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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2017)
Polk County Sports SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4 Wrestling: Central at 4- way league duals (at Wood- burn), 4 p.m. Dallas at 4- Way league duals (at Lebanon), 4 p.m. THURSDAY, JAN. 5 Boys basketball: Lebanon at Dallas, 7 p.m. Livingstone Adventist at Falls City, 7 p.m. Perrydale at Jewell, 7 p.m. Girls basketball: Living Stone Adventist at Falls City, 5:30 p.m. Perrydale at Jew- ell, 5:30 p.m. Men’s basketball: West- ern Oregon at Seattle Pacif- ic, 7:30 p.m. Swimming: Central at Crescent Valley, 4 p.m. Women’s basketball: Alaska Anchorage at West- ern Oregon, 7 p.m. PREP BASKETBALL Falls City putting pieces together By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — For Falls City’s girls basketball team, the true benefits of the this season may not be seen until future seasons. With seven freshmen and three sophomores on the roster, the Mountaineers have spent much of the team’s first eight games get- TUESDAY, JAN. 10 Boys basketball: Falls City at Willamette Valley Christian, 7:30 p.m. Perry- dale at Livingstone Adven- tist, 7 p.m. Girls basketball: Central at South Albany, 7 p.m. Crescent Valley at Dallas, 7 p.m. Falls City at Willamette Valley Christian (at Blanchet), 6 p.m. Perrydale at Livingstone Adventist, 5:30 p.m. Swimming: Central at Lebanon, 4 p.m. Dallas at Corvallis, 4 p.m. Women’s basketball: Western Oregon at Concor- dia, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11 Boys basketball: South Albany at Central, 7 p.m. Dallas at Crescent Valley, 7 p.m. Wrestling: Corvallis at Central, 6 p.m. South Al- bany at Dallas, 6 p.m. — Houghtaling ting players acclimated to offensive and defen- sive sys- tems and laying the ground- work for future suc- cess. “We knew once (last year’s) seniors left, it would be a learning and growing year,” sophomore Amara Houghtaling said. “It has taken some patience, but we knew it would be like this. This is a learning and grow- ing year.” The process has been slow but steady, teaching players the right spots dur- ing offensive and defensive sets. See FALLS CITY, Page 11A Basketball • Falls City’s girls basketball team went 3-0 at the Valley 10 Tournament last week. • The Mountaineers defeated St. Stevens Academy 48-36, Camas Valley 35-26 and Portland Waldorf 29-23. • Amara Houghtaling scored 23 points against St. Stevens, and Sarah Mack and Gracie Tadlock each scored seven points. • Against Portland Waldorf, Sairah Ziola hit two free throws with less than a minute left in the game to help preserve the vic- tory. Falls City outscored Portland Waldorf 10-0 to take the lead for good. CENTRAL BOYS BASKETBALL Never back down FRIDAY, JAN. 6 Boys basketball: Central at Silverton, 7 p.m. Dallas at Hermiston, 7 p.m. Girls basketball: Silver- ton at Central, 7 p.m. Dallas at Lebanon. 7 p.m. SATURDAY, JAN. 7 Boys basketball: Falls City at Jewell, 4 p.m. Perry- dale at Damascus Christian, 5:30 p.m. Girls basketball: Falls City at Jewell, 2:30 p.m. Per- rydale at Damascus Chris- tian, 4 p.m. Men’s basketball: West- ern Oregon at Saint Mar- tin’s, 7:30 p.m. Swimming: Central at Clemens Invitational (Philo- math), 10:30 a.m. Women’s basketball: Alaska Fairbanks at Western Oregon, 2 p.m. Wrestling: Dallas at Brunner Invite, 9 a.m. Cen- tral at Bob Bishop Invita- tional, 10 a.m. Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 4, 2017 10A Cable brothers make their presence felt By Lukas Eggen Central The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — At 6-foot-1, Central boys basketball player Will Cable is rarely the tallest player on the court, nor the biggest. But the senior post stands tall for the Panthers in the paint. “You have to have an attitude,” Cable said. “You have to work hard. I’m not the biggest guy out there, by far. You have to be stronger than them.” That attitude has helped him be- come a cornerstone for Central on both offense and defense. “He brings energy and is a strong foundation down low,” coach Tim Kreta said. “He’s not one of our scorers, but is one of those guys that helps balance out our ro- tations offensively and is at the core of what we are doing defen- sively as well.” By holding his own down low, Cable allows the Panthers’ guards to play defense more aggressively. “These last two games, he and Andrew (Barry) have helped create an environment where the guards can do their job and not worry if they get beat, because they will be there in the paint,” Kreta said. He may not light up the score- board as much as his teammates, but Cable’s role is one that he relish- es. “I don’t focus on myself too much,” Cable said. “I see myself as a defense guy and a rebounder. Being smaller is one of the things that fuels me the most. You have to body up (in the paint) and work for every- • Central’s boys basketball team went 2-1 at the Century/Hillsboro Tournament, finishing in fourth. • The Panthers lost to Tigard 48- 34 on Dec. 28 before beating Mil- waukie 62-46 on Thursday and Mountain View 51-46 on Friday. • Alec Barba scored 13 points to lead Central against Mountain View. Peter Mendazona added 12 points. • Barba also scored 22 points against Milwaukie. LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Will and Jesse Cable helped the Panthers go 2-1 last week. thing.” Cable has also found a new role in teaching some of the new varsity players the ins and outs — including his younger brother, Jesse. “Will will be talking to the guys and making sure they know what we’re doing,” Kreta said. “He’s kind of taken the sophomore group and is sharing what he knows. He’s taken ownership with what he does, and you can’t teach that. It stems from a love of the game.” While Will is passing along his knowledge to less experienced play- ers, Jesse, a sophomore guard/wing, is showing flashes of potential. “Jesse is a diamond in the rough,” Kreta said. “He didn’t start off as strong as he had hoped, but he’s re- ally starting to become a good, foun- dational part for us. He’s strong and smart.” Jesse looks to all the upperclass- men for advice — but the chance for the two siblings to play together adds significance to the season. “I love it,” Will said. “It’s a blessing, I think. It’s awesome. I always looked forward to my senior year, because I knew he’d be a sophomore and was hoping he could play varsity.” They haven’t been disappointed with the experience so far. See CENTRAL, Page 11A Schedules Subject to Change DALLAS SWIMMING QUICK HITS Williams ends with 1,059 yards SAN DIEGO — Former Western Oregon wide re- ceiver Tyrell Williams caught six passes for 70 yards for the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. Williams finished the sea- son with 69 catches for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns. Williams led the Chargers in catches and receiving yards and was second in re- ceiving touchdowns. Williams caught at least one pass in each of the Chargers’ games, grabbing a career-high eight against Houston in week 12. He had a career-high of 140 receiving yards against Atlanta in week seven. Williams ranked 17th in the NFL in receiving yards and was tied for 16th in re- ceiving touchdowns. San Diego finished 5-11, placing fourth in the AFC West. Trio discovers thrill of the swim meet By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Sophomore Jack Johnston and juniors Joseph Cook and Tyler Boggs all joined Dallas’ swim team for the same reason — to get into shape. All three have found that swimming has evolved from something to do, to some- thing they love. “I’m digging this sport,” Cook said. “This is my sport right now.” What draws them in is also what keeps them moti- vated — the challenge. — The trio all entered the season with varying degrees of swimming experience, but all three were swimming competitively for the first time. “I thought I was an all- right swimmer before I start- ed,” Cook said. “Then I jumped in.” The trio expected high school swimming would be difficult. They quickly found out they weren’t truly prepared for what came next. “I knew it was going to be hard, but didn’t know it was going to be this hard,” Boggs said. The workouts pushed them to their limits. “At the beginning, swim- ming 200 yards was hard,” Johnston said. “… You feel dead afterwards. It’s a good dead, though, and you feel accomplished, but some- times I can barely walk after- wards.” Slowly but surely, they started to swim longer dis- tances, and today, they can swim more than 500 yards with relative ease. “I found muscles I didn’t even know I had,” Cook said. More importantly, they are finding their comfort zones in races and learning the nuances of competitive swimming. “I’ve learned how to cope Men’s basketball splits matchups 9 www.polkio.com As they’ve improved, the trio has redefined goals from just wanting to stay in shape to excelling dur- ing meets. “Before it was about self- improvement,” Cook said. “Now I love competing. I want to compete better and go as far as I can.” They didn’t know quite what they were getting into beforehand, but Johnston, Cook and Boggs are glad they gave it a go. “It’s crazy to think that less than two months ago, we were dreading swimming 500 yards,” Boggs said. “Now we do that every single day, no sweat.” WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP STAT SHEET The number of Western Oregon men’s basketball players who scored during the Wolves’ 98-77 victory over Central Wash- ington on Thursday. Ali Faruq-Bey led the scoring with a game-high 22 points. with the feeling of needing oxygen, but not really need- ing oxygen,” Boggs said. “It’s a crazy feeling. I want oxy- gen, but I know if I don’t (take a breath) I will swim faster.” The trio are still working out a few kinks, though. “The worst part is the feeling of drowning,” Cook said. “I was in a meet and I tried to take a breath, but I ended up sucking in water and choked for the next half length of the pool.” All three competed in freestyle events during Dal- las’ first meet against Silver- ton on Dec. 6. Johnston also swam the backstroke. LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Tyler Boggs, Joseph Cook and Jack Johnston joined Dallas’ swim team for the first time. Itemizer-Observer staff report MONMOUTH — West- ern Oregon’s men’s basket- ball team defeated Central Wa s h i n g t o n 9 8 - 7 7 o n Thursday before falling to Northwest Nazarene 64-59 on Saturday. Against Central Washing- ton, nine different Wolves www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209 scored. Ali Faruq-Bey led the way with 22 points. D e m e t r i u s Tr a m m e l l recorded a career-high 21 points. Tanner Omlid had 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals. See WOU, Page 11A www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports
