B
S PORTS
Section B
High School
Sports
Roundup
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zilva@cgsentinel.com
Lions shine on the road in opener
A look back at the
busy week in sports
By Zach Silva
Cottage Grove Volleyball:
The season got underway last
Tuesday against Creswell. The
Bulldogs won the fi rst two sets
before the Lions took the third.
The fourth game was close but
the Bulldogs went on a 12-5 run
to win the fourth game and thus
the match.
“I think we played well,”
said head coach Kendra Ander-
son. “We take a lot [from a fi rst
match] because we can fi ne tune
stuff we need and we can alter
stuff that we need to fi x. It’s a
great opportunity.”
The Lions then fell 1-3 on
Thursday to Marshfi eld.
Cottage Grove Boys and Girls
Soccer:
Because of the smoke from
the wild fi res, both teams has
games cancelled on Tuesday.
Both teams were in action on
Thursday for their fi rst games of
the season. The boys had a 0-0
draw at home against Philomath
and the girls team fell 0-10 on
the road at Philomath.
Cottage Grove Boys and Girls
Cross-Country:
The teams travelled to the Ul-
timook Race Nike Invitational
this weekend. On the boys side,
Konrad Raum, Jimmy Talley
and Paesen Timm fi nished 20th,
21st and 23rd respectively to
help lead the varsity side to a
7th place fi nish out of 22 teams
between the 1A and 4A classifi -
cation. For the girls, Stella So-
botkova fi nished in 47th place
and the team fi nished 12th of 14
teams.
North Douglas Football:
The team began their season
last Thursday on the road at
Powers where they won 32-20.
On the offensive side, the team
was led by quarterback Brandon
Rundell who was 6/9 with 96
yards passing and a touchdown
alongside two rushing touch-
downs. Gerardo Alcantar had
11 carries for 128 yards and a
75 yard kick return for a touch-
down.
North Douglas and Elkton Vol-
leyball:
After going 6-3 in the 1A Sea-
son Preview at Country Chris-
tian two weekends ago, the War-
riors beat Elkton on the road last
Thursday 3-0. Elkton is now 3-1
on the year.
Yoncalla and Elkton Football:
Elkton hosted Yoncalla last
Friday where the Elks prevailed
28-22.
Yoncalla Volleyball:
The Eagles won on the road
at Mohawk 3-0 last Tuesday and
fell 1-3 at Umpqua Valley Chris-
tian/Melrose Christian.
Cottage Grove's Juice Clafl inn runs in for one of his two touchdowns on the road at North Marion High School on Friday night.
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
A season after taking second place in the state, the
Cottage Grove football team began their foray into the
season on the road at North Marion. And while it is
diffi cult and dangerous to fall into the trap of judging
a team based off of one performance, the Lions 56-0
drubbing of the Huskies seemed to be an indicator that
this team will pose a problem for the future teams they
face.
“We still need to make improvements but we’re back
on the trail again and we’re going to keep it going,”
said senior running back Juice Clafl in. “I think we just
pick up the little things and make it back there.”
On the Lions fi rst drive of the game they were
stopped after they went for it on fourth down but then
came time for the defense to shine. Cottage Grove set
the tone with a sack on the fi rst play which was then
followed up by an interception by Jacob Woods. Three
plays later, Woods was on the receiving end of a pass
from quarterback Dylan Graves that led to a 76 yard
score to put the Lions on the board.
“This is a really good start for our season,” Woods
said after the game. “I think we fl ew around really fast
and we were doing all we need to do. But like I said,
we still have stuff we need to work on but if we keep
executing we can get to where we want to be.”
The Lions defense then forced the Huskies to a
three-and-out but on the next possession Graves threw
his only interception of the day. After the Lions de-
fense forced another three-and-out, it was the offense’s
turn to take over.
It started with the Lions deciding to go for it on
4th and two from the Huskies 45 yard line. Graves
dropped back and found receiver Hayden Glenn who
was untouched on his way to the end zone. After re-
covering a fumble, the Lions were off again and two
plays into the second quarter Clafl in made his way into
the end zone on a one yard run that was set up the play
before by a 14-yard carry from Chad Bottorff. After
a broken play on the point after touchdown led to a
touchdown the Lions were then up 22-0.
On the next drive, the Huskies began to show signs
of life as they got their fi rst fi rst-downs of the game.
Their drive was stalled after they were unsuccessful
when they went for it on fourth down. This gave the
Lions the ball on their own 41 and after a delay of
game and a short reception by Glenn, the Lions then
struck. Graves threw a backwards pass to wide receiv-
er Erick Giffen’s. It looked like it was an arrant pass
that was going to lose the Lions yards but instead Giff-
en’s then found a wide open Glenn downfi eld for a 60
yard score. Glenn fi nished the game with fi ve catches
for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
Up 29-0 with still 8:00 minutes left in the second
The team poses for a picture in celebration after their 56-0 win.
Athletes
of the
Week
quarter, CGHS continued to control the game from
both sides of the ball. Marcus Julien’s interception set
up the Lions for a score as Graves ran into the end
zone from a yard out to put the lions up 36-0 with still
over 5:00 minutes left in the fi rst half. After forcing
another punt, the Lions quickly found Clafl in on a
screen play that freed him up for a 59-yard touchdown
to put the lions up 43-0 with 2:14 left in the half. The
halftime whistle sounded and the Lions were up big.
Halfway through the third quarter Bottorff rushed
in for a touchdown to put the Lions up 49-0 which
then started a running clock for the remainder of the
game because their lead was over 45 points. The Li-
ons defense continued to shine and a late David Cox
touchdown gave the Lions a 56-0 fi nal score.
“It’s the fi rst game, I know there’s going to be some
mistakes and things like that but we are healthy and
that’s probably the most important thing,” said head
coach Gary Roberts. “We just have to continue to
build and to put the time in and continue to play with
confi dence and we’ll get there; we’ll keep working.”
The Lions have their home opener on Friday night
where they will host the Madras White Buffaloes. The
White Buffaloes lost their fi rst game last week 21-26
at The Dalles. Madras has gone two seasons in a row
(2015 and 2016) without winning a game. Their last
win, and only win of the 2014 season, was when they
defeated Stayton 13-12 on September 19, 2014.
Cottage Grove's David Cox is dragged down by two Huskies defenders late in the game.
This week's athletes of the week
were the runners of the CGHS
cross-country team. On Saturday
they raced at the Ultimook Race
Nike Invitational at Hydrangea
Ranch. The course features a mud
pit and two river crossings that the
racers run through.
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zsilva@cgsentinel.com