Wednesday, February 16, 2022
A9
SPORTS
Crawford set to retire at conclusion of this season
EHS girls coach
has 519 career
victories in
33 seasons
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Long-
time Enterprise girls basket-
ball coach Mike Crawford
has announced he’ll call it a
career and retire following
this season.
Crawford is in his 33rd
year leading the girls team,
with his first season being in
1989-90. Along the way, suc-
cess has been a theme for the
program. Over the weekend,
Enterprise secured its 24th
season under Crawford with
a record of at least .500. The
Outlaws have reached 20 vic-
tories 14 times in that span,
made it to the state playoffs
17 times and 10 times placed
at state, with the peak being a
58-54 title-game victory over
Santiam Christian in 1996.
The program was most
dominant from the mid-1990s
to the early 2000s, a stretch
during which Enterprise won
the league eight years in a row
and claimed six district titles.
The team also won 20 games
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise head coach Mike Crawford watches his team during
the second half of a game Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. The coach,
who is in his 33rd season leading the Outlaws, has announced
he’ll retire at the end of the season.
or more each of those years
and followed the ‘96 title
with a third-place finish in ‘97
and a runner-up performance
in 2001. The team’s record
during that time was 182-31.
Crawford told the Chief-
tain last year that a major
factor in the success he and
Enterprise have had over the
years is due to his players.
“I’ve been incredibly
blessed to be at one school
and have the people around
me in that entire time to be
able to accomplish the feats
we have done together,” he
said.
He was honored with a
ceremony during halftime
of the boys game on Feb.
12, where more of the acco-
lades achieved by Crawford
and the program were high-
lighted. Along the way, Craw-
ford has amassed a record of
519-273, having coached in
792 games. He picked up his
500th win when Enterprise
defeated Heppner in over-
time, 40-38, during a Blue
Mountain Conference district
tournament contest Feb. 22,
2020.
His tenure at one school
is the longest of any coach in
Oregon girls basketball his-
tory. His win total is eighth
See Crawford, Page A15
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Enterprise’s Cody Fent, shown during the Enterprise Kickoff
on Dec. 3, 2021, took fifth at 170 pounds during the Pine Eagle
Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
Outlaws, Eagles wrap up
regular season on the mat
Chieftain staff
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Emily Love, right, shoots during the second half of Enterprise’s 50-30 home victory over Weston-McEwen Saturday,
Feb. 12, 2022.
Outlaws tame TigerScots
Enterprise overcomes
struggles, emotion to
defeat Weston-McEwen
in season finale
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE — A combination
of emotion and exhaustion ham-
pered the Enterprise girls bas-
ketball team in its regular-sea-
son finale Saturday, Feb. 12.
It was senior night. The Out-
laws hadn’t returned from the previ-
ous night’s game in Pilot Rock until
about 1 a.m. And there was emotion
around the fact that the game would
be the final regular-season contest for
longtime head coach Mike Crawford.
But even that didn’t keep Enter-
prise out of the win column.
Emily Love scored a game-high 23
points on a night when shots wouldn’t
fall for Enterprise and, despite the
struggles, the Outlaws secured what
on paper appeared to be an easy
50-30 win over Weston-McEwen.
That the Outlaws finished with 50
points despite the struggles impressed
Crawford.
“Interesting game,” he said. “My
perspective on that is we seemed to
struggle, a lot of it, and then to still
drop 50… Emily went crazy in the
game. And she’s been a stud for us
anyways. She really had a spectacu-
lar game today.”
It felt like Enterprise was in com-
mand most of the game — as it was
following a 13-0 second-quarter run
that put the Outlaws ahead for good.
But the TigerScots hung around,
and an uneasy feeling descended on
Quinn Court when Dalana Pickard
scored to make it 32-26 with 5:35 to
play.
