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