Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Lions Roberts steps down as CGHS head coach
down
Falcons
Cottage Grove uses
fast start to secure
another league
victory
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
With just under four min-
utes left to play on Friday at
home against Elmira, Cot-
tage Grove called timeout.
Leading comfortably all
game – thanks to a 16-0 run
to start the opening quar-
ter – the Falcons (6-9, 0-3
Sky-Em) cut the Lions’ (4-
13, 2-1) lead to single dig-
its. Having given up similar
leads throughout the season,
the Lions needed to talk.
“At the timeout we were
like, ‘Hey, we’re being too
cautious about everything,
let’s just play our game and
do what we do best and get
to the rim and score.’ And
then I think just us flying
around on defense, getting
those steals and really gave
us the momentum to keep
going,” said Cottage Grove
senior Dylan Graves who
finished with 14 points on
the game.
Elmira cut the deficit to
seven before the Lions were
able to close out the game via
made free throws and steals
to finish on an 11-5 run to
score a 53-40 victory.
“I called that timeout, I
explained the situation, they
said, ‘Ok.’ They understood
it, they went out and they ex-
ecuted,” said Cottage Grove
head coach Seth Hutchison.
“They defended hard, they
contested shots and then we
executed offensively and we
got the shots we wanted to
shoot and we knocked down
free throws in the fourth
quarter, too.”
In the final two minutes
of play, Cottage Grove came
up with three steals, from
Graves, Jaden Doolittle and
freshman Landon Colburn,
that turned into six points
to seal the game. Doolittle
was four-of-four from the
free throw line in the final
quarter for all his points in
the game.
“Not the most points but
those are big, meaning-
ful points. Because if you
miss those free throws then
they’re continuing their run.
They’re run stoppers,” said
Hutchison.
While it was the play of the
Cottage Grove guards finish-
ing the game, the day started
with the success of the bigs
inside. The Lions looked
unstoppable in the opening
minutes as they dismantled
the Elmira defense to take a
fast 16-point advantage and
finished the quarter with an
18-5 advantage. Leading the
charge was Cottage Grove’s
Creed Lufkin inside scoring
10 points in the first quarter.
Lufkin finished the day with
15 as frontcourt partner in
crime Jasper Nichols-Fergu-
son added 11.
“Beginning of the season
I don’t think they were as
confident but these last five
games, I’ve seen a whole
new Creed and Jasper. Just
them being able to crash the
boards, get big rebounds for
us and be able to put them
back in and bail us out half
the time. It’s great having
them,” said Graves.
Their presence was also
felt on the defensive end as
they created problems for
LIONS
see B3
PHOTOS BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Gary Roberts tells the Cottage Grove football team on Jan. 15 that he is stepping down from his role as head coach after 11 seasons.
Winningest coach
in program history
departs after 11
seasons
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
After 11 seasons of lead-
ing the Cottage Grove football
team, Gary Roberts has stepped
down from his position as head
coach.
Roberts announced the deci-
sion last Tuesday at a lunchtime
meeting with next year’s football
team.
“I’m here today to let you guys
know that I’m stepping down as
the head coach as of right now,”
Roberts said. “So, I just wanted
to tell you guys that 11 years, it’s
been fun but I’m tired. I’m just
being honest with you.”
Roberts, 40, finished with a
75-42 record at CGHS and has
become the winningest foot-
ball coach in school history.
He was named Sky-Em Coach
of the year five times (2010,
2012, 2013, 2016, 2017) and 4A
Coach of the year twice (2016,
2017) while also winning the
school’s first ever state football
title (2017). Before coaching at
CGHS he was an assistant for
seven seasons at Sheldon High
School.
“There is no offseason for the
head football coach. There is no
offseason for a lot of coaches, I
mean, there isn’t. Between or-
dering things, inventory, coach-
es' clinics, starting the weight
room up and doing all the
summer stuff. It’s a year-round
job. I’m just tired and I need a
break,” said Roberts who also
serves as CGHS athletic director
and vice principal.
