B
S PORTS
Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions hold on to beat Outlaws
in dominating homecoming game
Sisters was down 24-0 at halftime, but a
third-quarter surge wasn't enough to topple
Cottage Grove who ran away with a strong
34-22 victory
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Cottage Grove is now guaran-
teed a winning season after de-
feating Sisters on Friday. Even
if the Lions lose the rest of their
games, they will still end the
season with a 5-3 record, and
that’s the absolute worst-case
scenario.
Cottage Grove was in top
form during their Homecoming
game against the Outlaws. De-
spite a few hiccups in the sec-
ond half, the Lions maintained
their poise and denied a Sisters
comeback.
The fi rst half was completely
dominated by Cottage Grove on
both sides of the ball. Defensive-
ly, Sisters’ quarterback, Tanner
Head, felt consistent pressure
and found diffi culty completing
passes downfi eld. Most comple-
tions from the senior came from
quick-outs or screen passes. The
rush defense was just as effec-
tive, and the Outlaws failed to
establish a run game and even
turned the ball over on a forced
fumble, which eventually led to
a Cottage Grove fi eld goal.
Senior quarterback Blake
Sentman led the Lions’ offense
on four scoring drives in the
fi rst half, where he had multiple
rushing touchdowns and spread
the ball out to a variety of re-
ceivers.
Sentman delivered several
clutch throws that allowed Cot-
tage Grove to convert on third
down, one of which was a high
pass to Jacob Woods who made
a leaping grab to put Cottage
Grove in the red zone. After that,
Sentman displayed his speed
and ran the ball to the outside
to fi nish the drive with a short
rushing touchdown.
The Lions ended the fi rst half
in total control, up 24-0.
Sisters' only loss prior to
this game came from reigning
state champions Cascade, and
the Outlaws weren’t going to
roll over quietly. Sisters came
out scoring two touchdowns
on back-to-back drives, and
Cottage Grove wisely took an
opportunity for a fi eld goal to
maintain a two-score lead.
In the middle of the fourth
quarter, the Lions had been
Photo by Sam Wright
Jacob Woods leaps into the air for a fi rst-down reception late in the fi rst quarter.
Please see HOMECOMING, Page 3B
James wins varsity
girls' Jefferson Invitational
Athlete of the Week
Boys and girls place second overall
On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the
Lion harriers raced at the Jef-
ferson Invitational. Many had
personal or season bests on the
mostly fl at course around the
host’s high school and the huge
neighboring farm fi eld along a
river.
Sabrina James had a breakout
race, winning the girls varsity in
a time of 21:47. With Kaitlyn
Brooks, Nadia Witt, Kenzie Par-
sons, Savannah Davis and Kate
Johns joining her, they pulled
off a second-place team fi nish
out of the 14 full teams compet-
ing.
The boys saw a fi fth-place fi n-
ish from Konrad Raum, teamed
with strong performances from
Paesen Timm, Eric Cortes, Jesse
Ellingsworth, Jimmy Talley and
Max Gause. This propelled the
boys varsity squad to their own
second-place team fi nish among
the 23 teams that raced.
The junior varsity runners
did a 3K race in this competi-
tion, with personal bests from
Jacob Justis, Konnor Owens,
Justin Francis, Cody Smelser,
Matteo Liserre, Adam Marsh,
Morgan Brock, Mitchell John-
son, Lake Fultz, Braedon Rinck
and Johnny Witt. They placed
second out of the 11 complete
teams they faced.
The girl JV runners also
placed second (out of seven
complete teams) with personal
records from Tyra Gordon, Lex-
ie Hall, Tatiana Baird, Jessica
Ray, Emma Sexton and Allie
Harris.
Top 10 fi nishers that joined
Sabrina and Konrad in the days
racing were Tyra Gordon, Pae-
sen Timm, Jesse Elllingsworth
and Konnor Owens.
This was a new meet for
the Lions. They journey to
Philomath this coming Saturday
for the Paul Mariman Invita-
tional against many of the top
4A teams in the state.
Blake Sentman leads Cottage Grove to 5-0
Courtesy photo
Sabrina James won the girls' varsity race with a time of
21:47 last Tuesday.
Soccer gears up for second half of Sky-Em League play
After a few tough losses and confi dent triumphs, the boys' soccer team has made
adjustments, changed systems, reversed changes, and adjusted some more over the season
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The boys’ soccer program has
had a fairly even season so far.
The team recently wrapped up
its fi rst half of Sky-Em play and
it sits at two wins, two losses
and one tie. Head Coach Vern
Stewart says that the team isn’t
quite where they expected to be
but it’s been an unexpected sea-
son.
“It’s been a weird year,”
Stewart said, “A lot of teams we
expected to be strong weren’t
that strong and the other way
around.” Last week Cottage
Grove went 1-1, beating Sweet
Home 1-0 on Tuesday and lost
to Sisters 0-1 on Thursday.
Stewart says that he hoped
the team would have one more
win than it currently does and
didn’t really expect to tie any-
one either. For those who don’t
recall, Cottage Grove held a 1-
0 lead over Elmira up until the
75th minute where an exhausted
Lions’ defense allowed the Fal-
cons to score and end the game
in a tie.
The challenges Stewart has
been facing this year all fall
within a lack of familiarity with
the players. Though coaching
boys’ soccer is nothing new
to the veteran coach, Stewart
wasn’t given much time to learn
the strengths and weaknesses of
his players.
“We’ve made a lot of adjust-
ments. I’ve learned that some
players that have played up front
in the middle their entire careers
are actually much more effec-
tive at the back positions,” he
said. The Lions were introduced
to a new system that Stewart
uses: a 4-2-3-1 formation, and
after a few losses, Stewart ini-
tially thought that it wasn’t the
right system for the team.
But the coach was wrong, and
after stepping away from the
formation for a few games, Cot-
tage Grove plans to go back to
the 4-2-3-1 system.
“I’ve discovered it wasn’t the
system that wasn’t working, it
was that some players fi t bet-
ter in other positions,” Stewart
said. For example, Stewart has
moved Kyle Browning back to
a defensive position, though
he has usually played in more
forward positions. Stewart has
also moved freshman Fernando
Soto Cruz to a forward position,
though the freshman didn’t play
against Sisters.
Stewart said that there have
been a lot of pleasant surpris-
es from his players this year.
George Cervantes, a sophomore,
has shown great speed and skill
according to the head coach.
Junior Alexander Clifton has
also burst onto the scene after
not having played soccer since
middle school.
“He’s just having a blast, he’s
a great player,” Stewart said
of Clifton. He also mentioned
Jackson Perkins being a great
defender and a player who has
improved throughout the sea-
son.
Cottage Grove now enters its
second round of Sky-Em oppo-
nents, and Stewart and the Lions
feel confi dent.
“We have to make sure we’re
not playing down to weaker
teams, and I think we may even
beat some teams that have al-
ready beaten us,” he said.
The Lions head to Elmira on
Thursday, Oct. 6.
Blake Sentman epitomized "dual threat quarterback,"
with many of his touchdowns this season coming
from his legs, but he still scores and gets the bulk of
his yardage through the air. Sentman was responsible
for all four touchdowns against Sisters. This week, the
senior completed 14 of 28 passes for 330 yards and one
touchdown. While he only totalled 17 yards rushing on
11 carries, Sentman totalled three touchdowns on the
ground.
Yoncalla, Mapleton set state record
The OSAA has a new record for the highest-scoring football game
in state history. On Friday, Yoncalla traveled to Mapleton, where
the teams racked up a total of 180 points against two eviscerated
defenses. Yoncalla had 15 touchdowns, tying the state record with
Huntington's 105-0 win over Powder Valley last year. The previous
record was held by Triad and Elkton, where Triad defeated Elkton
106-66 in 2012.
"It was a fun game, but I told one of the kids when it was over:
'OK, we can turn the Xbox off now and go back to playing real foot-
ball next week,'" said Yoncalla Head Coach Matt Bragg.