E AST O REGONIAN
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2022
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Castillo takes over Irrigon football program
He spent 4 years
as an assistant at
Kiona-Benton
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
IRRIGON — Nothing
is ever perfect when a new
coach walks in the door.
Irrigon football coach
Andrew Castillo is having
some issues with equipment,
but he is excited about the
fact that 35 guys have signed
up for spring ball.
“I’m really excited,”
Castillo said. “I’ve had a
team meeting. We have
quite a large team. I have a
really good group of assistant
coaches and we expect to be
competitive right away.”
Irrigon Athletic Director
Mike Royer said they feel
lucky to have landed Castillo.
“He has some good expe-
rience coaching at a small
high school,” Royer said.
“He is someone with a lot of
energy. Has already met with
the boys a couple of times and
is really excited to get going
with Irrigon football. It is
hard to fi nd coaches these
days. We are lucky to have
him aboard.”
Castillo takes over for Ken
Thompson, who coached the
Knights for four years before
stepping down after last
season.
“Ken did a good job,”
Royer said. “I know he’s
really focused now on wres-
tling. I wish we had more
people like Ken who are
willing to coach. He knows
how to win. He has helped
build our wrestling program.
He spends a lot of time
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
New Irrigon head football coach Andrew Castillo, shown here
on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, played football for Kamiakin High
School in Kennewick and baseball for Yakima Valley College.
with our youth program.”
Castillo is a 2012 graduate
of Kamiakin High School in
Kennewick, where he was a
receiver and defensive back
for the Braves.
“I played for Scott Biglin,”
he said. “We played in the
2011 title game against
Bellevue (Washington). We
lost, but they were good.
There are three of those guys
in the NFL right now.”
Castillo also was a stand-
out baseball player. He
pitched and played in the
outfi eld in high school, then
moved on to play baseball at
Yakima Valley College. He
played his last two years at
University of Tennessee at
Martin.
He has his masters in
education from Grand
Canyon University, and will
teach at Irrigon High School.
As soon as he returned
to the Tri-Cities, Castillo
took a job at Kiona-Benton
High School, where he was
an assistant football coach
for four years — three as the
off ensive coordinator.
“I had been looking for
a head coaching job for a
while,” Castillo said. “A
program that reminded me
of my former program.”
C a s t i l lo h a s b e e n
impressed with what he has
seen so far at Irrigon.
“There is a really nice
press box, the fi eld is nice
and we have a really strong
administrative core,” Castillo
said. “Mike is really support-
ive.”
Castillo will start spring
ball Friday, June 10, then
transition into weights and
conditioning. He will use
the next couple of weeks to
implement the new off ense.
“We are going to be tran-
sitioning to an off ense that
I played in high school, and
at Ki-Be,” Castillo said. “A
speedy up-tempo off ense.”
Nation, Graham selected to East-West All-Star Baseball Series
TigerScots’
Pierce will help
coach East Team
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
ATHENA — Heppner’s
To b y
Nation
and
Weston-McEwen’s Quinn
Graham have been selected
to play on the East Team in
the 34th annual East-West
All-Star Baseball Series on
June 11-12 at Linfi eld Univer-
sity in McMinnville.
Graham
Nation
Weston-McEwen’s Shawn
Pierce will coach the East
Team, along with Steve Steb-
bins of South Umpqua.
“I’m really happy I got
elected to play in those
games,” Nation said. “I found
out about it (the series) last year
when Hayden Hyatt went.”
The three-game series
will see two games played
Saturday, June 11, starting
at 4 p.m. The third game will
be played at noon Sunday.
The series is for graduating
seniors from 3A, 2A and 1A
high schools.
Nation, who transferred to
Heppner from Dibble, Okla-
homa (population 878), his
junior year, played third base
and pitched for the Mustangs.
In 24 games, Nation had a
.560 average with a team-high
47 hits. He had 10 doubles,
one triple, two home runs and
a team-high 31 RBIs.
On the mound, Nation
pitched 64 innings with a
3.39 ERA. He struck out 68
and walked 21.
Nation was selected as a
third baseman for the series.
“I like playing in the
field and hitting,” Nation
said. “Pitching is fun too,
but there’s just something
about a rocket to third base.
You can’t beat it. Third base
is really the only position I
played until my sophomore
year when I started pitching.”
Nation played baseball
for the Dibble Demons, but
didn’t play football until
he got to Heppner.
“My only year playing
football was my senior year,”
he said. “It was pretty fun.
I’m glad I ended up doing it.”
Graham is going into the
game as a second baseman.
In 22 games, Graham hit
.338 with 24 hits, including
four doubles, one triple and
13 RBIs. He also scored 31
runs.
“It should be a lot of fun,”
Graham said. “I’m blessed to
have a chance. It will be fun
to meet some new kids. I have
never played on turf before.”
It’s also a chance to play
with some good players from
other teams.
“I’m glad to have the
Duf u r pitchers (Isaac
Anthony and Brock Lafaver)
on our team,” Graham said.
Graham also played foot-
ball and basketball for the
TigerScots. He plans on
going to University of Idaho
and getting an agricultural
business degree.
Weston-McEwen’s ace
pitcher Blane Peal also was
selected to pitch in the series,
but he had his wisdom teeth
removed Monday and won’t
be available to play.
Community
Memorial
Service
& BUTTERFLY RELEASE
To celebrate our loved ones
and how life is transformed.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY VANGE JOHN MEMORIAL HOSPICE
Event Details:
n
Bring your family. Children welcome!
n
Please bring your own lawn chair(s)
n
Refreshments provided with additional
refreshments for purchase
n
Look for event table when you arrive.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Victory Square Park
150 SW 10th Street | Hermiston, OR 97838
Entertainment by Brass Fire Band!
Each Attendee will receive
(while supplies last):
n
Origami Butterfly
Butterfly-Friendly Flower Seeds to Plant at Home
n Butterfly Fact Sheet
For more information, call Carollyn Robinson,
BSN, RN at 541.667.3540.
n
For an additional fee, pre-registrants may receive
one live butterfly to release in honor of their loved one.
Please register at https://
communitymemorial.eventbrite.com
Want to make a donation to Hospice?
Visit www.gshealth.org/communitymemorial