Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Lions cruise
to victory
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Talley takes top time to districts
Cottage Grove
football delivers
dominant senior
night performance
against Junction City
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was over as soon as it
started.
Dominant from the first
whistle, the Cottage Grove
football team jumped out
early scoring five touch-
downs on the first nine of-
fensive plays as they rolled
past winless Junction City
57-12 in the final regular
season game of the season.
The victory secured a spot in
the playoffs for the Lions.
“I gave a pregame talk and
I told the team, I don’t care
if they’re 0-7, we’re going
to go out and run them out
of the stadium,” said quar-
terback Dylan Graves who
recorded all his stats in the
first half going 10-for-12 for
208 yards passing with five
touchdowns through the air
and two rushing scores. “We
knew that we just had to go
out there and execute and
be able to move on because
if we were to lose this game
then we weren’t going any-
where.”
In the opening quarter, it
was a whole host of Lions
making their way to the end
zone: Jacob Dunn (20-yard
reception), Jaden Doolittle
(25-yard reception), Erick
Giffen (9-yard reception), a
Graves three-yard run and
Logan Husk (65-yard recep-
tion).
“We didn’t want to come
out and play flat, we wanted
to come out in the first quar-
ter and just, honestly, end it
there. And I feel like we did
good on doing that,” said
Giffen.
Cottage Grove kept up the
scoring in the second quar-
ter as Graves rushed for an-
other touchdown and found
Matt Zumwalt for a 42-yard
passing touchdown. The of-
fense was continually set up
by the team’s defense that
allowed just six yards in the
first quarter and 34 in the
first half.
The second-half didn’t
start any better for the visit-
ing Tigers as the Lions came
away with a safety on Junc-
tion City’s opening drive
followed by a Giffen 68-yard
run out of the wildcat forma-
tion for Cottage Grove’s final
score of the day. The Lions
finished with 414 yards of
offense on the day and no
turnovers.
“I think we did a really
good job of making plays. I
think that’s the biggest thing,
we did the little things right,”
said Cottage Grove head
coach Gary Roberts. “We
were in the right spots on de-
fense and we made plays on
offense. Kids did a good job.”
The Lions dominated
the game in what felt like a
throwback to last season and
the seniors took it all in, in
their final home game in
Cottage Grove.
“It was really emotional
pregame. All of us seniors
just huddled up before the
game and talked about how
this could be our last game
at Herald White and how we
need to lay it all on the line
and make sure we have no
regrets,” said Giffen.
17th ranked Cottage
Grove will now travel to
Newport on Friday night
to take on the 16th ranked
Cubs (6-2). Newport started
FOOTBALL
see B3
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Cottage Grove’s Jimmy Talley races through last week’s Country Fair Classic. Heading into tomorrow’s district meet, Talley has the fastest time in all of 4A.
Jimmy Talley and Annah
Nyburg lead Lions into Sky-
Em district meet
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
In a race with competitors coming
from 1A to 6A schools, it was a pair of
Cottage Grove runners standing out.
At the Country Fair Classic held at
Richardson Park last Wednesday, Cot-
tage Grove junior Jimmy Talley took
third in the boys’ varsity race while soph-
omore Annah Nyburg was sixth on the
girls’ side. It is the last race until Thurs-
day’s Sky-Em League District meet.
“This was more like a road run in that
a bunch of it was on the concrete and on
the asphalt and couldn’t wear their racing
spikes. But man, what a great outcome,”
said head coach Jim Settelmeyer. “It was
a wonderful day and lots of people are
ready to go to the district meet and do
good things.”
Entering the race, Talley held the fastest
time in all of 4A at 16:04. On Wednesday,
he was able to extend his lead among 4A
runners as he recorded a time of 15:50.
Early in the race, Talley was at the front
with the leaders as he attempted to run a
set pace of 5:05 per mile. After a 4:56 first
mile, he wanted to continue to his pace
but not lose sight of the lead pack.
“I also didn’t want to lose the first two
so I tried sticking with them. I lost them
a little bit and then caught up with them
and then kind of lost them at the end of
race,” said Talley who was passed by Je-
daiah Wasson of East Linn Christian in
the final half mile. Vincent Mestler of
Sheldon took first in a time of 15:42.
With his time of on the day, Talley
came within one second of breaking the
Cottage Grove High School 5K record
that was set by Ken Scoggin in 2005.
