B
S PORTS
Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
F ALL S PORTS P REVIEW
A look at the upcoming Lions' football schedule
With the jamboree this week, take a look at what to expect from each game in Cottage Grove's regular season
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The Lions’ football team will
kick off its season this Friday
at its Jamboree against North
Bend and Phoenix. The Lions
are coming off of an average
season last year (4-5, 3-2 Sky-
Em) but have now stacked their
coaching staff with Marty and
Jordan Johnson.
It will be easier to assess how
the Lions will do this season af-
ter watching their scrimmages
against North Bend and Phoe-
nix, but we can still analyze the
team and its opponents and how
the match-ups might play out.
Game 1: Newport (1-7)
Newport fi nished fi fth in the
Oregon West League with their
only win coming from Yamhill-
Carlton, which fi nished sixth
in their league. The Cubs said
goodbye to seven seniors but
will have 11 in the class of 2017
to come back and reassert them-
selves on the fi eld. Newport has
recently struggled in 4A compe-
tition and the Lions should be
able to start their regular season
with a win.
Game 2: Madras (0-8)
Finishing last in the Tri-Val-
ley League was Madras High
School. The White Buffaloes
went without a win for the en-
tire 2015 season in a league
whose strongest team fi nished
10th overall in the state. Madras
returns in 2016 with a smaller
senior roster after losing 11
seniors last year and return-
ing with only eight. Last year,
the Buffs opened their season
against Junction City where
they lost 47-0. Though Cottage
Grove will be on the road in the
game, the Lions should be able
to tackle Madras with ease.
Game 3: Scappoose (10-2)
This game has the potential to
set the tone for the entire season.
The Scappoose Indians were
one of the top 4A teams in the
state last year after going unde-
feated in league play and losing
only to Cascade in their open-
ing game and the state cham-
pionship game. Scappoose is a
strong football program and has
even produced NFL quarterback
Derek Anderson, who is cur-
rently backing up Cam Newton
on the Carolina Panthers. How-
ever, Scappoose saw the depar-
ture of 21 seniors, more than any
opponent the Lions will play, and
they will be bringing back 10. The
season after Cottage Grove went
to the state championship game,
the team started off 1-4 on the
season and didn’t have much suc-
cess after. With the departure of so
many key players, it will take the
Indians at year to re-establish their
dominance. If all goes as predicted,
Cottage Grove will enter the game
2-0 with a lot of momentum and
energy and ignite the passion that
the team sometimes struggled to
Please see FOOTBALL, Page 2B
Photo by Sam Wright
The Lions had a lot of success on offense against Elmira. Fans should expect to see
more of that explosiveness this year.
Athlete of the Week: Bexten returns to Lumberjack Show
World champion stops by the Gene Campbell Memorial Lumberjack Show at the W.O.E Fair
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The Western Oregon Exposition Heritage Fair is al-
ways accompanied by the annual Lumberjack Show
that takes place Friday evening and Saturday after-
noon. Friday’s show featured big log bucking, wom-
en’s stock saw, open axe throw, youth axe throw, open
double buck, modifi ed saws and the hot saw events.
Though the show is small in comparison to many
national competitions, the Gene Campbell Memorial
show is full of ripe competition that fi lls the fair’s
bleachers each year.
The show was honored with the presence of one
specifi c competitor that is known nationally in the
lumberjack community. T.J. Bexten returned for an-
other weekend of competitive woodcutting. Before
coming to Cottage Grove, Bexten was in Wisconsin
for a competition, and soon after he will head back
across the country to West Virginia to compete again.
It is because of Bexten’s personal relationship with
event coordinator Kevin Dunnavin that Bexten com-
petes in Cottage Grove, but it is by no means a chore
for him.
“It’s a really great atmosphere with a lot of great
people; it’s always a lot of fun,” he said. While of-
fi cial results are currently pending, Bexten walked
away with winning the pro stock saw and modifi ed
saw events.
Bexten has been competing in lumberjack events
since the mid 90s and hopes to continue his career for
a while longer.
“It’s a dying sport, but it takes a lot of work and
practice to be good at it,” Bexten added. For someone
who competes regularly, Bexten says that these types
of athletes have to consistently work and train to suc-
cessfully compete.
“It depends how often you compete, but for some-
one like me, I usually work on it most days.”
The results will be available in next week’s edition
with even some local Grovers making great times and
throwing accurately.
T.J. Bexten makes a clean cut in the modifi ed hot saw event.
Meet the Lions night
cancelled due to heat wave
Good form!
Kellen Bridgens
(right) works on his
swing form as as-
sistant coach Rick
Bengston watcheson
at South Valley Ath-
letic's annual tennis
camp. The camp took
place from Monday
through Friday last
week as kids of all
ages worked on their
tennis skills. Tennis
instructor Bob Reed
spearheads the camp
each year. This year,
the camp was booked
to capacity with plen-
ty of kids (25) looking
to increase their skills
on the court.
Photo by Sam Wright
Fall teams enter season without annual scrimmages
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
photo by Jon Stinnett
541-942-7561
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S
U
JOIN
Due to blistering temperatures surpassing 100 degrees on Friday, the Meet
the Lions Night at Cottage Grove High School was cancelled. Usually to enter
the fall season and kick off the school year, all of the fall sports teams gather to
play scrimmages, but this time, coaches, administrators and parents all agreed
that it was safer to not host the event with such high temperatures.
“It was a collective call between myself, the school district and (CGHS prin-
cipal) Udosenata,” Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Gary Roberts
said. Roberts went around to each coach to inform them of the hot conditions
Friday would bring and each coach agreed it was best to cancel for the safety
of the athletes.
Instead, teams gathered early Friday morning to take team photos and host
practices while the weather was cooler.
A major concern was that the turf fi eld at Cottage Grove High School ampli-
fi es the heat.
“The OSAA heat index doesn’t take into account how much hotter the turf
makes it,” Roberts said. He noted that as the temperature climbed to a height of
104 degrees, players on the turf fi eld would have been practicing in what felt
like 120-degree heat.
With jamborees approaching this week, there wasn’t much of a concern to
make up the cancelled event, though it was up to individual teams to decide if
they wanted to host a scrimmage of their own.
Aug. 26th for FAST Friday
FREE General Admission
IMCA Modifi eds, OPEN COMP HORNETS
Aug. 27th for CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT 1
www.cottagegrovespeedway.com
Clark Printing Extreme Sprints, IMCA Modifi eds, IMCA SportMods,
Street Stocks, OPEN COMP HORNETS