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