Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
B1
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 2, 2021
Lady Warriors looking for a
fourth consecutive league title
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
ODFW R ECREATION AND F ISHING
R EPORT
myodfw.com/recreation-report
Updated December 2, 2021
Best bets for Free Fishing Days:
There are still some late season Chinook
available in the Wilson, Trask and Nestucca
rivers.
The first winter steelhead of the season
are now in the North Fork Nehalem and
Necanicum rivers and the Lower Columbia
tributaries.
Steelhead anglers might also find an
early fish in the Alsea, Siletz and Siuslaw
rivers.
Coho fishing continues to be good in
Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile lakes.
Anglers are starting to get serious about
winter steelhead on the Coos and Coquille.
Just in time for Free Fishing Days, both
Expo and Reinhardt ponds will be stocked
this week with some trophy trout this week.
Fish Lake has been fishing well (as it
should given its name). Both the resort
and boat ramp will open again for this
weekend.
Winter whale watching
Gray whales will soon be making their
migration south from Alaska to Mexico.
The peak time to see these interesting
animals along the Oregon coast is during
the winter holidays. Many state parks
make good spots for whale watching. More
information about gray whales is available
at orwhalewatch.org/
COURTESY PHOTO – BECKY GERRARD PHOTOGRAPHY
Asia Ward attacks the basketball in a game against
Elkton last spring.
Since 2014, North Douglas
Warriors girls basketball have
torn through their Skyline league
opponents by winning six out of
the last seven league titles. Com-
ing into the 2021/22 season the
Lady Warriors will be in pursuit
of a fourth consecutive league ti-
tle.
“We went over there (to Bak-
er) and won two games and lost
one in the state tournament,” said
third-year Head Coach Jody Cyr.
“We had a lot of our kids young
really come out of their shell in
that tournament and didn’t lose a
kid. So, the momentum from both
that and then coming off a state
championship in volleyball; we’re
in a pretty good spot right now.”
Last season the girls got off to
a blazing start and saw their only
loss come in the state tournament.
In their first seven games, North
Douglas averaged just under 50
points per game while holding
opponents to an average of just
over 21 points per game.
“I guess the most exciting thing
is that the girls are understand-
ing the philosophy I want to play
with,” said Cyr. “We pressure the
heck out of people from baseline
to baseline. The girls are just get-
ting more basketball IQ, which
really helps us in the long run. I’m
excited for our younger girls com-
ing up as our upperclassmen lead
the way.”
For the new girls and players
returning this season, the sched-
ule will be a gauntlet as they face
Sutherlin, Salem Academy and
Kennedy who are all ranked in
the preseason top 10 of 2A and 3A
schools. But coach Cyr doesn’t shy
away from tough competition and
only thinks it will help his team in
the long run.
“We have a really, really tough
pre-season schedule,” said Cyr.
“But my goal is to get every bit of
effort out of the girls that we can.
And when that happens, the rest
falls into place.”
Underclassmen to lead Elk
Boys Basketball
Sports Calendar
Dec. 2
• Creswell
Basketball home
vs. Douglas
Girls: 5:30 p.m.
Boys: 7 p.m.
Dec. 3
• Yoncalla
Basketball home
vs. Douglas
Girls: 5:30 p.m.
Boys: 7 p.m.
• Elkton
Basketball home
vs. Mapleton
Girls: 5:30 p.m.
Boys: 7 p.m.
Dec. 4
• Jingle Rush 5k
@9 a.m.
• Cottage Grove
Wrestling @
Cascade time
TBD
KENDRICK MURPHY CG/SENTINEL
The Elkton Girls work on defensive communication in practice.
KENDRICK MURPHY CG/SENTINEL
Gary Trout enters his 15th season as the leader of the
Elkton Boys Basketball program.
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
Similar to many teams
across the state, the Elkton
Boys Basketball team wished
their season would have been
longer as the team started to
hit their stride. The Elks won
three of their last four games
with an average margin of
victory of over 13 points in
those wins.
“Last season it was too bad
that we got cut short because
we were really improving as
the year went on, and it was
evident,” said longtime Head
Coach Gary Trout. “Just the
improvement that we were
See
LEAD B2
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
The Elkton girls basketball pro-
gram and second-year Head Coach
Noah Miller will look to continue
a positive trend coming into this
season.
Since 2013, the Elks have not
gotten less than a third-place fin-
ish in their league. Last season, the
girls team only had two seniors
with the rest of the team being a
mix of juniors and sophomores
and still going 4-1 in five league
games also making it to the 1A
state tournament.
“Last year we were number two
in the league,” said Head Coach
Noah Miller. “1A did a big state
tournament so we were able to get
in there and play quite a few good
See
DEFENSE B2
Sights set high for North
Douglas Boys Basketball
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
COURTESY PHOTO – BECKY GERRARD PHOTOGRAPHY
Keegan Mast will look to take another step for
North Douglas this season.
Athlete of
the Week
Elkton Girls newcomers
have chance to grow
This week’s athletes of the
week are North Douglas
volleyball and football
players. Samantha
MacDowell and Ray
Gerrard. Gerrard won
defensive player of the
year in Special District 3.
MacDowell won player
of the year in the Skyline
league.
Over the past two years, the
North Douglas Boys Basketball
team lost only two games in the
Skyline league going a combined
17-2. The exciting part is The
Warriors return almost every-
one from last season after going
7-4 overall and getting a taste of
post-season play.
“I knew we were talented and I
think we had the benefit of some
people probably overlooking us.
But I don’t think that people are
overlooking us this year,” said
second-year Head Coach Jesse
Leman. “In the OSAA Preseason
coaches poll, we were ranked fifth
which is really cool to have that
recognition. Obviously, we want
to be ranked first by the end of the
season, but it just kind of shows
me that people are taking this se-
riously this year.”
With the shortened season last
year due to COVID-19, the North
See
BOYS B2
MacDowell
(left) and
Gerarrd
(right) both
took home
special
honors to
end their fall
seasons.
PHOTO BY BECKY GER-
RARD PHOTOGRAPHY