Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Leisure
B1
THURSDAY | MARCH 11, 2021
Pet Tips
‘n’ Tales
By Mary Ellen
“Angel Scribe”
Garfi eld’s Girls
Elkton jukes Jewel in six-man FB debut
Sports Calendar
into it. It’s been too long!”
This is Elkton’s first year run-
ning a six-man football pro-
gram, and Lockhart explained
some of the major differences
to the game; it’s his first time
coaching six-man as well.
“I’m starting to get used to it,”
said Lockhart. “It’s 15 yards for a
first down, a field goal is worth
four points. A kicked extra point
is worth two points. A conven-
Note: Game times and dates
are subject to change
By Zeahna Young
Cottage Grove Sentinel
On Friday (March 5), the Elks
hosted the Blue Jays for their
first game of the season, finish-
ing with a lopsided 34-6. Victo-
ry.
Coach Jeremy Lockhart was
pleased with his team’s perfor-
mance. “It was a good game,”
he said. “It was good to get back
tional two-point conversion in
eight-man or 11-man is worth
one point for a conversion, so a
run or pass.”
In addition, the quarterback
cannot run the ball for a touch-
down, so they must hand the
ball off, pitch it or throw it. The
quarterback can have the ball
thrown back to them, but
See ELKTON 2A
Garfield with his neighbors
and friends.
G
arfield is an orange, 100 per-
cent purebred Cottage Grove
kitten who’s taken to his lumber
community with gusto. Well,
maybe just a tad too much.
The nine-month-old kitten is
nothing like his comic strip name-
sake who is famously known for
his laziness. Recently, the kitten
played lumberjack and raced up
a 60 ft. cedar tree. Kayla’s young-
est daughter, Lizzy, five-years-old,
was first to hear him mewing,
“Rescue ME-nOW.”
She and her older sister, Jazzy,
followed Garfield’s cries and dis-
covered him helplessly trapped
four stories up the tree. The girls
ran next door to their best friends’
house — Roxy, eight-years old,
and six-year-old Daphne — for
a ladder. The four little rescuers
dragged the ladder to the base of
the tree. The only trouble was it
was four times too short to reach
Garfield. Kayla and her small
team of helpers spent the rest of
the day trying to figure out how to
rescue their fuzzy lumberjack.
“The fire department doesn’t
rescue cats,” said Kayla. “They are
understaffed, underfunded and
don’t have the right equipment.
Besides, our community needs
them available for emergencies.
So, Garfield spent the next two
nights in the tree, haunting ev-
eryone by crying outside the girls’
bedroom window.”
Melissa, the neighbor girls’
mother, posted a “help” on Face-
book’s ‘What’s Going On in
Cottage Grove, Oregon’. People
suggested arborist community ar-
borist Tracy Brandt. He’s rescued
90 cats since he started his com-
pany and appropriately earned the
nickname, “The Cat Rescue Guy.”
“Young cats climbing up a tree
is natural,” said Tracy. “But climb-
ing down is a learned behavior. I
cancelled a job and headed out to
rescue Garfield.”
After 32 hours of the best view
in Cottage Grove, it took Tracy
just 10 minutes to climb the tall
cedar and place a willing Garfield
into the bag tied at his hip before
descending.
“I want to safely reunite cats to
their people at no charge as com-
munity service,” said Tracy. “I re-
cently rescued Raja from the same
tree twice, once on a Tuesday and
then on Thursday.”
Lizzy said, “I will be mad if
Garfield goes back up the tree.”
But the very next morning,
Garfield raced up the tree but
thankfully, this time Melissa’s hus-
band could rescue him.
“Hopefully, that will be our
wild boy’s last rescue,” said Kayla.
Write to Mary Ellen
at angelscribe@msn.com
Athlete of
the Week
March 11
• Elkton V-ball
At New Hope Chr.
6 p.m.
• CGHS boys soccer
Hosts Marshfield
6 p.m.
• CGHS girls soccer
at Marshfield
5:30 p.m.
• CGHS V-ball
hosts Marist
6:45 p.m.
March 12
• N.D/Yon football
hosts Gold Beach
7 p.m.
• Elkton football
at Alsea
7 p.m.
March 13
• N.D. V-ball
at Glendale
6 p.m.
• Yoncall V-ball
(at Elkton)
vs Riddle 2:15 p.m.
vs Powers 6 p.m.
March 15
NED HICKSON/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Senior Matty Ladd leaps into a serve against the Falcons during last week’s opener.
Lady Lions serve up win in league opener
By Zeahna Young
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Cottage Grove d Elmira:
25-17, 25-19, 25-22
Last Thursday (March 4),
Cottage Grove played its first
match of the volleyball season,
sweeping Elmira in three sets
at the Falcons’ nest.
Coach Abby Ladd dis-
cussed the challenges the girls
would have this season with
COVID-19 adding previously
unseen considerations to the
game.
“It’s a whole different game,”
said Ladd. “It’s hard to figure
out the protocols. There are
so many moving pieces now
that it’s a completely different
sport. [COVID-19 adds] a
whole separate piece that we
have never had to deal with
before, so we’re all learning
and changing and dealing with
it every day.”
The Lionesses managed to
navigate the changes success-
fully in the first set. They held
the lead for the entire set, with
10 kills overall from junior
Izabell Senters, junior Taylor
McKay, senior Matty Ladd,
and senior Avery Hutchins.
Serving was on point, with
one ace from Senters, and
three from senior Bella Costa.
Matty Ladd and Hutchins had
a double block near the set’s
end, and Hutchins clinched
the win with a kill to finish
the set at 25-17. Cottage Grove
started the second set down,
not taking the lead until the
See LIONS 2A
Lions roar into soccer season
By Zeahna Young
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Last week, the Cottage
Grove boys soccer team kicked
off its season with two ma-
jor victories. Retired teacher
and Air Force veteran Vern
Stewart has been coaching for
the Lions since 1996, and like
many coaches this school year,
Stewart is just grateful that
guidance changed in time for
his team to be able to compete.
“What a year!” said Stew-
art. “Now we can at least have
somewhat of a season. We usu-
ally have numbers in the 30s,
Th is week’s Athlete of
the Week is Cottage
Grove senior Matty
Ladd of the Lady Lions
volleyball team, which
won its season opener in
a three-game sweep on
the road at Elmira last
Th ursday.
and we have a junior varsity
team as well as a varsity team.
This year we have 28 young
men signed up. If all goes well,
that will mean two teams,
[which is] not as many players
as previous years.”
See SOCCER 2A
CGHS senior
Matty Ladd
helped lead
the Lady
Lions to vis-
tory over El-
mira, scoring
7 kills and
serving 3
aces against
the Falcons.
Photo by Ned Hickson/
Cottage Grove Sentinel
• CGHS football
at North Bend JV
5:30 p.m.
March 16
• Elkton V-ball
hosts Yoncalla
6 p.m.
• N.D. V-ball
hosts Ump. Valley
9 a.m.
• CGHS boys soccer
hosts Siuslaw
6:30 p.m.
• CGHS V-ball
hosts Siuslaw
6:45 p.m.
March 18
• Elkton V-ball
at Ump. Valley
6 p.m.
• CGHS boys soccer
hosts Elmira
6:30 p.m.
• CGHS V-ball
hosts Marshfield
6:45 p.m.