Cottage Grove sentinel., September 11, 2019, WEDNESDAY EDITION, Page 13, Image 13

Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Elks go down
to the wire
in opening
victory
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WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Cougars pounce on Lions in season opener
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Eight-man football is a
sport that typically lends
itself to space, speed and
consequentially
high,
lopsided final scores.
Elkton’s first game of the
year was no such contest.
On Friday, Sept. 6 the
Elks defeated visiting
Mohawk by a final score
of 28-22 to give Jeremy
Lockhart a win in his in-
augural game as a varsity
head coach. The score,
however, does not do the
intensity of this game jus-
tice.
“Thank goodness we
pulled it out,” said Lock-
hart after the game, still
reeling from the excite-
ment of what they had
accomplished. “It looked
like we were doing pret-
ty well. It was a nice start
at first … We had one
turnover, a fumble, and
that kind of flipped the
script and they turned it
around and scored pretty
much back-to-back. Next
thing we knew we were
down, and we were down
late.”
Behind the strength
of a solid defense that
forced four turnovers in
the game, Elkton scored
14 unanswered points
in the second quarter
to close out the half af-
ter Mohawk opened the
scoring with a touch-
down and a failed two-
point conversion.
The third quarter con-
tinued relatively unevent-
fully with Elkton tacking
on another touchdown
for good measure, taking
a 20-6 lead into the final
period.
In the fourth quarter
things got wild. Mohawk
scored two quick touch-
downs, converting both
two-point conversions,
to take a 22-20 lead. Elk-
ton was unable to answer
for much of the quarter.
Mohawk had a third
down and two to go with
2:09 left in the game and
looking to close things
out for the win. In a
confounding decision,
Mohawk decided to
throw on third down, a
pass that fell incomplete
and stopped the clock.
The Elks defense stood
strong, stopping them on
fourth down, resulting in
a turnover and a stopped
clock.
Because of the incom-
plete pass and turnover
on downs, Elkton had
time remaining and tim-
eouts to spare, eventually
making their way down
the field and scoring the
go-ahead touchdown and
conversion to take a 28-
22 lead with 22 seconds
on the clock. The barn-
burner of a game was still
not quite finished.
In a testament to the
team’s resilience, Mo-
hawk quickly got the ball
within the Elks’ five-yard
line but were denied by
a stout, swarming de-
fense, failing to convert
a game-tying touchdown
as time expired.
“To get that turnover
on downs, then get the
ball back, drive down
and score, and then have
to do a goal line stand. It
was a lot to ask for these
kids,” said Lockhart. But
See ELKS 4A
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CGSENTINEL
The Lions could never get much of anything going against a Cascade Cougars team that looks to be formidable in 2019. Here the team
heads off the field to shake hands with the opposing team then board for the long bus ride back to Cottage Grove.
CG will look to work out the past us and we can move on and son, so we watch this to get better of their league so it’s a good show-
get better,” said Chad Smith after tomorrow and then move on to ing of where we need to be and
kinks before heading into
his inaugural game as Cottage Crook County on Monday.”
how hard we need to go,” Smith
their week two matchup
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
From commentator quotes to
“coach-speak”, sports are filled
with clichés. “On to the next one”
is an oft-heard mantra pointing
to the need to move on from let-
downs, allowing a team to focus
on the road ahead. For Cottage
Grove football, they will most
definitely be looking to move on
to next week.
In a struggle on both sides of
the ball from the outset of the first
quarter, the Lions were defeated
by the Cascade Cougars 55-6 on
Friday, Sept. 6 at Cascade High
School in Turner, Ore.
“We have a lot of players that
haven’t played a varsity game be-
fore. We have a lot of guys where
today was their first varsity ex-
perience, so whether it’s jitters or
nerves or things like that, those
are things that are hopefully now
Grove head coach.
Cascade showed their experi-
ence in all phases of the game.
Their defense swarmed to the
ball, the offense looked smooth
and explosive and the end result
was a difficult matchup for a team
lacking in experienced varsity
players. Nonetheless, week one is
not the time to make firm conclu-
sions about a team’s season-long
outlook. Regardless of talent and
experience, there are always kinks
to work out early in the season.
