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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2016)
Polk County Sports Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 9, 2016 12A Fighting for the ball WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP Ribich leads men’s XC Itemizer-Observer staff report B I L L I N G S , Mo n t . — Western Oregon sopho- more David Ribich finished 15th at the NCAA Division II West Region Championship on Satur- day after- n o o n . Ribich completed t h e 10,000- m e t e r course in 30 min- Ribich utes, 36.07 seconds and earned All-Re- gion honors. Junior Josh Dempsey placed 78th in 32:29.3. Junior Kennedy Rufener led the women’s team with a 27th-place finish. She completed the 6,000-meter course in 22:11.25. Sopho- more Grace Knapp took 32nd in 22:17.23. VOLLEYBALL DEFEATS ALASKA FAIRBANKS: West- ern Oregon’s volleyball team defeated Alaska Fairbanks 25- 23, 25-14, 25-20 on Thursday before falling to Alaska An- chorage 25-21, 25-19, 26-24 on Saturday. Against Alaska Fairbanks, junior Syd- ney Blank- i n s h i p recorded 10 kills, three digs and three b l o c k s to lead the Wolves. Bettinson S e n i o r Paige Orth added nine kills, while junior Alisha Bettinson and sopho- more Mariella Vandenkooy had eight. Sophomore Maddie Mehciz recorded 37 assists. Western Oregon (9-14 over- all, 6-10 Great Northwest Ath- letic Conference) played Con- cordia Tuesday after press time. The Wolves host Mon- tana State Billings Thursday at 7 p.m. in the team’s final home match of the season. F O O T B A L L FA L L S AT AZUSA PACIFIC: Western Ore- gon’s football team lost to Azusa Pacific 33-8 on Saturday. The Wolves did not score until the fourth quarter, when quar- terback Nick Duckworth hit re- ceiver Paul Revis for a 70-yard touchdown. Azusa Pacific held Western Oregon to 235 yards of total offense. WOU (3-6 overall, 2-5 GNAC) closes out the regular season at Simon Fraser Satur- day at 1 p.m. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TO HOST SHOOTOUT: West- ern Oregon’s women’s basket- ball team will host the WOU/Hampton Inn Division II Shootout this weekend. The Wolves will play San Francisco State Saturday at 4 p.m. and Cal State East Bay Sunday at 2 p.m. WOU defeated Linfield 82-71 on Oct. 31 before falling to Portland State 100-96 in overtime in the team’s two ex- hibition games. MEN’S BASKETBALL TO OPEN SEASON: Western Ore- gon’s men’s basketball team will open the 2016-17 season at the GNAC/Pac West Chal- lenge this weekend in Fresno, Calif. The Wolves play Point Loma on Friday and Fresno Pa- cific on Saturday. COURTESY OF HILLSBORO TRIBUNE PHOTOGRAPHER CHASE ALLGOOD/for the Itemizer-Observer Central's Juan Ortiz collides with a Hillsboro defender during the Panther's 4-0 loss to Hillsboro on Nov. 2 in the first round of the state playoffs. Hillsboro lost to Wilsonville in the quarterfinals. Central finished the year with an 8-6-2 record. Dallas: Dragons play at No. 1 Summit on Friday LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Dallas senior Cade Caudill (5) celebrates moments after the Dragons’ win on Friday. Continued from Page 11A “They run the same of- fense as us,” White said. “We have the ability to know how to handle their defense and offense, and felt we had the upper hand because of that.” Dallas built a 30-0 lead by halftime. “I saw that they looked b i g g e r t h a n u s, b u t I thought we were faster,” coach Tracy Jackson said. “I think you could see the dif- ference in speed between us. I think we set the right tone. I don’t care who you are, you get down 20-0, you start to question every- thing.” Dallas didn’t let up from there. “They’re physical, just like us,” Cody Janssen said. “My brothers, we just tore it up.” Dallas will play at No. 1 Summit in the state quarter- finals on Friday. Summit defeated No. 16 Crater 50-21 in the first round. “I think offensively they have arguably the best quar- terback around,” Jackson said. “Defensively they are a pressure defense. They are going to blitz everybody a lot of the time and we have to plan accordingly.” Before then, players cele- brated a momentous occa- sion — the thrill of victory. It was a moment that, despite having ambitions to do more, will stick out for play- ers long after the season ends. “It means a lot for us,” White said. “We haven’t been super successful in the play- offs. We talked about creat- ing our own legacies and we started that (on Friday).” PREP FOOTBALL Central: Panthers to host Redmond Friday at 7 p.m. Earhart, Tuipulotu earn Continued from Page 11A “I think one thing is when you get to the post- season you want to see your guys really start com- ing together,” Hedrick said. “I think we started seeing that the last cou- ple games of the reg- ular sea- Mendazona s o n a n d r e a l l y proved that point on Fri- day.” The Panthers’ were re- warded with one last home game of the season. Central will host No. 14 Redmond in the quarterfi- nals Friday at 7 p.m. Redmond defeated No. 3 Silverton 35-27 on Friday to advance. “It’s kind of funny, we hadn’t even left the field yet and, with social media the way it is today, people w e r e telling us Silverton was up by one or down by Morales o n e , ” Hedrick said. “I thought, let me celebrate this victo- ry for a moment, but it will certainly be nice to play at home and have our home crowd.” Redmond poses a diffi- cult challenge, with an of- fense that aims to confuse defenses. It will require great dis- cipline from the Panthers on defense to stop and get Redmond’s offense off the field. “Redmond is a team that is incredibly well- coached,” Hedrick said. “They have an offense that you just don’t see. Dallas’ offense is problematic enough. Redmond’s is al- most twice as complicated as what Dallas runs. I’m al- ways glad we only play Dallas once a year. Now we have Redmond and trying to duplicate and see the people they bring in mis- direction plays and how many times they hand the ball off in the backfield, we have our work cut out for us.” If Central wins, the Pan- thers advance to play the winner of No. 7 St. Helens versus No. 2 Wilsonville in the state semifinals on Nov. 18. “We’ll practice like we would for any other day,” Hedrick said. “We’ll fill the evening schedule a little bit more, maybe have a couple dinners together where we aren’t coaches a n d p l a ye r s a n y m o re. We’re just human beings having dinner, and we are o n eq ua l gro un d. It’s nice.” player of the year honors Itemizer-Observer staff report POLK COUNTY — Dallas senior Tanner Earhart and Central senior Marlon Tu- ipulotu were named the Mid-Willamette Confer- ence’s players of the year. Earhart, the MWC’s of- fensive player of the year, rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns. Tuipulotu, the league’s defensive player of the year, recorded 44 tackles, four sacks and two fumble recoveries. FIRST TEAM OFFENSE: Guard: Cody Janssen (Dal- las, senior); tackle: Marlon Tuipulotu (Central, senior); tight end: TJ Dimick (Dal- las, junior); wide receiver: Peter Mason (Central, sen- ior); running back: Tanner Earhart (Dallas, senior). FIRST TEAM DEFENSE: Defensive line: Marlon Tu- ipulotu (Central, senior); defensive line: Cade Caudill (Dallas, senior); linebacker: J a c o b Collins (Dallas, Tuipulotu senior); d e f e n s i v e b a c k : Pe t e r Mason (Central, senior). SECOND TEAM OF- F E N S E : Gu a rd : Jo rd a n Dickson (Central, junior); tackle: Josh Willden (Dallas, senior); running back: AJ Morales (Central, senior). SECOND TEAM DE- FENSE: Linebacker: Jack- son Holstad (Central, sen- ior); defensive back: Jason Richey (Dallas, senior). HONORABLE MEN- TIONS: Guard: Tim Hensley (Dallas, senior); tackle: Kyle Aklin (Central, senior); tight end: Xander Bailey (Central, junior); wide re- ceiver: An- drew Barry (Central, senior); quarter- back: Peter Menda- Earhart zona (Cen- tral, junior); running back: Aaron White (Dallas, sen- ior); defensive line: Sam Crow (Central, senior); de- fensive line: Tim Hensley (Dallas, senior); defensive line: Josh Willden (Dallas, senior); linebacker: Jacob Ronco (Dallas, senior); line- backer: Brycen Grillo (Dal- las, junior); linebacker: TJ Dimick (Dallas, junior); linebacker: Evan Courtney (Dallas, junior); defensive back: Marcus Cedillo (Cen- tral, junior); defensive back and kick returner: Aaron White (Dallas, senior). PREP FOOTBALL Mountaineers fall to Dufur in state playoffs Itemizer-Observer staff report DUFUR — Falls City’s football coach Laric Cook has preached “trust the process” to his players. The Mountaineers saw what they aspire to be dur- ing the team’s 54-2 loss to Dufur on Friday in the first round of the 1A state play- offs. “Dufur, they are the de- fending state champions,” Cook said. “They brought back 80 to 90 percent of their starters. They’re big- ger, they’re faster and they’re stronger. That was the difference. They didn’t play any harder than our kids. Our kids played their butts off.” The playoff game was the Mountaineer’s first in 34 years. Reaching state was a big step forward for the pro- gram, but Cook knows the offseason is where the real difference will be made as the Mountaineers got a taste of what it will take to succeed in the 1A state playoffs. “Somehow, we have to get faster,” Cook said. “I want them to know we will show up anywhere and play anybody, anytime.” Offseason workout pro- grams will be key. The Mountaineers have seen what it takes to be a true contender in Class 1A. Now, Cook hopes to lead Falls City to the next step in developing the program into a perennial contender — one that isn’t afraid to play the best teams in the state. “We want to know what it’s like to be in a fight,” Cook said. “I want them to be in the fight in the phone booth. I don’t want them to back down from that. I want them to get in there and be a part of it. We may not be the biggest or most talented, but by golly, we aren’t scared of throwing our hat in the ring and standing toe to toe with you. You’ll know you’ve been in a fight.” Field: Dragons will practice at Central this week Continued from Page 1A Larson reached out to Central athletics director Shane Hedrick. “It’s about helping your n e i g h b o r s o m e t i m e s ,” Hedrick said. “In the com- munity, when you get a law enforcement call, we rise to- gether. This happened to be an opportunity where their field wasn’t playable and ours was available. It’s an honor to let Dallas use the facility. Dallas had a big win against Eagle Point on the turf and it allowed the game to be decided on the field rather than a mud bowl. It was a matter of helping each other out.” Dallas defeated Eagle Point 50-14 on Friday. As the Dragons celebrated a victo- ry, players didn’t seem to mind the change of venue. “We had a little less of a crowd because of it, which is a bummer, but it’s a better field,” senior Caedmon Blair said. “It’s a field that we’re not going to slip on.” Larson said the district has looked at possible plans to alleviate the drainage issues at Dallas High but are await- ing response from the city of Dallas on whether the dis- trict could tap into the city’s sewer system. If granted ap- proval, the district would look at potential costs. Dallas City Manger Ron Foggin did not find whether the school district had sent in an official request to the city before press time. Plans to fix the drainage system would entail more than just the football field, Larson said. “All the water that comes off the baseball, softball and practice fields all drains to- ward the south end zone,” Larson said. “Addressing that would open the door to using the field more. We could have soccer under the lights.”
