B
S PORTS
Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Boys' soccer gears up for new season with new coach
Vern Stewart will look for players to plug into his formations as the
girls' Coach of the Year leads a new team
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Under its new leadership of
Vern Stewart, the boys’ soccer
team is set to dive into the fall
season. The team doesn’t usu-
ally meet during the summer,
however Stewart said they have
done a little bit of practice and
are about to begin regularly
scheduled practices this week.
Stewart is focused on bring-
ing the same game plan to the
boys team as he had with the
girls. The plan is to run a fast-
paced game and use short and
quick passes to move the ball
effi ciently.
“I don’t want to play this ‘long
ball’ slow style of play,” Stew-
art said. The plan worked well
with the girls’ team last year as
the Stewart’s team won the Sky-
Em and he received coach of the
year. But with a new group of
kids that are relatively new to
him, Stewart will have to get to
know his players and how they
play in order to sort out a proper
formation.
The head coach plans to im-
plement a 4-2-3-1 formation,
which is commonly used in
prominent European leagues.
The formation utilizes four de-
fenders with two defensive mid-
fi elders and then one forward
with three attacking midfi eld-
ers. The formation can cover a
lot of ground defensively and
also gives the team the ability
to “spring” back after absorb-
ing pressure. Stewart will have
to understand which players
will fi t best in each position in
order for the formation to be ef-
fective.
The team lost a total of nine
seniors and now only totals
four. But there is talent to be
found among this younger
team. Stewart speaks highly of
Kyle Browning, who will be en-
tering his junior year alongside
Kyle Conley, who showed great
speed and aggressive tendencies
when attacking the goal. Zach
Stewart, the coach’s grandson,
will also be returning this year,
and if there’s anything to be said
about the Stewarts, it’s that they
are a soccer family.
Last year, the Lions fi nished
third in the Sky-Em League
after going 5-5 in league play.
Overall, the team fi nished 10-
7 with 43 goals on the season
and allowing 23. With the new
coach behind the wheel, perhaps
the Lions will have a chance at
challenging Sisters, the reigning
Sky-Em champs who went 16-
0-1 last season.
Photo by Sam Wright
Lucas Ward and Kaiden Ramsey are two star players that Stewart will need to fi nd
replacements for.
Like father, like
daughter
Athletes of the Week:
Brad's Big Time wins SVA's SCORES league
Samantha Shine, daughter of Vern Stewart,
to coach girls' soccer
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Photo courtesy of Jim Settelmeyer
Last Wednesday, the championship game took place for South Valley Athletic's SCORES league. Brad's Big Time
team took down the Dragons 1-0. The players on the team are: Craig Degarlais, McKenzie Stepper, Eva Murtaugh,
Tim Cook, Daniel Fergason, Teagan Settelmeyer, Jereme DeGarlais, Miakah Nix, Sam Settelmeyer, Cheryl Frieze,
Elizabeth Nordella, Colton Groat and Christopher Stober. The coaches are: Hannah Chappell and Brad Mabie.
Miller, Winebarger, Luckman, Braaten and
Corley achieve CGS Historical Night wins
Class of 2016 Hall of Fame also inducted
BY BEN DEATHERAGE
For the Sentinel
Cottage Grove Speedway
hosted the 2016 edition of His-
torical Night presented by Curt
and Denny Deatherage. In ad-
dition to putting on a massive
display of racing memorabilia,
the class of 2016 was offi cially
inducted into the Wall of Fame.
Classes in action were the 360
Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, Late
Models, IMCA Sport Mods and
the Quality RV Repair Hornets.
Kyle Miller set the pace early
in the 360 Sprint main event.
But on the second lap, Miller,
living in Eugene, got sideways
in turns three and four, nearly
getting upside down trying to
correct his course. He would
keep going without bringing out
a yellow but at the expense of
losing the lead.
The driver to pick up the top
spot and run away with it was
Garen Linder. The Central
Point driver set a rapid pace and
started to pull away from the
rest of the fi eld. However, a late
race caution managed to bunch
the fi eld all up. On the ensuing
restart, Kyle Miller was able to
recapture the lead out of the sec-
ond turn.
