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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2015)
B S PORTS Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Wednesday, December 30, 2015 Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com 2015: T HE YEAR IN SPORTS 2015 marks a year of upward mobility for Cottage Grove sports A list of the best stories in Cottage Grove sports for 2015 1. Girls’ Soc- cer wins Sky Em League The 2015 girls’ soccer team was a great one. The team won the Sky Em League for the fi rst time in CGHS history but had to share the win with Sisters, although shortly after it was an- nounced, the Lions beat Sisters 3-0 after losing to them a few weeks earlier. Cottage Grove boasted fi ve out of the 11 fi rst- team all-league players, and ju- nior Kiana Hemenway was vot- ed player of the year and put on fi rst-team all-state. The Lions ended their season with a loss in their fi rst playoff match against Gladstone. 2.Stewart wins Coach of the Year The 2015 girls' soccer team was quintessential in Cottage Grove's trend of athletic improvement. 1995 to 2006 and was then of- tion of head coach for the Lions the semifi nals and consola- ent and Sentman traded off at fered a position to start up and girls’ team, approached him. It tion fi nals. At 152 pounds, his the quarterback position, but Girls’ soccer Head Coach coach the women’s soccer team was a special season for Stewart brother Alan placed sixth. The the job was eventually given to Vern Stewart was awarded at Northwest Christian Univer- as he started coaching when the Lions placed 12th overall at the Sentman, as Parent proved to be the Sky Em Coach of the Year sity in Eugene, where he was seniors fi rst starting playing as state tournament, just two spots extremely useful elsewhere on award. It was Stewart’s fourth able to coach his daughter. After freshman and they fi nally were away from their goal of making the fi eld. year has the head coach and has coaching at NCU for three years, able to win the league. There were many triumphs the top 10. This year, with a few helped turn the program around. Stewart took a two-year break state champions gone to gradu- over the course of this season. Stewart coached the boys’ soc- from coaching until Krista Par- ation, Andrew Bordeaux is eye- The victory against Junction cer team at Cottage Grove from ent, who offered him the posi- City was one to remember dur- ing a state title in 2016. ing CGHS's homecoming cel- ebration. There was also the The Oregon Ducks got a bid blowout at Elmira, where the in the fi rst ever College Football Lions won 55-28, and that was Playoff, where they ran over The bowling team saw an with Head Coach Gary Rob- Florida State 59-20 in the Rose Bowl on the fi rst day of the year. outstanding season by fi nish- erts taking his foot off of the It was an historic moment for ing fi rst out of 14 all-star teams. gas pedal. The Lions will have Oregon football, as they moved The team was led by freshman a lot of returning talent in 2016, on to the national championship (at the time) Kim Smith who and it will be interesting to see game in Arlington on Jan. 12. consistently bowled in the 190s. how some of the current juniors But the Ducks were beaten by a Smith placed fourth at districts will step up as seniors and also much more forceful Ohio State to qualify for state, where she see some of the younger play- ers begin to be put into Roberts' team, 42-20. In the champion- helped her team win it all. system. ship, Oregon was held to a total of 132 rushing yards compared to Ohio State's 296. The Buck- eyes managed to dominate even with their third-string quarter- After a rough 2-7 season in Girls’ basketball had a great back Cardale Jones (who racked 2014, the Cottage Grove Lions up 1460 pass yards this season). improved their record this year, 2014-2015 season but lost their Entering the New Year, Oregon going 4-5, losing to Baker in play-in match against Junction will face TCU in the Alamo their play-in match. The team City in an overtime heartbreak- Bowl on Jan. 2. lost key seniors in Daniel Rome- er. Trailing by two with 14 sec- ro and Johnny Conrad, and also lost their starting center, Austin onds to play, Cottage Grove Gordon, who transferred from inbounded from its own base- Cottage Grove. The team saw line and pushed the ball past juniors Kory Parent and Blake midcourt, only to have it stolen Sentman step up to assist se- away by Junction City. But Tay- Andrew Bordeaux was ex- niors Brynden Howell, Michael lor Sayles somehow forced a tremely close to winning state Tharpe and Reily Boyce in their Tiger turnover, dribbled the ball early in the year, placing fourth offensive production. At the to just outside of the 3-point line overall at 160 pounds and los- beginning of the season, Par- and launched a would-be game ing to two state champions in winner that rattled off the rim Andrew Bordeaux will look for a state championship in Please see STORIES OF THE YEAR, 2016 after coming very close this past year. Page 2B 3. Ducks fall in Natty 5.Bowling team to state 6. Football rebuilds Athlete of the Week Hopkins rebounds all night long 7. Bball ends in heartbreaker 4. Bordeaux brothers at the state fi nals Chance Hopkins domi- nated the boards on rebounds with 10 on the night. The senior also scored nine points. Blanchet sneaks away in fourth quarter Penalties prove costly in Lions' second loss BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The basketball team traveled to Salem on Tuesday, Dec. 22 to face the Blanchet Catholic High School Cavaliers, where the boys lost a close game 56-50. On the bright side, it’s only the second loss of the season. The biggest differentiator in the game was free throws. The Lions outscored Blanchet on fi eld goals with 20 out of 44 shots made (45 percent) com- pared to 16 of 37 shots made (43 percent) by Blanchet, but the Cavaliers shot 29 free throws (making 19, a 65 percent rate) and Cottage Grove only shot eight (shooting 100 percent from the line). Even though the Lions were more accurate in scoring during play and during free throws, penalties (or per- haps the offi ciating) proved to be costly. Cottage Grove also out-rebounded the Cavaliers 25-22, but that wasn’t enough to stop 19 (potentially 29) free points. The Lions had the lead 20-19 going into the second half, and maintained a 41-39 lead going into the fourth quarter, but were outscored in the fi nal minutes 17-9. Junior Kory Parent led the Lions in scoring with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. Blake Sentman was behind parent with 11 points, four re- bounds, two assists and one steal. A particularly outstanding performance came from Chance Hopkins. The senior had seven points but totaled 10 rebounds (three offensive, seven defen- sive), the most out of anyone on either side of the court. Other scorers were Jayden Tucker who racked up nine points, two rebounds and a steal, while Hunter Gipson was held to four points, but had two steals on the game. Tucker Porter had two points with one block and one assist. The Lions moved to 4-2 on the season, which isn’t a bad start considering the their 5-19 season last year. Cottage Grove hosts a holiday tournament this week, where the Lions are hopeful to get another shot at Blanchet. They will then face Santiam Christian on Jan. 2, and kick off league play against Elmira on Jan. 15. Photo courtesy of Krista Parent Kory Parent looks to pass in the Lions' game against Blanchet Catholic.
