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