B
S PORTS
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Parent, Giffen shine
in Lions' rout of
Newport Cubs
CG racks up over 250 yards through the air
and dominate in its opening matchup in a
59-7 dismantling of Newport
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
With Blake Sentman still un-
available for play, Head Coach
Gary Roberts made another
switch at the quarterback posi-
tion, putting senior Kory Parent
behind the center. While Juice
Clafl in gave a strong demon-
stration of his running abilities
at the Jamboree, his passing
game was not yet at the level to
perform strongly at the varsity
level.
Instead, it was Parent who
showed the Lions how it’s done.
The star athlete threw for over
300 yards and fi ve touchdowns
on Friday night in a dominant
59-7 win over the Newport
Cubs.
It was a demolition of the
Cubs’ defense from the begin-
ning. On the fi rst drive, the Li-
ons drove down the fi eld and
scored a touchdown to Eric
Giffen, a sophomore receiver.
On Newport’s following posses-
sion, a fumbled snap resulted in
a Cottage Grove recovery in the
red zone and an ensuing fi eld
goal, giving the Lions’ an early
10-0 lead.
Newport’s next possession
ended in a three-and-out and a
punt. Giffen made another state-
ment, avoiding would-be tack-
lers and taking the Cubs’ special
teams squad from all the way to
the left of the fi eld to the right
in an over-50-yard return for
a touchdown. At 17-0, the on-
slaught was on.
On the next possession for
Cottage Grove, it seemed New-
port found somewhat of an an-
swer to slow down the Lions,
that is, until Parent threw a dart
over the middle to Giffen who
then carried the rock the rest
of the way for a 54-yard touch-
down. At 24-0 midway through
the second quarter, there was no
looking back.
Before the fi rst half ended,
however, Newport was able to
take advantage of a costly Cot-
tage Grove turnover. A Newport
defensive end managed to pick
off Parent’s option pitch (which
counted as an interception be-
cause the pitch was forward)
with nothing but green in front
of him. But Parent’s speed took
Photo by Sam Wright
Erick Giffen (Soph.) sprints to the end zone during a 54-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.
Athlete of the Week
Sophomore Erick Giffen scored two receiv-
ing touchdowns and a punt return for a
touchdown, adding fl air to the Lions' win
Please see , FOOTBALL Page 3B
Volleyball starts off season 3-0 after opening week
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Up against formidable oppo-
nents, the Lions’ volleyball team
has found itself on a three-game
winning streak to start the sea-
son. Last Tuesday marked the
beginning of the season, where
Cottage Grove hosted a double-
header against North Valley and
North Bend high schools.
North Valley suffered the
most in the double-header, los-
ing 3-0 to both Cottage Grove
and North Bend back-to-back.
North Valley attempted to stay
with the Lions during each set,
but many offensive attacks were
severely disrupted by defensive
put-backs or strong counters.
The small but coordinated Ka-
lea Borrelli helped prevent mul-
tiple kills with several digs that
ended in an strong spike by Cot-
tage Grove.
After seeing North Bend
perform very similarly against
North Valley in the preceding
game, it seemed that Cottage
Grove would face a more diffi -
cult North Bend team.
And they did. North Bend
kept the score much closer in
individual sets, but Cottage
Grove’s tenacity prevented the
Bulldogs from taking any sets
and sent them home with a 3-0
loss.
The team’s schedule then
took the Lions to Coos Bay,
where they played Marshfi eld, a
school that was 3-0 going into
the game and went 22-3 and fi n-
ished third in the state last year.
The Lions handed the Pirates a
3-1 loss, Marshfi eld’s fi rst loss
of the season.
A 3-0 start puts the Lions in
a much better position than the
previous year, where they started
1-2 with the only win in the fi rst
three games came over North
Bend. Cottage Grove ended up
going 9-13 overall and fi nished
with an OSAA ranking of 18.
Right now, Cottage Grove fi nds
itself undefeated and ranked
number one in OSAA 4A clas-
sifi cation. To hold onto that po-
sition, Cottage Grove will have
to beat South Umpqua, which
sits at 1-1 (pending results from
Tuesday’s game against Hidden
Valley). The Lions struggled
against South Umpqua last year,
losing in three straight sets.
However, with what has been
done on the court in the fi rst
three games, Cottage Grove will
be taking all of the momentum
into the matchup.
Photo by Sam Wright
The Lions made easy work of North Bend and North Valley, beating each team 3-0.
Boys' soccer opens
season with win
CG XC travels
to Tillamook
to compete in
'Ultimook' run
Lions spark second half comeback over Philomath
BY JIM SETTELMEYER
For the Sentinel
A mud pit and two river crossings
entwined in a classic 3.1 mile running
trail made the fi rst full 5K of the Cross
Country season for the Lions one to re-
member. The times were not fast, but
the struggles were real (though some-
times “enhanced” with the enticement
of the mud pit). Sabrina James (26:16)
and Jimmy Talley (21:00), two fresh-
men, were the fastest Lion fi nishers
this week.
The early season conditioning con-
tinued this past week with the explo-
ration of two “new to the team” hills.
The team spent extended time togeth-
er during the morphed two-day team
camp showing talents such as meal
preparation and bark-moving abilities,
as athletes continued work to rejuve-
nate the Neely fi tness trail and tackled
the challenge of supplying each other’s
meals and snacks.
Next week the Harriers travel to
Tualatin to run in a meet they have
Photo courtesy of Jim Settelmeyer
never participated in. It should be a
Konnor Owens and Lake Fultz splash their way through the fun of the Ultimook
good early indicator of how ready for
mud pit.
a more traditional 5K race.
541-942-7561
It wasn’t looking all that great
for the boys’ soccer team after
its fi rst half of play this season.
The Lions found themselves
down 1-0 at halftime against the
Warriors on the road. But Head
Coach Vern Stewart told his
players not to panic and to trust
each other.
“They’re not completely used
to the new system, so I told
them to calm down and let what
we’ve been practicing work for
us,” Stewart said.
And that’s exactly what they
did.
As the game wore down the
Philomath team, the Lions were
able to form several counter at-
tacks that ended in two second-
half goals to secure the victory
over the Warriors.
“We were in better shape than
Philomath,” Stewart noted. In
the fi rst half, Cottage Grove
wasn’t putting in enough hustle
to get to the ball fi rst, making
possession a concern. But in the
second half, Jesus Chuy “Chew-
ey” Urenda pushed forward with
a goal that tied the game, and
Garrett Woodcock “Woody” put
the Lions ahead with another
goal later in the game.
The new implementation of
the 4-2-3-1 formation allows
the team to be able to take a lot
of pressure from an opponents'
attack and then quickly snap
back for a counter-attack, which
is how Cottage Grove took its
lead.
With the lead intact, Stewart
then tightened up the defense.
“We tightened everything
up and just played defense for
about the last eight minutes,” he
said. Goalie Zachariah Stewart
had 15 saves on the night, some
of which his coached described
as “spectacular.”
The Lions travel to Phoenix
and to North Bend this week.
Stewart was able to scout Phoe-
nix while they visited for their
jamboree (though CG and Phoe-
nix didn’t play each other), and
says they are also vulnerable to
the counter-attack. The Lions
move forward looking to sharp-
en their teamwork and to play
the ball more aggressively.
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