Polk County
Sports
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7
Cross-country: Central
at Mid-Willamette 4-Way,
at Avery Park, Corvallis, 4
p.m.
Volleyball: Central at
Crescent Valley, 6 p.m.
Dallas at South Albany, 6
p.m.
THURSDAY, OCT. 8
Football: Central at
Lebanon, 7 p.m. Dallas at
Corvallis, 7 p.m. Perrydale
at Ione, 6 p.m.
Volleyball: Perrydale
at Falls City, 5:30 p.m.
Western Oregon at Simon
Fraser, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCT. 9
Football: Siletz Valley at
Falls City, 7 p.m.
Volleyball: North Dou-
glas at Perrydale, 3 p.m.
Damascus Christian at
Perrydale, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCT. 10
Cross-country: Central,
Dallas at George Fox
Cross-country Classic, 10
a.m. Western Oregon at
Western Washington Invi-
tational, 10 a.m.
Football: North Ala-
bama at Western Oregon,
1 p.m.
Girls soccer: Seattle Pa-
ciic at Western Oregon, 11
a.m.
Volleyball: Dallas at
Glencoe Tournament, 8
a.m. Western Oregon at
Western Washington, 7
p.m.
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 7, 2015 10A
HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS
Jacobson leaves strong legacy at Dallas
Longtime teacher, coach and administrator worked in Dallas for nearly 40 years
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — For nearly four
decades, Ken Jacobson was
synonymous with the Dallas
School District.
From 1947 to 1983, Jacob-
son, who died on Sept. 29,
worked as a teacher, coach,
athletics director and school
administrator.
Throughout his career he
had one common theme:
help his stu-
dents in
any way
that he
could.
His first
year as
head coach
of the football squad in
1954 didn’t go quite as
planned.
“The first year he was
head coach, we didn’t win a
game until the last game of
the year,” Gordon Kunke
said. Kunke was a fellow
teacher and coach at Dal-
las. He first started in Dal-
las two years after Jacob-
son. “We went over to Sil-
verton on Armistice Day
and won.”
One year later, Jacobson
led the Dragons to the state
playoffs, falling to Vale in the
Coach, seniors form bond
Cirino ready to say goodbye to first runners he coached in middle school
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14
Cross-country: Central
at Silverton, TBA. Dallas vs.
Corvallis, Crescent Valley,
and South Albany (at Dal-
las City Park), TBA.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Booster club
raises $26,000
ELI CIRINO/for the Itemizer-Observer
Senior Darien Hume was one of the first runners Central coach Eli Cirino coached.
Bailey helps Pirates rush ahead
Running back/linebacker leads Perrydale to a 5-0 mark this season
By Lukas Eggen
3
The number of
games Perrydale’s
football team has
scored at least 60
points during the 2015
season. The Pirates scored
60 points twice and 80
once.
4
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Keenan Bailey is one of Perrydale’s top offensive threats.
www.polkio.com
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral cross-country coach Eli
Cirino knows saying good-
bye to any senior class is dif-
ficult. This year, four of the
team’s seniors — Jamie
Smith, Darien Hume, Tucker
Engle and Rex Omlid — will
be especially hard.
The quartet of runners
were part of the first team
Cirino coached at Talmadge
Middle School. The group
has created a bond that
surpasses anything they
imagined.
—
St a r t i n g c r o s s -
country in middle
school was never
supposed to be any-
thing serious.
“I’m surprised I’m
even still doing this sport
and built a lifestyle around
this,” Engle said. “This is
not what I envisioned for
myself, but I’m glad it’s
worked out this way.”
Some, like Omlid, joined
because of friends. Others,
like Engle, did it as a way to
stay in shape for other
sports.
“I started out with
Finkbeiner as my
coach,” Hume
said. “He was a Smith
nice, old man. He was a
skilled coach, but really laid
back. We had mileage that
was really specific to us.”
It was when Cirino took
over the middle school pro-
gram in 2011, the seniors’
eighth-grade year, that
things began to change.
He pushed his runners,
challenging them to run far-
ther than they thought they
ever could.
“When Cirino started, I
was honestly scared of him,”
Hume said. “I didn’t
know what it was to
work hard yet.”
He began to
have more group
runs instead of
individual-
ized dis-
tances and
emphasized
the importance
of the training
process.
“I want to help
them to
love run-
ning,”
Cirino
said. “I
don’t just
want to get them into
shape and then have
them stop running
when they’re done with
high school.”
See BOND, Page 12A
PREP CROSS-COUNTRY
STAT SHEET
The number of
goals Antonio Rin-
con scored for the
Central boys soccer
team during the Panthers’
4-0 victory over Dallas to
open Mid-Willamette Con-
ference play on Monday.
knew him best.
As an educator and a
coach, Jacobson’s greatest
strength centered on his
genuine desire to help his
students learn and become
better people.
“He had empathy for
kids,” Kunke said. “If they
didn’t have a good home
life, he tried to give them
more attention. He got
along real well with the
kids and they played hard
for him.”
See JACOBSON, Page 11A
PREP CROSS-COUNTRY
TUESDAY, OCT. 13
Boys soccer: Central at
Silverton, 6 p.m. Crescent
Valley at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Girls soccer: Silverton
at Central, 6 p.m. Dallas at
Crescent Valley, 6 p.m.
Volleyball: Lebanon at
Central, 6 p.m. Corvallis
at Dallas, 6 p.m. Falls City
a t W i l l a m e t t e Va l l e y
Christian, 6 p.m. Country
Christian at Perrydale,
5:30 p.m.
DALLAS — The Dallas
Booster Club raised about
$30,000 during its annual
auction dinner on Satur-
day at the Nesmith Readi-
ness Center.
Booster Club member
Michelle Nelson said the
organization will net
about $26,000, which will
go toward Dallas High
School athletics, including
equipment and various
projects.
The Dallas Booster Club
auction featured a variety
of items during a silent
and live auction.
Jacobson
A-2 state
title game.
Jacob-
son’s suc-
cess as a
c o a c h
comes as
little sur-
prise to
those who
The Itemizer-Observer
Up next
PERRYDALE — The Perry-
dale football team wasn’t
bashful when making its
preseason goals entering the
2015 season.
“We wanted to do some-
thing big for Perrydale,” sen-
ior running back/linebacker
Keenan Bailey said.
The Pirates appear head-
ed for just that with Bailey
helping to lead the charge.
Perrydale enters its game
at Ione on Thursday with a
5-0 mark overall and 3-0 in
Special District 4 play. Bailey
has been a major reason
why.
The senior rushed for
• Perrydale defeated
South Wasco County 80-12
on Friday to improve to 5-0
overall.
• The Pirates play at Ione
Thursday at 6 p.m.
• Perrydale is one of
three teams undefeated in
league play in Special Dis-
trict 4.
three touchdowns and re-
turned a kickoff for another
score during an 80-12 victo-
ry over South Wasco County
on Friday.
The previous week, Bailey
had 354 yards and four
touchdowns in a 36-34 win
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over Dufur.
“The satisfaction is help-
ing out the team,” Bailey
said. “Getting points on the
board and helping us get to-
ward that win is all that we
need.”
Bailey has had his fair
share of touchdowns, but
he’s just as content pound-
ing out yards.
“Some of my favorite runs
were getting the short yards
against Dufur,” Bailey said.
“When you get that first
down, it’s one of the biggest
things and one step toward
that touchdown.”
Bailey has become a con-
sistent and reliable option
for the Pirates.
See RUSH, Page 12A
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