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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2015)
B S PORTS Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Wednesday, November 4, 2015 Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lion pride still strong after play-in loss Athlete of the Week Raum represents CG at XC State Finals Photo by Kathy Orr, courtesy of Baker City Herald Senior Michael Tharpe had a game for the highlight reel despite the Lions' losing to Baker City on Saturday. Although the season is over, Cottage Grove football ends with a high note after looking back on this season's accomplishments BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The Lions’ football team traveled over seven hours to compete in their play-in match against the Baker City Bulldogs on Halloween. It was a tough loss for Cottage Grove’s fi nal game of the season, falling 34- 28, but the Lions performed well and ended their season on a high note. “The teams were very evenly matched, but they made a few more plays than we did,” Head Coach Gary Roberts said. The Lions had a season high of 15 penalties against the Bulldogs’ three. It was a tough day for the run- ning game, as the Lions only racked up 99 yards on 35 car- ries, making their average 2.82 yards per run. The standout rusher was Reily Boyce, who carried the ball 11 times for 67 yards and a touchdown. Run- ning back Zane Levings was held to only 20 yards on eight carries and no touchdowns, and Brynden Howell carried the ball only fi ve times for 13 yards. With a stunted run game, the weight fell on the shoulders of quarterback Blake Sentman, who completed 16 of 25 passing attempts for 276 yards and two touchdowns. Sentman also had one interception. The work of the receivers helped Sentman’s passing a lot. He threw to a total of seven dif- ferent receivers, with his favor- ite target of the day being junior Kory Parent, who had six catch- es for 85 yards (although no touchdowns). Howell caught the ball three times for 26 yards and a receiving touchdown, and ex- plosive receiver Michael Tharpe caught the ball only twice but for a whopping 126 yards and a touchdown. Tharpe had an outstanding 84-yard touchdown reception, and then another 42- yard reception later in the game. Tharpe also returned a kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown. Other active receivers were Payton Presley (two catches for 25 yards), Levings (one catch for one yard) and Evan Britton (one catch for 12 yards). In the second quarter, center Jayson Stalder left the game due to a concussion, and the Lions struggled to get the PATs as he was the short and long-snapper. “It took us a few opportuni- ties for our backup to get his form down,” Roberts said. On the defensive side, Rob- erts pointed out the play of the defensive line, and the lineback- ers, Levings, Britton, Howell, and Boyce were all mentioned for their stout play. The loss marked the end of the season, but it was not with- out its high notes. On the season, Sentman com- pleted 135 of 214 passes for a total of 2,010 yards, 13 touch- downs and seven interceptions. Sentman’s completion percent- age of 63 percent is a new school record for a single season, and his 2010 yards is the fi fth most passing yards for a season in school history. Howell entered the top fi ve in career receptions, having 54 total catches this season for 761 yards and eight touchdowns. Parent entered the top 10 for catches in a single season with 36 receptions for a total of 547 yards. Levings led the team in rush- ing yards this season with 577 yards on 90 carries and four touchdowns, but it is Sentman who holds the most rushing touchdowns of this season with 11 touchdowns on 84 carries and a total of 258 yards. Howell’s season rushing statistics saw 65 carries for 463 yards and four touchdowns. In total, the Lions ran the ball a total of 307 times for 1,675 yards and an average of 5.45 yards per carry, which is a very solid average. The receiving corps had not only all the passing yards from Sentman, an extra 42 yards on the season from the occasional throw from Parent brought the Lions total receiving yards to 2,052. The Lions will see the de- parture of a lot of key players including Howell, Tharpe and Boyce as offensive weapons, and linemen Dylan Wooten, Jay- son Stalder, Brad Geisler, Shaun Ferrell and Cody Sapp. But fret not, as the Lions will still see many star players returning. “We have a good crop of ju- niors that we are hopeful can step up and lead us next year,” Roberts said. Sentman will re- turn with Parent and Levings at his side, along with Britton. It was an exciting and en- tertaining season for the Li- ons’ football program, which this year truly exemplifi ed the phrase “Lion Pride.” Photo by Jim Settelmeyer Konrad Raum passes by his teammates on his last mile. CONTRIBUTION BY JIM SETTELMEYER For the Sentinel It has been the Konrad Raum show this past week with high school Cross Country as he, in his freshman season, was the Lion’s only state qualifi er. It happily did not mean that his teammates abandoned him to prepare on his own. All week 10 to 20 of his teammates joined him in his