See Girls, Page A15
Outlaws’ district bid falls short
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The Enter-
prise boys basketball team had shown
ample improvement in the late stages
of the season, enough that the Outlaws
had something to play for — a poten-
tial district tournament berth — in the
regular-season finale on Saturday, Feb.
12.
But visiting Weston-McEwen
grabbed the lead for good with 45.9
seconds remaining in a back-and-forth
thriller and forced three turnovers in
the final minute, and the TigerScots
survived a Blue Mountain Conference
battle, topping the Outlaws, 57-54, to
bring an end to Enterprise’s season.
Still, even in the loss, head coach
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
See Boys, Page A10
Enterprise’s Jackson Decker glides in for a layup attempt during the second half
of a basketball game Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
HALFWAY — The
Enterprise wrestling team
had a second-place finish
and two third-place efforts
in its final tournament of the
regular season as the Out-
laws took eighth at the Pine
Eagle Invitational on Satur-
day, Feb. 12, in Halfway.
Will Ogden posted a
second-place finish at 195
pounds for the Outlaws in
just two matches. He pinned
Irrigon’s Austin Wells in the
semifinals, but in the finals
lost by technical fall, 18-1,
to Cade Cunningham of
Heppner.
Gunnar McDowell went
3-1 to take third at 220.
He opened with a pin of
Crane’s Emery Hammond,
and in the semifinals lost
by fall to Gabriel Bowlin of
Nampa Christian. He fol-
lowed with two more pins,
topping Heppner’s Nathan
Ellsworth, and in the third-
place match pinning Peyton
Riggs of Nampa Christian.
Gabby Delapena, wres-
tling at 120, also took third.
She dropped a semifinal
match to Joseph’s Jett Peter-
son by fall, then pinned
Payton Perry of Vale in the
third-place match.
Both Cody Fent (170)
and Pearce Schnetzky (132)
went 2-2, with Fent taking
fifth. Fent dropped a quarter-
final match by fall to Crane’s
Jake Doman, then won a
consolation match over
Raul Gonzalez of Vale by a
10-4 decision. He dropped a
consolation semifinal by fall
to Nampa Christian’s Ethan
Pearson, but finished in the
fifth-place match with a win
by fall over Alex Finley of
Grant Union.
Schnetzky didn’t place,
but opened with a first-
round win by an 11-6 deci-
sion over Irwyn Murguia
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of Irrigon. He was pinned
in the quarterfinals by
Vale’s Colt Cummings, then
pinned James Carey of Echo
in the consolation bracket
before being eliminated by
fall against Brady Otley of
Crane.
Tegan Evans was the
busiest wrestler, going 3-2
at 145 and placing sixth.
After an opening-round win
by fall over Imbler’s Krager
Muilenburg, he dropped
a match by fall to Reece
McConnell of Elgin. He
later earned a 7-1 decision
over Vale’s Tyler Richard-
son, but lost by fall to Will
Seggerman of Pine Eagle in
the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place match,
Evans dropped a close 4-1
decision to Vale’s Buster
Harmon to settle for sixth.
And Trey
Charlton
dropped two matches by fall
at 285 to Rolando Moreno
of Grant Union and to Gino
Gallegos of Echo.
For Joseph, Peterson’s
aforementioned win over
Delapena moved him to the
championship match at 120
pounds, where he lost by fall
to Roen Waite of Heppner.
Gavin Russell took fifth
at 152 by going 2-2. He took
the quarterfinal match, a win
by fall over Adrian’s Derek
Faulconer, then dropped
two in a row, one to Elgin’s
Gen Wintersteen by fall,
and one to Kelton Dunten
of Crane by a score of 10-5.
In the fifth-place match, he
took down Ryan Coombs of
Grant Union by fall.
Dylan Rogers dropped
two matches by fall at 126,
one to Giovanni Cartwright
of Pine Eagle and one to
Tanner Cagle of Nampa
Christian.
Both teams compete in
the 2A/1A Special District
4 tournament Feb. 19 in
Adrian.