Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current, September 14, 2016, Image 11

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Newspaper Page TextPolk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 14, 2016 11A DALLAS ROUNDUP Earhart sets school records during win Itemizer-Observer staff report EUGENE — Midway through the fourth quarter of Dallas’ football team’s 63- 35 win over North Eugene on Friday, a coach ap- proached senior running back Tanner Earhart to tell him how many yards he had rushed for. Earhart knew he had a fantastic day running the ball. He just d i d n ’ t k n o w quite how successful he had been that night. “I had Earhart no idea how many yards I had,” Earhart said. “I knew I had at least 100.” Turns out he had a few more than that. Earhart gained 429 yards and scored seven touch- downs — both new school records. “It w a s re a l l y f u n ,” Earhart said. “I was really proud of the offensive line and the way they blocked. That’s all it was. All I do is run. They have all the hard work.” The Dragons trailed 25-19 at the half. Dallas gained control of the game, outscoring North Eugene 44-6 over the final two quarters. “We came out really flat,” Earhart said. “We weren’t tackling or blocking well. We snapped out of it at the half and showed a lot of heart.” The Dragons (2-0) hosts Silverton Friday at 7 p.m. in the team’s Mid-Willamette Conference opener. GIRLS SOCCER FALLS TO ST. HELENS: Dallas’ girls soccer squad lost to St. Helens 4-2 on Sept. 6. No stats were available as of press time. Dallas (1-2 overall) hosts Mc- Nary Thursday at 4 p.m. VOLLEYBALL LOSES LEAGUE OPENERS: Dallas’ vol- leyball team opened Mid- Willamete Conference play with a pair of losses. The Drag- ons fell to Lebanon 25-17, 25- 13, 25-14 on Sept. 6 before los- ing to Crescent Valley 25-20, 27-25, 25-20 on Thursday. The Dragons (0-2 MWC, 2-4 overall) played Corvallis Tues- day after press time. Dallas hosts Silverton Thurs- day at 6 p.m. and the Dallas Tournament Saturday at 8 a.m. The Dragons continue league play at Central Tuesday at 6 p.m. Panthers: Central hosts Dallas on Tuesday Continued from Page 10A “That happened to us twice last year,” coach Clau- dine Mendazona said. “It’s nice to be able to put that behind us.” A season ago, when faced with adversity, the Panthers shied away from the mo- ment, letting their mistakes affect them. “We had some issues last year where we would make a mistake and members of the team would be kind of rude about it,” Omlid said. “If we made a mistake, people would get really down on themselves and nobody would pick them back up.” This year, players are more comfortable with each other, and the focus is on picking teammates up instead of riding them for their mistakes. “Even though we have some underclassmen, we’re more mature,” Omlid said. “We push each other and give each other constructive criticism without people getting mad at each other.” Thanks to strong play from Omlid and others, the Panthers roared back to life just in the nick of time. “The girls played well to- gether,” Mendazona said. “Krista had a tremendous night. She passed well and served well.” Central, which plays at Lebanon on Thursday before playing at the Dallas volley- ball tournament on Saturday, may have earned the win over South Albany, but Men- dazona knows improve- ments must be made to build on the victory — including helping the team’s setters, freshman Sydney Nash and junior Erin Cole, get up to speed at the varsity level. “We need to establish our middle blockers,” Menda- zona said. “We have two set- ters who are young, but very skilled. We need to keep de- veloping them and getting them to learn exactly where the ball needs to go each time.” Thursday’s victory was just a single match in a long season, Mendazona said. But for the Panthers, it was a match that signifies this year’s squad won’t shy away from the big moments. “I’m proud of the girls,” Mendazona said. “This sea- son we’ve had to fight for everything we have.” LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Central’s Krista Omlid goes up for a kill during the Panthers’ win over South Albany. Falls City: Injuries pile up for Mountaineers Continued from Page 10A “In fifth grade, I scored my first touchdown,” Burgess said. “I did like two spin moves and got away. I loved football from that point on.” Burgess’ older brothers, includ- ing Dallas High graduate Ethan Burgess, only helped his passion for football to grow. “I watched them play growing up,” Austin said. “They gave me a lot of tips.” The most important one? “Hit them as hard as you can,” Burgess said. Despite missing several starters and facing the defending 1A state champions, Friday’s blowout loss still stung Burgess hard. “I didn’t expect this at all,” he said. “I was hoping our line would be able to push them. I didn’t think the score would end up like this.” That competitive drive is what sets him apart, Cook said. “Everything he does, he works extremely hard at,” Cook said. “He does not like taking second. That, in my book, is the kind of guy I like. Chasing him down We need more people with that same mentality. He’s becoming a young leader.” This season has taught the Mountaineers some difficult les- sons so far. But they are lessons players must learn one way or the other, Cook said. And he hopes that fac- ing a team like Dufur shows them just how