Wednesday, April 14, 2021
A9
SPORTS
Outlaws claim cross-country crown
Wallowa Valley
girls take second
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
LEBANON — It may not
have been “official” in the
eyes of the Oregon School
Activities Association. But
regardless of the label, the
Wallowa Valley Outlaws boys
cross-country team proved
again it is best in state.
Buoyed by three top-five
finishes and by having its top
five runners inside the top 20,
Wallowa Valley breezed to the
de facto Class 3A state cham-
pionship — as it was expected
to on paper — Saturday, April
10, at Cheadle Lake Park in
Lebanon.
“It was just a great team
effort by the kids,” head coach
Dan Moody said. “They
pushed themselves. They
were going hard. They don’t
take anything for granted. It’s
great. Sometimes kids do that.
They don’t. They went after
it.”
The Outlaws scored 34
points as a team to easily out-
pace second-place La Pine,
which scored 68 points.
Third-place Westside Chris-
tian closely followed with 74
points.
“We knew that probably
La Pine was probably our
main competition,” Moody
said. “We’ve got the target on
our backs.”
In a year that has been any-
thing but ordinary, the Out-
laws’ win felt like a piece of
normalcy — even if the team
stood on the podium holding
a “Spring XC” championship
trophy while donning masks.
The OSAA did not sanc-
tion a statewide event in the
culminating week of Season
2, but instead East Linn Chris-
tian hosted a state-style event
in Lebanon that brought in
Tom Nordtvedt/Contributed Photo
The Wallowa Valley boys cross-country team poses with the state title trophy after winning the 3A state meet Saturday, April
10, 2021, in Lebanon.
many of the top-ranked teams.
“The meet was excep-
tional,” Moody said. “I can’t
talk enough about how this
meet went off and (East Linn
Christian head coach) Kellen
Peters — this was his baby. It
was above and beyond what
the OSAA even thought about
doing. He did an exceptional
meet. My goodness.”
Wallowa Valley, which
returned the core of its state
title-winning team from 2019,
was nothing short of domi-
nant. Henry Coughlan led the
pack for the Outlaws by taking
second in a time of 16:01.15.
Shortly after him in third was
Zac Knapp in 16:18.81 and
Bayden Menton placed fifth
in 16:59.01.
It was a similar look to
2019, when Coughlan won
the state title, Knapp took
third and Menton came in
fourth.
Even Ian Goodrich, who
was the fourth Outlaw across
of it, what they accomplished
in a short amount of time,” he
said. “We’re midseason, and
they are running end-of-the-
season times. That is some-
thing for the kids.”
Girls take second place
Tom Nordtvedt/Contributed Photo
Wallowa Valley runner Kyla Hook, right, placed 15th to lead
the girls cross-country team to a second-place finish at the
3A/2A/1A state meet Saturday, April 10, 2021, in Lebanon.
the finish line, was right in
line with his placing last year.
Goodrich came in 16th in
2019, and Saturday took 15th
in 17:55.90.
Brenden Moore rounded
out the top five for the Out-
laws in 18th in 18:15.51.
The two others across
the line for Wallowa Valley
were Weston Wolfe in 23rd
(18:32.39) and Roan Flynn in
70th (21:15.99).
Moody was pleased by the
effort the athletes put in, not-
ing timewise, they are well
ahead of where they typically
would be at this point of a tra-
ditional season.
“I couldn’t be more proud
Up until a couple of weeks
ago, the Wallowa Valley girls
cross-country team didn’t
have enough athletes to field
a full team.
Once they did, they put
together the second-best team
in the state.
Wallowa Valley scored
81 points in the de facto
3A/2A/1A state champion-
ship Saturday, April 10, at
Cheadle Lake Park in Leba-
non to place second, and in
the process flipped the script
from the district meet earlier
this month by edging Hep-
pner. The Mustangs, who on
April 2 topped Wallowa Val-
ley on the way to the district
title, scored 83 points Satur-
day to place third.
Bandon ran away with
the state crown by scoring 46
points.
“Two weeks ago, we
didn’t even have a team. And
now, they ended up second in
state,” Moody said. “When
Maddie (Nordtvedt) came on
the team, they ended up sec-
ond in district and pretty close
to Heppner.”
Moody said both he and
assistant coach Jenny Rein-
heardt believed Wallowa Val-
ley could catch Heppner for
second with a few individ-
ual improvements — and that
was exactly what happened.
Kyla Hook led the way
for the Outlaws on Satur-
day by placing 15th in a
time of 21:20.24. Freshman
Iona McDonald was 22nd in
21:56.16.
“The Heideman girl (Hai-
ley) from Heppner, that was
the first time Kyla beat her,
and beat her pretty deci-
sively,” Moody said. “Iona
was also ahead of her.”
The key, though, may have
been the athlete who joined
the team late to give Wallowa
Valley a full complement of
five runners. Nordtvedt —
who started Season 2 on the
volleyball court before a late
change back to cross-coun-
try — placed 34th in a time of
22:41.88.
