Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports Sports & Recreation B1 THURSDAY | AUGUST 12, 2021 ODFW R ECREATION AND F ISHING R EPORT KENDRICK MURPHY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL myodfw.com/recreation-report The CG girls soccer team officially begins practice this Monday under veteran coach Dylan Ferguson. Updated August 12, 2021 Fall black bear season Opened Aug. 1 and continues through the end of the year. The tag sale deadline is Oct. 1. Fall Chinook special regulations There are special regulations in place this year for the Columbia and south coast fall Chinook seasons, so be sure to check before you go. Fishing won’t pick up for a couple of weeks, but it’s not too soon to be checking out the gear and tuning up the boat. Ocean coho season continue Catch rates for hatchery coho have been good, and took a jump over the last week. Salmon fishing in the cooler ocean breezes is a great way to beat the summer heat. Looking to improve your chances? Check out the myodfw.com/ recreation-report for 10 tips targeting ocean coho. Deer and elk archery seasons open Aug. 28. Just a reminder that eastern Oregon archery deer is now a controlled hunt, and tags are valid only in the unit(s) identified for each hunt. Learn more about the 2021 deer and elk seasons. Drought, fire and hunting With the ongoing drought and in- creasing numbers of land closures, hunters have been asking about hunting season closures and tag refunds. Here’s what you should know: Hunters should be aware of drought conditions and risk of fire in their hunt- ing units. ODFW will not close hunting seasons due to drought or fire. Landowners/managers control ac- cess, so check on access and road closure information in advance. If all access to a hunt unit is closed due to fire restrictions and ODFW de- termines hunters lost their opportunity to hunt, ODFW will evaluate the situa- tion after the season(s) close. If ODFW determines compensation for lost access is warranted, ODFW will notify the affected hunters of their op- tions. Know before you go Early season hunts often take place during the peak of the wildfire season. Experienced hunters know to check for fire closures before their hunt. Visit this page myodfw.com/recreation-report/ big-game-hunting-report/northwest-ar- ea it has links to the most current fire closures and restrictions. Athlete of the Week New manager for CG girls soccer By Kendrick Murphy kmurphy@cgsentinel.com A familiar face with the girls soccer pro- gram at Cottage Grove high school (CGHS) will now be stepping up as head coach for the 2021 season. Dylan Ferguson has been coaching soc- cer at the high school for seven years and teaching in South Lane School District for 22 years and now will be entering his first season as the new manager. “I really just want to have a good fun ex- perience for the girls and try to improve every week, which will hopefully equate to some wins as well,” he said. “My focus as the coach is to prepare them physically, mentally, emotionally and put them in the right spots on the field to make the biggest impact in the game.” Coach Ferguson is ready to turn the page from a really tough season the girls team encountered last year that had them finish near the bottom of the league with no wins. Ferguson has seen some encouraging signs with the voluntary off-season work- outs this summer which has had steady growth in participation and helped with the chemistry for the team leading up to the start of the season. “The character of the players on the team is a real strength. You have all different skill sets and skill levels, some are playing club ball, and some are new this year,” he said. “But the girls that have been out during the summer for open fields, have worked hard and been really positive toward each other.” see GIRLS on B2 CG boys varsity soccer returns with fresh outlook By Daniel Friis/for The Sentinel Last year’s Cottage Grove boys varsity soc- cer season was about as bittersweet as one can imagine. After the coronavirus pandemic put a screeching halt on the original fall schedule, the team and league were given the approval to hold a brief nine-game season in March. With this new season came new rules, including a redesigned playoff structure. Instead of holding a normal playoff elimi- nation bracket in the 4A Sky-Em, representa- tives from the league agreed to just send the two best teams onto the next round to reduce COVID-19 risk. The Cottage Grove Lions were not one of these two teams. “I think the way last year ended absolutely motivates us,” said Jayden Cameron, a senior who plays midfield and attack. “The effort and the way things were going at the end of see BOYS on B2 DANIEL FRIIS/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL CG boys soccer players have begun weight training to get ready for official prac- tices starting next Monday. Trey Starks wins 2021 Marvin Smith Memorial at CGS By Stephanie Deatherage Saturday, Aug. 7, was the second and final night of the 2021 Mar- vin Smith Memorial Grove Classic. The winner would take home $4,100 from the 41-lap main event for the 360 Sprints. Late Models and IMCA Sport Compacts were also in attendance. Puyallup, Washing- ton’s Trey Starks was the pilot to dominate the competition. Starks earned his first career Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic triumph in PHOTO COURTESY OF JRP RACING PHOTOS Trey Starks took home the $4,100 prize from the Marvin Smith Memorial on Saturday. his first win at CGS in 2021. Garen Linder, from Central Point, post- ed a second-place re- sult while third place This week’s athletes of the week are the members of the Cottage Grove girls soccer team, who have consistently been coming to summer workouts to prepare for the upcoming season. was Harrisburg’s Tyler Thompson. The rest of the top five consisted of see STARKS on B2 Grant award revitalizes SVA By Kendrick Murphy kmurphy@cgsentinel.com Young athletes can look forward to more activities at South Valley Athletics (SVA) this year. The nonprofit received a new grant last month from the K-12 Summer Learning Grant Program distributed by the Oregon Community Foundation, a financial boost that will breathe life back into the organization. SVA board member and Vice President Samantha Duncan shared some plans the SVA organization will employ with the new grant money. “We got $30 thousand from the grant. A big por- tion of that we’re going to allocate toward a new The girls team honed their goal shots in drills this past Mon- day. program coordinator, re- building our scholarship pool, and another piece we would like to explore is expanding our programs,” she said. “We’ve talked about adding track, pick- leball, bringing back ten- nis and also adding more camps to have even more fun experiences for our kids.” The COVID-19 pan- demic had took a signifi- cant toll on the programs and camps participation and enrollment at SVA this past year. One key focus is really building back up that scholarship pool for the families that may need to use it. “We’ve been able to al- locate some of that grant money toward schol- arships and because of COVID-19 we really hadn’t been able to of- fer scholarships at all for spring soccer, along with other sports, and so we’re hoping to build that pot back up again,” said Dun- can. “We’re hoping to get some new equipment so we can have some newer stuff for the kids to use. Also, maybe some storage so that everything is more PHOTO BY KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL see SVA on B2