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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2016)
Polk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 24, 2016 10A CENTRAL BASEBALL SCHEDULE THURSDAY, AUG. 25 Boys Soccer: Dallas at Century Jamboree, 10:30 a.m. Girls Soccer: Dallas at Century Jamboree, 3:30 p.m. Volleyball: Dallas at Lebanon Jamboree, 1 p.m. FRIDAY, AUG. 26 Football: Dallas at Cas- cade Jamboree, 7 p.m. SATURDAY, AUG. 27 Boys Soccer: Central vs. South Albany, at Sweet Home Jamboree, noon. Central at Sweet Home, 1:15 p.m. Girls Soccer: Central at South Albany Jamboree, noon. Dallas at Redmond, noon. Vo l l ey b a l l : N o r t h Clackamas Christian at Per- rydale, noon. Triangle Lake at Perrydale, 3:30 p.m. TUESDAY, AUG. 30 Boys Soccer: Thurston at Central, 6 p.m. Girls Soccer: Central at Parkrose, 4:30 p.m. Volleyball: Falls City at Portland Waldorf, 5:30 p.m. Perrydale vs. East Linn Christian, at Delphian, 4:30 p.m. Perrydale at Delphian, 7 p.m. Miller steps down as head coach By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Zach Miller announced last week he is stepping down as Central’s head baseball coach. Miller coached the Pan- thers for the previous six seasons and will move to Washington. “The decision (to leave) was merely based on advancing forward for my wife’s (and mine) career goals,” Miller said. “I am fortunate to have been given the great opportunity to get my start here in a great community with par- ents and players who are second to none. I earned two degrees from Western Oregon, met my wife and gained valuable experience coaching while being a part of some special sports teams and made great memories each year.” Under Miller’s guidance, Central’s baseball squad fin- ished 12-14 overall and 10- 11 in Mid-Willamette Con- ference play in 2016, placing fourth in the league stand- ings. The Panthers advanced to the state play-in round before falling to Eagle Point. Miller’s impact on the baseball team, and the ath- letics program in general, extended far beyond wins and losses, Central athletics director Shane Hedrick said. “It was a real disappoint- ment for me (to learn he is leaving),” Hedrick said. “(Zach) did a real nice job with the kids. He was very committed to the program and the school. He volun- teered for a position with no pay, and in the fall, he helped supervise events. As a landscaper, he did all the groundwork at the baseball field that often required late hours after practice or on the weekends.” See MILLER, Page 11A GOAL!!! Independence Sports Park set for opening celebration on Saturday QUICK HITS Western Oregon tickets available MONMOUTH — Season ticket packages and single- game tickets for Western Oregon’s fall sports teams are now available for pur- chase. Tickets for football, vol- leyball and soccer are avail- able online at w w w.wouwolves.com/- sports/2013/11/1/GEN_11 01135352.aspx. Season tickets cost $60 for volleyball, $55 for soc- cer and $50 for reserved or $40 for general seating for football. Single-game tick- ets cost $7 for volleyball and soccer and $12 for general seating for foot- ball. WOU volleyball picked eighth MONMOUTH — The Western Oregon volleyball team was picked to finish eighth out of 11 teams in the Great Northwest Ath- letic Conference coaches poll on Thursday. The Wolves finished in a tie for eighth place in the GNAC in 2015 with a 5-15 mark in conference play. Western Washington, the defending West Region champions, was picked to finish first followed by Alas- ka Anchorage and North- west Nazarene. WOU opens the 2016 season at the Concordia Labor Day Tournament Sept. 1-3 in Portland. Cross Creek men’s club results DALLAS — Cross Creek’s men’s club results for Aug. 17: Low gross/low net Gross: 1 Paul Disney, 39; 2 (tie), Rocky Kygar, Joe Johnson, Lee Gamaney, Kevon O’Brien and Kevin Moen, 40. Net: 1 (tie), Pat Flana- gan and Dennis Bergman; 3, Darrel Smedstad, 32; 4, Brian Halin, 33; 5 (tie), Donald Sprague and John Hopkins, 34. Tuipulotu named preseason All- American INDEPENDENCE — Cen- tral senior Marlon Tuipulo- tu has been named to the All American Family Insur- ance All-USA Preseason Football Team. Tuipulotu, a 6-foot-2, 295-pound defensive line- man, had 78 tackles and 13 sacks in 2015. He was named the OSAA Class 5A defensive player of the year and also the Itemizer-Observer All-Region Player of the Year. www.polkio.com LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer The city of Independence will celebrate the opening of Independence Sports Park, which features three soccer fields, on Saturday morning. By Lukas Eggen Soccer tourney The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — The city of Independence is ready to kick off the celebration of three new soccer fields. The city will celebrate the open- ing of Independence Sports Park, lo- cated on Deanne Drive behind