“(Jimmy is) making strides every
week. To run a crazy 16:04 on Saturday
and follow it with 14 seconds faster,” said
Settelmeyer. “I just told him, if every
week he knocks off 14 seconds, he’s going
to be doing great.”
As a team, the Lions finished 9th of the
25 schools that were competing. Paesen
Timm took 28th in a time of 17:14 while
Konrad Raum was 32nd in a time of
17:20. Jaden Thuesen (129th, 19:42) and
Justin Francis (146th, 20:08) completed
the team’s top five.
On the girls’ side, it was Nyburg who
jumped out with the leaders from the
start.
“There was a small group ahead of me
in the first mile and then they kind of
broke off and we were spread out more,”
she said. “I prefer to have at least a couple
people a few paces in front of me to keep
me going. Give me something to push
for.”
Nyburg hung on with the pack and
powered her way to a sixth-place finish.
The team finished fifth of the 16 teams
competing. Freshmen Evie Smith and
Eternity Reimche finished 37th (21:37)
and 38th (21:39) respectively. Kajsa Merz
took 58th (23:00) while Kenzie Parsons
was 77th (23:48).
Now the focus of the team locks into
Thursday’s district meet at Lane Com-
munity College. The top two teams make
it to the state meet in addition to the top
five overall finishers. In a hypothetical
meet based on each individual’s personal
record on the season, the Cottage Grove
boys are projected to finish fifth and the
girls fourth.
For Talley and Nyburg, they are look-
ing to lock in a spot as individuals. Tall-
ey’s top time is 25 seconds faster than the
second fastest time in league.
“That is still close enough for it to be
a competition,” said Talley. “So basically
just probably race second place and try to
get first and rely on my sprint at the end.”
On the girls’ side, Nyburg has the fifth
fastest time in the ultra-competitive Sky-
Em League that accounts for six of the
top 11 times in all of 4A.
“I’m hoping to definitely PR that meet
and do really well. I want to get to state,”
she said. “I have a shot but I’d like to defi-
nitely confirm a spot.”
The district meet is Thursday (Oct. 25)
at Lane Community College. The varsity
girls race will start noon while the varsity
boys will begin at 12:45 p.m.
Nicki Derrick is back for North Douglas
After tearing her ACL in February,
the three-sport star is back in action
for the Warriors
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Nicki Derrick sends over a serve against Yoncalla in her sec-
ond game back from injury.
Athlete of
the Week
North Douglas was losing and Nicki Derrick
went to make a play.
It was not unlike other times when the talent-
ed three-sport athlete would come up big for the
Warriors. The starting setter for the always highly
ranked volleyball team, an all-league basketball
guard and the 1A softball player of the year in her
freshman season had, time and time again, helped
lead the team – all the teams – to victory.
But this time it was a win-or-go-home girls’
basketball district playoff game – Derrick’s soph-
omore year – and North Douglas was once again
facing Elkton. It was the third time the teams had
met throughout the season and after splitting the
first two contests, the game to decide who went to
state was, fittingly, in overtime. Down by one with
less than 10 seconds to play, North Douglas need-
ed the ball for a chance to win.
“I remember the ball bouncing around a cou-
ple times and then a girl just running down the
court and the first instinct is: my season is going
This week’s athlete of the
week is Cottage Grove’s
Annah Nyburg. Heading
into the district meet,
Nyburg has the fifth fastest
time in the Sky-Em league
and the ninth fastest time
in all of 4A.
to be over if I don’t stop this play,” said Derrick
reflecting on a moment that she has replayed over
and over again in her mind since it happened last
February. She raced for the ball and was called for
a foul but that was not the important, long-lasting
impact of the play.
“I just kind of remember my knee moving in
slow motion and as soon as I hit the ground – it
was just one of those things that you just know this
is not good,” she said.
That pain in her knee was a torn ACL and me-
niscus.
The injury would soon come to mean surgery,
weeks of pain and an arduous rehab process. It
meant this standout varsity athlete with aspira-
tions to play at the next level would be tested in
new ways. But in the moment, on the ground in
pain, it was simultaneously none of those things
and all of those things at once.
“It was really hard for me because it felt unre-
al, like something you would see in a movie,” said
Derrick. “It took me months to comprehend that.”
And after those months of big accomplishments
that included first steps and being able to move
laterally once again, Nicki Derrick is now back.
She has recovered, is healthy and is once again
ready to help the Warriors in every sport she plays.
ND see B4
Annah
Nyburg races
through the
Country Fair
Classic last
week.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL