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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 2015)
B Section B S PORTS South Lane County Sports and Recreation Athletes of the Week Talon Temple (left) was one of over 200 area kids who competed in a wrestling tourna- ment at CGHS on Saturday, Jan. 2. The tournament was open to kids age four through eighth grade; athletes competed by age and weight class. Talon is pictured with his father, Kyle, who is the head coach of the varsity team. Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lions pinned by Elmira in Sky-Em opener Elmira won 12 matches (eight by pin) in a 66-12 rout of Cottage Grove BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel VENETA — In the fi rst Sky- Em League dual meet in four years, Elmira steamrolled Cot- tage Grove 66-12 on Thursday night. Junior Andrew Bordeux was the only Lion to defeat an opponent as he continued his dominance in the 160-pound weight class. To the untrained eye, it may have appeared that Bordeux was struggling to deliver a winning move against Ethan Agnes, as Agnes avoided being pinned until there was 23 seconds re- maining. But Bordeux said he was using the competition for practice. “It was a pretty easy match. I wanted to work on some moves early on, and in the third round, when my coaches told me to end it, I was able to get the pin,” he said. While Bordeux extended his string of strong performances, the team certainly experienced a let down in its fi rst meet of the New Year. Please see Wrestling, Page 2B photo by Matt Hollander Cottage Grove's Andrew Bordeaux was in complete control of his match against Elmira's Ethan Agnes. Bor- deaux won by pin in the third round. Down and out in Dallas Oregon falls to Ohio State 42-20 in championship bid BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel A RLINGTON, Texas — You all know this already, but for pos- terity’s sake here’s what happened: The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Oregon Ducks 42-20 on Monday night in the inaugural College Foot- ball Championship Game behind 246 yards rushing and four touchdowns from running back Ezekiel Elliott. Heisman-winning quarterback Mar- cus Mariota accounted for 372 yards and two touchdowns in what very well may have been his fi nal game in an Oregon uniform; should he declare himself eligible, the redshirt junior is projected to be a top pick in this spring’s NFL draft. That being said, I’ve been here before; both this place —AT&T Sta- dium for the 2011 Cowboy Classic against LSU, a 40-27 rout — and this situation —the 2011 BCS National Championship Game against Auburn, photo by Matt Hollander a 22-19 heartbreaker on a game-end- With the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter, Oregon fans started to head for the exits at AT&T Stadium. ing fi eld goal. Monday’s fi nal was in many ways least in the eyes of the analysts and Without watching any of the high- that Oregon was any more unfortu- happen in a season, be it injuries or an the worst of those two games; a con- commentators —proven to be inferior lights, it’s hard to point anywhere nate in that department. But the Ducks unfortunate bounce of the ball in a key test that Oregon wasn’t close to win- against better teams. Those SEC pow- else but the two fi rst-quarter drops as surely would have benefi tted from the situation; you just want to be in the ning yet still felt like a punch in the erhouses stifl ed Oregon’s lauded run- the turning points of the game. Both availability of wide receivers Devon hunt each and every year. Even if you stomach when the golden confetti ning game and produced a blueprint would have extended Oregon drives Allen, Darren Carrington and corner- make it through the regular season un- rained down on the Buckeyes. And for how to beat the Ducks. at a time when the offense seemed to back Ifo Ekpr-Olomu. scathed, the margin between the teams once again, Duck fans were outnum- In Ohio State, Oregon faced a team have found a rhythm. The Ducks fi n- This new playoff system is both a at the top is so thin that the matchups bered two to one. But at least that that was in many ways a mirror im- ished 2-for-12 on third-down conver- benefi t and a detriment to Oregon. As become critical. Could Alabama have made it a quick and easy getaway, as age. The difference was the Buckeyes sions. shown this year, the top-four selection been a more advantageous opponent 60,000 Ohio State fans stayed behind executed early on, and pulled away We did, however learn something allows for the Ducks to be imperfect, for Oregon? It’s certainly possible. to soak in the celebration. behind an unstoppable running game. very important about the Oregon sys- but it also means that they have to win I stand by what I said in last week’s It also felt like a more honest defeat You certainly can’t say that the sys- tem: it doesn’t allow for one single two games against the very best teams. issue: this will have been Oregon’s than either of those two aforemen- tem failed against Ohio State. But giv- player to lift the team on his back However, I think that the Ducks have best chance to win a national cham- tioned losses. And that actually tells en the success of this season, and with — the way many of us hoped Mariota proven that they will be knocking on pionship for a while. The one caveat me that Oregon is getting closer to the Mariota at the helm, you can’t say that could have done when the Buckeyes the door every season for the indefi - is that Monday’s outcome leaves the ultimate prize. it was successful either. But while Or- succeeded in locking down his weap- nite future, and maybe they will once door open for Mariota to return. May- In Phoenix in January 2011, and egon was largely forced to abandon its ons. again make it back to this stage. be it’s unlikely, but if that happens I eight months later in Dallas, it was bread-and-butter plays against Auburn Given that Ohio State lost two all- And perhaps that’s what it takes expect the Ducks to be right back in the Oregon system that was exposed and LSU, Ohio State didn’t have that America level quarterbacks to injury to win a national championship in the championship hunt next year. on the national stage and was — at same devastating impact. over the season, it’s diffi cult to feel college football. So many things can Lions fade under Cougs' third-quarter pressure BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel Strategy, weapons key to Cascade’s win over Cottage Grove T he Lions battled hard against a much larger and more experienced Cascade team but fell victim to a 16-4 third-quarter run by the Cou- gars, from which they were never able to recover. Cottage Grove lost 66-52. For nearly two and a half quarters, the Lions never trailed by more than six points and even held brief leads against the top-10 ranked Cou- gars. But in Cascade (7-3), Cottage Grove (5- 8) faced a team whose starting fi ve players all measured 6’1” or taller and were all juniors or seniors. When the Cougars ratcheted up their full-court pressure in the third quarter, this size and expe- rience allowed them to force key turnovers and convert at the opposite end. While the Lions might hoped to have carried over more momentum from their win over South Umpqua the previous Friday, coach Donn Pollard said that he still saw improvement in the loss. “I thought we played pretty well, other than three minutes of the game, and that cost us,” he said. “Cascade defended pretty well. Obviously they’re taller and more physically mature than Please see Boys Basketball, Page 2B BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he visiting Cougars went on a 40-5 run over the second and third quarters to pull away from the Lady Lions for a 60-33 victory on Friday night. Cascade’s inside-outside combina- tion of Alix Biddington and Halle Wright was too much for Cottage Grove as they combined for 45 points. Cottage Grove (6-5) was actually leading Cas- cade (9-0) midway through the second quarter. At that point in the contest, senior Conner Borigo already had 12 points, and the Lion guards were managing the Cougars’ notorious full-court pres- sure. However, Cascade coach Mark Stevens made several adjustments to free up his star players. “We did exactly what we practiced for, and I thought it went very well in the fi rst half,” said Cottage Grove coach Kerry Clawson. “But Ste- vens made some adjustments against our defen- sive plan: the fi rst was a high-post shade that cre- ated space for Biddington to shoot the 3-pointer.” photo by Matt Hollander Cottage Grove's Chance Hopkins goes up for two of his team-high 13 points against Cascade on Friday night. The Lions lost 66-52. Please see Girls Basketball, Page 2B
