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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
2B COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL OCTOBER 31, 2018 Lions sneak into playoffs, fall in play-in game By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Th e Cottage Grove boys’ soc- cer team was searching for a victory. “We needed to win this game for many reasons. One, because it’s senior night and two, it would ease our way into playoff s. And it was Marist,” said Cottage Grove’s George Cervantes who netted the only goal of the game. “What better way to go out then to beat the undefeated (in league-play) team? Th ey’re not undefeated anymore.” Behind Cervantes’ 46th min- ute stunner of a goal, the Lions (7-5-2) defeated the Spartans (9-3-1) 1-0 at home last Tuesday night to grab the fi nal playoff spot in the 4A classifi cation. Entering Tuesday’s contest, Cottage Grove was ranked 21st with the top 20 teams making the playoff s this year. Twelve playoff spots go to the fi rst and second place team in each of the six leagues while the fi nal eight spots go to the highest-ranking teams remaining. On the out- side looking in, the Lions knew what they had to do. “We were really level-headed coming in because we had been talking about this game for a long time. We all knew we need- ed to give it everything we have,” said Cottage Grove senior Jas- per Nichols-Ferguson. “Th ere’s a lot of energy – there’s so much energy in the locker room. Like a quiet energy, like a calm before a storm kind of energy.” Going into the game, the Spartans had outscored their Sky-Em opponents 28-1 on the season. With Marist’s abil- ity to pick apart a defense with their precision passing, it was the Cottage Grove defense that came up big on the night. “It’s better for us to just be in the position, to make sure that we’re shutting them down. Th ey can pass it all day long and con- trol it all day long as long as we don’t let it go in our defensive third of the fi eld,” said Cottage Grove head coach Vern Stewart. “And they were just getting frus- trated.” In the fi rst half, the Spartans were able to get onto the Cot- tage Grove half but were unable to create meaningful opportu- nities. Th e Lions had chances including a header from Nich- ols-Ferguson that just went wide halfway through the fi rst half. Six minutes into the second half the Lions were able to cap- italize as Cervantes hit a strike from 25-yards out on the left side of the fi eld. Th e ball curved up before nestling into the top right corner of the goal. Cottage Grove’s Abelio Carillo-Chales passes to a teammate against Marist last week. “I was like alone, I was like, ‘Yo, drop the ball.’ And (Lathan Van Wagner) dropped the ball and I had so much space. I had time to take a touch, look up, fi nd the angle. Because usually against Marist you don’t really have time because they’re al- ways like on you,” said Cervant- es. “I just had all the time in the world. So I was just like – easy shot.” Over the course of the fi nal half hour, and especially in the fi nal 10 minutes of the game, Marist was searching for the goal and controlled possession but they were continuously plagued by the Cottage Grove defense. “We just wanted to make sure that everybody got behind the ball. So we practiced all week about everybody getting back, even our forwards and every- body before we did anything up front,” said Stewart. It worked for the Lions as they recorded their third-straight shutout and fi ft h in the last sev- en games. Last Saturday, the Lions trav- elled to McLoughlin where they lost 1-0 to the eighth-ranked Pi- oneers in a play-in game. The businesses on this page are: SUPER F ANS They proudly support our local student athletes. Please show your appreciation by patronizing their businesses. Cottage Grove High School North Douglas High School Yoncalla High School 10/31 6 p.m. Girls Soccer @ Hidden Valley 11/2 8 a.m. Volleyball vs. Days Creek (@ Redmond, Court Two) NO GAMES 11/2 3:15 p.m. Volleyball vs. Tillamook (@ Forest Grove, Court One) 7 p.m. Football @ Gladstone Elkton High School 11/3 2 p.m. Football @ Camas Valley 1 p.m. Football @ Crane 11/3 12:20 p.m. Cross Country Pac-12 www.bradschevy.com (541) 942-4415 FAX (541) 942-2881 WEEK 10 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Colorado @ Arizona 7:30 PM Rogers & Son Floor Covering • Window Covering Saunas • Swimming Pool & Hot Tub Supplies Dave & Carol Rogers (541) 942-0500 1324 E. Main (541) 942-0750 P.O. Box 40 (541) 942-0017 Fax Cottage Grove, OR 97424 www.rogersandsonfl oorcovering.com Cottage Grove Sentinel www.cgsentinel.com @ cgsentinel @cgsentinel #cgsentinel Cottage-Grove-Sentinel SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 Utah @ Arizona State 1:00 PM UCLA @ Oregon 4:30 PM Stanford @ Washington 6:00 PM USC @ Oregon State 7:00 PM California @ Washington State 7:45 PM