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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B Bobby Doerr remembered in Cottage Grove Wednesday, November 22, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 541-942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND A local connection to the Major League baseball hall of famer and friend By Zach Silva Larry Watkins always had a dozen brand new Rawlings baseballs with him at all times. Just in case. “Bobby would show up, he would stop by in the store just to visit, and I would give him a dozen balls that he could have signed and then give them away,” said Watkins. Bobby Doerr, the Boston Red Sox legend who died last week at the age of 99, lived in Junc- tion City during the offseason and permanently in the later years of his life. It's where he met Watkins struck up a friend- ship. In 1986, the year Doerr was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, Watkins, the owner of a sports memora- bilia store in Eugene, invited him to do a signing at Valley River Center. “A friend of mine basically says, ‘I think I can get a hold of Bobby Doerr to come and sign autographs,’” said the retired Watkins who is 68 and lives in a home just outside of Cottage Grove that is full of signed memorabilia. “So instead of calling him I wrote him a letter and shoot, he wrote me a letter right back with his phone num- ber. So I called him, asked him if he would be interested in do- ing that and he said sure.” Doerr, who always made sure his signature was not just a scribble but legible, spent his entire Saturday at Valley Riv- er Center (“He was the fi rst to show up,” Watkins remembers) signing bats, balls and cards for all the excited fans that gathered around. He struck up conversa- tions about baseball and took a genuine interest in each individ- ual. “When those guys do those signings they get paid a lot of money for it. And so I went to pay him for it and he said, ‘No, I don’t want any money.’ He says, ‘I enjoyed doing it and I want to do it for the fans.’ And that’s the way he was,” said Watkins. Watkins and Doerr became friends. They would talk fre- quently and began regularly vis- iting each other. Watkins then worked at Guaranty RV in Junc- tion City and decided to call up his new friend to see if he could stop by for lunch. Doerr was happy to welcome him into his home. “We would just sit there and talk about baseball because I had been a fan forever,” said Watkins. “And he was a teach- er and a fan himself and we just talked baseball.” Watkins invited Doerr to Guaranty for a sales meeting where he talked about what it takes to be great. The al- ways-humble Doerr instead of talking about himself, a nine- time All-Star, talked about the success of his Hall of Fame teammate, and friend, Ted Wil- liams. “[Doerr] said, Ted one time – Bobby was the hitting instructor PHOTOS BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS/GABE GLENN Cottage Grove's Dylan Graves attempts to stay in bounds after scrambling out of the pocket. Cottage Grove football rolls over Mazama in the semifi nals By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove football is heading back to the state championship. After a year of dreaming and working to get back to the title game where they lost a season ago, the top-ranked Lions kept their undefeated season alive Sat- urday night at Grants Pass High School as they powered past Mazama 54-35 in the semifi nals. The Lions are headed to their third state championship football game in fi ve years and will face the undefeated Marshfi eld Pirates on their journey to get their elusive fi rst state football title in the school’s history. “I’m really happy for the kids. Hap- py for the seniors that made this their goal. Happy that they worked hard and that they’re getting rewarded to get back here. I can tell by the look in their eyes that they’re not satisfi ed with just getting there, they want to win it. And we’re going to do everything we can this week to win this thing,” said Cot- tage Grove head coach Gary Roberts. In the semifi nal, Cottage Grove had their hands full as they faced a one-loss Mazama team (a loss they avenged in the quarterfi nals with a 50-0 win) that boasted a strong run game and a defense that had given up an average of just 10.8 points against them all season. It was the Vikings who struck fi rst – after recovering an onside kick on the opening kick that they converted into a rare passing touchdown – and took an 8-0 lead early in the fi rst quarter. But the Lions then unleashed an impressive stretch of football from the fi rst quarter until the middle of the third quarter in which the offense rattled off 41 unan- swered points while the defense gave up just 45 yards and three fi rst downs. “They came out and scored fi rst but we knew exactly what we needed to do… We knew we could come right