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Tuesday, december 28, 2021
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FLOOR GENERAL
Eynetich is key to Ione/Arlington’s 8-0 start
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
IONe — The Ione/arlington boys
basketball team has a variety of weapons to
put on the floor, from 6-foot-9 junior Bryce
Rollins to junior guard Oliver Giefing, who
should have his face on a wanted poster for
all the steals he has this season.
but the one person who keeps every-
thing running smoothly is 5-10 junior
guard Carson Eynetich.
“I trust Carson, not just with the offense,
but everything,” I/A coach Dennis Stefani
said. “He has a really good basketball IQ.
Any time you can relate to a kid as coach
to player, and they have that IQ, you don’t
have to explain it. He grasps it immedi-
ately. He is so good because he is person-
able and outgoing, he relays that out there
on the floor.”
It’s a responsibility Eynetich handles
with focus.
“I take it seriously, but I try to stay as
calm as I can,” he said. “The more I stay
calm and focused, everyone stays behind
me. It has been a good start. There are
definitely a lot of things we need to perfect
if we want to go the distance. One of the
advantages we have is Bryce. When they
collapse on him, it opens up the 3s and so
many more things for us.”
Eynetich leads the Cardinals in scor-
ing with 18.1 points a game. He also leads
in assists with 45 over eight games. He is
second on the team behind Giefing with
29 steals. And he averages five rebounds a
game and is shooting 45.8% from the floor.
“Leading in scoring and assists is pretty
good,” Stefani said. “He has quickness, and
he has pretty good hops, which helps him
play taller than he is. He plays bigger than
he is. He has no fear. He attacks the hole
and dumps it off. He has good vision on
the floor.”
In a small town, you get the players you
get. stefani has been fortunate to have a
mix that allows players to showcase their
talents, whether it is scoring, rebounding
or defense.
“That’s something we try to pass on to
these kids,” Stefani said. “We aren’t having
to isolate people to score. Pilot Rock tried
to diamond-and-one on Carson, then Bryce
was scoring and Gary got a couple. The
better games we play, we have four guys
in double figures, and Carson understands
that. It’s nice to have a scorer who under-
stands it, distributes the ball and gets
everyone involved.”
The Cardinals’ team chemistry also has
played a part in their success.
“This team is all pretty much local
kids,” Stefani said. “It’s incredible the bond
they have, you can tell they are tight. They
know each other inside and out. It’s a good
group of kids with good morals and family
backgrounds.”
The Cardinals are off to their best start
since the 2013-14 season when they started
15-2 and finished fourth at state.
This season, I/A has outscored oppo-
nents on an average of 63-31 per game.
“The team that does well at Baker is the
one who plays the best defense,” Stefani
said.
A10
ON THE SLATE
Tuesday, Dec. 28
Prep girls basketball
Pilot Rock vs. Griswold at
Bouncin’ Cancer Tournament,
Echo, 10 a.m.
Joseph at Ione/Arlington, 2 p.m.
McLoughlin vs. Prairie City, at
Baker Invite, 3:30 p.m.
Stanfield vs. Echo at Bouncin’
Cancer Tournament, Echo,
4:30 p.m.
Imbler at Weston-McEwen,
5:30 p.m.
Riverside at Columbia-Burbank
(Washington), 6 p.m.
Nixyaawii vs. Grant Union, at
Baker Invite, 6:30 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
Hermiston at West Valley
(Spokane), TBD
Pendleton at Summit Holiday
Classic, TBD
Pilot Rock vs. Griswold at
Bouncin’ Cancer Tournament,
Echo, 11:30 a.m.
McLoughlin vs. Prairie City, at
Baker Invite, 2 p.m.
Joseph at Ione/Arlington,
3:30 p.m.
Nixyaawii vs. Grant Union, at
Baker Invite, 5 p.m.
Hermiston at West Valley, 5 p.m.
Stanfield vs. Echo at Bouncin’
Cancer Tournament, Echo, 6 p.m.
Imbler at Weston-McEwen,
7 p.m.
Riverside at Columbia-Burbank
(Washington), 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Ione/Arlington’s Carson Eynetich (10) drives toward the basket Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, at Pilot Rock
High School. The Ione/Arlington Cardinals defeated the Rockets 67-53.
Basketball junkie
Eynetich has been playing basketball
since he was in grade school, playing at
halftime of the varsity boys games when
he was in the third and fourth grade.
“Those were good times,” Eynetich
said.
Though he also likes baseball, basket-
ball is his No. 1 sport.
“It’s the one I put the most effort into,”
Eynetich said. “It just feels good play-
ing as a team and seeing everyone come
together.”
In middle school, Eynetich played on
Amateur Athletic Union teams in Herm-
iston and Irrigon.
“It was just the kind of thing you do in a
small town,” Eynetich said. “Sports is what
I like to do. I love playing with this group of
boys. We have been playing together since
middle school. When we gel, it’s hard to
stop us.”
Eynetich gets his love of basketball from
his mom Dawn, who played at Ione and
was part of the 1996 state championship
team.
“My dad (Jeff) went to Arlington but
he wasn’t much of an athlete,” Eynetich
said. “My mom grew up in Ione and played
volleyball and basketball.”
Stefani gave the team a few days off during
Christmas break, and Eynetich could be found
working at ASE Farms in Ione doing winter
service work on farm equipment.
“Work ethic carries on through sports,
through school, through life,” Eynetich
said. “You just have to have a good one.”
Prep girls wrestling
Hermiston at Hanford, 9 a.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Pendleton at NW Duals, West
Albany, 9 a.m.