Early on in the summer, Cottage Grove High School’s athletics
made a change in the soccer program. With the departure of boys’
head coach Brian Fish, Vern Stewart made the transition to the boys’
team and Dylan Ferguson was to take over the girls. Athletic direc-
tor Gary Roberts and Stewart were both confi dent in Ferguson’s
abilities, as he is a well-liked fi gure among the players and helped
with workouts over the summer.
However, Ferguson recently ran into some unexpected health is-
sues and was unable to continue as the head coach for the girls’
program. That’s when Samantha Shine stepped in and applied to fi ll
the position. Shine is the daughter of Stewart, who recently moved
from Woodstock, Ga., just outside of Atlanta. With her husband cur-
rently busy in the Marine Corps, Shine came to visit her family in
Cottage Grove to discover that a coaching position was available.
A 2003 Cottage Grove alumnus, Shine is familiar with the soc-
cer program and community surrounding CGHS. She was also one
of Stewart’s fi rst recruits when he coached at Northwest Christian
University in Eugene.
The head coach has had experience volunteering as a coach for
various clubs around Georgia and also volunteered as a coach for
South Valley Athletics during her time in Cottage Grove. But this is
her fi rst time as a hired-on coach.
“After an interview with Gary Roberts, I was informed I got the
position, and I’m just really glad for the opportunity,” she said.
However, this is not a permanent change in the soccer program.
“I’ll be done at the end of this season to go back to Georgia,”
Shine stated. She has not moved from Georgia and is only staying
in Cottage Grove temporarily to visit her family.
Although the town and school are familiar, the players on the
team may not be. Much like for her father this year, Shine needs a
few practices to get to know the players so she knows where to put
them. But she says that she approaches the game similarly to her
father.
“There will be a lot of similarities, especially in terms of how we
both see the game, but there will be some differences too as we’re
two different people,” she said. Shine will have an opportunity to
put her own twist on the team, but fans should expect to see a simi-
lar approach.
With all the success the team had last year, it wouldn’t hurt the
team to keep things relatively similar. The Lions lost a handful of
talented seniors including Melissa Thielman, Delia Nichols-Fergu-
son, Melissa McCasline, Jasmin Lopez and Josie Mootz. However,
Stewart left his daughter in good hands with returning seniors such
as Kiana Hemenway, who was the Sky-Em Player of the Year and
was the Lions’ leading scorer last year. Hemenway will also receive
help from outstanding athletes Hudson Weybright and Hannah Al-
brecht.
Like her father, Shine will begin to get an idea of her game plan
with a few practices happening this week.
Meet the Lions night
this Friday
Courtesy photo
Josh Corley poses with his friends, family and trophy after earning his victory.
As Miller started to approach
some lapped traffi c, a fi nal yel-
low fl ag came out on lap 25.
When the fi eld got back to rac-
ing, Miller maintained the lead
and secured the victory. It was
his second 360 Sprint win of the
season.
Albany’s Bricen James (driv-
ing for Tim Galloway) fi nished
in second, while Garen Linder
ended the night in third. An-
derson, California’s Chelsea
Blevins fi nished in fourth, fol-
lowed by Jake Helsel of Mon-
roe, Washington.
This Friday, the fall sports teams will gather at Cottage Grove
High School for the annual “Meet the Lions” night. The evening
will see all sports be introduced, followed by a light scrimmage of
the varsity and junior varsity squads.
There have been some major changes in the athletics department
for this fall. Aside from the coaching changes in the soccer program
mentioned above, the football team welcomes the father-son duo of
Jordan and Marty Johnson to the coaching staff under head coach
Gary Roberts.
Tyson Pilling remains as the head coach for both boys’ and girls’
water polo, and Jason Corwin will return for a second year as the
head volleyball coach.
With the recent changes, Cottage Grove athletics could see an-
other fall season of upward mobility. Though many seniors have
departed, there is plenty of young talent to replace those that left.
Please see SPEEDWAY, Page 2B
No races this weekend.
See you next weekend
enjoy the fair!