B
S PORTS
Section B
College
football is
back
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions start off strong at jamboree
OSU looks to
bounce back, UO
ready for fi rst game
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Last weekend the college foot-
ball season began with the Ore-
gon State Beavers going on the
road to Colorado State. In one of
fi ve games of the fi rst weekend
of football, Oregon State fell to
the Rams 58-27.
Oregon State’s 6-7 quarter-
back Jake Luton, who got a
“mysterious” illness in the off-
season that caused him to lose 30
pounds which he is still working
to gain back, threw three inter-
ceptions including one that was
returned for a touchdown. Run-
ning back Ryan Nall fi nished
the game with 115 yards rushing
including a 75 yard scamper that
gave the Beavers a lead.
Former University of Oregon
running back and high school
phenom Thomas Tyner ended
his fi rst game in black and or-
ange with four rushes for eight
yards.
Last year the Beavers fi nished
4-8 and have been projected
around the same win total for
this upcoming year. They were
projected to fi nish near the bot-
tom of the Pac-12 South. The
team is now shifting its focus
to the Vikings of Portland State.
They will welcome them into
Reser Stadium on Saturday at
11:00 a.m.
The Ducks will begin their
2017 campaign at home on Sat-
urday against the Southern Utah
Thunderbirds. After a disap-
pointing 2016 season that saw
the Ducks go 4-8 and lose to the
Beavers in the Civil War, the
Ducks are looking to get back to
their winning ways.
Coming in to the season, there
is a general unknown about
what this team, that is now be-
ing coached by Willie Taggart,
can accomplish. What is known
is that the Ducks will be led by
Eugene native Justin Herbert at
quarterback. Herbert took over
the starting job midway through
last season.
In the Pac-12 the Ducks are
projected to be a middle of the
pack team and in the fi rst series
of polls, they received votes that
placed them just outside the top
25.
Outside of the state of Oregon,
Saturday has two big games that
have captured national attention.
The fi rst game is #11 Michigan
taking on #17 Florida in Arling-
ton, Texas at 12:30 p.m. and fol-
lowing that is the must-watch
game between #3 Florida State
and #1 Alabama in Atlanta at
5:00 p.m.
Cottage Grove quaterback Dylan Graves fi nds a receiver in the back of the end zone for the Lions' only touchdown against North Bend.
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Friday night, the Cottage Grove High School
(CGHS) football program played host to a jamboree
with North Bend, North Eugene and the Churchill JV
team.
For each matchup of the jamboree, each offense ran
18 plays against the other team’s defense. Play started
from the 40 yard line and if there was a turnover or
a touchdown, the ball returned to the 40. The varsity
played on one side of the fi eld while the JV was on the
other side.
The night began with CGHS facing off against the
all-too-familiar foe of the North Bend High School.
Last year the Bulldogs beat CGHS 35-21 in the OSAA
State Championship game. Going into the jamboree,
the Cottage Grove players were well aware of this re-
match with the team that stopped their title hopes.
“There’s a lot of unfi nished business with them,”
said senior center and linebacker Cooper Ladd the day
before the game. “They’ve proven they can play so we
got to show up ready to just fi ght.”
Fellow senior, Nate Farrell was of the same mind.
“You got to come into this bringing a chip on your
shoulder because these guys, they’re going to think
they’re tough stuff with their blue [championship] tro-
phy and we played them last year. We still have to give
it to them again,” said Farrell.
Ladd went on to say that the goal against North
Bend was to “get 18 touchdowns” to which Farrell re-
sponded “and then 18 stops.”
On the defensive side they came close to achieving
their goal. It took 11 plays for the Bulldogs to get a
fi rst down and they never were able to fi nd the end
zone despite getting a fi rst and goal opportunity. The
defense applied constant pressure and both quarter-
backs that played for North Bend were constantly fl us-
tered as they were forced out of the pocket. Cottage
Grove Head Coach Gary Roberts was impressed with
his squad.
“I thought the defense played really well in the fi rst
game… I thought our kids fl ew around well. They
have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder about what
happened last year playing North Bend,” said Roberts.
“They kind of felt like we had a shot last year in that
game and it didn’t work out in the way we were hop-
ing. We had a little motivation. I thought they did a
good job.”
On the offensive side, the Lions got out to a fast
North Eugene's Alec Tucker just gets his foot and scores a touchdown.
Athlete
of the
Week
start when on the third play quarterback Dylan Graves
rolled left and completed a 30 yard pass to a Lions re-
ceiver in the end zone. That was their only touchdown
of the game. The biggest detriment to their success
was not North Bend’s defense but snaps that hit the
ground and four offensive penalties.
“We got to get our snaps up and penalties cleaned
up that’s without a doubt the thing we got to do be-
fore next game,” said Roberts. “Because if we have
a bunch of penalties and we keep putting balls in the
ground we’re not going to go far.”
In the second game of the jamboree, Cottage Grove
faced off against North Eugene. An impenetrable force
in the fi rst game, the defense had holes in the second
game that allowed the Highlanders to score three
touchdowns. On the offensive side, the Lions were
eager to not only match but outdo North Eugene’s pro-
duction as they scored fi ve touchdowns throughout the
contest.
“I thought it was a little shaky against North Eugene
which, I don’t think North Eugene is better than North
Bend. I really don’t. I think we just need to clean up
some things and we’ll be better,” said Roberts.
On Friday, the Lions will travel to North Marion
where they will face the Huskies at 7:00 p.m.
Cottage Grove's Jacob Woods runs in for a touchdown against North Eugene.
This week's athlete
of the week was
Elkton senior Hannah
Maxwell. Maxwell led
the Elks to a 2-0 start
after beating Mohawk
High School twice last
week.
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