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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2021)
Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports Sports & Leisure B1 THURSDAY | APRIL 8, 2021 Making strides Note: Game times and dates are subject to change Lions fi nish soccer season with a roar Spring openers By Zeahna Young April 13 Cottage Grove Sentinel • CG Baseball hosts Siuslaw 5 pm • CG Softball hosts Siuslaw 5 pm • ND/Yonc. Baseball hosts Ump. V. Chr. 4:30 pm • Elkton Softball at Oakridge 4:30 pm • CG Track & Field at J. City 4 pm April 16 • Elkton Baseball at North D/Yoncalla Noon and 2 pm • ND Softball hosts Riddle 2/4 pm • Yoncalla Softball at Oakridge 2/4 pm • CG Baseball hosts Marist 3/5 pm • CG Softball hosts Marist 3/5 pm NED HICKSON/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL C ottage Grove junior Piper Youngmayr led the girls cross country team at last week’s Sky- Em League districts, finishing with the highest individual finish for either Cottage Grove team after placing 12th in 23:51.80. Her finish earned her Second Team All-League honors. Results: Lions look to future April 2 • Yoncalla Volleyball defeated Elkton: 25-20, 25-20, 25-20 • Elkton Football defeated Siletz Valley: 45-26 April 3 • Powers Volleyball defeated Elkton: 25-21, 25-17, 25-14 • Days Creek Volleyball defeated Yoncalla: 25-20, 25-18, 25-14 By Zeahna Young Cottage Grove Sentinel S COURTESY PHOTO Lions head coach Joe Polamalu says the Lions will return to varsity next fall after the successful JV season the team just completed. ome teams have had a more difficult time this athletic season as a result of COVID-19. For the Lions’ football program, it was already going to be a rebuilding year with a coach who was new to the school. However, the added stress of the pandemic affected participation, and Coach Joe Polamalu, along with Ath- letic Director Matt Myers and other school staff, made the decision to play junior varsity for this season. Rather than compete beyond See LIONS 2B Lady Lions reach playoffs, fall to Sweet Home By Zeahna Young Cottage Grove Sentinel Last week, the Lions’ volley- ball team had the chance to com- pete for first place in the Sky-Em League, with playoffs being a pos- sibility as well. Although they did not win the game needed to take first place in the league, Cottage Grove did place high enough to compete in the playoffs this week. The Lady Lions’ final league game of the regular season was last Thursday (April 1) at Siu- slaw High School. Going into the game, Cottage Grove knew that if they won, they would play against Junction City the next night to de- termine who would take first place in the league. It was a very high energy game, but despite the fact that they were able to pull out a win in the first set, the Vikings swept the next three sets to win the match — Athlete of the Week putting the Lions in second place overall. Since the Lions had de- feated the Vikings in their previ- ous match-up, the loss was defi- nitely an upset. Coach Abby Ladd discussed the possible reasons her team struggled to take the win over Siuslaw this time around. “I think that we went into the game feeling really confident be- cause we had beaten them before,” said Ladd. “We were focused on playing a tiebreaker against Junc- Th is week’s Athlete of the Week is Cottage Grove High School standout, Piper Youngmayr, who was named to the Sky-Em Second Team All-League girls cross country team tion City the next day, and not completely focused and all in on that game. “Then, when Siuslaw was play- ing hard and doing really well, individually, the girls all started to shut down. They were frustrated with themselves; they were frus- trated with each other; they were struggling to pull it together.” Overall, it seemed that Cottage See CGHS 2B Piper Youngmayr, a junior, had the Lions’ highest fi nish at last week’s Sky- Em League cross coun- try districts, placing 12th overall. PHOTO BY NED HICKSON/ CG SENTINEL The Lions’ soccer program had a very successful season this year, coming in third place in the Sky- Em League with a record of 5-3- 1. Coach Vern Stewart discussed some of the season’s highlights, as well as key factors important to him as a high school soccer coach. “Our season was kind of mixed,” said Stewart. “Being a short sea- son, you’re trying as a coach to get as much out of it as you can. The seniors, this is their last hur- rah, and they were robbed out of their normal season — so you try to make it as normal as you possi- bly can.” Stewart certainly gave it his all this season as their coach, and the Lions were quite a team to follow this season. However, winning was only a portion of what Stewart spent his time coaching the kids to do. “One of the main things I always tell my guys is that every game is only 80 minutes, but it’s all the other time you spend with your teammates and friends that real- ly makes it something that you’re going to remember,” Stewart said. “It’s the journey as opposed to just that final destination — because if you’re making the journey im- portant, that destination is going to be that much sweeter. The peo- ple that win games and champion- ships, if they don’t enjoy getting there, it’s very short-lived.” Team camaraderie is vital to Stewart. For him, the success of the program is dependent upon the enjoyment of the kids in the long run. “As a high school coach, you don’t have the luxury of selection,” said Stewart. “You are getting the kids that are coming to your See SOCCER 2B Elks buck Warriors at home By Zeahna Young Cottage Grove Sentinel On Friday (April 2), Elkton’s football team hosted Siletz Valley at home. The Elks played an out- standing game and were able to defeat the Warriors soundly, 45- 26. According to coach Jeremy Lockhart, the Elks were on fire from the get-go. “We came out of the gates really well, we were flying,” said Lock- hart. “We got on it early, and we took a pretty commanding lead.” Elkton scored 18 points in the first quarter. Cooper Peters had the first touchdown rushing, fol- lowed by Jayce Clevenger throw- ing the second touchdown to Ben Bowen. Peters then had a 49-yard touchdown. They only allowed the Warriors one touchdown in the first quar- ter. In the second quarter, Peters had a five-yard touchdown run. Clevenger then had a 59-yard touchdown pass to Peters, who had a 15-yard touchdown run af- ter that, allowing the Elks to score 20 points in the second quarter, and bringing their score to 38. They managed to keep Siletz at 12 points, allowing them only one touchdown in the second quarter as well. At halftime, the score was 38-12 in Elkton’s favor. “I was really impressed with our defense,” said Lockhart. “That was probably our best defensive game, besides the Jewell game, which was a good game, too, defensive- ly. We tackled really well, we were flying to the ball, and I was really See ELKS 2B