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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
Polk County Sports SCHEDULE Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 25, 2015 10A 2015 ITEMIZER-OBSERVER ALL-REGION FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR FRIDAY, NOV. 27 Men’s basketball: West- ern Oregon vs. Notre Dame De Namur at Belmont, Calif., 7 p.m. Women’s basketball: Western Oregon vs. Regis at Golden, Co., noon. SATURDAY, NOV. 28 Men’s basketball: West- ern Oregon vs. Holy Names at Belmont, Calif., 5 p.m. Women’s basketball: Western Oregon at Col- orado School of Mines, 2 p.m. TUESDAY, DEC. 1 Men’s basketball: West- ern Oregon at Concordia, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2 Boys basketball: North Eugene at Central, 7 p.m. Dallas at McKay, 6:45 p.m. McKenzie at Falls City, 7 p.m. Perrydale at Willamina, 7:30 p.m. Girls basketball: Churchill at Dallas, 7 p.m. McKenzie at Falls City, 5:30 p.m. — Sacking the competition Junior dominates on defense By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Central junior Marlon Tuipulotu isn’t one to brag. Yet, during his three-year football career, the defensive lineman has become one of the state’s best defensive players — and one of the nation’s top defensive lineman prospects. During the 2015 season, Tuipulotu was a force that opponents had to, in part, build their game plans around stopping. That did little to slow the lineman. Tuipulotu had 13 sacks, 78 tackles and 28 tackles for loss — all team highs. He even had two interceptions. That is why he is the Itemizer-Observer’s 2015 All-Region Player of the Year. All of Tuipulotu’s accomplishments may be even more impres- sive considering he didn’t play tackle football until he arrived at Central. See SACK, Page 11A Schedules Subject to Change QUICK HITS By The Numbers Cross Creek to host tourney DALLAS — Cross Creek Golf Course will host the Survivors Tournament on Dec. 12. The three-person scramble begins at 9 a.m. All skill levels are welcome. Prizes will be awarded for gross and net scores and also for long and short drives, long putts and clos- est to the pin. Cost is $45 per player and includes green fees and prize money. Players pay for their own team or sign up as an individual and be placed with others. Deadline for registration and payment is Dec. 10. Stop by the Pro Shop to sign up or call 503-623- 6666 to register over the phone. Entry forms are avail- a b l e a t w w w. c ro s s - creekgc.com/sur vivors- tournament.html. Pirates earn all- league honors PERRYDALE — The Per- rydale football team had seven named to the irst team all-Spe- cial Dis- trict 4. Sen- ior run- n i n g b a c k Keenan B a i l e y, Bailey senior tight end Brant Barnes, senior center Kirk Fairchild and senior guard Hunter Sag- moen earned irst team recognition on ofense. Senior lineman Spencer Bibler, junior linemen Alex Hawes and C.J. Marsters and Bailey (linebacker) were named to the irst team defense. Junior quarterback Daniel Domes and junior lineman Jacob Pope were named to the second team ofense. Barnes (linebacker) and Fairchild (defensive back) received second team honors on defense. Senior tight end Spencer Bibler received an honorable mention. Perrydale won the Spe- cial District 4 league title and inished 10-1 overall. www.polkio.com 13 78 1 The number of sacks Tuipulotu recorded during the 2015 season. He also had 28 tackles for loss. The total number of tackles Tuipu- lotu had as a jun- ior. He led Central in tack- les, and sacks. The number of practices Tuipu- lotu spent trying to become a tight end as a freshman. MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Avgi, Wolves not dwelling in the past By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer MONMOUTH — Western Oregon senior Andy Avgi doesn’t like to spend time thinking about the past. He doesn’t think about WOU’s men’s basketball team’s 2014-15 season, where it won the Great Northwest Athletic Confer- ence regular season title and earned a trip to the NCAA Division II West Regional. He doesn’t dwell on the Wolves being ranked in two presea- son polls or him being named the conference’s pre- season Player of the Year. Instead, Avgi is focused on what’s coming next. “(The accolades) are nice and every- one says good job on that, but that’s based on what we’ve done in the past,” Avgi Avgi said. “It’s all about the future now.” — Western Oregon has come out firing in the 2015-16 sea- son, starting 4-0. Perhaps m o re i m p o r t a n t l y, t h e Wolves have shown off im- pressive depth. In each game, at least four players have scored 10 or more points, while seven players are averaging at least 20 minutes per game. WOU men’s basketball Coach: Jim Shaw (first season). 2014-15 record: 23-7 overall, 15-3 GNAC. Key returners: Andy Avgi, senior forward; Devon Alexan- der, senior guard; Julian Nichols, senior guard; Jordan Wiley, senior guard. Key newcomers: Tanner Omlid, sophomore guard; Alex Roth, sophomore guard; Janvier Alaby, junior guard; Akil Reese, freshman guard; Kadeem Strickland, freshman guard. “We have weapons from everywhere,” Avgi said. “We want to make sure they have to play against all of our guys. We can really wear them down like that.” Those weapons include returning letterwinners Devon Alexander, Julian Nichols and Jordan Wiley, and newcomers Alex Roth and Tanner Omlid. Wolves coach Jim Shaw takes over for Brady Berge- son who left for another coaching position earlier this year. A transition could provide some growing pains early in the season, but play- ers haven’t taken long adapting to Shaw and his coaching staff. “Any coach that comes in, they have similar philoso- phies,” Avgi said. “There’s just a little bit of adjusting, it’s not too bad. I’ve played basketball for a long time. The other players have too. We’re good at adjusting.” Adjusting has been a prominent theme during 2015 for Avgi who, for the first time during his colle- giate career, played football during the fall. — While basketball has come to define Avgi’s time at Western Oregon, the senior yearned to try something new. It was during 2014 that the idea of football first came up. See AVGI, Page 11A PERRYDALE FOOTBALL Pirates lose heartbreaker to Dufur By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer HILLSBORO — All that stood between Perrydale and a trip to the 1A state title game was 6 yards. Unfortunately, that gap proved to be too much as the Pirates fell to Dufur 42- 38 in the semifinals. “I saw 100 percent effort,” Keenan Bailey said. “Every- one wanted to win the game. We just couldn’t pull it out.” T h e P i ra t e s a n d t h e Rangers engaged in a back- and-forth battle throughout the game. Perrydale had a 38-36 lead with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter and faced a third- and-six. One first down and Perrydale could run out the c l o c k . Du f u r’s d e f e n s e stopped the Pirates on third and fourth down for one last chance. “(The fourth down play) was designed to be a pass, but Dufur covered (the re- ceivers),” Haylen Janesofsky said. “I tried to maybe run out a little bit of clock, but it just wasn’t enough.” Dufur took advantage, scoring on a 64-yard touch- down pass with 22 seconds remaining to advance to the 1A state championship game. See PIRATES, Page 11A LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer Perrydale players react after losing to Dufur 42-38 in the 1A state semifinals. www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209 DALLAS 121 Main St • 503-623-8155 • www.LesSchwab.com INDEPENDENCE 1710 Monmouth St • 503-838-6340 Mon -Fri 8am - 6pm • Sat 8am - 5pm www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports