B
S PORTS
Section B
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Roberts to take over as CGHS Athletic Director
By next school year, the Cot-
tage Grove High School ath-
letic community may sense a
big absence. Athletic Director
Dave Presley will be stepping
away from Cottage Grove High
School as his son will be gradu-
ating and heading off to college.
Presley has been the athletic
director of Cottage Grove since
August of 2000.
He started teaching in 1986,
where he lived in the small town
of Ione, a town of only 250 peo-
ple. Presley was the head foot-
ball coach as well as the social
studies teacher, teaching grades
seven to 12. After six years, Pre-
sley moved to John Day in 1992,
where he taught and coached
football for eight years at Grant
Union High School until com-
ing to Cottage Grove. Presley
says that he isn’t so much re-
tiring as much as transitioning
and looking for other options of
employment where he can also
watch his son play baseball.
“I love working with people,
and I’m not ready to stop a regu-
lar work routine yet,” he said.
With the leave of Presley,
Head Football Coach and Dean
of Students Gary Roberts will
be taking his place (and remain-
ing the football coach). Roberts
has been in Cottage Grove since
2007, where he coached football
and taught social studies until
2014. He came from an eight-
year coaching career at Sheldon
High School in Eugene, where
he coached football and wres-
tling.
Roberts was brought on to
coach football to increase the
richness of the football culture
around Cottage Grove.
“I went to Marshfi eld, which
has a very rich athletic culture
around Coos Bay,” he said. “I
was hoping to bring some of
that culture and enthusiasm to
Cottage Grove.”
And that he did. Roberts has
the best winning record of any
Cottage Grove football coach,
sending the Lions to a state fi nal
in 2013.
As the new athletic director,
Roberts hopes to carry over
that culture of football to all the
sports. He recently joined the
Rotary club and plans to give
speeches at the Lions club.
“I also want to promote more
three-sport athletes; it’s really
important for the kids and the
success of our programs that we
don’t have kids who focus pure-
ly on one sport,” he added.
With Roberts behind the
wheel, it will be interesting to
see what adjustments and im-
provements can be made to the
great legacy of Cottage Grove
athletics that Presley has already
helped create.
Buzzer-beater sends Lions to quarterfi nals
Kory Parent didn't lead the team in scoring this time around, but his gameplan-defying layup gave his team the win as time expired
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
It wasn’t easy, but the boys’
basketball team fought off a
relentless Baker squad, win-
ning 71-69 to earn the Lions a
spot in a 4A quarterfi nal match.
It was junior Kory Parent who
once again saved the day with a
buzzer-beating layup that gave
the Lions the win.
It’s been the story of the sea-
son: the Lions have been in at
least fi ve games where they
have come out with the win by
only four points or less. The
team has been able to survive
in high-pressure situations and
shine brightest when the game
is on the line.
“They’ve consistently been
able to pull it out in the end;
they never stop pushing,” Head
Coach Donn Pollard said.
Cottage Grove took an early
and comfortable 9-0 lead in the
fi rst quarter, but it didn’t last
long as Baker came out hot from
beyond the three-point line. The
Bulldogs shot an astonishing
47 percent from the line, but
even the Lions shot a solid 43
percent. These numbers that are
more commonly paired with
the Golden State Warriors and
Stephen Curry rather than high
school games.
Baker's offense proved just
as dominant as Cottage Grove's
as the Lions couldn't quite pull
away. Their lead never extended
seven points in the second half.
Cottage Grove hoped to go
into the half with a 39-35 lead,
but Baker’s Grant Berry pulled
up from nearly halfcourt and
drained a long three pointer as
time expired, shrinking the Li-
ons’ lead to one.
The second half was no differ-
ent: a constant back-and-forth
battle of basket after basket,
Photo by Gary Ordway
After scoring the game-winning shot, Kory Parent was swarmed by his teammates and fellow students in an uproar of celebration.
turnover after turnover kept the
score tight. The Lions extended
their lead to seven at one point,
but Baker wouldn’t be held
down for long.