“I think everyone played and
they played hard. The kids did
what we asked them to do,” said
Smith in regards to his young
squad. “We’re going to watch film
and see what we need to improve
on and see some things we can do
to get better … Usually your big-
gest improvement is from week
one to week two so that’s what
we’re looking to do … We can’t let
this loss affect the rest of our sea-
The Cougars won the coin-toss
and elected to receive; it was a
small, early victory that portend-
ed the rest of the game. Cascade
scored their first touchdown with-
in the first 90 seconds of the game
and closed the first quarter with a
short-yardage score run by senior
running back Ethan Coffey.
Things didn’t improve from
there as the Lions struggled all
night to contain Coffey and soph-
omore quarterback Jacob Hage,
the leaders of a dominant running
attack that never seemed to let up.
By halftime, the score was 41-0
and the Cougars never looked
back.
“Cascade is always good. They
have people that run hard, work
hard. They got big strong kids and
they changed their offense this
year. That’s a tough offense, espe-
cially week one, to prepare for and
that’s just the way the cards fell. I
fully expect them to be at the top
said.
The Lions finally punched in
a score late in the fourth quarter
on an 11-yard passing strike from
backup quarterback Logan Low-
ery to Jacob Dunn.
Ultimately, Cascade outgained
the Lions 337-20 on the ground
and Hage finished the game 6-6
passing for 112 yards and a touch-
down, also adding seven carries
for 126 yards and an additional
three scores.
In this game, the experience gap
was insurmountable. The good
news? Cottage Grove now has no
other choice but to move “on to
the next one.”
“Now we’ve got that stuff out of
the way, so we just have to move
forward to next week and not let
this game beat us twice,” Smith
said.
The Lions will look to get back
on track at home, Friday, Sept. 13
at 7 p.m. against Crook County.
Jorgenson scores Herz Nationals prelim win
By Ben Deatherage
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove Speedway was back into the
swing of things on Friday, September 6. It was
the first of two nights of the 2019 Herz Preci-
sion Parts Wingless Nationals. The Wingless
Sprints, Street Stocks and Dwarf Cars all in-
habited the famed quarter-mile clay oval.
Kevin Cory made a significant return to
Cottage Grove Speedway in the Wingless fea-
ture. The Medford veteran, racing for car own-
er Steven Thompson, paced the field for the
first lap of the main. Redmond’s Brent Rich, in
the Nickye Mendenhall-owned mount, took
over the role as the leader on the second cir-
cuit.
Rich had a tough task of keeping all chal-
lengers at bay. Eventually, Ricky Ashley made
his way to the front on the fourth trip past the
flag stand. Ashley, of Thurston, managed to
construct a massive lead over the rest of the
competition.
However, in the late stages of the races he
would be bottled up in heavy lapped traffic.
Ricky Ashley lost the lead on lap 24 at the
start/finish line. The driver taking over the
role in the first place position was Jonathan
Jorgenson from Puyallup, Washington. Rac-
Athlete of
the Week
PHOTO C/O LESTER HANKINS
Jonathan Jorgenson poses with his family and friends after his speedway victory.
ing for Tacoma, Washington-based car owner
Sterling Kane, Jorgenson led the balance of the
distance to pick up a massive win.
Trent Carter, making the long tow from Re-
dondo Beach, California, squeaked into sec-
ond place on the final lap. Ricky Ashley ended
the main in third while Eagle Creek youngster
Lindsay Barney finished her night fourth. Rob
Lindsey of Sherwood, wrapped up the top five
Th is week’s athletes of the
week are the Junior Adult
Summer League bowling
champions Don Fitzgerald
and Zach Anlauf.
finishing order in fifth.
A special knock-out qualifying format was
utilized for the night to determine the winner
of the $500 bonus courtesy of Herz Precision
Parts. Ricky Kirkbride from Bakersfield, Cal-
ifornia was the last man standing and was
the winner of the time trial battle. Also, Kirk-
See SPEEDWAY 4A
Don Fitzger-
ald (left) and
Zach Anlauf
(right) show
off their
medals.
COURTESY PHOTO