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