A9
WEDNESDAY
January 1, 2020
YEAR IN SPORTS
Outlaws
ladies keep
rolling along
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa’s Bailey Hafer defends against a return by Nixyaawii’s Allyson Maddern.
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The past year in sports proved excit-
ing with both the usual suspects per-
forming up to specs and a few new-
comers climbing the ladder to success.
To avoid sports favoritism, each sport is
discussed alphabetically.
Baseball – In the 2019 Wallowa
County combined squad high school
realm, the boys made it through the fi rst
round of state playoffs before Pleas-
ant Hill put a stop to their journey, 7-1.
Boys Little League saw the Wallowa
Valley All-Stars place fourth in the dis-
trict tournament.
Basketball – The ladies sported the
most success by far. The Enterprise
Outlaws barely missed a trip to the
fi nals after a hard-fought battle versus
future state champs, Heppner, resulted
in a 39-32 loss.
The lady Eagles made it to the quar-
terfi nals in state playoffs before suffer-
ing a narrow defeat to eventual champs,
St. Paul, 42-37.
For the boys, only the Joseph Eagles
made it to state, losing in the fi rst round
to Dufur, 39-31.
The Enterprise Outlaws boys’ squad
suffered from a controversy between
Coach Larry Wells and the school
board involving the eligibility of a stu-
dent. Although the OSAA eventually
sustained Wells’ initial eligibility deci-
sion and the board received a “Letter of
Education” from the Oregon State Eth-
ics Commission for executive session
violations. Wells was later fi red.
Cross-Country — The county’s
“Three Horsemen,” Henry Coughlan,
Zac Knapp and Bayden Menton led the
boys squad to a fi rst place fi nish at state
in Eugene. Coughlan, Knapp and Men-
ton fi nished fi rst, second and fourth
respectively in the 2A championships.
Football – Joseph Charter School
Eagles went to the State 6-man cham-
pionship rounds. It’s mighty six-man
team was coached by Duncan Christ-
man. The Eagles steamrolled virtually
everyone they played against through
the season until the state championship
game, where they met their match ver-
sus South Wasco County in a 19-6 loss.
Wallowa, long a state football pow-
erhouse, was in a rebuilding year. Early
in the season they saw losses by big
margins, but by the end of the season,
the team had jelled, coming close to
defeating a very strong Crane team and
ending with triumphs over Pine Valley
and the Cove Leopards. The Cougars
are looking forward to a good year in
2020.
Softball – The Wallowa Valley com-
bined high school team made it to the
fi rst round of state playoffs before suf-
fering a heartbreaking 11-8 loss to
Yamhill/Carlton.
The Little League junior girls soft-
ball team, the Cubs, provided the most
diamond fi reworks, becoming the
county’s fi rst-ever softball team to win
a state championship after defeating
Klamath Falls 15-0 in Klamath Falls.
The victory extended the season well
into July for the squad.
The Cubs followed that milestone
with a journey to Tucson, Ariz., for the
Western Regional championships, even
playing in 100-degrees-plus weather.
The ladies played three games in the
tournament, the last, an 8-6 consolation
bracket victory over host, Thornydale.
Track – The Enterprise ladies placed
fi rst at the state 2A meet, led by Shelby
Moncrief, Karli Bedard and Kyla Hook.
The 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams both
took home the gold.
Foster Hobbs and Zac Knapp led the
boys’ squad to a sixth place fi nish with
the team’s 4x100 team taking the gold.
Joseph boys placed second at state,
led by efforts of Tyler Homan and
Henry Coughlan, each who broke
school records by substantial margins.
The ladies placed third with stars Ella
Coughlan and Ellyse Tingelstad carry-
ing the torch. Coughlan shattered the
school record for the 800 meters race.
Volleyball — Joseph and Wallowa
fi nished second and third respectively
in the Old Oregon League, earning both
squads a trip to state. While excelling
in the fi rst round, the Eagles and Cou-
gars both fell in three sets in the sec-
ond round: Joseph to eventual third
place team, Days Creek and Wallowa
to eventual state champs, St. Paul.
Wrestling – Joseph Charter School
senior, Steven Beckman, won an
unprecedented third consecutive state
championship in the 120 pounds
bracket. Teammate Zeb Ramsden took
home the silver at 132 pounds.
Austin Brockamp took the bronze at
170 pounds while Jonah Staigle placed
fourth at 195 pounds.
For the Outlaws, Trace Evans, wres-
tling in one of the toughest brackets,
placed third at 138 pounds. In Decem-
ber 2019, Evans has won top honors in
most of his matches and it looks like a
promising start to 2020.
Wallowa boys split pair of games at Echo
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Wallowa Cougar boys left
their lair for Echo High School’s
Bouncin’ Cancer tournament over
the last week and subjected their
hosts to a brutal beating before
suffering a beating themselves at
the hands of Ione/Arlington.
The Echo Cougars hosted Wal-
lowa on Friday, Dec. 27, only to
fi nd their namesakes administer-
ing a lesson that showed some
Cougars are tougher than oth-
ers. Wallowa administered a bru-
tal 60-25 beating that left Echo
reeling.
Coach Cody Lathrop noted
that Echo had a very young team
whose efforts couldn’t erase its
lack of experience. Despite the
score, the coach said the Wallowa
team could have played much
better.
Tristin Bales led Wallowa with
20 points while guard Zeb Her-
mens was hot on his heels, pound-
ing 17 through the hoop.
Unfortunately, the evening
victory didn’t allow the Cou-
gars much time in their lair as the
team didn’t arrive home until after
10 p.m. and faced a long morn-
ing’s bus ride for their next battle.
“Needless to say, the kids were
very, very tired,” Lathrop said.
This showed on the fl oor as Ione/
Arlington mopped the fl oor with
Cougar hides in a 74-31 victory.
“To give our kids credit, they
played hard and fought like they
always do, but it was like running
up a sand hill,” Lathrop said. “It
was a hard game, and Arlington is
a good team.” He added that the
players were so tired from the pre-
vious night’s efforts, that the morn-
ing bus ride to Echo was unchar-
acteristically quiet with players
trying to catch some snooze time
before the morning battle.
Again, Bales and Hermens
carried the torch, lighting up the
scoreboard with 11 and 8 points
respectively. Both Hermens and
Ryder Goller led the Cougs in
boards.
Lathrop also noted that the
slack time of winter break also
took its toll on the team rebuilding
process. He thought a solid week
of practice would fi nd the team
more than ready for its next battle.
The weekend left the Cougs
with a 4-6 preseason record. They
next travel to Pine Eagle to face
off against the Spartans on Satur-
day, Jan. 4.
Enterprise High School’s lady
cagers can’t be stopped, it seems.
The Outlaws have won their sev-
enth straight after neatly handling
Nixyaawii and Ione/Arlington
at the Nixyaawii Winter Classic
tournament.
The Nixyaawii Eagles gave the
ladies the most trouble of the two
opponents during their Friday, Dec.
27 matchup. The Outlaws went into
the half nursing a 21-19 lead, but
halftime saw the squad take things
in hand as they outscored their
opponents in each of the fi nal two
quarters to skate away with a 47-41
victory from their hosts.
Seniors Ashlyn Gray and Carsyn
Miller blazed the way for the Out-
laws, scoring a baker’s dozen each
each while Gracie Niezen racked
up seven in the scoring slot.
“It was fun — I’m tired,” Coach
Mike Crawford said, laughing.
“We’re doing what I expected at
this point, honestly. I’m happy
about it.”
The Outlaws shot 30% from
the fl oor but made enough shots to
maintain their lead. Defensively,
standouts included Gray with dou-
ble digit rebounds, 10, along with
four assists and four steals. Claire
Farwell also had four steals.
“We took care of business with
Condon,” Coach Crawford said of
the ladies’ stinging, 61-24 victory
over the Blue Devils. He noted the
Devils had only nine players, so
while Crawford was able to rotate
fresh players in, Condon’s players
couldn’t get the rest they needed.
“We just wore them out.”
Joseph boys
soar on road
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Joseph Charter School
Eagles boys basketball team came
off a successful 2-1 road trip,
despite an opening road series loss
on the hoops court to 38th-ranked
Dufur on Thursday, Dec. 26. The
Eagles also faced down Perrydale
and St. Paul.
“We played the worst game
we’ve probably played in the last
couple of years, to be honest,”
coach Olan Fulfer said of the 51-44
Dufur contest. “We didn’t really
get off the bus.”
Fulfer noted the Eagles had
only a nonmandatory practice on
Monday, Dec. 23, and had the next
two days off before its early morn-
ing bus ride to Dufur. Fulfer said
the lack of practice showed in dead
legs.
“We had a chance to tie it at the
end,” Fulfer said. “We were down
three, shot a three (that) went
in-and-out. Nothing went right in
that game.”
Chase Murray led the caravan
with 13 points while Carson Lit-
tlepage and Mason Ferre‘ hit for
nine each.
“That loss helped a ton,” Fulfer
said. “We looked really good the
past two games and played better
opponents in my opinion.”
In response to the poor pass-
ing efforts with Dufur, Fulfer
held a 1.5 hour passing practice
on the following day. Formerly
undefeated Perrydale suffered the
results of that practice on the same
day, taking a 51-35 trouncing from
the Eagles.
Looking
forward to serving
you in 2020
Happy New Year!
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