Riverplace Apartments Saturday at 10 a.m. There will be refreshments, prizes, an honorary kickoff and a youth tournament to mark the occasion. Desires for a sports park began nearly 20 years ago — though it took until 2014 for the current plan to pick up steam, Independence City Manager David Clyne said. “That probably goes all the way back to 1996 when the city first iden- tified it in the parks master plan,” Clyne said. “It was the first idea of having some kind of sporting com- plex. It has changed and become more refined over time. We really fo- • The city of Independence will host a youth soccer tournament Sat- urday morning to celebrate the opening of Independence Sports Park. • The tournament will begin after the opening celebration at 10 a.m. Teams from the Academy FC and the YMCA will take part. The tournament is also open to all children who want to play. JOE PENNA/ for the Itemizer-Observer cused the past couple of years large- ly in response to the parks master plan update in 2014, I believe.” The city conducted an online sur- vey — which had about 500 people respond — and reached out to peo- ple at the Community Fiesta, the summer music series and other community events, and found soc- cer fields to be the greatest desire. “We had lots of feedback from the community that it was a real gap we Juan Navarro installs nets in the goals on Monday afternoon. had in our recreation services,” Clyne said. “We reacted to that. It’s what the public wants and we had the means to get that done.” With the development of the Riverplace Apartments, the city worked with the owners to develop the land, Clyne said. The Army Na- tional Guard assisted on preparing the land, and volunteers worked to make final preparations for the field’s official unveiling. Joe Penna was one of those who played a key role in preparing the fields. “I assisted the city in trying to find a way to turn what had been agricul- tural land into a sports complex,” Penna said. See SOCCER, Page 11A DALLAS BOYS SOCCER WESTERN OREGON VOLLEYBALL New coach hopes to lead Jones hopes to Wolves into contention change culture By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer MONMOUTH — Western Oregon’s volleyball pro- gram hopes a new coach leads to newfound success in 2016. The Wolves finished 8-21 overall and 5-15 in G r e a t Northwest Athletic Conference play — tying for e i g h t h place — a Gott season ago. Since then, Tommy Gott was brought in as head coach. “I’ve had dreams and goals of being a Division II volleyball coach,” he said. “That’s one of the big overly- ing things. Another aspect was I’ve coached in this re- gion for seven years. I have some familiarity within the region. It’s nice to have a lit- tle bit of comfort and some more confidence.” Originally, Gott saw him- self as a high school coach, but after playing at the col- legiate level and becoming an assistant, he became ad- dicted to competing. “The longer I stayed work- ing and climbing through the ranks, I appreciated and enjoyed the competitive- ness,” Gott said. See WOLVES, Page 11A WOU volleyball Head coach: Tommy Gott (first season). 2015 record: 8-21 over- all; 5-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Key returners: Alisha Bettinson, jr.; Amanda Short, soph.; Sydney Blank- inship, jr.; Sheila Limas De La Cruz, jr.; Christie Colasurdo, sr. LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file Western Oregon finished tied for eighth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2015 By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Dallas boys soccer coach John Jones stepped into a difficult spot last season. He took over a program that had failed to win a g a m e s i n c e 2011 and scored just seven t o t a l goals the season before he arrived. Jones T h e Dragons showed signs of improvement in 2015 — including earning a win over Redmond. Now, Dallas has some- thing it hasn’t had in a while: consistency at head coach. “It is so helpful to know the players this year,” Jones said. “To know their attitudes and skills, it www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209 helps me set expectations for the start of the sea- son.” Jones enters his second year at the helm, but brings together an inexpe- rienced team. The Dragons saw nine seniors from last year’s ros- ter graduate. He hopes for those play- ers who are returning that the consistency at coach leads to a smooth transi- tion. “We have a wide vari- ety of skill levels,” Jones said. “The work of bring- ing a team together will require each individual to be willing to become bet- ter in some way as an in- dividual, whether that be skills or improving atti- tudes.” Getting players up to speed on the field of play is easy compared to perhaps the bigger challenge: changing the team’s cul- ture. See JONES, Page 11A www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports