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B S PORTS Section B Coaching Spotlight: Jarred Eakin Wednesday, December 20, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Doudna leaves no doubt, Elks get fi rst win An interview with Yoncalla's new boys basketball coach By Zach Silva Cottage Grove Sentinel: What is your coaching back- ground? Jarred Eakin: I coached at Umpqua Community College for fi ve seasons. I was the head assistant coach and did a lot of recruiting for UCC. I coached South Umpqua girls basketball for two years and Umpqua Val- ley Christian for one year two seasons ago. And didn’t have anyone last year, I had some health issues and had to step away from UVC and you know they hired someone else and you know, more power to them. They didn’t have anyone here this year and this job opened up and I applied for it and got it. CGS: What is your basketball philosophy? Eakin: From UCC on I’ve always kept the same philos- ophy basketball wise. X’s and O’s wise I’m just carrying ev- erything over and with my two previous schools it was just, it was rough because at UVC my whole varsity team, they didn’t have a program the year be- fore so that year it was all ninth graders. We got two juniors to come out but they were soccer players. With our style of play we would keep with teams in the beginning but you know, you’re asking 14-year-olds to guard 17-year-olds in the third and fourth quarter and games would get out of hand. Same with South Umpqua. CGS: How does this team differ from your teams in the past? Eakin: The biggest differ- ence coming here is that you can tell in a few open gyms that I had that they play basketball here. They get it. They’re doing stuff on their own that I’d have to tell other teams. Just a sense of where to be and things like that. But like any other program we’ve got stuff to iron out and yeah we’re still young but it’s not that I feel bad for these kids but having the same coach for many years and having some- thing different, they’ve got to adjust to that. We have a good solid 10 play- ers. There’s no real drop off. And so I can adjust my lineups however I want to. With this group, they’re shooters. You know, it’s just going to be re- ally fun. I really feel like after this little bit of watching them I can do what I want to do. You know, like, you come in with a philosophy like you know what you want to do but sometimes you know, it doesn’t work you have to change it. But with this group, we can actually get it go- ing and get what I want to do. So that’s exciting for me. CGS: What would a success- ful season look like to you? Eakin: Just everyone buying into the system. Everyone hav- ing a positive attitude with the coaching change you know and excited to come back. That’s success for me. Like when I was interviewing and everything, I don’t know what the team was like prior to me and everything. Of course I read stuff in the pa- per, different stuff, you know, but I don’t, I wasn’t here. It’s a new day going forward so suc- cess to me is everyone buying in to what we’re trying to do offen- sively, defensively, the culture. I have different stuff that I bring over. Other than wins and losses that’s success to me. Everyone has a positive experience and we play summer ball and they want to get back going. That’s success for me. And of course, game wise, I want to win the league and get to Baker. Elkton's Brad Doudna drives through the Mohawk defense Friday night on his way to scoring 23 points. Brad Doudna leads the Elkton boys past Mohawk By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Acting as a one-man wrecking crew, Elkton’s Brad Doudna powered past Mohawk with an eye-popping 23 points and 22 rebounds on the way to the Elks' fi rst win of the season. “Relief, I guess, would be the best way to put it,” said head coach Gary Trout. “The kids have been getting better and we’ve been working through some problems so you know, we’re getting better and we’re trying to do the right thing.” After an explosive opening quarter that saw the Elks up 18-15, both teams went scoreless for the opening three minutes of what was an ugly second quarter. The turnover plagued teams struggled through empty pos- sessions and the Elks went to the half lucky to be down two after scoring just three points in the quarter. “We start getting tentative and slow down and kind of stop when we’re not sure what we’re doing. And making those adjustments and just keep 'em grinding through, that will be the story for us this season. We just have to grind,” said Trout. In the second half it was Doudna who righted the ship for the Elks. The 6’3" guard, who played all but 17 seconds of the game, does it all for the Elks. The tallest player on the team, he won the tip-off to start the game, he starts the offense, he gets steals and fi ghts for every rebound. Elkton’s Jesse Abraham added 10 points and 10 re- bounds for the Elks. As the Mohawk defense had no answer for his abil- ity to drive through the lane, despite frantic calls from players on the court yelling at teammates to pick him up, the Elks built their largest lead, a seven point 40-33 advantage, heading into the fourth quarter. Up fi ve with fi ve minutes left to play, Trout, looking to end a seven-game losing streak, called timeout to plea with his players to lock-in to the game. On the fi rst possession out of the timeout, an errant Elks pass turned into an easy Mohawk fast break. “We played to win that game and it was ugly,” said Trout. The Mustangs were able to cut their defi cit to two points but the Elkton defense ramped up and got back- to-back steals that turned into layups. It wasn’t over for the Mustangs when 6’3 forward Michael Rowe missed four shots at the rim, got each rebound and fi nally kicked out to an open teammate to cut the lead to three with a minute left in the game. A pair of Doudna free throws extended the Elkton lead back to fi ve but it was short-lived after Mohawk’s PHOTOS BY CG SENTINEL/ZACH SILVA Elkton's Trentyn Halstead gets a reverse lay-up to go in the fi nal minutes of the game. Anthony Wahto hit a three with 20 seconds left in the game. After getting fouled, Jaydn Woody stepped to the line for the Elks and hit a pair of free throws that sealed the victory for Elkton. “It’s good for them to get the result tonight so I’m sure they feel pretty good about that,” said Trout. Warriors fall to top 2A talent A fi rst half Oakland surge proves to be too much for the North Douglas girls basketball team By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com In a battle between former conference rivals and current top 1A and 2A teams, it was the 2A team that prevailed on Tuesday as Oakland (6-0) beat North Douglas (6-1) 36-25 at North Douglas High School. North Douglas' Abby Whipple looks to start the fast break last Tuesday. “Great learning experience about what it’s like to play an experienced, post-season bound team… I liked broke off a 12-3 run to go up 22-11 at the half. Against a talented Oakland team, the Warriors were our toughness tonight, I liked our grit you know, we “There’s no doubt that we gain confi dence from not able to press as they have done successfully against didn’t quit. A little offensively challenged organiza- Abby Whipple’s presence on the fl oor. So part of that lesser opponents all season. Outside of Tuesday’s tionally, but you know those things will come,” said learning curve is when [she’s not on the court], we game, North Douglas has averaged 27.8 points off of North Douglas head coach Jeff Davis. have to rise. She’s not there, what are we going to do? turnovers this season – most of which are steals that From the start it was the Oakers defense that made That’s part of the process in basketball is fi nding those turn into easy layups out of their press – but against life miserable for the Warriors who shot eight-of-43 roles and who’s going to step up,” said Davis. Whip- Oakland had just eight. (18.6%) from the fi eld. ple led the team in points with 11 and also had seven “The diffi cult thing for us is the yo-yo of competi- “Well, fi rst of all you give them some credit. Good rebounds. tion in our schedule,” said Davis whose team faced a teams make you look bad,” said Davis. The Warriors offensive woes continued but the game winless Triangle Lake team before and after facing the Oakland jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game was even as both teams scored 14 points in the half. Oakers. “You go play last weekend, and no disrespect, but it was the Warriors who battled back with a 6-0 Oakland’s Grace Witten and Hadley Brooksby com- and so there are things that happen here that you can’t run of their own to make it 10-8 early in the second bined for 24 points and included eight points off turn- necessarily duplicate in practice. We may not get it un- quarter. But after early foul trouble sent Abby Whipple overs for Witten. til who knows when.” to the bench, Oakland capitalized on her absence and Athlete of the Week This week's athlete of the week (again!) is Elkton's Hannah Maxwell. Maxwell had another big week but most notably had a triple- double on Saturday in a 67-35 win over Triangle Lake. Maxwell fi nished the game with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals. For a recap on Elkton and all area teams, turn to B3. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com
