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