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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B Sky-Em Changes Wednesday, October 25, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Back-to-back champs: Lions earn historic win Cottage Grove will have new competition in league next season By Zach Silva Cottage Grove High School will be facing some new oppo- nents in Sky-Em league-play starting next fall. Last week, the OSAA fi nal- ized plans that will change the structure of the league. Sisters, Sutherlin and Sweet Home will all be leaving the Sky-Em while Siuslaw, Marshfi eld and Marist, previously 5A, will be joining the league. “It’s going to be fun. I’m look- ing forward to having Marsh- fi eld in the league because that’s where I grew up and I’m look- ing forward to having Marist in the league because I want our kids to compete against the best kids out there,” said CGHS Athletic Director Gary Roberts. “It’s going to be a big challenge for us but I’m excited.” The farthest Cottage Grove will now travel for league games will be 94 miles to Marshfi eld which is down from the previous farthest distance to Sisters of 125 miles. Aside from that, the average travel distance to each school in the district is down from 61 miles to 56. “From a travel standpoint it worked out pretty well for us and I think from a competition standpoint it worked out pretty well for us. I think overall I’m pleased,” said Roberts. On the competition side, the Lions will be facing tough bat- tles. Football, where the Lions are currently undefeated and ranked number one in 4A, will become a bigger challenge in league play next season. Marshfi eld is the only other team in 4A that is currently undefeated in football and Marist is currently ranked 10th at the 5A level. Additionally, the Lions do not have the best track record with the Pirates and Spartans. Be- tween 2006-2015 Cottage Grove played Marist and Marshfi eld six times in football and lost all six games. On average the Lions scored 12 points and gave up 40 points in those games. The Lions will have their hands full in other sports as well. Marist’s volleyball, boys and girls soccer teams and boys and girls cross-country teams all fall between being ranked third and 14th at the 5A level this sea- son. Last season Marist’s girls basketball team fi nished fourth in state and their softball team won the state title. For Marshfi eld, their volley- ball team is currently ranked 8th in the state. Additionally, last year the Pirates girls basket- ball team fi nished ranked 3rd in state, the boys track team won state and the girls track team took 6th. And while Siuslaw is ranked 22nd in volleyball, 37th in foot- ball (and they don’t have a boys or girls soccer team) and their basketball, baseball and softball teams were in the same area of the rankings, both cross-country teams are currently ranked in the top fi ve of the state and both their track and fi eld teams did better than the Lions last season. PHOTO BY JORDAN HAGEWOOD/CGHS Cottage Grove receiver Hayden Glenn races through the Sutherlin defense on a busy offensive night. cut down the turnovers this week and I was really proud of our kids. I’m happy for our kids, our coaches and just the community and the high school.” On Friday night, it was more of what it has been all season for the Lions as they defeated Sutherlin 63-21. The Li- ons, who scored more points than any other team in 4A this season, won their sixth game of the year by over 30 points. The fi rst half saw seven Cottage Grove touchdowns on their fi rst seven possessions. The lethal wide receiv- er combination of Jacob Woods and Hayden Glenn was again active this game. While the pair only played in the fi rst half, it was more than enough time for them to fi nd success. Glenn had four receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55 yard score on a double move down the right side that broke him wide open Cottage Grove football beats Sutherlin and continues winning ways By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Undefeated. For the second year in a row, the Cot- tage Grove football team completed the regular season without a loss and claimed the Sky-Em League title. The Lions, who won back-to-back ti- tles for the fi rst time in program history, now enter the playoffs with the number one seed as they seek redemption after losing in the championship game last season. “Really happy for the kids; for the seniors,” said head coach Gary Roberts. “Kids did a good job. We were able to S TATE T ITLE S TATE OF M IND “Our focus is just to stay focused, just get a lot of practice and get that state title.” - Jacob Woods, senior wide receiver/defensive back Lions lock down league title, stay unbeaten Cottage Grove boys soccer fi nishes the regular season without a loss and now prepare for the playoffs for the easy score. Not to be outdone, Woods had four receptions, three of which were touchdown receptions of 33, 35 and 36 yards. He also had three rushes for 65 yards. Quarterback Dylan Graves ended the game with the absurdly effi cient stat line of 8-for-10 with 198 yards passing and fi ve touchdowns. The Lions were also active on the ground as Juice Claf- lin and Chad Bottorff each rushed for a touchdown. “There’s always things you can do better,” said head coach Gary Roberts on the fi rst half success. “Always things you can do better, but the kids played hard and they were fi red up for senior night and they did a good job.” Up 49-0 at the half, the Lions sec- ond-string unit took up where the start- ers left off. With the running clock moving, the DeJean Alonzo lead of- fense marched down the fi eld and a Lo- gan Nelson nine-yard rush put Cottage Grove up 56-0. Sutherlin then found the end zone once before the quarter ended, the start of the fourth and with just seconds left on the clock. David Cox also added a 12 yard rush for a touchdown. While Cottage Grove secured the win, the postseason awaits them and it is clear that their goal is to bring home the title that eluded them last season. “The fi rst part is done and now every- body is 0-0 and the second part begins,” said Roberts. “We got a week off and in that we will focus on Cottage Grove. We will focus on getting better at the little things.” The Lions will have a bye week this week and will host a round of 16 game on either Friday Nov. 3 or Saturday Nov. 4. “It feels amazing, like there’s no better feeling. Going into playoffs “We got to focus on the fi nish this undefeated is always good and just year. One of my things is talking doing it as a family is even better. about being champions this year, not just making it to state but There’s no limit for where we can being state champions.” go. There’s nothing but clear skies -Nate Farrell, senior offensive and state.” lineman/linebacker -Anthony Slay, senior lineman By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com After treating the crowd to an acapella performance of the national anthem, the seniors of the boys Cottage Grove soccer team then took the fi eld where they looked to make some noise in their fi nal regular season game of the year last Thursday. Through the pouring rain and a half-hour injury delay, the Lions (10-0-2, 9-0-1 Sky-Em) beat Sweet Home (3- 7-3, 2-5-3 Sky-Em) 3-1 as they claimed their title as Sky- Em champions and fi nished the regular season without a loss. Cottage Grove controlled possession early and threat- ened on a counter in the 25th minute. Defender Kyle Browning, who earlier this season was in an attacking position, found Evan Snauer ahead who played forward to Konrad Raum who was foiled by Sweet Home’s goalie. While that play did not produce a goal, head coach Vern Stewart is excited about what Browning can bring to the table from the back line. “We’re getting enough scoring from other places so we Continued on page B3 Athlete of the Week PHOTO BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS Rodas Rodas Martin maneuvers through the rain during a win last Thursday. This week's athlete of the week is Cottage Grove's Konrad Raum. On Wednesday Raum was the top fi nisher at the Country Fair Classic cross- country meet (see B4 for coverage) and on Thursday he scored two goals in a 3-1 victory for the soccer team (see above for coverage). PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL PHOTO BY SAVANNAH DAVIS/CGHS CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com