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Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Leisure B1 THURSDAY | JULY 1, 2021 A Season to Remember: Girls’ hoops undefeated By Jerry Thompson/for The Sentinel A fter running the table in Sky-Em league play with a 11-0-1 record, the Lady Lions’ season came to a screeching halt last Tuesday with a 51-42 loss to Valley Catholic. The game was a see-saw battle until the end. The CG girls trailed 22-25 at the half, but the game was tied at 33-32 at the end of the third quarter. With 3:48 to play, the game was tied at 40- 40, but then everything went the Valiants’ way. Josie Napoli canned a three from the top of the key, but the Lions were still in it until Valley Catholic corralled two key of- fensive rebounds on two missed one and ones. Cameron Wilder then hit a three from the right corner to put the Valiants ahead 46-40 with under three minutes to play. The Lions had numerous opportunities to close the gap, but a couple of misses on the front end of a one and ones, plus an unforced turnover were too much to over- come. Senior Matty Ladd led the CG girls with 21 points, but the next top scorer was Gra- cie Arnold with just six points. The Lions shot a very poor 4-for-15 from the free throw line. That missed opportuni- ty was compounded by the fact that steady senior point guard Mikaela Blomquist suf- fered a thigh contusion early in the game. She tried to play through with the injury, but was obviously not able to play up to her potential. “They’re a high-scoring team and they usually get 10-15 points in transition. They didn’t get much in transition,” Lions head coach Erin Royse. “I am proud of how our players were getting back. We missed some shots and missed free throws. Those two can cost you a game.” One circumstance that seemed to favor Valley Catholic’s was the fact that the previ- ous week the Lions had played five games in six days, with the ability to rest and prepare on just Sunday and Monday. The Sky-Em league was the only con- ference of the six Oregon 4A leagues that played a Friday and Saturday tourney before the playoffs. On the other hand, Valley Catholic had six days between their league-ending play and Oregon’s 4A Showcase Final 8 playoff game against Cottage Grove. Despite the playoff loss, the Lady Lions can hold their heads high with the 11 wins over their conference rivals. “It was a lot of fun to be on this ride, kind of a roller coaster we were on with ups and downs, just like every other team that has being going through this winter basketball season in the spring,” said Royse. “I think we all dealt with adversity, and I’m really proud of the way our players came through with just sticking together, being a team and powering through all the challenges that we had.” The Lions are losing seniors Matty Ladd, Mikaela Blomquist, Alexia Riggs and Kourt- ney Owens. Ladd led the CG girls with 16 points per game, nearly 10 rebounds per game and close to 3 blocked shots per game. Although no all-league selections had been made at press time, there is little doubt that Ladd, who played on the varsity all four of her high school years, should be named the Sky-Em’s most valuable player. PHOTO BY JERRY THOMPSON/CG SENTINEL see GIRLS on B2 Senior Mikaela Blomquist put the Lions ahead 33-32 with this shot against the Valiants. Wings, wheels and 100 years of aviation By Sophia Edelblute sedelblute@cgsentinel.com A s Oregon celebrates 100 years of aviation, the Or- egon Aviation Historical Soci- ety and Museum celebrated the comeback of Wings and Wheels after a year of absence, marking the seventh annual event on Sat- urday, June 26. “It is [Oregon aviation’s] cen- tennial and we wanted to do something significant in terms of that because 100-year anni- versaries don’t happen very of- ten,” said Tim Talen, board vice president. Antique cars, planes, motor- cycles and some rather unique creations — like John Barrong’s homemade motored tricycle, looking like something similar to a penny-farthing bicycle — are on display. Not only are peo- ple’s own vehicles present, but a display of historical planes and plaques depicting Oregon’s avia- tion history are sat in the middle of the blacktop. In 1921 “the state decided that aviation actually could be something that could be of val- ue ... so they said ‘okay, let’s have a department of aviation,’” said Talen. Back before the 1920s basical- ly anyone who could fly a plane was considered a pilot, according to Talen. So Oregon started