With time running out, the
Bulldogs attacked the basket
with leadingscorer Logan Sand
and tied the game 69-69 with
less than fi ve seconds left, and
the visiting crowd and bench
jumped into celebration assum-
ing overtime was about to come
next.
However, what would come
next shocked the Bulldogs and
their fans and left a sting that
would permeate the athletic
community for weeks.
With four seconds left, Cot-
tage Grove in-bounded the ball
from their opposing baseline.
Blake Sentman threw a lob to
Parent, who took almost exact-
ly four seconds to sprint from
the half-court line to the hoop
and fi nished with a left-handed
layup as time expired. Parent
was subsequently rushed by his
teammates and tackled to the
fl oor in a riotous celebration.
But the story of the fi nal shot
of the game was more interesting
than a prayer being answered.
Parent actually defi ed Pollard’s
play call. He was supposed to
receive the in-bounded ball and
immediately call a timeout so
the Lions could set up a bet-
ter play, but the lane was open
and the result was to Pollard’s
delight. In fact, Pollard said it
may have been the more favor-
able play.
“You’re not really going to
have anything,” Pollard said
of the original idea of taking a
timeout.
Please see , PLAYOFFS Page 3B
Big turnout at Cottage Grove Half Marathon
Oregonians from all over the state flock to compete in Cottage Grove's longest footrace
Athlete of the Week
Sentman scores 28 to lead Lions to Quarterfi nals
photo by Sam Wright
Dino Goetz approaches the fi nish line, earning fi rst place out of 143 racers.
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A marathon is roughly 26.2
miles (the distance from Ath-
ens to the Battle of Marathon in
490 B.C.), and this year Cottage
Grove began a tradition, initi-
ating the fi rst-annual Cottage
Grove Half Marathon on Sat-
urday. That means rougly 143
people from all over Oregon and
even one from Boise, Id, came to
run 13.1 miles starting at Dorena
School and ending at Trailhead
Park. The event featured run-
ners of all ages between 13 and
73. The youngest was Sabrina
James, a 13 year old from Cot-
tage Grove, and the oldest was
Judy Harold, a 73 year old from
Springfi eld who made some of
us non-participants (especially
this 22 year old sports journal-
ist) feel desperately unhealthy.
Out of the 143 people racing,
the fastest was 28 year old Dino
Goetz from Bend, who fi n-
ished the race in an incredible
1:10:35.22, 12 minutes behind
the world record (0:58:23).
The second place fi nisher
was Thomas Hesselgesser, 24,
of Eugene, who fi nished with
a time of 1:18:13.98 and third
place went to the fi rst female
fi nisher, Camelia Mayfi eld, 23,
with a time of 1:20:13.62.
There were a total of 23 run-
ners representing the local com-
munity of Cottage Grove. Of
those, the top fi nishers from
Cottage Grove included Miriam
Udosenata (fi nishing 11th over-
all) with a time of 1:30:38.21
and the Sentinel’s own Jon
Stinnett (28th overall) fi nish-
ing in 1:41:07.86. Ben Keppler,
36, fi nished in 1:47:01.02 as the
next Cottage Grove racer and it
was Glenda Koyama, 65, who
brought up the rear but showed
outstanding perseverance as the
penultimate walker.
As for the youngest and the
oldest, Sabrina James (13) fi n-
ished in 54th place overall in
a time of 1:53:06.32 and Judy
Harold (73) fi nished 90th over-
all in 2:06:57.55.
With 143 participants, the half
marathon should be considered
a success, but next year, the half
marathon hopes to fi ll its 500
spots for March 11, 2017.
Blake Sentman took control of his team Saturday night.
While it was Kory Parent who hit the buzzer-beater to
win the game, Sentman kept his team from succumbing
to the Bulldogs, hitting four three-point shots.