Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 2, 2016 11A
PREP FOOTBALL
Panthers to face Sandy in first round
Itemizer-Observer staff report
CORVALLIS — Central’s
football team ended the reg-
ular season with a 20-17 win
over Corvallis on Friday.
The Panthers, ranked No.
11, will play at No. 6 Sandy
Friday at 7 p.m.
Against the Spartans,
quarterback Peter Menda-
zona threw for 235 yards and
two touchdowns.
Running
back AJ
Morales
ran for 126
yards and a
t o u c h -
d o w n ,
while An-
drew Barry
Mendazona had seven
catches for 102 yards and a
touchdown.
L u i s
Amador
had
16
tackles on
defense,
while Mar-
lon Tuipu-
lotu had
seven tack-
Morales
les and one
sack as Central clinched
fourth place in the Mid-
PREP GIRLS SOCCER
Class 5A State Football
Who: No. 11 Central (5-4 overall, 4-2 Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence) at No. 6 Sandy (6-3 overall, 6-1 Northwest Oregon Confer-
ence).
What: Class 5A state football, first round.
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Sandy High School.
Admission: Adults, $6; students, $4.
What’s at stake: The winner advances to the second
round Nov. 11-12.
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Dallas falters at
Churchill
Itemizer-Observer staff report
EUGENE — Dallas’ girls
soccer team saw its season
come to an end after a 4-2
loss to Churchill on Satur-
day in the first round of the
state playoffs.
Seniors Jenifer Webb and
Stefani Tallon scored for the
Dragons.
“From an attitude and
enthusiasm perspective,
they were really keyed in
and ready to go by the time
we got there,” coach Ron
Brooks said. “We had a few
weak moments every now
and then, but in the second
half, they really controlling
possession of the ball and
working as a team. In the
first half, we still had indi-
viduals trying to make
things happen instead of
doing it as a team.”
Despite the loss, the
Dragons found success
under difficult circum-
stances — a testament to
their strength, Brooks said.
Willamette Conference.
The Panthers now turn
their attention to the first
round of the state playoffs.
Sandy finished 6-3 overall
and 6-1 in Northwest Ore-
gon Conference play.
The winner will play the
winner of Silverton versus
Redmond in the second
round of the state playoffs
held Nov. 11-12.
“Given
where we
started
from and
all of the
issues
that they
w e r e
dealing
Webb
with and
trying to work through, I
think we made significant
strides towards having a
successful season,” Brooks
said. “… For me, personally,
that was the goal: to get
them back into the mindset
of let’s do this together.”
Brooks said he would be
open to returning as coach,
but that he wanted what
was best for the program.
The Dragons’ season
could have been lost. In-
stead, Dallas persevered.
“That’s the rewarding
part, to see them grow
throughout the season, not
just as better athletes, but
becoming better people.”
Volleyball falls in first round
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MILWAUKIE — Central’s
volleyball team fell in the
first round of the state play-
offs to La Salle 25-16, 25-13,
25-18 on Saturday.
Krista Omlid had 12 kills
to lead the Panthers, while
Sydney Nash added 12 as-
sists. Jori Kerr recorded 13
digs.
“La Salle is a great team
and unfortunately, we didn’t
play our best match,” coach
Claudine Mendazona said.
“We got called on a lot of
sets which disrupted any
rhythm we had going or
tried to get going, and La
Salle did a great job with
their ball placement.”
The Panthers advanced to
the first round by defeating
North Eugene 22-25, 25-18,
25-12, 25-20 in the play-in
round on Oct. 25.
Omlid had 12 kills and
four blocks to lead the Pan-
thers.
Alex Dowdell recorded 10
kills and 16 digs. Erin Cole
had three aces and 13 as-
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central’s Annika Riddell goes up for a kill against North
Eugene on Oct. 25 in the state play-in round.
sists, and Nash had 17 as-
sists and nine digs for Cen-
tral.
“Overall we played well
against North Eugene,”
Mendazona said. “We had a
slow start, but our game
plan was to put up a steady
double block against their
tough outside hitters and try
to keep them out of system
offensively.”
Central dealt with numer-
ous injuries throughout its
2016 campaign, but Menda-
zona said the team came to-
gether to overcome adversity.
“One thing we struggled
with early was communica-
tion and giving positive
feedback on the court,”
Mendazona said. “We had
some great leadership by
Jori Kerr and Alex Dowdell.
They were always great ex-
amples of a team player, and
when we struggled, you
could count on them to keep
encouraging the team and
trying to keep the focus at
hand.”
BOYS XC TAKES FOURTH:
Central’s boys cross-country
team placed fourth at the Mid-
Willamette Conference district
championships in Lebanon on
Oct. 26. The girls finished sixth.
Matt Raines finished 11th in
17 minutes, 5.8 seconds to lead
the boys, followed by Zach
Meyer (15th, 17:24.1) and Jay-
don Aydelotte (18th, 17:27.0).
Bailie Hartford led the girls
with a 14th-place finish in
20:45.6. Diana Nye took 18th in
21:27.1 and Beatriz Trujillo fin-
ished 22nd in 21:57.1.
Cross: Boys place seventh in team standings
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas sophomore Trevor Cross leads a pack of runners during the Mid-Willamette Con-
ference district championship on Oct. 26 at Waterloo Park in Lebanon.
Continued from Page 10A
“His first goal was to go to
state,” coach Monique
Lankheet said of Cross. “His
second goal was to run a
smart race. He didn’t want to
get stuck in a situation
where he went out too fast
or blew his opportunity.”
From the start of the race,
Cross was among the lead-
ers.
