E AST O REGONIAN
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
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A10
Pendleton’s Lovercheck earns IMC POY honor
senior forward had
a team-high 12 goals
in conference play
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
INTERMOUNTAIN CONFERENCE SOCCER
Player of the Year: Reilly Lovercheck,
sr., Pendleton
Coach of the Year: Kiana Rickman,
Pendleton
Brown
Larsen
K. Lovercheck
R. Lovercheck
Medrano
Reese Wedding, so., Redmond; Lauren Hard-
ing, jr., Ridgeview; Dagne Harris, sr., Redmond;
Selena Gallacher, jr., Ridgeview; Kelsey Lov-
ercheck, sr., Pendleton; Emily Adams, sr., The
Dalles; Amelia Huxtable, Hood River Valley;
Vivian Harrah, The Dalles; Kathryne Biever, sr.,
Ridgeview; True Becker, sr., Hood River Val-
ley. Goalkeeper — Alyssa Martinez, sr., Hood
River Valley.
PeNdLeToN — Pendleton
senior reilly Lovercheck picked up
Player of the year honors in the Inter-
mountain Conference after leading
the bucks to a record-setting season.
“reilly grew so much this season,”
See Soccer, Page A11
Numbers
not adding
up for
basketball
officials
By JEFF BUDLONG
For EO Media Group
La Gr aNde — George
Gillette isn’t blowing the whistle to
signal a panic-level problem when
it comes to the number of officials
who will call prep basketball games
for the upcoming season. but he
could be reaching for it soon.
The blue mountain basketball
officials association commis-
sioner has seen a steady decline
in numbers for decades, but the
impact now is truly being felt.
Last spring’s pandemic-com-
pacted five-week season tested
officials across the state, and the
Blue Mountain Basketball Officials
association — which is based out
of Pendleton and handles schools
from the state line at milton-Free-
water to boardman and south to
ukiah through Pilot rock — was
no different.
“We were extremely short and
we had less than half of what we
would normally have during a regu-
lar season,” Gillette said.
The association usually counts
between 45 and 50 basketball
officials able to work games in
its region, but during the spring
that number dropped to 17. It was
further pared down to 12 by the
end of the season because of inju-
ries or overwork. It led to a situation
where games were rescheduled or
even canceled.
Gillette said with the varsity and
Jv schedules of the 13 schools the
association is assisting this year,
he is trying to cover about 1,200
games. schools are moving games
to different days, trying to find
enough officials to work the games,
but that only does so much.
Gillette is hoping the number of
available officials increases before
games tip-off Dec. 1.
It is not a basketball-specific
issue either. Football games were
being played on Thursdays and
saturdays in addition to Friday to
try to alleviate some of the official
shortage.
“moving games around will
help, but most of the schools start
games at 3 p.m. and it is difficult
to get people to break away and be
able to be in a gym and toss a ball
up at that time,” Gillette said.
Lingering issue
Gillette held his first meeting for
this season Nov. 1 and had 25 offi-
cials attend, but there is a new prob-
lem he is having to contend with.
“We don’t have a lot of lower-
level officials, and last spring basi-
cally all 16 officials associations in
oregon were shorthanded,” he said.
“The (oregon schools activities
association) allowed the schools to
take the level of play at the Jv level
to the Jv2 level, which means they
did not have to use certified officials
to work those games.”
Gillette said he is fearful that
could happen again this season. It
See Officials, Page A11
First team
Rickman
Schmidt
Schumacher
Spratling
Second Team
Brooklyn Homan, jr., Ridgeview; Grace Stott,
so., Redmond; Hadley Brown, jr., Pendle-
ton; Monica Rojas Soto, sr., The Dalles; Hai-
ley Schmidt, so., Pendleton; Madeline Schum-
acher, so., Pendleton; Lauren Papke, sr., Crook
County; Sutton Le Fevre, so., Hood River Val-
ley; Alison Spratling, so., Pendleton; Kore
Medina, so., Redmond Goalkeepers — Alyssa
McConnell, sr., Redmond; Miranda Medrano,
so., Pendleton.
Honorable Mention
Brielle Youncs, sr., Pendleton; Gabby
Nakamura, jr., Ridgeview; Ashtyn Larsen, so.,
Pendleton.
Youncs
2A SEMIFINALS
COQUILLE GETS
PAST HEPPNER 8-6
Smith scores
Mustangs’
lone TD in the
fourth quarter
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
M
Cm I N N v I LLe
— Heppner finally
met its match.
Coquille scored
with 2:23 left in the game, and
converted the 2-point conversion,
to upset the top-ranked mustangs
8-6 in the 2A state semifinals on
saturday, Nov. 20, at Wortman
Field at mcminnville High school.
“I thought my kids stepped
up and did everything I asked of
them,” Heppner coach Greg Grant
said. “This group of kids was great.
Great leadership, they were tight,
they were committed to each other.
It pains me they didn’t get to go all
the way. Nothing about the way
they played should they hang their
heads about. We had a chance to
play in this game and have a regular
year. The guys last year didn’t get
that. We will take it.”
red devils coach davis Thom-
ason said the game was all he
expected and more.
“We were playing Heppner —
we were expecting a battle and
that’s exactly what we got,” Thom-
ason said. “I don’t think we have
been in an 8-6 game since 2016.
It was 0-0 going into the fourth.
That’s what movies are made of.”
