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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2016)
B S PORTS Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lions show tenacity despite lack of depth Juice Clafl in stepped in for Blake Sentman during Friday's scrimmage and showed off his quick feet with several rushing touchdowns BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel Cottage Grove hosted a jam- boree this past Friday in which three teams played a combined three scrimmages. Each team played 18 plays on offense and 18 plays on defense against the two other teams. The Lions offense looked a bit different when the team came out onto the fi eld for its scrimmages against Phoenix and North Bend. With Blake Sentman unavailable to play, junior Juice Clafl in stepped in behind center. Head Coach Gary Roberts says that given the situation, Clafl in performed adequately at the quarterback position. “Running is defi nitely his strong suit, but he needs to im- prove his passing game a bit to play at the varsity level,” Rob- erts said. While Clafl in and the Lions’ offense didn’t move the ball through the air very well, he defi nitely turned broken-down plays into decent-and at times even great-runs. On the fi rst snap of the scrim- mage against Phoenix, Clafl in ran a read option the whole way into the end zone. On the second snap, however, a fumble in the backfi eld resulted in a Phoenix recovery. Despite some of the snap is- sues, Cottage Grove was mostly able to cut through the Phoenix defense, scoring several more times within the 18 plays. The Lions were just as suc- cessful against Phoenix on the defensive side as they were on offense. After a frustrating jump offsides on a fourth-and-short situation, Cottage Grove still held Phoenix and prevented them from scoring on several drives that had potential to turn into scores. “I think it was a pretty good fi rst impression,” Roberts said of his defense. But the Lions eventually struggled against a more stacked North Bend team. The Bulldogs showed Cot- tage Grove the importance of depth within a team. Within the fi rst nine plays, North Bend al- ready scored twice. Their pass- ing challenged the secondary of Cottage Grove. Athlete of the Week: Juice Claflin Photo by Sam Wright Juice Clafl in bursts into the Phoenix secondary Friday night. The junior second-string quarterback gave an enter- taining display on the ground game as he scored multiple rushing touchdowns. North Bend is a team that has of players and worrying about “There are some issues we downs. On offense, Clafl in appeared nearly 70 players on their team, injuries. have to work on in terms of as- The Lions kick off their sea- signments,” Roberts said. The to struggle a lot more with mov- while Cottage Grove’s roster is Lions made a few stops during ing the ball. Roberts says that he only in the low 20s. While Rob- son with a home-opener this Fri- North Bend’s 18 plays, but the wasn’t “giving his teammates erts is confi dent with his start- day against Newport at 7 p.m. Bulldogs scored several more around him the chance for suc- ers, a lack of depth can hurt due to not being able to rotate a lot times after the fi rst two touch- cess.” Girls have victorious debut, Cross Country kicks off season with Two-Mile Trial The young squad boys fi gure themselves out had its fi rst run of at soccer jamboree the season in Cottage The girls' soccer team routs Astoria in a 6-0 victory and the boys go 1-2 against opponents at their jamboree BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The girls’ soccer team couldn’t have asked for a bet- ter start to their season. In Head Coach Samantha Shine’s debut game against Astoria, the Lions dismantled the Fishermen 6-0 on Saturday. Kia Hemenway, last year’s Sky-Em Player of the Year, racked up a total of four goals, one of which was assisted by freshman keeper Cameron An- derson. Shine says that the team has begun clicking and working as a unit. “They’re really getting in the groove of learning to play as a team,” she said. The game and Jamboree has also allowed Shine to fi gure out who goes where, though she’s still in the process of making decisions. Hemenway is the obvious for- ward, and Shine says Halle Pe- terson is another obvious choice at defender. The Lions host Philomath