“I think he ran as well as
he could run and was happy
with his performance,”
Lankheet said. “I think he
wishes the course was
maybe 20 meters longer, and
I think he might have caught
(Vickstrom), but for a soph-
omore, this is a pretty big ac-
complishment.”
State had always been on
Cross’ list of goals.
After a strong showing at
the MWC district preview
meet in September, that goal
became much more realis-
tic.
“When I came in second
at the district preview
meet, that made making it
to state a real goal,” Cross
said. “Everyone in our dis-
trict was there.”
That didn’t mean the dis-
trict championship was
without its share of nerves
— but once the race started,
Cross was at peace.
“I was pretty nervous,”
Cross said. “I trusted my
training, I knew I was ready,
and I knew what to expect.”
The boys finished seventh
in the team standings.
Kenny Sutton (21st, 17:39.8),
Ryan Bibler (27th, 17:48.3),
Gavin Grass (33rd, 18:01.3),
Orion Knudson (44th,
18:23.4), Antonio Barrientos
(52nd, 19:02.8) and Daniel
Gagner (55th, 19:27.2)
rounded out the team’s var-
sity finishers.
The girls squad finished
sixth.
Alyssa Garner led the girls
finishing 28th in 22:15.8. She
was followed by Anne Van de
Ven (32nd, 22:49.6), Bekah
Rocak (34th, 22:53.4), Kelsey
Mcintosh (35th, 22:54.6),
Jamie English (36th, 22:55.7)
and Leah Miller (40th,
23:42.0).
“I thought our kids really
competed hard,” Lankheet
said. “They came in pre-
pared, and I’m happy with
how well they ran. We still
have a young team, and
they’re already talking about
next year and how they want
to be better.”
For Cross, his season isn’t
quite done.
He’ll compete at the state
cross-country meet on Sat-
urday at Lane Community
College in Eugene.
“I want him to experience
that level of competition,”
Lankheet said. “He went to
state in the 3,000-meter run
in track, so I think he’s
smarter from that experi-
ence. I think he’ll be more
relaxed and more confi-
dent.”
Cross will be running on
an unfamiliar course on Sat-
urday and will be facing
some of the fastest runners
in the state — a challenge
that the sophomore can’t
wait to tackle.
“I don’t know what to ex-
pect,” Cross said. “If I can
beat 16 minutes, that would
be cool. I’ll just do my best
and run hard.”
Dallas: Dragons will host
Pirates lose season finale Eagle Point at Central
PREP FOOTBALL
Itemizer-Observer staff report
ARLINGTON — Perrydale’s football team
saw its season come to a heartbreaking end
on Friday as the Pirates lost to
Arlington/Condon 36-28 in overtime.
Perrydale (4-4 overall, 3-
3 Special District 4) fin-
ished in fourth place in the
league standings and one
spot below Triad for Class
1A’s at-large bid for the
state playoffs.
“I thought we played ex-
t re m e l y h a rd ,” c o a c h
Duane Riddell said. “Obvi-
Janesofsky
ously, I’m disappointed
with the loss, but I’m very proud of their ef-
fort.”
The Pirates needed a victory to clinch the
league’s third and final automatic bid to the
state playoffs.
Riddell took over as coach from Chris
Gubrud this summer.
“To be honest it was a learning experience
for me as well,” Riddell said. “I think we kept
improving, but perhaps we could have gotten
better a little earlier, and I think some of those
things are due to me. … I think I learned how
difficult it is to get some of the concepts
across and do with eight guys instead of 11.
You learn, you get older,
and you get wiser. I’m get-
ting pretty old, you’d think
I’d be really wise, but I’m
still learning.”
Perrydale saw its share
of successes on the field
this season.
Senior Haylen Janesof-
Domes
sky finished the season
with 728 rushing yards, 483 receiving yards
and 20 total touchdowns.
Senior Daniel Domes threw for 1,263
yards and 17 touchdowns, while also run-
ning for 301 yards and four scores.
Senior Jacob Pope had 409 receiving yards
and five touchdowns and junior Cooper But-
ler rushed for 816 yards and 12 touchdowns.
“They are all excellent football players,”
Riddell said. “I’m proud to be around them. I
really do think these are great kids and will
be great adults.”
Perrydale will look markedly different next
season, with seven seniors set to graduate
this school year, but Riddell believes that the
future for the Pirates’ football program re-
mains bright.
“There are great kids coming up, and I’m
sure they will perform admirably,” Riddell
said.
Continued from Page 10A
“We knew that they are a
really, really tough team,
and they showed it
tonight,” he said. “One of
the reasons I think we
struggled is that we weren’t
focused throughout the
game and made a lot of
simple mistakes.”
The Dragons may have
suffered another loss Fri-
day. Starting quarterback
Caedmon Blair was injured
near the end of the game,
remaining on the ground
for several minutes before
being taken off the field. He
did not return.
Ja c k s o n s a i d Fr i d a y
after the game he wasn’t
sure of the extent of Blair’s
injury.
“He just got knocked,”
Jackson said. “I know he’s
with our trainer now, and
we will just kind of figure
out what they decide and
will go from there.”
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas coach Tracy Jackson talks with his players after
the Dragons’ 28-10 loss to Lebanon on Friday.
With Eagle Point waiting,
Dallas is moving past Fri-
day’s loss.
Senior running back
Jacob Collins said he’s
proud of what the team has
accomplished this year, ex-
cept missing out on being
league champions.
“We were driving toward
a big goal and, yeah, we
didn’t reach that goal,”
Collins said. “But we are
ready to bounce back and
hopefully drive far into the
playoffs.”