back and punch them in the face and put more points on the scoreboard than they did,” said quarterback Dylan Graves who fi nished the game 17-of-24 for 166 yards with one touchdown. On the Lions fi rst offensive series the team had two successful fourth down conversions. After a botched snap, it was Graves who scrambled out of the pocket for an 11-yard gain and got tack- led on the out of bounds line. As he got up, the Mazama defender was in his face and the two exchanged words resulting in a Vikings unsportsmanlike conduct. “I thought they were more of a re- spectful team… They started pushing up in my facemask and grabbing at my face and that really got me amped up and then I was like okay now I really want to punch you guys even harder,” said Graves. A play later it was Chad Bottorff who found the end zone for his fi rst of two touchdowns on the game. Bottorff fi n- ished with 13 carries for 81 yards. After forcing a three and out, one of four on the day, Cottage Grove struck again, but this time needed just one play. Graves threw a backwards pass to receiver Hayden Glenn who then pulled the ball back and found an open Jacob Woods downfi eld for a 57-yard touch- down. Woods fi nished the day with 10 catches, 140 yards receiving and two touchdowns. “At fi rst we defi nitely started out a little slow but then we realized what we were doing and everybody got a lot more into the game and then we just PHOTOS BY CGHS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS/GABE GLENN Cottage Grove's defense shuts down Mazama's running game last Saturday. S TATE T ITLE S TATE OF M IND "It’s going to take everything we’ve got. You know we’re going to give it our all again and we’re going to win it this time." - Juice Clafl in, senior running back and defensive lineman "It’s the best feeling in the world." - Chad Bottorff, senior running back and linebacker Doerr: continued on B3 started executing good,” said Woods. The Lions continued to pour it on with a second Bottorff score, two Juice Clafl in rushing touchdowns and two made fi eld goals by Erick Giffen. The Vikings then strung two quick scores together at the end of the third quarter with a Zach Gibson 43 yard reception and a Brandon McVey three yard rushing touchdown that followed a Cottage Grove fumbled handoff on their own fi ve yard line. Back on offense, the Lions wasted no time as Graves found Woods for a 50 yard strike. After a turnover on downs, Clafl in took over and scored his third touchdown of the game to put the Lions up 54-21 in the fourth quarter. Mazama scored twice in the last eight minutes of the game but it was too little too late and the Lions advanced to the championship game. “Absolutely the best feeling ever,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Nate Farrell on getting back to the championship. “We set a goal to go there and we’re going there. The goal is to take the trophy this time and that’s the dream, the goal – everything right now.” The championship game holds extra signifi cance for Cottage Grove head coach Roberts who grew up in Coos Bay, attended Marshfi eld High School and while on the Pirates football team played in the state semifi nals and fi nals. “I’m really happy for John Lemmons, the head coach there at Marshfi eld. He’s a great guy, one of the best people I’ve ever been around. I’m really proud for him and the kids down there but when we suit up next week there isn’t an ounce of me that wants them to win,” said Roberts. "We know what it feels like to “He’s in a class by himself, really, lose... It’s like a festering wound in terms of the level of success. Most teams don’t go to the state and it’s time to come back and take care of it." championship three times ever - Cooper Ladd, senior offensive and three times in the last fi ve lineman and linebacker years, two years in a row, all time winningest coach in his school’s "We know it’s going to be a hard history. He’s a special freaking game next week but we know coach and sometimes that really our goal is to take home that blue gets overlooked but god, he’s trophy. " amazing. He really is. ” - Jacob Woods, senior wide -Mike Ingman, CGHS principal, receiver and defensive back talking about head coach Gary Roberts on defense he had an interception, This week’s athlete of the week he had three punt returns for 111 is Cottage Grove football’s Erick total yards (including an especially Giffen. In Saturday’s semifi nal, exciting 61-yard run), two punts Giffen made his presence felt in for a total of 86 yards (including each phase of the game. one that rolled out at the Mazama While on offense he had a quiet one-yard line), 2/2 on fi eld goals game with just one catch for 11 and was 6/7 on PATs. yards, everywhere else he excelled: Athlete of the Week Giffen sprints to a fi rst down earlier this season. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com
