Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 25, 2017 11A
CENTRAL SWIMMING
DALLAS WRESTLING
Tuipulotu flips to USC
Dragons take second
at Reser’s tournament
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25
Boys basketball: Central
at Corvallis, 7 p.m. Jewell at
Falls City, 7 p.m. Perrydale
at Crosshill Christian, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Jewell
at Falls City, 5:30 p.m. Perry-
dale at Crosshill Christian,
5:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Dallas, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY, JAN. 26
Men’s basketball: West-
ern Oregon at Northwest
Nazarene, 6:30 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Washington at
Western Oregon, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, JAN. 27
Boys basketball: Central
at Woodburn, 7 p.m. South
Albany at Dallas, 7 p.m. Falls
City at Perrydale, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Wood-
burn at Central, 7 p.m. Dal-
las at South Albany, 7 p.m.
Falls City at Perrydale, 5:30
p.m.
Track and field: Western
Oregon at University of
Washington Invitational,
TBA.
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
Ma r l o n Tu i p u l o t u a n -
nounced on Monday that
he would be flipping his
commitment from the Uni-
versity of Washington to the
University of Southern Cali-
fornia.
Tuipulotu shared a writ-
ten statement Twitter but
declined to comment fur-
ther as of Monday night:
"Never thought this day
would come, but after talk-
ing to my family and
prayers with them about
this situa-
tion, I
have de-
cided to
decommit
from the
University
of Wash-
ington.
Tuipulotu
This was a
tough decision for me, and
I have nothing but love for
the players, the school, and
the coaches at the universi-
ty. A special thanks to
Coach Pete and Coach
Malloe as they recruited
me from the beginning and
were one of the first
schools to offer. I honestly
wish them nothing but the
absolute best in everything
they do. From here, I would
like to announce that I am
still planning to graduate
early and will be attending
the University of Southern
California."
The 6-foot-2, 295-pound
defensive tackle verbally
committed to Washington
last April.
The senior recently com-
peted in the U.S. Army All-
American Bowl and was
rated the top defensive
tackle in the country by 247
Sports.
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
HILLSBORO — Dallas’
wrestling team sent a clear
message to its 5A competi-
tion: It’s on.
The Dragons finished sec-
ond overall at the Reser’s
Tournament of Champions
on Friday and Saturday.
Roseburg, a 6A school, fin-
ished first.
“When you’re competing
against the best 5A schools,
the Hermistons, the Red-
monds, the
Hillsboros
and the
like, you
want to fare
very well
against
t h e m ,”
coach Tony
Foster
Olliff said.
“We were with preoccupied
with the 5A schools and how
we matched up against
them. Finishing ahead of
them was good.”
See DALLAS, Page 13A
SATURDAY, JAN. 28
Boys basketball: Perry-
dale at St. Paul, 3:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Perry-
dale at St. Paul, 2 p.m.
Men’s basketball: West-
ern Oregon at Central
Washington, 7:30 p.m.
Track and field: Western
Oregon at University of
Washington Invitational,
TBA.
Women’s basketball:
Simon Fraser at Western
Oregon, 7 p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Robert Paul Invitational,
TBA.
MONDAY, JAN. 30
Boys basketball: Perry-
dale at Falls City, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Put-
nam at Dallas, 7 p.m. Perry-
dale at Falls City, 5:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, JAN. 31
Boys basketball: Silver-
ton at Central, 7 p.m. Dallas
at Lebanon, 7 p.m. Oregon
School for the Deaf at Falls
City, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Ore-
gon School for the Deaf at
Falls City, 5:30 p.m.
Swimming: Central at
Silverton, 4 p.m. Dallas at
South Albany, 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1
Girls basketball: Central
at Silverton, 7 p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Lebanon, 6 p.m. Dallas at
Woodburn, 6 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
BDST competes
at Lebanon
LEBANON — The Blue
Dolphins Swim Team com-
peted at the Lebanon Invi-
tational on Saturday and
Sunday.
David Beasley won the
boys 200-yard freestyle
(11-12) with a time of 2
minutes, 38.85 seconds.
Beasley also took first in
the 100 freestyle (11-12) in
1:13.82, the 100 backstroke
in 1:19.25 and the 50 back-
stroke (11-12) with a time
of 36.25 seconds.
