B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions showcase versatile offense, explosive defense
In their annual
jamboree, the Lions
offense moved the
ball effectively both
on the ground and
through the air. The
defense brought a lot
of explosiveness to
the line of scrimmage
and rattled opposing
quarterbacks
Athlete of
the Week
Michael Tharpe
takes control of
Lion's offense during
jamboree
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
I
t’s that time of year. The air
is getting cooler, the leaves
are changing color, and the
lights are lit up again on Friday
nights. Fall football is back. The
Lions geared up on Friday, to
host Sutherlin and Phoenix for
their annual jamboree. Follow-
ing a not-so-successful season
last year, the Lions are look-
ing sharper, stronger, faster and
more disciplined.
The scrimmages brought
quite a crowd on Friday and the
school spirit was high as stu-
dents, parents and community
members waited to see the Li-
ons preview their skills against
other schools.
The varsity teams took one
half of the fi eld while the junior
varsity teams scrimmaged on
the other half.
Senior
Michael
Tharpe
stepped up to showcase his ath-
leticism at wide receiver with a
scrappy TD reception off of a
short pass from junior quarter-
back Blake Sentman. Through-
out the touchdown drive, Thar-
pe battled Phoenix’s cornerback
tirelessly. At one point, Sent-
man let loose a beautiful deep
pass towards the front right
pylon to Tharpe but was impres-
Photo by SamWright
Senior Wide Receiver Michael Tharpe leaps for a deep pass. He would score within the next few plays.
sively contested by the Phoenix
cornerback, and the two athletes
fought for a jump ball which
resulted in an incomplete pass.
However, it was a play that dis-
played both accuracy in the arm
of Sentman and the athleticism
of Tharpe.
On the other side of the ball,
the Lions found themselves
blowing up plays, causing three
fumbles in a row, but fortunately
for Phoenix, none were recov-
ered by the Lions’ defense.
“Find the ball!” Head Coach
Gary Roberts yelled across the
fi eld to his players. It was an
impressive show of defensive
capability. The defensive line
found penetration on almost
every play. The Lions blew up
Phoenix’s fi rst set of downs,
but the Pirates eventually found
some footing. After a facemask
call on third down, the Lions
gave up several running plays,
and eventually Pirates quarter-
back Dylan Knudson found his
receiver wide-open, who wres-
tled Sentman (who plays as a
defensive back on defense) into
the end zone.
Athletic Director Dave Pre-
sley says that the team is look-
ing well rounded and that coach
Roberts seems to be working
the players hard.
The Lions will travel south-
west to Coos Bay on Friday,
Sept. 4 to battle Marshfi eld
High School. The Lions look
to kick off their season with a
strong presentation on the coast,
and will return to Lane County
to play California school Del
Norte at Autzen Stadium on Sat-
urday, Sept. 12.
The Lions did a great
job at spreading the ball
around at Friday night's
jamboree. Head Coach
Gary Roberts showed
versatility in the Lions
offense, but no one stood
out more than Michael
Tharpe. Tharpe caught
several key passes includ-
ing a short pass towards
the right side of the end
zone for a touchdown.
Tharpe cradled the bullet
pass from Blake Sentman,
which managed to barely
slip through his arms, but
he managed to use his
legs to maintain control
of the ball as he fell to the
ground.
Curtis Towns wins 2015 Logger’s Cup; Braaten,
G. Thomas and Sine also get CGS victories
Cottage Grove
local Curtis Towns
won the main event
as the Logger's
Cup returns to the
Speedway for the
fi rst time since the
early 1990s
Superb
turnout for
XC's Two
Mile Trial
BY BEN DEATHERAGE
For the Sentinel
Cottage Grove Speedway
would bring back a Stock Car
tradition of the 1980s and early
90s, the Logger’s Cup. Al-
though the defunct Super Stocks
were the headliner decades ago,
their descendants, the Late
Models, would take over the
spotlight with the $1,500-to-win
main event. In addition to the
Late Models racing, so were the
IMCA Sport Mods, Northwest
Focus Midget Series and Street
Stocks.
The 40-lap Late Model feature
would begin with Bricen James
of Albany getting out front to the
early race lead. James would be
in the position until lap seven.
The driver to take over the posi-
tion was Cottage Grove’s Curtis
Towns.
Towns would lose the lead
on lap 21 to Justin Duty from
Molalla. Duty would begin to
Over 250 compete at
CGHS'
friendly meet
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
Photo courtesy of Dirty Monkey Productions
Curtis Towns does his town proud by taking fi rst place in the Logger's Cup and taking home the $1,500 prize.
check out but in the closing laps
Towns would begin to reel him
in. On lap 34, Towns would re-
possess the lead and capture the
victory. It was the eighth time
he has won for car owner Paul
Culp.
The IMCA Sport Mods would
have a great car count for the
night with 10 entries in the pits.
It may have taken him nine laps
but Jordan Braaten of Central
Point would remain the leader
the rest of the way despite a few
cautions before the checkered
fl ag. It was Braaten’s second
win this year.
The Northwest Focus Midget
Series were on hand for their
only cars appearance at Cottage
Grove Speedway in 2015. Once
the green fl ag dropped it would
be a dominating effort by Mc-
Cleary, Washington’s Garrett
Thomas. Thomas would lead
every lap.
Finally it was Chris Sine
showing his muscle in the Street
Stocks yet again. Sine, from Eu-
gene, was fast all race and even
though he would be smoking
quite a bit he managed to keep
all challengers back after com-
pletely securing the lead on lap
nine. It would be the eighth win
for the Murphy Plywood/Quan-
tum Mechanics/Pure Romance
By April #24 Camaro entry.
ottage
Grove
High
School hosted its fi rst
event of the season Thursday
with the friendly “Two Mile
Trial” meet. Over 250 runners
found themselves on the trail.
The race featured teams from
Roseburg, North Eugene, East
Linn Christian, Junction City,
Sutherlin, Crow, Pleasant Hill
and Creswell. The race also fea-
tured “open” runners from the
community, visiting coaches,
and even spectators gave the tri-
al a try. The race featured eight
Lion boys and 19 Lion girls.
Please see , Cross Country Page 2B
Join us
September 5th for
KIDS NIGHT- KART EXHIBITION (NO POINTS)
Clark Printing Extreme Sprints, IMCA SportMods, Pee Wee,
5HP Intermediate, 125cc, 250cc, Open Kage, Micros
September 6th for
MIKE LYONS MEMORIAL KING OF THE WEST KART RACE
Pee Wee, 5HP Intermediate, 125cc, 250cc, Open Kage, Micros