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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B Lions rout North Marion (again) Wednesday, November 8, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Lions take sixth at State Championship Cottage Grove football beat the Huskies for the second time this season By Zach Silva As the season progresses, the Cottage Grove football team is only getting better. At least ac- cording to the scoreboard. It was the Lions defeating North Marion 57-0 last Friday in the fi rst round of the playoffs, which was an improvement from their 56-0 defeat of the Huskies at the fi rst game of the season. Coming into the game the biggest question was how the Lions would not overlook an opponent that they had already defeated. “You’re always concerned about that but our kids did a great job all week long. They didn’t give me any reason to be concerned other than head coaches are just paranoid peo- ple,” said head coach Gary Rob- erts. Any concerns were put to rest by halftime as the Lions went up 41-0 at the break. “We think of it as it is our last game because it could possibly be our last game here for this season and mine for my whole career. So we just want to win and keep going,” said senior Hayden Glenn who fi nished the game with a receiving touch- down and an interception. After two early drives ended in fi eld goals for Cottage Grove, they were up 13-0 midway through the second quarter and then everything seemed to go the Lions' way. In this stretch North Mari- on had consecutive drives that ended in a fumble, intercep- tion, fumble and a three and out which all turned into Cottage Grove touchdowns. On those touchdowns it was a display of Cottage Grove’s depth as scores came from four of their top contributors on the season. It was a Hayden Glenn 38-yard reception, Chad Bot- torff 1 yard run, Woods' 82-yard catch in which he outsprinted the defense, and a Clafl in 25- yard reception to cap it all off. On just those four drives quarterback Dylan Graves was seven of nine passing for 188 yards and four touchdowns. He fi nished the game at 12 for 16 with 253 yards passing. “I think what it says about them is that our kids are hungry and they want to do something special. And we’ve talked about the only way that that happens is taking it a week at a time and playing your best game on Friday that you’ve played this year,” said Roberts. To get to the point of play- ing their best football of the season, the Lions were quick to acknowledge that it was the scout team at practice that got them where they needed to be this week. “Man we just had a really good prep week,” said Glenn. “The scout team, we brought up guys from JV, and we formed a really good scout team this week. And they brought it to us and they made us way better." “Day in and day out they brought it to us. Tuesday we went full pads and our defense wasn’t the greatest, they brought it to us. They almost scored on us and it was a little scary and we stepped up and I really think it was the scout team that won this game,” said senior lineman Nate Farrell. The Lions continued to roll in the second half as a Bottorff 58- yard run on the fi rst play from scrimmage in the half resulted in a touchdown that led to run- FOOTBALL cont. on page B3 PHOTO BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS Cottage Grove's Cassidy Herbert spikes the ball against Crook County on Saturday. Cottage Grove volleyball fi nish in sixth place at the state tournament By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com For the fi rst time in eight years, the Cottage Grove volleyball team travelled to the state tournament reserved for the top eight teams in each classifi cation that takes place at Forest Grove High School. The 11th seeded Lions walked away with a sixth place fi nish. “While I know it is diffi cult to end the season with a loss, they should be proud of themselves and their accomplishments and reaching their goal of making it to the top eight in State,” wrote head coach Kendra Anderson in an email. In the quarterfi nals, the Lions were matched up against the eventual third place fi nishers Hidden Valley. The Mus- tangs defeated the Lions 25-12, 25-18, 25-17. Showing the merit of their ranking, it was Hidden Valley that jumped out to a 10-2 lead behind the power of senior mid- dle blocker Hannah Hayes in the fi rst set. Hayes and company were in their zone early and even during an early Cottage Grove timeout, stayed on the court as they were ready to continue play. The Lions showed signs of life be- hind back-to-back Reilly Kelty kills that brought the Lions to within six but it was as close as they got during the set. The Mustangs closed the door on the set as they went on a 12-4 run and fi nished off with a 25-12 win. Having also lost the opening set in the fi rst and second round of the playoffs, the Lions remained calm and started the sec- Lions fall in quarters after exciting fi rst round By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove volleyball fi nish in sixth place at the state tournament After a rough and tumble physical win over La Grande on Wednesday in the fi rst round of the 4A soc- cer playoffs, Cottage Grove’s undefeated season came to an end in the quarterfi nals with a 2-0 loss to Mc- Loughlin on the road on Friday night. “And I got to tell you, my guys were so polite. Played well, hard, physical. But not any kind of dirty play or anything else. And their team was the same way. It was the total opposite from La Grande,” said Cottage Grove head coach Vern Stewart. In the quarterfi