Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 5, 2016
Dallas: Dragons face South Albany next
Continued from Page 11A
“They’ve developed a
good sense of pride in their
program, and they’re not
going to bow down to any-
body,” Jackson said.
A major theme will be
avoiding any lingering ef-
fects from the Central
game.
“I don’t see the loss as it
being an apocalypse,” Jack-
son said. “We lost one game
by one point to the returning
league champions. You don’t
like losing to them at any
time, but there aren’t a lot of
teams in the position that we
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas running back Tanner Earhart (24) looks to dive for a first down against Central on Friday night.
are at.”
The run game continues
to be the source of Dallas’
success on the gridiron.
In addition to Earhart,
quarterback Caedmon Blair
and running back Jacob
Collins also recorded rush-
ing touchdowns against
Central on Friday. But the
Dragons also know they can’t
afford to let scoring oppor-
tunities slip away like they
did against Central.
“We have some things we
can build on,” Jackson said.
“But there’s always plenty of
room for improvement.”
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Quarterback Caedmon Blair attempts to elude a tackler.
Pirates: Perrydale to
Dallas excited to show
get road tests soon
league what it can do
PREP BOYS SOCCER
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Last season,
Dallas’ boys soccer team
accomplished something it
hadn’t in years — winning a
match.
This year, when the
Dragons defeated St. He-
lens 3-2 on Sept. 6, players
were happy but not satis-
fied.
“We won a game, but
who cares? We want a play-
in game this year,” Jacob
Jones said.
D a l l a s ( 1 - 6 ov e ra l l ) ,
which opened Mid-
Willamette Conference
play against Lebanon on
Tuesday, knows that will be
a tall order, but after losing
three matches by one goal,
players believe they are on
the cusp of turning a cor-
ner.
“If one goal goes in, we
keep trying hard,” senior
Josh Dudley said. “Before
we would kind of give up
and they
w o u l d
score a lot
of goals in
a short
amount of
time.”
The top
six teams
Dudley
in
the
MWC advance to the post-
season.
The league has six teams
with records above .500 en-
tering league play.
“Our league is tough, but
we have our sights set on
having several league wins,
which hasn’t happened for
too long,” coach John Jones
said.
The Dragons have long
been an easy win for oppo-
nents. Players are ready to
show that is no longer the
case.
“People expect us to lose
by a lot,” Jacob Jones said.
“We’re used to losing. When
that first goal goes in
against us, we sometimes
shut down. We have to
change that up.”
Dudley and Jones will
play a pivotal role for Dal-
las’ success going forward.
“Josh is an incredible
worker,” John Jones said.
“He’s one of our most
consistent kids. He’s al-
ways there. He doesn’t
talk a lot, but when he
says something, people
listen. He’s ver y wise.
Jacob is also a very hard
worker and does a good
job at getting the ball
where it needs to go.”
But they aren’t worried
about individual recogni-
tion. They want to show the
MWC that the Dragons are
no longer pushovers.
“I’ve seen quite a bit of
progress from the first
m a t c h ,” D u d l e y s a i d .
“We’ve had people step up
to fill positions. … If we
could get early wins, it
would build our confi-
d e n c e f o r t h e re s t o f
league.”
Continued from Page 11A
“It’s a whole new system,” senior Haylen
Janesofsky said. “In the past, we’ve been a
man-for-man team. This season, coach Rid-
dell has been teaching us a lot of zone cov-
erage and blocking. The schemes are differ-
ent, but we are understanding it better.”
The results have been a mixed bag.
The Pirates’ three wins have come
against teams with a combined record of 4-
9, while its losses have come against teams
with a combined record of 8-2.
The contrast in results shows Perrydale to
be in a unique no-man’s land — clearly bet-
ter than teams that are struggling, but not at
the level of Class 1A’s best.
But after a 2015 season that saw Perry-
dale advance to the 1A state semifinals, re-
turning players know the Pirates have what
it takes to challenge for a state title.
“The guys who weren’t on the team last
year don’t know what it’s like,” senior Daniel
Domes said. “But they want to feel it. The
guys who were, we know what it takes. We
all want the same thing.”
Perrydale hosts Ione, which has yet to
win a game, Friday at 7 p.m.
The Pirates end the regular season at
Dufur, which entered the week 4-1, on Oct.
21 and at South Wasco County, which en-
tered the week undefeated, on Oct. 28.
Those games will go a long way in show-
ing whether Perrydale is closer to the squad
BRIAN EVANS/ for the Itemizer-Observer
Perrydale quarterback Daniel Domes
looks to pass on Friday night.
blowing teams out, or getting blown out
and Janesofsky said the Pirates are excited
to see what happens.
“We want to get a good win streak going,”
Janesofsky said. “It would help get our con-
fidence and morale up and lead us into the
playoffs the right way.”
DALLAS ROUNDUP
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Volleyball wins two Cross places 13th
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral’s volleyball team picked
up a pair of Mid-Willamette
Conference victories last
week.
The Panthers defeated
Woodburn 25-11, 25-19, 25-
12 on Sept. 27 and Silverton
25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 28-26 on
Thursday.
Krista Omlid had 18 kills
against the Silver Foxes to
lead Central. Alex Dowdell
added 16 kills and 14 digs,
while Sydney Nash record-
ed 27 assists and seven
digs.
The Panthers (6-4 overall,
5-3 MWC)
p l a y e d
South Al-
bany Tues-
day after
press time.
Central
plays at
Crescent
Dowdell
Valley on
Thursday before hosting
Lebanon Monday at 6 p.m.
The Panthers play at Dallas
on Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER DROPS
FINAL NONLEAGUE MATCH:
Central’s girls soccer team lost
its final nonleague match,
falling to Milwaukie 7-0 on
Sept. 27. The Panthers enter
league play with a 1-4-1 record
overall. Central faced Silverton
Tuesday after press time. The
Panthers play at South Albany
on Thursday and at Crescent
Valley on Monday before host-
ing Lebanon on Oct. 12 at 4
p.m.
BOYS SOCCER FALLS TO
NEWBERG: Central’s boys soc-
cer team lost to Newberg 3-1 on
Sept. 27. The Panthers end non-
league play with a 3-2-1 mark.
Central opened MWC play
against Silverton Tuesday after
press time. The Panthers host
South Albany Thursday at 4 p.m.
and Crescent Valley Monday at
6 p.m.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
ALBANY — Dallas’ boys
cross-country team took
26th at the Harrier Classic
in Albany on Saturday after-
noon.
Sopho-
m o r e
Trevor
Cross led
the Drag-
ons with a
13th-place
f i n i s h
overall,
Cross
finishing
the 5,000-meter course in
16 minutes, 44.5 seconds.
Freshman Gavin Grass
finished 91st in 18:07.9.
The girls squad finished
27th. Junior Alyssa Garner
placed 129th in 22:48.3 to
lead the girls. Sophomore
Bekah Rocak took 149th in
23:31.0.
Dallas will compete at
Lebanon on Oct. 12.
GIRLS SOCCER LOSES TO
OREGON CITY: Dallas’ girls
soccer team lost to Oregon
City 11-0 on Sept. 27. The
Dragons finished nonleague
play with a 1-5 mark. Dallas
opened Mid-Willamette Con-
ference play against Lebanon
Tuesday after press time.
The Dragons host Crescent
Valley Thursday at 4 p.m. and
Corvallis Monday at 4 p.m.
before playing at Silverton on
Oct. 12.
VOLLEYBALL DROPS
TWO: Dallas’ volleyball team
lost a pair of MWC matches
last week, falling to South Al-
bany 25-21, 25-20, 25-19 on
Sept. 27 and to Lebanon 25-
18, 25-20, 25-16 on Thursday.
The Dragons (4-10 overall,
2-6 MWC) entered the week
in seventh place in the league
standings. Dallas played Cres-
cent Valley Tuesday after
press time. The Dragons host
Corvallis Thursday at 6 p.m.
before playing at Silverton on
Monday. Dallas returns home
to host Central on Oct. 12 at 6
p.m.
Panthers: Central rallies in second half
Continued from Page 11A
Mendazona also rushed
for a touchdown in the
third quarter to give the
Panthers the lead for good
a t 1 4 - 1 2 , a n d Re y n a’s
touchdown put the Pan-
thers up 21-12 entering the
fourth quarter.
A week after seeing the
defense hold off South Al-
bany from a potential-game
tying score, it was the of-
fense’s turn on Friday. After
Dallas pulled to within 21-
20, the Panthers offense took
the field with 6:32 left in the
game.
Central made sure Dallas
never got the ball back.
“It’s awesome,” Menda-
zona said. “Beating Dallas is
one of the best feelings in
the world. To be this close on
Homecoming night, it was
so much fun. Our whole
team is electric.”
The win didn’t come easi-
ly, but the Panthers, who
have now won three games
in a row, showed a few in-
juries wouldn’t deny them a
victory.
“That was a good ball
game right there,” coach
Shane Hedrick said. “I tip my
hat off to Dallas. They fought
incredibly hard and were
well-coached. I’m especially
pleased with our players. We
had kids stepping up and
making plays. I thought de-
fensively we played well, and
offensively, down 12-7 in the
second half to be able to
score and take the lead, I
thought those were good an-
swers.”
Central (3-2 overall, 2-0
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence) plays at Crescent Val-
ley on Friday. The Raiders
present a much different
challenge to the Panthers.
Crescent Valley quarter-
back Talanoa Hufanga has
thrown for 846 yards and
seven touchdowns, while
also rushing for 601 yards
and 15 touchdowns so far
this season.
“They’ve got a good guy at
quarterback,” Mendazona
said. “We have to contain
him. The defense had a
tough job this week, but
they’ll have another tough
job next week.”
But tackling that chal-
lenge could wait — at least
for a night. On Friday, the
Panthers were all smiles.
“It was an amazing expe-
rience for my last year at
Central,” Reyna said. “Beat-
ing Dallas has always been
one of our top priorities, and
we did it.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central football players enjoy fireworks after defeating Dallas 21-20 on Friday.