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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B Wednesday, September 20, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Lions ready for league play Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lions outlast Outlaws in home win By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com After Cottage Grove’s 49- 13 win against Madras in their second game of the season the Lions football team was any- thing but pleased. Heads were down, conversations were muted and despite their romp, the team and coaches were not pleased with the effort on the fi eld. Fast-forward to Cottage Grove’s 35-20 win last Friday over Scappoose on the road and the atmosphere after the game was seemingly euphor- ic. Players cheered, joked and did fl ips for their Instagram as they took in the win. While the season is still young, the win over the Indians, a perennial powerhouse in 4A, showed the team that they have the ability to compete with any team they play. “Scappoose is one of the premier 4A schools, they have been for years and so to get a win against them tonight and a taste of a little adversi- ty… [makes me] really proud of our kids,” said head coach Gary Roberts. “This could be the pinnacle of the season that we’re 3-0 and beat Scappoose or we hit the reset button and we work to get better.” The game started as every game has this season with Cottage Grove getting stops and scoring early. In the ear- ly going it was a steady diet of passes from Dylan Graves to Hayden Glenn that was working for the Lions. In the fi rst two drives Graves found Glenn three times for gains of 20, 21 and 53 yards each with the last one resulting in a touchdown. Glenn fi nished the game with fi ve receptions, two touchdowns and 136 yards re- ceiving. These receptions and a Chad Bottorff one-yard touchdown run put the Lions up 14-0 after one quarter. Bottorff fi nished the game with 107 yards on 23 carries and two rushing touch- down. After being shut out in the fi rst quarter, Scappoose rallied in the second. After intercept- ing Graves, the Indians worked the ball downfi eld and ended the drive with an 18-yard run from quarterback Jerad To- man. The Lions answered with a 49 yard kick return by Jacob Woods that set up a 34-yard Hayden Glenn touchdown re- ception from Graves. The next Indians drive Toman found Tevin Jeannis downfi eld for a 44 yard touchdown pass. The Lions then failed to convert on fourth down and went to the half up 21-14. The third quarter is when PHOTO BYJADEN DOOLITTLE Cottage Grove's Konrad Raum looks to control the ball against Sisters last Thursday. Raum fi nished the game with one goal. By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com For senior Kyle Browning, last Thursday was in- deed a happy birthday. While his family was in the stands with signs and balloons for him, on the fi eld Browning gave them a lot to celebrate as he scored two goals to lead the Cot- tage Grove boys soccer team past Sisters at home by a score of 3-2. Going into the game, Sisters had not lost a Sky-Em league game since Cottage Grove defeated them 1-0 on Sept. 27, 2011. “It feels amazing especially since it’s my birthday, too,” said Browning after the victory. “It feels amazing to not only break the streak but to do it with this team. I had high hopes for them and they are meeting and exceeding them. So I’m loving it.” The Lions were aggressive in their pursuit from the start. They controlled possession and in the fi rst 10 minutes had six corner kicks. It appeared that they were going to get an early goal when a Sisters' counter attack led to a penalty kick that put the Outlaws up 1-0 13 minutes into the game. The Lions worked back into their game and when Sisters looked like they might be threatening again, sophomore Fernando Soto-Cruz stole the ball and started the break. He found Konrad Raum out front who was able to put it away to tie the game at one a piece. Just a few minutes later, Raum was looking to score another goal when he was fouled in the box. Brown- ing took the penalty and the Lions went up 2-1. After a few more chances the halftime whistle was called. At the half the Lions had eight shots and nine corners while Sisters had no corners and just the one shot on the penalty. Sisters came out of the half looking to fi nd the equal- izer. They found chances but the Lions continued to control the game. As the clock wound down it looked like the Lions might pull off the victory but with 10 minutes left, Sisters was awarded another penalty kick after a player went down in the box. The game was then tied 2-2. After the goal, the Lions bench was anything but pleased. Play was temporarily stopped as the referee and Cottage Grove head coach Vern Stewart had a dis- cussion about the penalty call. “That’s the frustrating part, [the refs] don’t talk to you and they don’t explain it,” said Stewart after the game. “The minute that you ask what they called they get all defensive. So he came to me and he fi nally said he saw him push him down…I mean that’s the expla- nation I got. It’s kind of bad.” As time became the biggest obstacle, the Lions con- tinued to press in search of the win. They were getting chances but missed multiple shots from close. But then with just under two minutes to play, Paesen Timm whipped a ball in to Browning in the box who was determined to score. “I saw him kick it over the guy and I said this is mine, I’m not letting this go no matter what. And then I just got there. Everything else was just in synced,” said Browning. Browning brought the ball down on the left side of the goal and one touch was able to fi nd the back of the net to put the Lions up 3-2 and seal the victory. “[Browning’s] been a defender for three years out of four. This is the fi rst time that a coach decided to make sure that he was out of there and in the front. That’s where he does a majority of the work that he does,” said Stewart about Browning’s new role. “He likes to keep the ball and he likes to beat the fi rst defender and he likes to distribute the ball. And it’s great and he end- ed up scoring the winning goal and that was a good thing as well.” While this Sisters team may not be the same as some of the powerhouse teams of the past, Stewart still saw the signifi cance of this win. “For the rest of the state of Oregon we beat a team that was 0-3, not a big deal,” said Stewart. “Sisters has been number one in the league for a long time, guess what? They’re not now.” And Browning came to the same conclusion as his coach. “If we can beat Sisters, our longtime rival, then we can beat everybody else, right?” PHOTO BYJADEN DOOLITTLE Please see FOOTBALL PG. B4 Athletes of the Week Jasper Nichols-Ferguson chases down the ball late in the game. PHOTO BYJADEN DOOLITTLE Kyle Browning redirects a header during the second half of the game. This week's athletes of the week were Cottage Grove cross-country's top runners Konrad Raum and Nadia Witt. For a complete recap of their meet turn to B4. MALICIOUS MONSTER TRUCK TOUR SEPTEMBER 22ND & 23RD GATES OPEN AT 4PM PIT PARTY AT 6PM SHOWTIME 7:30PM