nals the game was scoreless until things changed with 16 minutes left. Cottage Grove goalie Zach Stewart took an incidental kick to the face as he was going for a ball. Zach Stewart stood up and was ready to continue playing but because of concus- sion protocol, had to leave the game. In his absence, freshman Evan Snauer was moved into the goal and after a defl ection off a defender, the Pioneers took a 1-0 lead. Stewart returned to the game and McLoughlin then Athletes of the Week ond set strong and jumped to a 3-0 start including an ace from Kelty. It was then Cassidy Herbert, who re- ceived second team all-tournament hon- ors, with back-to-back kills to give the Lions life. The set was tied at 15-15 when the Mustangs, powered by three Hayes kills, fi nished the set on a 10-3 run. Looking to rally back from a 2-0 defi - cit as they did the round before against Marshfi eld, the Lions again stayed close in the set. With the teams splitting points, the Lions then took a 17-15 lead that prompted a Hidden Valley timeout. When the Mustangs took the fl oor, they had a new energy as they went on a 10-0 run to fi nish the set and move on to the semi- fi nals. “Hidden Valley is a good team,” said Anderson after the match. “We had some great moments and we’re going to capi- talize on those moments for tomorrow. I scored on a counter attack with six minutes left to earn their spot in the semifi nals. After the loss, Cottage Grove head coach Vern Stewart had nothing but positive things to say about how his team handled themselves in this game and all season. “It meant a lot to me just how we handled ourselves in adversity, if you want to call it adversity. It may even be a bad term because there was nothing negative out of that game that I took. Nothing whatsoever,” said Stewart. “With all the negative stuff happening in our world to have such fi ne young men… on my team just means a great deal to me.” The game was a clear juxtaposition of their game on Wednesday night. Through bumps, bruises, blood, yellow cards, a fateful crossbar, defensive lapses and an overtime goal, Cottage Grove began their playoff run with a 3-2 home victory over La Grande in the fi rst round of the state playoffs. “We survived it and now the journey begins,” said Vern Stewart. “This is where the fun is. I already told these guys they did the hard work, the Sky-Em league, and this is all gravy. Every game you play is gravy.” In the opening minutes of the game it was La Grande, winners of fi ve of their last six games, who used their speed and crisp passing to control the game. It was Tigers early until a Lions corner kick in the 9th minute found Cervantes. The ball was played short and then whipped in and found George Cervantes who controlled and slipped in a goal to put Cottage Grove up early. But not 30 seconds later it was La Grande who sprung right into action and found their speedy fresh- men striker Callum Ebel who got past the Lions' back line and scored the equalizer. “And that’s the danger. When you score, there’s a fi ve minute window that coaches always talk about. Five minutes after a score and it can go either way. You can either score again in fi ve minutes or the other way. Because there’s a let down or whatever you want to call it. And they ended up scoring and then it was think they’re ready to have a good day tomorrow and play two.” In the consolation round, the Lions faced Baker at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. The fi rst team to arrive at the court, the Lions were energized and ready to play. The Lions defeated the Bulldogs 25-16, 13-25, 25-23, 25-15. Kelty led the way with 25 kills and Herbert added in 14 kills in addition to fi ve aces. The team then advanced to the fourth place game where Crook County won 25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 25-21. Kelty and Herbert had 21 and 13 kills respectively. Lauren Witty contributed 41 assists while Sam May had 11 digs as Cottage Grove fi nished the season in sixth place. “This has been a fantastic season,” said Anderson. “I am so thankful to my entire coaching staff and all their hard work and effort they put in to make this season suc- cessful.” PHOTO BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS Rodas Rodas Martin brings down the ball during the fi rst round playoff game last Wednesday. just back and forth the whole time,” said Stewart. In the 20th minute La Grande was poised to take the lead but the ball bounced off the top crossbar and out for safety for Cottage Grove. As the half was drawing to a close the physical nature of the game grew. Cot- tage Grove’s Lathan VanWagner was carried off, the fi rst of three times, after he was taken out by a hard challenge. The frenetic pace continued into the second half. After getting hit in the face with the ball in the 62nd minute Cottage Grove’s Konrad Raum had to come off because he was bleeding. “I had to go out and [there was blood] on my jersey and they said you can’t play if it’s on your jersey and then my brother came in clutch for me,” said Raum who swapped his bloody #20 jersey for his brother Shane’s, who is on the team but was not in the game, #13 jersey. With less than 10 minutes to go, it was Paesen Timm who created space at the top of the box to fi nd the back SOCCER continued on page B3 This week's athletes of the week are the members of the Lioncoln Middle School cross country team. The boys took fi rst and the girls took second at their district meet. Together the teams won the co-ed title. PHOTO C/O JESSICA BAKER CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com