workouts. Konrad awarded those that traveled with him to Lane for his race with a great effort that allowed him to fi nish in 47th out of 111 competitors and ahead of his seeded place (51st). Joining Konrad Saturday were Max Gause, Kevin Manuntag, Carson Violette, Chelsea Armstrong, Hayle Maitia, Keely Galbreath, Kenzie Parsons, Konnor Owens, Mitchell Johnson, Alex Clif- ton, Tya Gordon and Abril Leal-Coronel. The fun atmosphere with all the runners from all the differ- ent size schools provided a great backdrop to prepare, race and then cool down watching the best high school runners in the state running everywhere around. The team will gather for awards Nov. 10 and move on to winter sports and activi- ties that will for some involve discussing training plans for the off-season. Lions get revenge Girls' soccer returns the favor of shutting out Sisters in play-in match BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel After losing 3-0 against Sis- ters in its penultimate regular season game, the girls’ soccer team was forced to share the Sky-Em crown with Sisters. However, this week the Lions played the Outlaws on a neutral fi eld at Sweet Home, which the Lions chose as the result of win- ning a coin toss and the Lions showed Sky Em soccer who the crown truly belonged to. Cottage Grove dominated 4-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in a com- pletely different style of game than the last time they played the Outlaws on Oct. 20. “We can play a lot faster on turf, which is why we chose Sweet Home as a neutral site,” Head Coach Vern Stewart said. “Our passing was just second to none.” Junior Hudson Wey- bright broke out as the star of the night with two goals and was accompanied by top scorers Josie Mootz and Kiana Hemen- way with one goal each. Photo courtesy of Cottage Grove High School Please see SOCCER, Page 2B Photo by Tori Taylor Kiana Hemenway strives to the goal against Elmira. CG populates all-league rosters Lots of Lions were mention in the Sky-Em all league rosters for fall sports BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel With fall sports coming to a close, the Sky-Em League has released the all league results, and Cottage Grove defi nitely holds a presence with 15 fi rst- team all league picks from foot- ball, volleyball and boys and girls soccer, and nine second- team picks. Girls’ soccer holds the most, with fi ve starters on the fi rst team which featured juniors Ki- ana Hemenway, Jasmin Lopez and Hudson Weybright, along with seniors Melissa McCasline and Josie Mootz. The second team featured seniors Brooke Fisher and Melissa Thielman. Honorable mentions include Hale Peterson and Raymi Piltz. Hemenway also captured the MVP award, also given to Mi- chaela Miller of Sisters and Sierra Graton of Junction City. Cottage Grove Head Coach Vern Stewart won coach of the year. In boys’ soccer, the fi rst-team roster listed sophomore Kyle Browning and senior Austin Shipley. Ritchie Villalobos and Zachary Stewart were featured on the second team roster, and the league gave Lucas Ward, Chris Clure, Jadon Snauer, Kai- den Ramsey and Kyle Conley honorable mentions. The volleyball team, which welcomed fi rst-year Head Coach Jason Conway, had se- nior Allyssa Ganchegui as the only Lions player on the fi rst team roster, but Abigail Ladd and Cassidy Herbert were sec- ond team. With so many positions, the football team had seven play- ers total on the fi rst-team roster on both sides of the ball. On the offensive line, Brad Geisler was featured was fi rst-team all- league center, and Seth Morris was picked for second-team of- fensive tackle. Brynden Howell was picked for fi rst team slot receiver, and Kory Parent was unanimously voted for fi rst- team wide receiver. At quarter- back, Blake Sentman received fi rst team starter, and Zane Lev- ings received an honorable men- tion at running back. Please see ALL LEAGUE, Page 3B Stewart voted Sky- Em Coach of the Year During the Sky-Em all league picks, the league’s girls’ soccer coaches came together and voted Cottage Grove’s Head Coach Vern Stewart as this year’s coach of the year. The four-year head coach is the fi rst to bring the girls’ soccer team to the top of the Sky Em League.“I was very humbled,” Stewart said, “it’s great to be rec- ognized; but it’s really our players that do the work and make this team great.” Stewart coached the boys’ soccer team at Cottage Grove from 1995 to 2006 and was then offered a position to start up and coach the women’s soccer team at Northwest Christian University in Eu- gene, where he was able to coach his daughter. After coaching at NCU for three years, Stewart took a two-year break from coach- ing until Krista Parent, who offered him the position of head coach for the Lions girls’ team, approached him. “They said they needed someone to turn around the team, so I thought I’d get back into it and give it a try,” he said. Stewart has since turned around this soccer team and now leads the Lions into the playoffs against Glad- stone. "The seniors have been with me since I started, it's been great watching them grow and do so well this season," he added. Cottage Grove Sentinel