tonight (Aug. 31) and look for ways to be just as successful against a tougher team. The boys’ team has yet to play its fi rst game (which is also hap- pening tonight in Philomath), but the jamboree on Friday has given Head Coach Vern Stewart a better idea of where to put his players on the fi eld. Cottage Grove played three half-games against Eagle Point, Brookings and Crater, defeating Eagle Point 2-1 and then falling to Crater and Brookings 2-1 and 2-0, respectively. Despite going 1-2, Stewart says that the jam- boree was a successful one. “I was looking to see how fast-paced they were and how well they transitioned,” Stewart said. According to him, the team performed well. Despite watching a sold 60 minutes of his team playing against other varsity competi- tion, Stewart isn’t convinced his lineup is set just yet. “Some kids say they don’t want to play a position and then they really shine at that posi- tion,” Stewart said. Grove. Many mem- bers of the team will experience their fi rst fi ve-kilometer run over the weekend Nearly two hundred runners from 10 schools congregated at Cottage Grove Thursday morn- ing to kick off the 2016 season. Athletes were able to dodge the recent high temperatures by starting at 10 a.m. and utilizing the wonderfully shaded “Spirit Trail” system across from the track for the majority of the race course. The event became a beginning season celebration as the teams lingered over a pot- luck lunch. The racing generated a course record of 10:54 by Jacob Tru- itt from North Eugene in the boys' race in which Cottage Grove’s Konrad Raum placed fi fth. Shayla Solomon of Junc- tion City won the girls' race in 13:41. Sabrina James was Cot- tage Grove’s top women’s fi n- isher in fi fth place. In spite of this being a “train- ing meet”, 16 Lion runners set personal bests for their two mile effort — Erik Cortes (13:50), Jesse Ellingsworth (12:05), Photo courtesy of Jim Settelmeyer Lexie Hall and Jenn Simons tackle the "Spirit Trail" during Thursday's race. Justin Francis (14:23), Lake Talley (12:18), Paesen Timm stacle race event named “The Fultz (15:51), Mitchell Johnson (11:43), Tatiana Baird (20:39), Ultimook”. This will be the fi rst (16:29), Matteo Liserre (14:38), Sabrina James (14:38) and Jenn 5000 meter high school run for many of the young runners on Adam Marsh (15:38), Konnor Simons (19:29). The Lion Harriers travel to this year’s team. Owens (14:08), Konrad Raum (11:38), Braedon Rinck (17:57), Tillamook this Friday and Sat- Cody Smelser (15:05), Jimmy urday for the early season ob- Winebarger and Keefer collect CGS Fast Friday wins The Cottage Grove Speedway returned this past weekend after taking a break during the W.O.E Heritage Fair BY BEN DEATHERAGE For the Sentinel Friday, Aug. 26 was a full house at Cottage Grove Speed- way. The quarter-mile clay oval hosted the fi nal Fast Friday of 2016 and all the fans were in for a special treat. Everyone through the front gate got in for FREE. Only two classes were in action during the night. They were the IMCA Modifi eds and Open Comp 4-Cylinders. Jasper’s Eric Ashley was quick out of the box in the IMCA Modifi ed main event. Ashley paced the fi eld until around lap 16 when he would be passed for the lead. The driver to make it around him was Col- len Winebarger, from Corbett. Winebarger led the rest of the way in the caution-plagued af- fair to score his fi fth win of 2016 at CGS. Eric Ashley was a respectable second, followed by Keizer’s John Campos in third. Craig Hanson, of Albany, was fourth while fi nishing fi fth was Jeff Lovell, out of Oregon City. Kenny Keefer was the domi- nant driver in the Open Comp 4- Cylinder ranks. Keefer, who is from Prineville, was able to take care of business and control the coveted position for much of the main. Keefer would pick up his fi rst win of the year at Cottage Grove. Junction City native Marcel Forte was second with Red- mond’s Chad Christensen be- hind him in third. K.C. Scott, of Springfi eld, managed to end the night fourth while Bernie Bryant, of Sutherlin, completed the top fi ve. 541-942-7561 Photo courtesy of Dirt Monkey Productions Mike Winebarger took home a win in the IMCA Modifi ed main event on Friday. SAVE THE DATE September 16th & 17th MONSTER TRUCKS www.cottagegrovespeedway.com Freestyle Motorcycle Jumpers
