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