Lonny Stork took first in
the girls 50 breaststroke
(11-12) in 42.64 seconds
and the 50 butterfly (11-
12) with a time of 36.04
seconds. Taylor Hagedorn
finished first in the 100
butterfly (11-12) in
1:16.20, and Gentry Hage-
dorn won the 50 butterfly
(9-10) with a time of 37.60
seconds.
Other top finishes in-
cluded a second-place fin-
ish in the boys 100 breast-
stroke (9-10) by Cash
Hagedorn in 2:01.10. He
also placed second in the
100 backstroke (9-10) in
1:46.40.
The Blue Dolphins also
saw second-place finishes
from Gentry Hagedorn in
the girls 50 freestyle (9-
10) in 33.18 and in the
girls 200 individual med-
ley (11-12) from Taylor
Hagedorn in 2:43.75 and
in the boys 50 butterfly
(9-10) by Vasilerios
Karatzas in 1:01.44.
For more information on
the Blue Dolphins Swim
Team: www.bluedolphin-
swimteam.org.
www.polkio.com
CENTRAL BASKETBALL
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LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central’s Annika Riddell (22) battles Dallas’ Stefani Tallon for a loose ball on Friday night. The Panthers defeated the Dragons 42-40.
Panthers rally for thrilling 42-40 victory over Dallas
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — It
was a thrilling finish fit for a
rivalry game.
After trailing by eight early
in the fourth quarter, Cen-
tral rallied against Dallas.
The teams tied at 40 with
time running down in the
fourth quarter. Now, the
Panthers had a chance to
take the lead with time
winding down.
“We wanted to do our
usual out-of-bounds play,
which usually goes to An-
nika (Riddell) in the post
because of her height,”
Central coach Julie Mc-
Donald said. “We saw that
a smaller
girl was
guarding
Meagan
(Menda-
zona), so
we went to
h e r. He r
determi-
Riddell
nation and
athleticism can get her to
the hole, and if she didn’t
make (the shot), Annika
would be on the opposite
side to get the rebound. I
felt we had the advantage
both ways.”
Mendazona took the in-
bounds pass and drove right
to the hoop. Her shot
clanked off the rim, but Rid-
dell was in position to grab
the rebound and go up for
another shot.
“I thought, you better
make this,” Riddell said.
Riddell made the put back
— and got fouled.
Her foul shot, however,
was less successful, missing
the rim entirely.
“I was freaking out and
was really nervous,” Riddell
said.
The missed free throw
gave Dallas a chance to in-
bound the ball. The Drag-
ons were out of timeouts.
And Central could foul
without sending a Dallas
player to the free-throw
line, helping to run time off
the clock. There was only
one rule — don’t foul if
Dallas was shooting.
The Dragons got the ball
in and sprinted up the
court. The Panthers fouled
as planned — but not with-
out a bit of controversy.
The refs huddled together
to discuss how much time
was left on the clock and
whether Dallas’ player was
in the shooting motion
when fouled.
“I didn’t really see what
happened, so I was really
nervous,” Riddell said.
The refs decided the
shooting motion had not
begun, and the Dragons
weren’t able to send the
game into overtime.
“It feels amazing,” Mariah
Hyre said. “We kept pushing
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central guard Meagan Mendazona looks to split Dallas’ Jordan Dippel and Olivia Nelson on Friday.
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
Showdown
• Central’s girls basketball
team defeated Dallas 42-40
on Friday.
• It was the Panthers’ fifth
game to be decided by
three points or less. Central
had been 0-4 in those
games entering Friday.
• The Panthers return
home to host Woodburn
Friday at 7 p.m.
each other. We knew we had
to beat Dallas.”
The victory was a big mo-
ment. Central entered its
game against Dallas with a
4-7 record overall.
Of the Panthers’ seven
losses, four have come by
three points or less – includ-
ing a 45-44 loss to Lebanon
on Jan. 17. All but one of the
team’s losses have come by
single digits.
Central kept showing im-
p r ov e m e n t s , b u t t h e y
weren’t resulting in wins.
“We’re so young,” McDon-
ald said. “You look at these
other teams and they have
five, six, seven seniors, and
we have one. We keep telling
them to keep working and
looking at the big picture
here.”
There was little doubt the
team could be competitive,
but players experienced how
difficult it can be to close
out a game.
On Friday, the lessons
players learned through all
the close calls paid off.
“We’ve been in that situa-
tion so many times,” Mc-
Donald said. “We worked on
being confident and show-
ing confidence. We created
some fouls and didn’t let up
on defense.”
See CENTRAL, Page 12A
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