The mustangs (11-1), who had
won 29 consecutive games, lost for
the first time since Nov. 2, 2018 —
a span of 1,114 days. This year’s
senior class finished its career with
a 36-4 record.
“They really played well
together, they love the game and
Damon Brosnan/Contributed Photo
A pack of Heppner defenders wrap up Coquille running back Hayden GeDeros (24). The Heppner Mustangs
fell 8-6 to the Coquille Red Devils Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, during the semifinal round of the Oregon School
Activities Association Class 2A state football tournament at McMinnville High School.
worked hard at it,” Grant said of his
players. “It was one of those unfor-
tunate days when we came up short
— but not in effort or attitude.”
Coquille (9-1) will play Kennedy
in next week’s championship game.
It’s the first trip to the title game for
the red devils since 1970, when
they won their only state title.
“I’m a history teacher, and the
history of this is not lost on me,”
Thomason said. “It’s great for
the players and coaches, but even
bigger for Coquille. We don’t want
to let them down.”
after three scoreless quarters
of play, Heppner was the first to
find the end zone, moving the ball
65 yards in eight plays, capped by
an 8-yard touchdown pass from
Landon mitchell to derrick smith
COQUILLE 8, HEPPNER 6
Coquille 0 0 0 8
Heppner 0 0 0 6
—
—
8
6
SCORING PLAYS
H — Derrick Smith 8 pass from
Landon Mitchell (run failed)
C — Gunner Yates 7 run (Brock
Willis run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing — C, Bryce Poston 3-4-1-
33. H, Mitchell 5-8-0-53.
with 5:32 left in the game.
The mustangs opted to go for
the 2-point conversion, but the run
by Kason Cimmiyotti was ruled
short of the goal line by a couple
of inches, leaving them with a 6-0
Rushing — C, Yates 26-138, Willis
20-100, Hayden GeDeros 3-1,
Poston 1-0. H, Caden George
9-54, Brock Hisler 12-37, Camer-
on Proudfoot 1-5, Jace Coe 1-5,
Mitchell 5-(minus-13).
Receiving — C, Yates 1-12, Hunter
Layton 1-11, GeDeros 1-10. H,
Kason Cimmiyotti 2-45, Smith 2-9,
George 1-(minus-1).
lead.
“It was a game of inches,” Grant
said. “We just fell short on that
2-point conversion.”
See Heppner, Page A11
Stanfield trio highlights BMC volleyball team
Tigers’ reeser,
Shelby and Griffin
named to first team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
STANFIELD — Stanfield had
three players named to the blue
Mountain Conference first team,
and had seven players honored
overall.
Junior Zuri reeser, and seniors
alexis shelby and Katelyn Grif-
fin were selected to the first team,
while Jennifer Flores and Taylor
Longhorn were named to the
second team.
Freshman Mazie Reeser and
senior rheanna rivera were
selected to the honorable mention
team.
The Tigers won the bmC title
with an 11-1 record. They placed
BLUE MOUNTAIN
CONFERENCE
Griffin
Z. Reeser
second to Grant union in the
district championships, and earned
a spot in the 2a state tournament.
Stanfield lost in the first round
of state to Portland Christian in five
sets to finish the season with a 19-5
overall record.
Zuri Reeser finished the season
with 338 kills, 289 assists, 236 digs,
86 service aces and 20 blocks.
shelby dominated at the net
with 119 blocks and 188 kills. she
also had 339 digs and 43 aces.
Griffin led the Tigers with 386
assists. she also had 120 kills, 139
digs and 65 aces.
Weston-mcewen junior Genna
Robinson
Shelby
robinson was the lone Tigerscot
selected to the first team.
The 6-foot-1 middle blocker
finished the season with 265 kills,
62 blocks, 45 service aces and 89
digs.
W-M finished the season 14-11
overall and 7-5 in bmC play.
also earning honors for the
Tigerscots were senior setter
Charli King and junior outside
hitter Lily Lindsey, and sophomore
libero Lirian Holden, who were
named to the honorable mention
team.
Heppner had one player earn
all-conference honors, senior
First Team
Zuri Reeser, jr., Stanfield; Callie Glenn, sr.,
Union; Genna Robinson, jr., Weston-McE-
wen; Alexis Shelby, sr., Stanfield; Grace
Taylor, sr., Grant Union; Katelyn Griffin,
sr., Stanfield; Lauryn Pettyjohn, sr., Grant
Union (libero).
Second Team
Paige Gerry, sr., Grant Union; Zabrena
Masterson, sr., Heppner; Kaylin Nowak,
sr., Union; Carson Weaver, sr., Grant
Union; Jennifer Flores, sr., Stanfield;
Drewsey Williams, so., Grant Union; Tay-
lor Longhorn, sr., Stanfield (libero).
Honorable Mention
Jesse Ledbetter, fr., Union; Emma Ricker,
sr., Union; Adeline Northway, fr., Grant
Union; Maci Marr, jr., Enterprise; Mazie
Reeser, fr., Stanfield; Rheanna Rivera, sr.,
Stanfield; Charli King, sr., Weston-McE-
wen; Rilyn Kirkland, sr., Enterprise; Lir-
ian Holden, so., Weston-McEwen (libero);
Megan Winterton, jr., Union (libero).
middle Zabrena masterson, who
was named to the second team.
The mustangs were 4-8 in bmC
play and 7-14 overall.