much work is left to be done. “Dufur, we’re hoping to get to that point,” Cook said. “The kids have to buy into this. There’s a lot of work that has to be put in. Want- ing to be good is part of it, but it’s not all of it. We have talented kids here. We just got to get a little tougher between the ears.” WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP Ribich wins invitational, team places second LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer Western Oregon linebackers Bo Highburger and Tafatolu Tafai try and chase down Central Washington quarterback Justin Lane on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats defeated the Wolves 41-20 in WOU’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener. PREP VOLLEYBALL Falls City moves to 3-0 Itemizer-Observer staff report FALLS CITY — Falls City’s volleyball team remained undefeated after beating C.S. Lewis and Jewell last week. The Mountaineers de- feated C.S. Lewis 25-18, 25- 14, 26-24 on Sept. 6. “The final game was close, as I chose to play my junior varsity girls for most of it, and they got a little overwhelmed,” coach Roxi Barnhart said. “But they managed to pull it together in the end.” Falls City beat Jewell on Thursday 25-9, 25-22, 25-17 to move to 3-0 overall. The Mountaineers played Perrydale Tuesday after press time. Fa l l s C i t y p l a y s a t Willamette Valley Christian on Thursday and at Crosshill Christian on Tues- day. Both matches are sched- uled to begin at 5:30 p.m. PERRYDALE ROUNDUP Volleyball defeats Lowell Itemizer-Observer staff report SEASIDE — Perrydale’s volleyball squad defeated Lowell three sets to one on Friday afternoon. The Pirates also fell to Crosshill Christian 25-9, 25- 11, 25-7 on Thursday. Statistics were not avail- able as of press time. Perrydale played Falls City Tuesday after press time. The Pirates host Jewell Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. F O O T B A L L FA L L S T O LOWELL: Perrydale’s football team lost to Lowell 66-22 on Friday in the team’s ﬁnal non- league game of the season. The Pirates host Mitchell Fri- day at 7 p.m. Itemizer-Observer staff report MONMOUTH — Western Oregon’s David Ribich led the men’s cross-country team by winning the Ash Creek Invitational on Fri- day. The junior finished the 6.3-kilometer race with a time of 18 minutes, 53.8 seconds, finishing more than 13 seconds ahead of second place. The Wolves placed second in the team standings. Sophomore Dustin Nad- ing (eighth, 19:34.3), Justin Crosswhite (15th, 19:51.7), Jo s h D e m p s e y ( 1 6 t h , Ribich 19L58.0) and Tyler Jones (17th, 20:01.5) rounded out the scoring for WOU. The women’s team also placed second. Nicole Maurmann led the women with a fourth- place finish in 17.33.0. Kennedy Rufener took sixth in 17:42.3, and Grace Knapp finished fourth in 17:56.5. Suzanne Van De Grift (17th, 18:26.7) and Lauren Kan- gas (26th, 18:47.8) rounded out the women’s team scoring placers. Western Oregon will compete at the Sun- dodger Invitational in Seattle Saturday at 9 a.m. F O OT BA L L FA L L S TO WILDCATS: Western Oregon’s football team dropped its home -opener to Central Washington 41-20 on Satur- day. The Wolves took a 10-6 lead after the ﬁrst quarter, but trailed 13-10 at the half thanks in part to two ﬁrst half ﬁeld Avgi goal misses. WOU tied the game at 13 in the third quarter, but Central Washington scored 28 unanswered to pull away for the victory. Itemizer-Observer Receiver Paul Revis had 11 catches for 132 yards, and Andy Avgi caught two touchdown passes to lead the Wolves. Bo Highburger had 15 tackles, including ﬁve tackles-for-loss, to lead the defense. Western Oregon plays at Montana State Satur- day at 1:05 p.m. VOLLEYBALL GOES 3-1 AT SHOWCASE: Western Ore- gon’s volleyball team went 3-1 at the Division II West Region S h o w c a s e . T h e Wo l v e s opened play with a 25-22, 19- 25, 25-23, 25-8 loss to Concor- dia-Irvine on Thursday. WOU defeated Hawaii Paciﬁc 25-19, 25-14, 25-23 and Chico State Bettinson 25-20, 25-21, 26-24 on Friday before closing play with a 25- 22, 25-23, 23-25, 25-17 win over Stanislaus State on Saturday. Paige Orth and Alisha Bettinson led WOU with 13 kills against Stanislaus State. Bettinson also had 12 digs, while Maddie Mehciz recorded 55 as- sists. The wins were the ﬁrst under ﬁrst-year coach Tommy Gott. The Wolves open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play by hosting Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday in the team’s ﬁrst home matches of the season. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. SOCCER GOES 1-2: Western Oregon’s soccer team defeated the Academy of Art 1-0 on Sept. 7 before falling to Stanislaus State 2-0 on Friday and Fresno Paciﬁc 2-0 on Sunday. Senior Taylor Higa gave the Wolves their lone victory of the week, scoring in the 35th minute against Academy of Art. Freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Kastelic earned the shutout. Stanislaus State held WOU without a single shot on Friday — the ﬁrst time in program history. Western Oregon and Fresno Paciﬁc were locked in a scoreless match until the 79th minute, when Fresno Paciﬁc scored on a header. The Sun- birds added an insurance goal in the 81st minute. WOU hosts Oregon Tech Wednesday (today) at 3 p.m. before opening GNAC play at Western Wash- ington Saturday at 7 p.m. Visit our website, www.polkio.com for local news and sports.