B
S PORTS
Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Water
polo
starts off
hot
Boys' soccer
bounces back
After two losses in a row, Cottage Grove
corrects itself against Marshfi eld and avoids
a loss to Elmira
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The week before last was not
the smoothest for Vern Stewart
and the Cottage Grove boys’
soccer team. The Lions faced
a lot of trouble on the road and
lost 6-0 twice in a row against
Phoenix and North Bend. But
the story was that they were
not deterred and the team stood
confi dently behind its seasoned
coach.
Cottage
Grove
avenged
its losses by blazing through
Marshfi eld in a 7-1 rout and then
played one of its most physical
games of the season against
Elmira.
Garrett Woodcock, Kyle
Browning, Kyle Conley and Je-
sus Urenda all found the back of
the net last Tuesday as they led
their team to its biggest victory
margin of the season.
But the true test and game of
the week came on Thursday,
when the Elmira Falcons came
to Cottage Grove.
“Elmira is a lot better than
they have been in previous
years,” Stewart said. The game
was at a deadlock during the
fi rst half. Neither team was able
to score as the game kept getting
more and more physical.
“The refs really let both sides
get away with a lot,” Stewart
added.
In the second half, the Lions
showed life when Woodcock
scored off of a corner kick, giv-
ing Cottage Grove the lead.
But with under fi ve minutes
left to play, a worn-down Cot-
tage Grove defense allowed the
Falcons to sneak a goal in and
tie the game.
“We should’ve cleared the ball
a lot earlier,” Stewart said of the
last goal. The sheer physicality
of the game had exhausted both
sides.
“I told them that we really
only played 75 of those 80 min-
utes,” he added. In the last fi ve
minutes, Cottage Grove just
Girls rout Medford
and Churchill, boys
grab two wins and a tie
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Photo by Sam Wright
Garrett Woodock (left) attempts to head the ball to Jesus Urenda during Thursday's
match against Elmira.
seemed to break down, but so we moved the ball across the added that in preparation for the
did Elmira. The Falcons were middle really well,” he said. Cot- game, he has been telling the
just a little more desperate for tage Grove now faces Sutherlin players “we cannot play down
and Junction City this week, to the level of whoever we play,”
a goal.
Though they tied, Stewart and Stewart wants to make sure and that the team needs more
outside shots to happen.
says the team played a lot better his team is in shape.
“I ran them quite a bit on Fri-
against Elmira than they did in
day, which I don’t usually do
their win over Marshfi eld.
“Our passing was great and right after a game,” he said. He
Getting up
Athlete of the Week
An emerging leader in Urenda
Jesus Chuy Urenda, or "Chewie" as he's known by his
teammates, is one of the soccer team's leading scor-
ers. In a tough and exhausting battle against Elmira on
Thursday, Urenda displayed a level-headed attitude with
intense energy. The senior consistently communicates
with his team, emerging as a team leader at the right-
forward position.
The Cottage Grove water
polo program has had a hot start
to the season. The boys started
off with a game last Tuesday
against Willamette, where the
Lions came away with a domi-
nating 15-2 victory.
On Saturday, Cottage Grove
hosted Medford and Churchill/
Springfi eld, where the Lions
(especially the girls’ team) truly
showed their dominance in the
water.
The boys crushed Medford
12-0, but even that performance
was overshadowed by a 23-5
victory over Medford by the
girls’ team. The girls then shut
down Churchill/Springfi eld 10-
2, while the boys were stuck in
an 8-8 deadlock.
The girls’ water polo team
was strong last year, but this
year it seems they’ve reached a
new height. Head Coach Tyson
Pilling says it’s because of the
strong senior group.
“A lot of these girls have been
playing together for four years
now,” Pilling said. The team
features six seniors out of the
nine players on the roster.
Seniors Tori Raade, Clover
Rudicel and Emma Meyers hold
leadership positions that have
directed the Lions to their cur-
rent success.
“They have really great lead-
ership qualities, but they’re also
just really strong swimmers,”
Pilling said.
While the girls’ dominance
was already in the making dur-
ing previous years, it’s not so
much the case with the boys’
team. The boys sit at a 2-0-1
record, a much better start than
last year.
Pilling says the success can
be attributed to the boys playing
more as a team.
“They weren’t quite clicking
last year as well as they are this
year,” Pilling said.
Seth Chambers leads his time
alongside freshman Jeremiah
West, who has emerged as a
team leader himself. The addi-
tion is a welcome one, as the
Lions have only seven players
on the team’s roster. This means
that the Cottage Grove boys’
team has a distinct disadvantage
with the inability to substitute
and rest its players. However,
that doesn’t appear to slow them
down.
Both teams host Ashland this
Friday.
Photo by Billie-Jo Miller
Fourteen year old Nathan Boxberger grabs some air at the local skate park. Cottage
Grove hosted its fi rst ever bike competition over the weekend. A variety of kids came
out to the skate park to compete in a casual competition with multiple events. Local
resident Jason Enarson organized the competition for the local youth.
Cottage Grove holds off
Scappoose to stay undefeated
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
As predicted, the Lions have
started the season off with three
wins in a row, carrying a world
of momentum into upcoming
Sky-Em competitions. The most
recent contest was not as easy as
the fi rst two games.
Scappoose, a team that made
it to the 4A state championship
last year, came to Cottage Grove
on Friday night to disrupt the
strong start of the Lions’ season,
and they almost did it, too.
The Indians put together a
strong opening drive that result-
ed in a touchdown but missed
the extra point.
Cottage Grove was able to
bounce back with Blake Sent-
man throwing to a wide-open
Erick Giffen, taking a one-point
lead.
A few mix-ups, and turnovers
stalled the Lions offense from
time to time, but in the second
quarter it seemed that Cottage
Grove had fi gured Scappoose
out. On a very sneaky play call,
Sentman faked a reverse, caus-
ing defensive backs to step up
and leaving Jacob Woods uncov-
ered near the goal line, where
Sentman threw and scored his
second passing touchdown of
the night.
A stout defense nearly kept
Scappoose scoreless in the sec-
ond quarter and prevented the
Indians from taking advantage
of turnovers. Sentman threw one
more touchdown pass to Kory
Parent before halftime, and Cot-
tage Grove went up 21-6 in the
second quarter.
A big kickoff return by Scap-
poose placed the Indians in good
fi eld position, giving them the
opportunity to strike back. Scap-
poose capitalized on its fi eld po-
sition and drove down the fi eld
through the air and managed to
score before halftime, shrinking
their defi cit to a 21-13 score.
It seemed the state champ
runner-ups might have found
their answers against the Lions.
Halftime turned the game into
a nail-biter, and Cottage Grove
couldn’t maintain a solid drive
or get into the end zone at all.
“They defi nitely made some
good adjustments, but we also
hurt ourselves with costly pen-
alties and carelessness,” Head
Coach Gary Roberts said.
Scappoose’s second half
Photo by Sam Wright
Please see FOOTBALL, Page 3B
Jacob Woods dives into the end zone after catching a pass from Blake Sentman.