Wednesday, November 3, 2021
A9
SPORTS
CROSS-COUNTRY
VOLLEYBALL
Wallowa
Valley boys
win district;
girls fi nish
in fourth
Joseph rolls to 20th consecutive win
Outlaws will compete
in state meet Nov.
6 in Eugene
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — It was yet
another solid performance for
Zac Knapp and the Wallowa Val-
ley boys cross-country team, and a
solid gear-up for the state meet this
weekend.
Knapp set the school record for
the second time this season, win-
ning an individual district title in a
time of 15:14.7 to lead the Outlaws
to a 3A District 3 title Friday, Oct.
29, in John Day.
“They have been working
harder than any team I have had,
ever,” head coach Dan Moody
said. “They want to make a state-
ment. They did that this weekend,
but want to at state.”
Knapp won by nearly a minute,
and was one of fi ve runners in the
top 10. All seven Wallowa Valley
runners, in fact, fi nished in the top
15 as the Outlaws scored 26 points,
outpacing Burns (46) and La Pine
(80) for the district title.
Bayden Menton was the second
Wallowa Valley runner to cross the
fi nish line, placing third with a time
of 16:23.9. Ian Goodrich followed
in fi fth (17:05.1), Levi Ortswam
placed seventh (17:32.4) and Chase
Homan rounded out the top fi ve for
Wallowa Valley in 10th (17:37.8).
The rest of the Wallowa Valley
runners included Weston Wolfe in
12th (17:49.8) and Andrew Nordt-
vedt in 15th (18:29.4).
“This is possibly the best team
I’ve ever had,” Moody said. “They
want to let everyone know this is
one of the best teams that has run at
state. They are going there to win it
no matter what.
“Hopefully, in the process, we
are going to have everybody (set a
personal record) again.”
The Wallowa Valley girls
placed fourth with a team score of
78 points, behind Union/Cove (33)
Burns (52) and Heppner (68) in
3A/2A/1A District 3. The fourth-
place fi nish left the girls team two
spots shy of qualifying for state.
“They did a great job,” Moody
said. “We had a bunch of PRs in
that race, too. They did everything
we could, and we fell short.”
Maddie Nordtvedt was the
top fi nisher for the Outlaws, tak-
ing 11th with a time of 21:50.6. In
18th was Lannie Stonebrink, who
posted a time of 22:18.6, and close
See Outlaws, Page A10
Eagles sweep Wolves
in second-round
home playoff game
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph volley-
ball team ran its winning streak to
20 straight matches, exacted a lit-
tle revenge for a 2019 playoff loss
and reached the state quarterfi nals
for the fi rst time in three years by
sweeping Days Creek in a sec-
ond-round home match Saturday,
Oct. 30, 25-16, 25-14, 29-27.
Players and coach Jill Hite
alike said that the Eagles had
really good energy during the fi rst
two sets, and managed to com-
plete the sweep despite lacking
some of that energy in the third.
“I think in the beginning we
did a good job of talking, but
toward the end we kind of fell out
(of rhythm),” setter Aimee Mey-
ers said. “But that just goes to
show when we put our mind to it
we can do it.”
Few, if any, teams in Class 1A
have played better than Joseph
during the last two months, and
the Eagles kept that momen-
tum rolling right into Saturday’s
match against the Wolves. That
the Eagles have played — and
defeated — several other highly
ranked teams helped entering the
playoff s.
“I think when we come out of
those games (against good teams)
and win, it shows us that we can
win through anything if we put
our mind and work toward it,”
Cooper Nave said.
The Eagles opened up a dou-
ble-digit lead in each of the fi rst
two sets, trailed just once the
entire match and were only threat-
ened by Days Creek late in the
third set.
Joseph opened the match on
a 13-2 run to quickly take an
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph’s Cooper Nave serves during a second-round state playoff matchup against Days Creek on Saturday,
Oct. 30, 2021.
NORTH DOUGLAS
VS. JOSEPH MATCH
RESULTS ONLINE
Due to the North Douglas vs.
Joseph quarterfi nal match
being played after the Chief-
tain’s deadline on Tuesday,
Nov. 2, a recap of that match
will be online at wallowa.com
Wednesday, Nov. 3, and more
from that match will be in print
Wednesday, Nov. 10.