reg- istering and licensing pilots and aircraft. The first license plate for planes was about the size of a motorcycle plate, Talen said, but they got bigger as time went on. Homebuilding airplanes was also a huge thing in Oregon when the department of aviation first started. Homebuilding is, CG boys hoops: reasons for optimism By Jerry Thompson for The Sentinel SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/CG SENTINEL John Barrong brought in his Adams Arrow plane and motorized tricycle for display. as Talen describes it, building a plane rather than buying one al- ready built. They are considered experimental aircraft and Ore- gon encouraged their creation. Unfortunately, in 1941, Talen says, the federal government cracked down on homebuilds and made it illegal to build your own plane. But then, after WWII, in 1951, aviation got a boost and, after some petitioning, home- builds were legal again. A lot of the airplanes in the historical display are home- builds, including a plane named Wimpy. According to its plaque, it was built in 1935, is an ul- tra-light plane and boats the first successful low wing design of its time. It was a frequent fli- Athlete of the Week er at Beaverton’s Bernard Field, “where it gained its comic name ‘Wimpy’” It is now considered an Oregon Heritage Homebuilt by the museum. Other vehicles on display have nothing to do with aviation. For example, Barrong’s penny-far- thing motored tricycle. “When I was a kid,” Barrong, one of the museum’s board mem- bers, says, “Ruth Blackburn lived here in town and her husband built her [a tricycle] that was even taller, an even taller wheel, and she used to ride it in the Bo- hemia Days parade and so when I was a little kid I thought, ‘wow that’s so damn cool.’ The tricycle is so damn cool. I’m gonna build one some day,” said Barrong. He This week’s athlete of the week is Matty Ladd. In her last game in four years as a Lion, senior Matty Ladd scored 21 points in the Lions’ loss to Valley Catholic. For the season, Ladd led Cottage Grove with 192 points and 118 rebounds. did eventually build it, of course, for his wife’s birthday, using a spare Maytag engine she hap- pened to have in her possession. “You get an idea in your head, you come up with these ideas of what you want it to look like and you just have to make it hap- pen. So that’s kind of what I do,” Barong said. “I’ll collect bits and pieces until I have everything I need to do it and then just one day I’ll do it.” He started welding as a kid when bolting together his go- carts wouldn’t work anymore. “You’d be screaming around the field, something would come unbolted and you would crash see WINGS on B3 Matty Ladd scores a two-pointer in the fourth quarter to reduce the Valley Cath- olic lead to two points. PHOTO BY JERRY THOMPSON/CG SENTINEL Normally a team that finishes 3-9 (3-7 in league play), may not be that thrilled about the upcoming season, but in talking with Cottage Grove Lions head coach Seth Hutchison, he can hardly contain his enthusi- asm for the future. Some of it is based on the fact that the Lions won two out of their last three games. And in the lost to Marist, the Lions improved from a 36-point loss in their first meeting, to a six-point defeat in the second contest. “The effort has always been there,” said Hutchison. “I think they understood they can compete with anyone in our league. A lot of our team didn’t have a ton of varsity experience. From one’s junior to se- nior year we should be improved.” The Lions are slated to return four starters: junior-to-be Brennen Murphy and next season’s seniors, Jayden Cameron, Carter Bascue and Ty Kishen. “It started off a little bumpy,” said Kishen about the Lions’ spring sea- son. “It’s not how I wanted it to go in the beginning, but definitely in the last few games we found ourselves. I think if we can carry that into next season we’ll be super success- ful. The highlight is how we ended with a win at Siuslaw on their senior night.” In that game the CG boys scored 29 points in the first quarter and utilized their base 1-3-1 defense to almost shutout the Vikings. “Putting players in right spots on defense has made a difference,” said Hutchison. “It’s going to be dan- gerous for the other teams with the length that we have. With Murphy at top and Bascue and Kishen on the wings… those are some long arms to get through.” The offense displayed what it is capable of producing as Brennen Murphy led the way with 26 points and Jayden Cameron added 21 in see BOYS on B3