Prep boys basketball
Pendleton at Summit Holiday
Classic, TBD
McLoughlin at Baker Invite, TBD
Nixyaawii vs. Prairie City, at
Baker Invite, 2 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Grant
Union, 6 p.m.
Heppner at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m.
Girls basketball
McLoughlin at Baker Invite, TBD
Nixyaawii vs. Prairie City, at
Baker Invite, 3:30 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Grant
Union, 4 p.m.
Heppner at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 30
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Ione/Arlington’s Carson Eynetich (10) puts up a shot
Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, during the Ione/Arlington Car-
dinals 67-53 win over the Pilot Rock Rockets at Pilot
Rock High School.
Prep girls basketball
Umatilla at Salem Academy
Tournament, TBD
Stanfield at Enterprise, 3 p.m.
Riverside at McLoughlin, 4 p.m.
Walla Walla at Pendleton,
5:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Grant Union, 6 p.m.
Union at Weston-McEwen,
6 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
Pendleton at Summit Holiday
Classic, TBD
Umatilla at Salem Academy
Tournament, TBD
Stanfield at Enterprise, 4:30 p.m.
Riverside at McLoughlin,
5:30 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Grant Union,
7:30 p.m.
Union at Weston-McEwen,
7:30 p.m.
Prep boys wrestling
Pendleton at NW Duals, West
Albany, 9 a.m.
Heppner at Riverside Rumble,
11 a.m.
OSAA wrestling championships on the move
Finals will not be at
memorial coliseum for
the first time since 2007
By JERRY ULMER
OSAAtoday
WILSONVILLE — The OSAA
wrestling championships will have
a much different look this season.
Instead of taking place at Veter-
ans memorial coliseum, its long-
time home, the tournaments will
be split into separate high school
venues: Sandy (6A), Ridgeview
(5A), Cascade (4A), La Pine (3A)
and Culver (2A/1A, girls).
The OSAA executive board
decided to make the change due to
the Coliseum enforcing COVID-
19 restrictions for spectators and
participants.
“It’s a bummer, but at the same
time, I think it can be a qual-
ity experience for kids,” OSAA
Assistant Executive Director Brad
Garrett said. “You’re really high-
lighted at a single venue like that,
on four mats.”
The executive board opted for
separate tournaments after review-
ing information provided by the
OSAA staff. Garrett worked closely
with Culver coach J.D. Alley — the
wrestling representative from the
Oregon Athletic Coaches Associ-
ation — to formulate the alterna-
tive plan.
all of the boys tournaments
will be single-day events on Feb.
26, except for 6A, which will be a
two-day event either Feb. 25-26 or
Feb. 26-27. The girls tournament is
set for Feb. 24.
It will mark the first time the
state tournaments will be at a
venue other than the Coliseum since
2007, the end of a three-year run at
the State Fairgrounds Pavilion in
salem.
The revised state tourna-
ment format is a reflection on the
COVID-19-shortened schedule of
last season, when Newberg (6A),
Cottage Grove (5A, girls), Cascade
(4A), Redmond (3A) and Sweet
Home (2A/1A) played host to sepa-
rate culminating week champion-
ship events.
“We kind of got a preview to this,
a prequel,” Alley said. “In terms of
running the tournaments smoothly
with separate tournament directors,
we did that last year without the
help of the OSAA. I feel real confi-
dent about that. Beyond a shadow
of a doubt, we wouldn’t be having
this conversation if the wrestling
community hadn’t accomplished
that feat last season.”
Garrett said he and Alley were
contacted by schools offering to
play host to the tournaments.
“We didn’t have to go very far,”
Garrett said. “Those places that
were chosen, every one of them
has an infrastructure, not only a
building but a wrestling commu-
nity that’s involved and understands
what kind of things need to be done,
and why.”
A change in National Federa-
tion of State High School Associ-
ations rules last year that allows
for wrestlers to compete in a sixth
match in one day — provided it is
a qualifying or postseason cham-
pionship event — was helpful in
scheduling single-day state tour-
naments. But the 6A tournament,
with brackets of 24, requires two
days to complete.
The OSAA is ironing out details
on operating the tournaments
within the limited venue capacity.
At the Coliseum, a 200,000-square
foot, 10,000-seat arena, the OSAA
did not have to enforce limits on the
number of team personnel and spec-
tators. That will change this season.
“In 6A, before you ever start,
you have 500 people in the gym,
just wrestlers and coaches,”
Garrett said. “It’s likely our ticket-
ing system is going to have to look
differently. Potentially something
like each wrestler would be allotted
a certain number of tickets that they
can distribute as they choose. But
it’s not going to be a free-for-all.”
With that challenge in mind, the
6A tournament could be scheduled
for Saturday-Sunday instead of
Friday-Saturday to avoid conflict-
ing with Sandy’s school day.
“That would allow us to at least
get more people in,” Garrett said.
alley, for one, is relishing the
atmosphere of a capacity crowd.
“Wrestling or playing a guitar,
it’s much better to play in a packed
house with 900 people, packed
to the rafters, than having 2,000
people in a facility of 6,000,” Alley
said. “That coliseum is a big, old
place. This will give it much more
of a Hoosier, packed-house kind of
feel.
“On the flip side, it is the state
championship, it’s our Super Bowl,
and it should be in our biggest,
grandest city and its grandest venue.
So it’s sad.”
The OSAA cheer and dance/
drill championships also will move
from the coliseum. both will go
to Oregon City High School, with
cheer on Feb. 12 and dance/drill on
March 18-19.