11-point fi rst-set lead thanks to
three kills in four points from
Molly Curry. Kills by Emma Orr
and Nave gave Joseph its largest
lead of the fi rst set at 18-6.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
See Joseph, Page A10
Abby Orr returns a ball during Joseph’s playoff match against Days Creek
on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021.
Meyers headlines all-league squad as player of the year
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The news was a
shock to Aimee Meyers.
The sophomore setter for the
Joseph volleyball team was one
of fi ve players named to the Old
Oregon League all-league team,
and headlined the group by being
named the OOL player of the year
for the role she played in helping
the Eagles to an undefeated league
season, a district tournament title
and a state playoff berth.
“I was honestly very sur-
prised,” Meyers said. “I did not
think that was something I could
get awarded, and was very hon-
ored to get that.”
She said the quality of players
throughout the league, and play-
ing what she described as not a
big-name role as the setter, was
part of why she thought the des-
ignation would go toward some-
one else.
“In the league, there’s just a
high number of good players, and
as the setter you don’t get as much
recognition as the hitter, and that
was something that was super
honorable for me,” she said.
Meyers brings a versatility to
the fl oor on both the off ensive
and defensive side of the ball.
The setter primarily is responsi-
ble for getting attackers ready for
a kill attempt. And while Mey-
ers did so in spades this fall, she
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
See Meyers, Page A10
Aimee Meyers sets the ball against Days Creek on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021.
Meyers was chosen as OOL’s player of the year.
FOOTBALL
Outlaws do make playoff s, face long road trip for fi rst game
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Enter-
prise did indeed make it
into the 1A state football
playoff s.
Now, the Outlaws seek
their fi rst playoff victory in
23 years.
Enterprise, which fi n-
ished the regular season
ranked 10th in the OSAA
rankings, will hit the road to
face No. 7 Myrtle Point on
Friday, Nov. 5.
The Bobcats, like the
Outlaws, will be looking
to end a lengthy drought of
postseason success. Myrtle
Point, which enters with a
record of 8-2 overall, hasn’t
played a state playoff game
since 2015, a 49-6 loss at
Regis when the team played
2A football. The Bobcats’
last playoff victory was a
12-0 fi rst-round win over
Rainier in 2006.
Enterprise, which enters
the game at 5-3 overall and
got in via ranking after for-
feiting its position in the
Special District 2 crossover,
hasn’t played in the postsea-
son since a 33-0 loss to Ken-
nedy in 2017, and hasn’t
won a playoff game since
the 1998 semifi nals when it
defeated Lost River 23-13.
The teams enter with
their off enses humming as
of late, having both scored
at least 50 points the last
three times each took the
fi eld — all wins.
Myrtle Point has reached
the 60-point mark twice
this year, and is averag-
ing 44.9 points per game.
Defensively, the Bobcats
are allowing 22 points per
game.
The Outlaws are averag-
ing 33.4 points per game on
off ense, and 21.7 points per
game on the defensive end.
At more than 550 miles,
the Outlaws will have the
longest road trip of anyone
playing this weekend when
they travel to Southwestern
Oregon. Kickoff for the Fri-
day contest is at 7 p.m.
The winner faces either
Powder Valley or Perrydale
in the state quarterfi nals next
weekend.
Eagles eliminated
in loss to Powers
The Joseph football team
hung with Powers for four
quarters and did enough
defensively to stay in the 1A
six-man quarterfi nals Satur-
day, Oct. 30, but the Eagles
couldn’t
generate
any
off ense against the Cruisers’
defense in a 14-0 loss.
Powers, one of three
undefeated teams entering
the playoff s, recorded its
fi rst shutout of the season,
though it didn’t register any-
thing near the 39.5 points
per game it had during the
regular season.
In fact, a safety was all
that was put on the score-
board during the fi rst half as
the Cruisers took a 2-0 lead
into the locker room. Pow-
ers, though, put the game
away with two second-half
touchdowns.
Joseph, which traveled
roughly 580 miles to South-
western Oregon for the con-
test — the longest road trip
of any team last weekend
— fi nished the season with
a fi nal record of 4-4 overall.
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