Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 21, 2015 10A
DALLAS FOOTBALL
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21
Cross-country: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference Championships
at Crystal Lake Sports Park,
Corvallis, 2 p.m.
Girls soccer: Dallas at
Silverton, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY, OCT. 22
Boys soccer: Central at
Crescent Valley, 4 p.m.
Girls soccer: Crescent
Valley at Central, 4 p.m.
Corvallis at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Northwest Nazarene at
Western Oregon, 2:30 p.m.
Volleyball: Central at
Woodburn, 6 p.m. Silver-
ton at Dallas, 6 p.m. Seat-
tle Pacific at Western Ore-
gon, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCT. 23
Boys soccer: Dallas at
Corvallis, 4 p.m.
Football: Corvallis at
Central, 7 p.m. Dallas at
Lebanon, 7 p.m. Alsea at
Falls City, 7 p.m. Sherman
at Perrydale, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCT. 24
Cross-country: Western
Oregon at Great Northwest
Athletic Conference Cham-
pionship at Bellingham,
Wash., 10 a.m.
Football: Western Ore-
gon at Simon Fraser, 1 p.m.
Girls soccer: Montana
State Billings at Western
Oregon, noon.
Vo l l e y b a l l : C a s c o
League Tournament, TBA.
Saint Martin’s at Western
Oregon, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCT. 27
Boys soccer: Central at
Woodburn, 6 p.m. Dallas at
South Albany, 6 p.m.
Girls soccer: Woodburn
at Central, 6 p.m. South Al-
bany at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Volleyball: Class 5A
State play-in round, TBA.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Wolves picked
second in poll
PORTLAND — Western
Oregon’s men’s basketball
team was picked second in
the Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference preseason
coaches’ poll on Thursday.
Western Washington
was se-
lected
irst, re-
ceiving
ive of
11 irst-
place
votes
and 114
points
Avgi
overall.
The Wolves received four
irst-place votes and 106
total points.
WOU returns four
starters from last year’s
team including irst team
all-conference selections
Andy Avgi and Julian
Nichols. Western Oregon
won the GNAC regular sea-
son title.
WOU alumni Jim Shaw
takes over as head coach.
WOU women
chosen 10th
PORTLAND — Western
Oregon’s women’s basket-
ball team was selected 10th
in the Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference preseason
coaches’ poll on Friday.
The Wolves returns
three starters from last
year’s squad: junior guard
Jordan Mottershaw, fresh-
man forward Sami Os-
borne and senior center
Emily Howey. Western Ore-
gon went 8-18 overall dur-
ing the 2014-15 season.
www.polkio.com
Dragons unleash the run against Raiders
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas running back Tanner Earhart (24) runs through a hole against Crescent Valley.
DALLAS — The Dallas
football team went back to
basics during its 20-0 win
over Crescent Valley on Fri-
day on Homecoming night.
With quarterback Harri-
son Broadus out with an in-
jury, the Dragons went back
to the ground and pound
game, gaining 307 rushing
yards, while passing just
once.
The game plan was a big
contrast to prior games,
when Dallas attempted to
play an up-tempo offense.
“One, we could tell Harri-
son (Broadus) was hurt,”
Dallas coach Tracy Jackson
said. “He was trying to gut it
out, but he was hurting.
Then, we talked about it
some and
realized we
scored six
meaningful
points in
t h r e e
games. It
just wasn’t
working.
Hofferber
We could
go, ‘oh well and we’re going
to run it until we get it right,’
or we can look at these sen-
iors and go back to stuff they
were familiar with. They
won a lot of games playing
like this.”
Tanner Earhart rushed for
117 yards and three touch-
downs to lead the Dragons.
The points were the
most scored by Dallas
since Sept. 18 against
Woodburn.
See DRAGONS, Page 11A
DALLAS CROSS-COUNTRY
CROSS-COUNTRY
DALLAS
Running wild
Freshman leading the Dragons
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — As the boys cross-country race began at
Dallas City Park on Oct. 14, Dallas freshman Trevor Cross
sprinted into the lead.
Behind him a trio of teammates followed him up the
first hill.
“We figured the trail is kind of small, so we wanted to
get ahead so we didn’t have to pass people slower than
us,” Trevor said. “As a team, I wanted to see us turn in
more sub-18 (minute) times.”
Five of the Dragons’ seven varsity runners recorded
times under 18:00. Trevor Cross placed sixth in 17:06.5 —
a personal record and the latest accomplishment for a
runner hoping to make his biggest impact when it mat-
ters most.
—
Trevor entered the fall unsure of what the season
would bring. Trevor, along with his brother, T.J., knew
they wanted to play soccer and run cross-country.
See RUN, Page 12A
Run for state
What: Mid-Willamette Conference Championships.
When: Wednesday (today), 2 p.m.
Where: Crystal Lake Sports Park, Corvallis.
Of note: Dallas and Central will compete in Corvallis.
The top three teams qualify for the state cross-country
meet as well as any individual runners in the top seven
who are not from a qualifying team.
CENTRAL VOLLEYBALL
Central hopes to peak at right time
By Lukas Eggen
Photo finish
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Mo-
ments after Central’s 20-25,
25-23, 25-15, 25-20 loss to
Silverton on Thursday, sen-
ior Kylie Nash was all smiles,
joking with her teammates.
Despite the loss, Nash and
her teammates believe Cen-
tral is ready to unleash its
best play of the year during
the postseason.
“In a positive sense, a lot
of it came back to our side
and our mistakes,” Nash
said. “We know we can take
care of that. I didn’t feel like
they outplayed us. We
could have taken that
• Central and Dallas’ vol-
leyball teams entered the
week tied for fifth place in
the Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence standings. The top
two seeds earn a bye into
the state playoffs. The third-
through sixth-place squads
will take part in the play-in
round against a Midwest-
ern League opponent.
(match).”
The Panthers entered the
final week of the regular sea-
son with a 6-10 record over-
all and a 5-7 mark in Mid-
Willamette Conference play
— tied for fifth place with
Dallas. The top six teams in
the league advance to the
postseason. South Albany
entered the week in seventh
place with a 4-8 mark in
MWC play.
“We definitely want to
win out,” Nash said. “We’re
hoping to get third or fourth
and go as deep as we can.”
To earn the third or fourth
seed, the Panthers would
have to run the table and get
help.
Central entered Tuesday’s
match against Corvallis on a
two-match losing streak and
has dropped four of its last
five matches.
See PEAK, Page 12A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central senior Kylie Nash goes up for a serve against Sil-
verton on Thursday evening.
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