“This isn’t going to be (a situ-
ation) where two weeks now I’m
taking a job from somewhere
else. That ain’t happening. Now,
my plan is to be back here next
year. I guarantee I’m not taking
another football job. I’m taking
a break, we’ll see what the future
has.”
For Roberts, this decision was
not made lightly and has been
something he has been thinking
about and discussing with a se-
lect group of people.
“I thought about it last year,
I decided I would come back
and do one more and see how
it went. It just, even entering the
season I was a little bit, I was ex-
cited to work with this group of
kids, it was a different challenge
but I kind of knew at the end
of the season, it was just a little
different feeling,” he said. “Then
over the holiday break I felt like
I’m not getting recharged like I
thought or like I had in the past
so I need a break.”
While coaching the Lions,
Roberts has brought the team to
the highest of highs including a
stretch of three state champion-
ship appearances in five years.
But while the team has achieved
newfound success, Roberts
focuses on the what-ifs when
looking back at his time as head
coach.
“Just the competitor in me
thinks about the things that
could have happened different. I
look back at the 2010 team and
think, if we would have done
this different, where would it
have gone? I look back at the
2008 team and think maybe – I
look back right now and think
of the things that I could have
done better instead of the things
that I accomplished,” he said. “I
think that’s kind of one of the
reasons why we’re in the posi-
tion we’re in is because I didn’t
feel like I ever took a bunch of
time to reflect on the positives. I
spent more time thinking about
how I could have done a better
ROBERTS
see B3
A Cottage Grove football player gives his former coach a hug
after Roberts made his announcement.
North Douglas finds answer to Riddle
Behind strong defense,
Warriors hand Irish
first loss of the season
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
PHOTO BY BECKY GERRARD
The North Douglas defense attempts to slow Riddle’s Nate
Hopkins as he drives to the rim. Hopkins was held to 14 points
on Saturday night.
Athlete of
the Week
All season no team has been
able solve Riddle. With height
(seven players over six feet tall)
and weapons across the board
(including senior Nate Hopkins
who is averaging over 25 points
per game), the Irish jumped out
to a dominant 14-0 record on
the year including 11 wins by 25
points or more.
But Saturday night in Drain,
it was North Douglas (10-6, 5-1
Skyline) leaning on their de-
fense as they ended Riddle’s (15-
1, 5-1) undefeated season with a
convincing 57-45 victory.
“I thought this was by far the
best game. We played four quar-
This week’s athlete of
the week is Cottage
Grove freshman Gracie
Arnold. In Friday’s 46-
35 victory over Elmira,
Arnold led the Lions
with 12 points.
ters of defense which is some-
thing that we haven’t done this
year,” said North Douglas senior
Cal Parks who led all scorers
with 18 points. “We’d put two
quarters together one game,
another two, maybe three. But
this was definitely our game of
putting four quarters of solid
defense together.”
Riddle entered the game aver-
aging 71 points per game on the
season and the team has twice
scored over 90 points in games
this year. The focus of the North
Douglas attack was centered on
the ever-explosive Hopkins. A
penchant for offense and ability
to turn steals into layups – or a
two-handed dunk as he showed
in the opening minutes of play
– Hopkins can score from any-
where on the floor and in a game
last season dropped 45 points.
“They have one of the best
players in the league, possibly
the state in Nate. And our plan
was to slow him down. If he
gave up the ball, deny it back to
him as best we could and just get
into him and play physical. And
the boys did exactly that,” said
North Douglas head coach Ty-
ler Vancil. “I don’t have enough
good things to say about my
boys, extremely proud of them
right now.”
Guarded everywhere he went
by North Douglas’ Austin Frieze
or Killian Bond, Hopkins was
held to 14 points and was score-
less in the fourth quarter.
“That was our game plan
from the beginning of the week.
(Killian) and (Austin) are two of
our best, if not best, defenders
on our team,” said Vancil. “We
WARRIORS
see B2
Cottage
Grove’s
Gracie Arnold
gets into a
defensive
stance earlier
this season
against
Hidden Valley.
PHOTO BY JADEN
DOOLITTLE/CGHS
PHOTOGRAPHY