“It was so great for the kids
to (go from) no team to get to
where they are at. Thank vol-
leyball for letting Maddie on,
and Maddie toughing it out,”
Moody said.
The Outlaws rounded out
their scoring with Michalia
Caine in 59th in 23:46.69 and
Lottie McDonald in 60th in
23:47.56.
“This meet was for the
kids. It was all for the kids.
That was what was so spe-
cial about it,” Moody said. “I
can’t say enough about how it
worked out.”
Cougars, Enterprise football teams end with wins
keep scoring and stay ahead
of them, and make plays on
special teams as well.”
With the win, Wallowa
wraps up the spring with a
record of 4-1.
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — Zeb Her-
mens saved his best for last,
and stepped up in a major
way when the Wallowa Cou-
gars needed him to.
The senior, who filled in
for an injured Lute Ramsden
at quarterback, rushed for 224
yards and four touchdowns
and passed for two more
scores as the shorthanded
Cougars fought off the Elgin
Huskies on Friday afternoon,
April 9, in their season finale,
58-42.
“Essentially we were play-
ing without three all-state,
two-way starters,” head coach
Matt Brockamp said. “Elgin
has some big, strong, physi-
cal kids and they ran the ball
well. They ran the ball hard.
... It was neat to see our kids
keep playing hard and keep
scoring and keep ahead of
them.”
The Cougars were without
Ramsden and Colby Mandal,
both injured in last week’s
win over Powder Valley, and
lost Zeb Ramsden in the game
due to injury.
Hermens engineered the
Cougar offense largely with
his legs, carrying the ball 27
times to pile up his yardage.
He also was 5-for-10 passing
for 79 yards and two scores
— one to Tristin Bales and
one to Ryder Goller. Defen-
sively, he had six solo tackles
Enterprise finishes
with win over Cove
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa’s Zeb Hermens shakes Husky tacklers on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter Friday,
April 9, 2021. Hermens ran for four touchdowns and 224 yards in the Cougars’ 58-42 win.
and assisted on six more.
“To step in the last week
with one week of practice
and be able to quarterback
our offense, which is actually
pretty complex for the quar-
terback in the read keys and
the (run-pass option) stuff
we do, it’s a lot to take on,”
Brockamp said of Hermens.
“We tried to simplify things
and run the ball, and he did a
great job. He’s always had the
heart and the ability to do it,
he’s just been tiny. He finally
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had a growth spurt finally his
senior year. … He played
tough, played hard, (and) ran
really tough.”
With Hermens leading
the way, Wallowa rushed for
405 yards and finished with
484 yards of total offense.
Bales had an additional 99
yards rushing and a touch-
down and also had 48 yards
receiving, and Zeb Ramsden
had 52 yards rushing and 20
receiving before leaving with
an injury. Defensively, Jesse
Duncan had five tackles and
14 assists, and Ramsden had
three tackles and six assists.
Brockamp said the defense
had to shuffle players around
until Wallowa was able to find
a combination to get the stops
needed.
“It was musical chairs for
a little bit until we got some-
thing we felt a little more
comfortable with,” Brockamp
said. “And we made a cou-
ple stops, we forced a couple
turnovers, and were able to
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COVE — Despite the loss
of three starters, the Outlaws
managed to round out their
abbreviated season with a win
on their only road contest of
the year Friday afternoon,
April 9, defeating the Cove
Leopards 40-18.
“On offense, we started
three freshmen, and on
defense, two,” Enterprise
head coach Rusty Eschler
said. “They stepped up and
played well. They were a little
nervous at kickoff, but as the
game went on, they settled in
real well.”
Eschler said the lack of
their regular lineup took some
getting used to for the remain-
ing Outlaws, who ended up
tallying 408 total offensive
yards on the night.
“We were missing our
quarterback, tight end, out-
side linebacker and starting
guard,” he said. “It took some
time, but the team adjusted.”
The Outlaws were pre-
viously set to face Union in
a rematch, but the Bobcats
had to cancel due to a lack of
players. They also had a half-
game during the season.
“Imbler was gracious
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enough to play us two quar-
ters after they played Ione,”
Eschler said. “It’s been a
tough season. It was a way
different year than we’ve ever
had before. But the kids got to
play 3½ games. That’s better
than nothing. You wish you
could have all six games, but
it is what it is.”
The Outlaws wrapped up
the season with a 2-1 overall
record in 1A Special District
2 play.
Joseph volleyball
ends with losses
NORTH POWDER —
The Joseph Eagles wrapped
up the spring with a pair of
losses in North Powder at
the 2A/1A culminating week
tournament Friday, April 9,
falling to host Powder Val-
ley, 25-7, 25-12, 25-22, and to
Weston-McEwen in five sets,
25-14, 15-25, 21-25, 25-17,
16-14.
Stats were not available.
The season ends for Joseph
at 7-6 overall.
Wallowa ends with win
WALLOWA — The Wal-
lowa volleyball team out-
lasted Elgin in five sets in its
season finale Friday, April 9.
Stats were not available
for the Cougars, who ended
with a record of 6-5 overall.
———
Freelance reporter Brett
Kane contributed to this
report.