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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2021)
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 A7 SPORTS KICKING OFF THE SEASON IN STYLE Enterprise has two winners in kickoff wrestling tournament By RONALD BOND Wallowa County Chieftain E NTERPRISE — The Enterprise Out- laws had two indi- vidual champions at their home Kickoff wrestling tournament to start the season. Cody Fent rallied from a defi - cit to claim the 170-pound title while Gabby Delapena won all four of her matches by fall to claim the girls 135-pound title to lead the Enterprise eff ort Friday, Dec. 3. “I thought Friday was abso- lutely outstanding for our kids,” EHS head coach Court Fent said. “They all came out a bit nervous since it was the fi rst tournament of the year, however, I thought their performance was outstand- ing. They worked on things we had worked on a couple weeks in practice. They came out in the end very confi dent in their ability.” Delapena was nothing short of dominant for the Outlaws. The lone girl in the program pinned all four of her opponents and only once was forced to go past the fi rst round. She defeated Baker’s Lilly Collins by fall in 2:31, fol- lowed that with a pin of Melany Bombela in just 1:43, then in her third match needed just 15 sec- onds to pin Dayana Sepulveda of Riverside. In her fi nal match — each of the girls’ weight classes and a handful of the boys’ were done in a round-robin format — she pinned Shelby Elliot of Riv- erside in just 1:15. “I guess just not being too ner- vous, doesn’t matter how tall they are, how much they weigh, if See Wrestling, Page A9 Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise’s Cody Fent, front, wrestles against Riverside’s Chris Kent in the 170-pound fi nal of the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise’s Gabby Delapena, top, won all four of her matches by fall to win the girls 135-pound title at the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Joseph’s Gavin Russell, top, took third at 160 pounds to lead the Eagles’ eff ort at the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Joseph girls rally to win home opener Wallowa girls go 1-1 on weekend; Enterprise drops two By RONALD BOND Wallowa County Chieftain JOSEPH — The Joseph girls basketball team picked up its fi rst win Saturday, Dec. 4, in comeback fash- ion, rallying in the fourth quarter for a 51-48 home win over South Wasco County. The Eagles saw a 32-24 halftime lead vanish, and fell behind after three quar- ters, 40-38. Joseph rallied behind Aimee Meyers, who scored 18 points to share game- high honors with teammate Cooper Nave. Meyers had seven of her points in the fi nal quarter, including hit- ting fi ve free throws in the period to help push Joseph over the top. Joseph as a team was 7-for-12 from the free-throw line in the fourth. “I was extremely proud of how our girls handled themselves,” head coach Lance Homan said. “They stuck together, picked each other up, and grinded out a victory. We had Abby (Orr) and Cooper foul out in the last quarter and we were able to utilize other kids that haven’t been in that sit- uation, and they did great. Overall it was a great team eff ort and a very hard fought win for sure.” The Eagles opened up their eight-point halftime margin thanks in large part to Nave, who went off to score 10 points in the fi rst quarter, and 16 in the opening half. Meyers had 10 points in the second as Joseph doubled its margin from 14-10 to the eight-point halftime gap. Sarah Orr added eight points for the Eagles (1-1 overall), who play Adrian, Jordan Valley and Tri-Val- ley, Idaho, next Thursday through Saturday at the Cal- vin Hiatt Memorial Tourna- ment in North Powder. Also Saturday Jordan Valley 58, Wal- lowa 27: The Wallowa Cou- gars girls basketball team wrapped up their opening week 1-2 with a loss at Jor- dan Valley on Saturday, Dec. 4, 58-27. The Mustangs broke the game open early as they built a nine-point lead after one, pulled ahead to a 30-13 lead at the break and added on from there. “They’re solid,” said Wallowa head coach Greg Oveson, noting his team was within about four in the sec- ond quarter before the Mus- tangs took off . “Their post play is solid. Their out- side shooters, they’re good. They’re aggressive, they’re physical, they’re a pretty solid team. The second quar- ter, we played pretty well against them for about six minutes.” Abby Straight turned in her best scoring eff ort of the young season, as the fresh- man scored six points in the See Girls, Page A9 Joseph boys open with a pair of losses Wallowa, Enterprise also drop weekend pair By RONALD BOND Wallowa County Chieftain JOSEPH — The Joseph boys basketball team cut a 14-point halftime defi cit in half against South Wasco County on Saturday, Dec. 4, but a 3-pointer by the Red- sides stopped the rally, as they went on to win 65-33 over the Eagles. Joseph head coach Olan Fulfer, though, said his team’s play was improved over Friday’s loss to Crane. “There’s a lot of things that we did that showed fl ashes of good potential,” he said. The opening weekend was a winless one for the Eagles, but Fulfer said after Saturday’s game there were things to build on. “Our goal is to be com- petitive at the end of the sea- son,” he said. “We showed fl ashes the last two games. It was nice. The teams we played showed us a lot of weaknesses that we have to fi x to be competitive against good teams. ... It’s not going to all happen all at one.” The Eagles trailed against South Wasco County at halftime, 33-19, but started the second half strong to get within seven, Fulfer said. But the Redsides fi n- ished the quarter strong to go ahead after three, 50-28, and added on in the fourth. Chase Homan led the Eagles with 12 points, and Hayden Hite added eight points. “Chase Homan and Hayden Hite, I feel like today, they played really well with staying aggres- sive, doing exactly what we were working on,” Fulfer said. Joseph (0-2 overall) plays next weekend at the Calvin Hiatt Memorial Bas- ketball Tournament in North Powder, and faces Adrian on Thursday, Jordan Valley ADVERTISE TODAY in Wallowa County’s only newspaper! Call Jennifer Cooney today at 541-805-9630 to place your ad on Friday and Tri-Valley, Idaho, on Saturday. Also Saturday Jordan Valley 45, Wal- lowa 18: The Wallowa boys basketball team dropped to 0-3 on the young season with a loss at Jordan Valley Saturday, Dec. 4, 45-18, but did turn in their best defen- sive eff ort of the season. Jordan Valley opened up a 20-point halftime lead, 31-11, but the Cougars held them to just 14 points in the second half. Head coach Deon Chan- dler said he is already seek- ing marked improvement from his Cougars. “As long as we improve every game, that’s what I want to see,” he said. “Every game they play with big hearts, (and) haven’t given up one game yet.” Isaac Barnum was the Cougars’ leading scorer with 10 points, including eight in the fi rst half. “We had some kids really See Boys, Page A9