Salem schools
testifi ed about remaining in a league with
Bend schools.
“They’re not in favor of going to Bend,”
Weber said.
Under the fi ve-classifi cation proposal,
the Metro League would add Lake Oswego,
Lakeridge, Tigard and Tualatin. The
big-school classifi cation would have 62
schools, among them current 5A football
powers West Albany, Wilsonville, Silverton
and Thurston.
See OSAA, Page B2
Few fi sh are as overlooked and
maligned as the bullhead catfi sh.
These diminutive slimeballs repre-
sent a total of seven species concen-
trated in a native range primarily
within the Southeastern United
States: black bullhead, brown bull-
head, fl at bullhead, snail bullhead,
spotted bullhead, white catfi sh and
yellow bullhead.
I grew up catching brown and
yellow bullhead in Oregon, but I
found the other, less widely intro-
duced species over the years. Blacks
came fi rst in Utah and then again
in Texas. Whites came fi rst from
Washington, D.C., and then Cali-
fornia, Illinois and Alabama. Spot-
teds came from Florida’s panhandle.
Finally, fl ats and snails came from
North Carolina to complete my set,
and I sort of forgot about them after-
ward.
After all, they’ve been intro-
duced far outside their range and
are highly invasive — particularly
in Oregon — where they displace
the native sculpins that fi ll a simi-
lar ecological niche but reach only a
fraction of the size of the bullheads.
Though I spent plenty of summer
nights fi shing for bullheads in my
home waters, it was always because
there was nothing better available.
It was also more of a social event
than serious fi shing. We’d make a
small fi re on the gravel or muddy
bank, soak some worms, roast some
marshmallows with friends and kill
every one of the invasive mudcats
we caught to save its weight in native
fi shes. Some of my friends ate them,
but that’s a mistake I only made
once or twice. In the less-than-pris-
tine waters we always caught them,
they tasted muddy, the meat often
covered in parasites.
It wasn’t until I was 30 years old,
fi shing in Florida this year, that I
realized some people not only seri-
ously pursue them, but actually
prize them.
See Ovgard, Page B2
Luke Ovgard/Contributed Photo
A brown bullhead catfi sh hooked
in Florida.
SPORTS SHORT
Contract personnel announced for National Finals Rodeo
East Oregonian
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
— The Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Association on Wednesday, Sept. 22,
announced the contract personnel for
the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo
and the National Finals Steer Roping.
For the eighth time in nine years,
two of the announcers for the Wran-
gler NFR remain the same. Randy
Corley and Wayne Brooks will be on
the microphone for the 10 nights Dec.
2-11 in Las Vegas. Announcer Roger
Mooney will join them.
Corley, who has worked the Farm-
City Pro Rodeo for more than 25 years
and was inducted into the ProRodeo
Hall of Fame in 2017, will be making
his 20th NFR appearance while it will
be the 10th of Brooks’ career. Mooney
will be making his third appearance at
the NFR and second in a row.
Livestock superintendent John
Barnes makes his 15th consecutive
Wrangler NFR appearance, according
to the announcement. The chute bosses
are Tony Amaral for timed events and
Tom Neuens for roughstock.
Sunni Deb Backstrom, who was
inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of
Fame in 2021, is the NFR secretary,
marking the 16th year in a row she has
been selected.
Timers are Shawna Ray, making
her second NFR trip in a row; Michelle
Corley, who is making her fi rst appear-
ance as a timer; and Molly Twitchell,
also making her NFR debut as a timer.
Benje Bendele, who is the music
man at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo, is
the music director.
At the NFSR at the Kansas Star
Arena in Mulvane, Kansas, Nov.
12-13, Doug Mathis and Jody Carper
will handle the announcing duties.
This is Mathis’ second appearance at
the NFSR and Carper’s seventh.
Also according to the announce-
ment, Chute boss John Gwatney is
back for his 12th consecutive trip, and
the arena usher is Dalton Ward, who
is making his fi rst appearance. The
NFSR secretary is Mikey Jo Duggan,
who is making her third trip. The
timers are Sandy Gwatney and Tammy
Braden.
Bareback rider
Kaycee Feild,
of Genola,
Utah, rides
Toy Soldier to
win the day
with a score of
86.5 points at
the Pendleton
Round-Up on
Sept. 17, 2021.
Feild will be
making his
12th trip to
the National
Finals Rodeo in
December.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian