Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Warriors win
league, again
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Making history: Lions secure league title
For the fifth straight
season, the North
Douglas volleyball
team goes undefeated
in league play
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Continuing a dominant
five-year stretch over the rest
of the Skyline League, it was
the North Douglas volleyball
team with a pair of wins this
week to secure another league
title. On Tuesday they swept
Yoncalla in straight sets (25-
14, 25-23, 25-15) and scored
a five-set victory over Days
Creek (25-19, 20-25, 25-18,
14-25, 15-11) on Thursday.
The Warriors last lost a reg-
ular season league game in
October of 2013 (note: North
Douglas lost to Skyline League
opponent Days Creek earlier
this season at a non-league
tournament).
On Tuesday night at Yon-
calla, the third-ranked War-
riors were getting to their
spots on the floor and at the
net as they played their game
and forced the Eagles into
costly mistakes throughout
the first set. Arianna Helgren
was leading the way for North
Douglas at the net gathering
14 kills to go along with 26
digs and three aces on the day.
What started as smooth
sailing took a turn in the sec-
ond set as it was Yoncalla,
on senior night, coming out
energized. An 8-2 run in the
middle of the set gave the Ea-
gles an advantage.
“They had some awesome
moments. The second game
was a great game. So if that’s
what we walk away with, they
can be proud of that. They
challenged that team and
pushed them right to the end
of it,” said Yoncalla head coach
Monet Sheffield.
The Warriors were out of
their normal rhythm and
Yoncalla’s defensive style was
working. The Eagles slow-it-
down style of play that sees
more passes sent over the net
than spikes was grinding on
the visiting team.
“We try to control the tem-
po; we don’t want to play slow
games. We want to stay up. So
sometimes when you fall in
the trap of playing their game
and doing what they were do-
ing, we just have to focus on
playing our game,” said North
Douglas head coach Anne
Campbell.
But with Yoncalla up 23-
18, North Douglas answered
with a run of their own. With
Nicki Derrick’s serve for the
Warriors proving to be un-
hittable, North Douglas was
able to rally back and take the
set. Derrick, playing in her
second game since returning
from an ACL injury, recorded
four aces in the final points of
the set to go along with a kill
from teammate Abby Whip-
ple. Derrick finished the game
with 15 digs, 14 assists, four
kills and six aces. Whipple
added 25 assists, 14 digs and
seven kills.
“Nicki coming in and hav-
ing that stretch of serves at
the end was very good, too.
She’s very good at placing her
serves. That’s a good rotation
for us with her serving. We’ve
got Abby and Arianna in the
front row, we do well in that
rotation,” said North Douglas
head coach Anne Campbell.
In the third set the Warriors
were back to their old selves
as they cruised to a victory.
Yoncalla’s Bella Kloha and
Cassidy Bragg each finished
with 12 digs. Ali Van Loon
added five kills, five assists
and nine digs.
On Thursday night at Days
WARRIORS
see B3
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
The Cottage Grove volleyball team celebrates winning the third league title in school history.
CGHS clinched the Sky-Em
volleyball league title last
Thursday
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
For the third time in school history
the Cottage Grove volleyball team has
claimed the title of league champions.
The Lions previously won in 1973 and
2009.
“I am so proud of them. So proud of
the entire time and how hard they work.
It was a goal that they set out for them-
selves and we wanted to add 2018 to the
banner in the gym and we did it,” said
head coach Kendra Anderson.
Before Thursday’s league-clinching
sweep (25-10, 26-24, 25-15) over Junc-
tion City, Anderson had a conversation
with her team at Wednesday night’s prac-
tice. She had the team divide themselves
into two groups: those who like checking
things off lists and those who like pres-
sure situations.
“We all looked at each other, found out
where we stood and said, we’re all going
to get what we want tomorrow night be-
cause we get to check something off our
list and it’s going to be a high-pressure
situation,” Anderson told her team.
It was that exact situation in Thurs-
day’s game. But before the match got un-
derway, a technical malfunction in the
playing of the national anthem led the
Cottage Grove team to lead the crowd in
a singing of the “The Star-Spangled Ban-
ner.”
“We never have people that actually
sing the national anthem so… all of us
will sing it while they’re playing the mu-
sic. So, Avery (Hutchins) started going
and we all just followed after and honest-
ly, that was probably one of the highlights
of my volleyball career,” said Cottage
Grove’s Cassidy Herbert.
After a brief stint as an a cappella
group, the Lions went back to volleyball
where they came out firing on all cyl-
inders. Cottage Grove was fired up and
after three quick points, Junction City
called timeout. It did not deter the Lions
as they continued to score at will.
“The first set was probably one of the
best sets we’ve ever played when it came
to unforced errors and everything. So I
think that’s really what, since we were just
so excited because we knew what was on
the line,” said Herbert who finished with
20 kills and 12 digs.
In the second set, it was the Tigers
coming out strong and putting up a fight.
“In the second set – they’re a good
team – they started to dig. They are on
a winning-streak as well so I think they
got a little more fired up with their de-
fense. We just had to power through and
realize that they were going to dig a few
up that they didn’t dig up in the first set,”
said Anderson.
Junction City pulled away with a lead
in the middle of the set. The Tigers had a
20-14 advantage but the Lions remained
loose. Trailing during a timeout the team
was not worried but rather were dancing
to the music that was playing.
“I think that as a team when we put
pressure on ourselves and we stress our-
selves out, we do not play good. And we
all know that,” said Herbert. “And so I
think all the dancing at timeouts and
during and in between sets, it’s kind of
our way to realize that this is a game. This
is fun!”
It became even more fun for the Lions
as the team honed in on Junction City’s
weaknesses and were able to rally for a
second-set win.
“We just started getting more consis-
tent and persistent and having faith in
ourselves and our teammates. Trusting
each other again. We get that way that
you start playing by yourself or you won’t
trust the system and try to do it. I think
we were kind of starting to realize that
and we realized it and snapped out of
it,” said Herbert. With all momentum on
their side, the Lions ran away with the
third set to take the match. Lauren Wit-
ty had 36 assists, Reilly Kelty 11 kills and
Sam May had 12 digs.
After competing at the Marshfield
tournament over the weekend and play-
ing Marist on Tuesday night (after The
Sentinel’s press deadline) the Lions are
now getting ready for the start of the
playoffs.
By winning league, the Lions are an
automatic qualifier to make the 16-
team state playoff bracket and will play
the winner of a play-in game. The first-
round playoff game is scheduled for Sat-
urday October 27 with the winner going
to the quarterfinals at Forest Grove High
School.
Forging a friendship through football
Cottage Grove’s Dylan Graves and
Erick Giffen created a bond that
extends beyond the game they love
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
D
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Erick Giffen (left) and Dylan Graves lineup on defense togeth-
er earlier in a game earlier this season.
Athletes
of the
Week
ylan Graves and Erick Giffen are pretty
simple.
They’re a pair of 17-year-old boys not unlike an
average 17-year-old boy. They like listening to Lil
Uzi Vert, watching “SportsCenter” and playing
NBA 2K. They talk football, get food together and
make jokes on Twitter.
They’re also seemingly inseparable, they get sad
when the other leaves town for too long and have
achieved a level of friendship that allows them to
walk into each other’s house unannounced. They
are state football champions and the leaders of the
Cottage Grove football team.
Staples in the program, their friendship has
elevated their play as they have become a focal
point for all opposing teams. After successful high
school careers, Friday night marks senior night
and the last regular season game for the duo that
coaches around the Sky-Em League will be excited
to see go.
“They’re continuing to mature as young men
and put themselves in a spot to go, maybe to go
play at a small college when they are done here.
I don’t know if that necessarily would have been
This week’s athletes
of the week are the
members of the Cottage
Grove volleyball team
for winning the Sky-Em
League. For more pictures
of the team, see B12.
the case when they were freshmen, academically,
especially,” said head coach Gary Roberts. “But
they’ve worked hard at becoming better men and
I think that over time that is going to continue to
help them.”
ylan and Erick were not always friends. Er-
ick moved to Cottage Grove from Eugene
after third grade and Dylan came from California
after fifth and they had no plans of getting along.
“Me and Dylan used to hard core beef in mid-
dle school,” said Erick. “We would just butt heads
all day sixth and seventh grade. We thought about
fighting each other a couple times.” As the pair
laugh about their middle school antics and folly
they reflect on the times when Dylan, a wrestler at
the time, and Erick, a basketball player, would talk
down at the other’s sport.
Animosity and sharp words turned to friend-
ship and playful jests after they got on a football
field together. After realizing they had more in
common – a love of sports (Erick even got Dylan
to drop wrestling and play basketball), video
games and spending hours on the weekends with
their friends at the bowling alley – they began to
get along. For the most part.
“Was it eighth grade when we did the squad
game?” Erick asks Dylan who lets out a groan
mixed with a laugh as he immediately knows
where this story is going.
In a game that featured a combination of Cot-
LIONS see B4
D
Reilly Kelty
goes for a kill
against Junc-
tion City last
Thursday.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL