Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 20, 2017 11A
PREP BOYS SOCCER
Panthers down Cascade to remain undefeated
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Central’s boys
soccer team found itself in a battle
against Cascade on Thursday
evening with the Panthers eventually
earning a 1-0 victory.
The Panthers came into the match
undefeated and scoring three or
more goals their last three matches.
“What’s worked well for us early
on is our passing,” coach Joe Orozco
said. “We’ve been creating spaces
and moving to spaces without the
ball.”
Cascade largely eliminated those
spaces.
“Cascade is a pretty tough team and
didn’t give us that space,” Orozco said.
“We pretty much had to play their
game.”
Forced out of their comfort zone, the
Panthers adjusted — and it showed.
“The game wasn’t our best perform-
ance,” junior Eduardo Gonzalez said.
“But it gives us a starting point on what
we have to work on.”
Central had numerous scoring op-
portunities throughout the second
half — and a goal from junior Javier
Puente proved to be the game-win-
ner.
“We learned if your game plan isn’t
working, if you play with your heart
and your mind, you can still win,”
Orozco said.
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central’s boys soccer team defeated Cascade 1-0 on Thursday.
The Panthers also defeated North
Marion 5-0 on Sept. 12. Brandon Lopez
scored a hat trick, and Sebastian Diaz
and David Avila also scored.
“We know each other’s strengths,”
Gonzalez said. “We know where we can
put the ball to each other and where
we can’t. We know what we can do
comfortable and what we have trouble
with.”
Gonzalez, despite playing on de-
fense, is also a threat on the attack. He
recorded an assist against North Mari-
on and is as valuable on offense as he is
on defense, Orozco said.
“He’s impressed us very much,”
Orozco said. “He can create a spark.
I’ve told him before if you have the
room to move up, go ahead. He’s a
very versatile player and can go up
and down the field with precision.”
Along with Lopez, Evan Hoover,
Avila and more, the Panthers have an
attack that can score from all sides of
the field with goals from a number of
different players.
Central (5-0 overall) plays at La Salle
on Thursday at 7 p.m.
While the Panthers have racked up
wins during nonleague play, a Mid-
Willamette Conference title is their
next goal.
“The guys are more mature,” Orozco
said. “They don’t panic so much when
they hear the name Woodburn.”
Unlike previous years, Orozco said
Central is eager to take on the league’s
best.
“If we put it together, we’ll be ready
for anybody in our conference.”
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Omar Ceja reacts to a call from the referee on Thursday.
CENTRAL ROUNDUP
Football team closes out nonleague play with win
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — Kick-
er Santana Reyna had never
played football before this
fall — let alone kick.
Yet, Reyna found himself
with a chance to give Cen-
tral’s football team the lead
in the fourth quarter against
Glencoe on Friday night.
Reyna came through, kick-
ing an extra point that
helped give the Panthers a 7-
6 victory.
“He came out for football
the first time,” coach Shane
Hedrick said. “Here he is at
the end of the game and he
kicked. You think, ‘holy
smokes, the game is on the
line.’ He kicks an extra point
r i g h t
through
and then
pins Glen-
coe down
at their 5-
yard line
on
the
kickoff.”
Mendazona
T h e
Pa n t h e r s
trailed 6-0 in the fourth
quarter before quarterback
Peter Mendazona hit Isaiah
Abraham for a touchdown.
Reyna’s kick proved to be the
difference in a tightly con-
tested matchup.
“Glencoe is a much-im-
proved team over a year
ago,” Hedrick said. “They
have a lot of tools and are in-
credibly well-coached. We
are still finding our identity
on offense. We were close on
a lot of things and were one
technique away or one posi-
tion away from being suc-
cessful. The kids battled all
the way through.”
Marcos Cedillo and Niko-
lai Wolfe each had eight
tackles on defense.
“Several kids made plays
that were instrumental in
this win,” Hedrick said.
Central plays at South Al-
bany Friday at 7 p.m. to
open Mid-Willamette Con-
ference play.
“South Albany is a team
that plays everybody tough,”
Hedrick said. “They’re not
going to lay down for any-
body. They’ve got some kids
who can cause you a lot of
headaches, and this is our
first road trip of the year.
That in and of itself is going
to be a challenge going into
hostile territory. We are going
to continue finding where we
are offensively. We have
some questions we want to
answer and find out where
our strong points are.”
Notes: MVP: Isaiah Abra-
ham. Offensive Player of the
Game: Peter Mendazona.
Defensive Player of the
Game: Jesse Cable. Special
Teams Player of the Game:
Santana Reyna.
GIRLS SOCCER FALLS TO
CASCADE: Central’s girls soc-
cer team lost to Cascade 3-0 on
Thursday. The Panthers played
Madison Tuesday after press
time. Central concludes its
nonleague season at Mil-
waukie Thursday at 7 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL WINS TWO
OF THREE AT DALLAS TOUR-
NEY: Central’s volleyball team
won two of three matches at
Dallas’ volleyball tournament
on Saturday.
The Panthers lost to Philo-
math 25-14, 25-23 before beat-
ing Astoria 25-13, 25-19 and
Blanchet Catholic 25-22, 25-17
en route to advancing to the
championship match. Full re-
sults were not available.
The Panthers lost a pair of
league matches earlier in the
week. Central fell to Crescent Val-
ley 25-22, 25-23, 25-11 on Sept.
12 and Lebanon 24-26, 25-22,
25-21, 25-18 on Thursday.
“Last week, we struggled
getting started,” coach Clau-
dine Mendazona said. “Thurs-
day, we rebounded, but lost a
tough match against Lebanon.”
Krista Omlid led the Panthers
with 21 kills. Annika Riddell had
three blocks and Meagan Men-
dazona and Sydney Nash com-
bined for 36 assists. Elizabeth
Chavez recorded 36 digs.
Central (5-4 overall, 1-3
MWC) played Dallas Tuesday
after press time. The Panthers
host Corvallis Thursday at 6 p.m.
before playing at Woodburn
Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Falls City: Mountaineers travel to Lowell on Friday
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
A quartet of Falls City defenders attempt to bring down a Siletz Valley runner during
the Mountaineers’ 58-0 victory on Friday night.
Perrydale
Continued from Page 10A
Perrydale has won in
straight sets in all but two of
its matches. While that level
of dominance has led to
some relatively easy victo-
ries, Dickey said the Pirates
will focus on conditioning so
they are ready once they get
into a challenging match.
“We haven’t gone to five
sets yet,” Dickey said. “That’s
when conditioning will
come into play.”
Perrydale’s win streak was
snapped on Saturday. The
Pirates lost to North Douglas
21-25, 25-8, 25-23, 25-13 on
Saturday before beating
Trinity Lutheran 25-5, 25-7,
25-19.
“North Douglas is a very
good team,” Dickey said.
“They have
good of-
f e n s e ,
w h i c h
forced us
to get out
of our sys-
tem. Perry-
d a l e
Lux
p l a y e d
very well at times, but
could not sustain it. But a
loss always helps us to
work harder to be better
the next time we compete.”
The Pirates travel to Falls
City Tuesday at 6 p.m.
“It’s really been a team ef-
fort,” Dickey said. “I’m excit-
ed for them. I want this for
them to have that experi-
ence and have a chance to
go deep at state.”
Continued from Page 10A
The offensive line paved
the way for a potent rushing
attack, led by Austin Burgess
and Noah Sickles.
“If Austin gets into space,
he can turn it on,” Cook
said. “He’s got pretty good
speed. Noah has gotten sub-
stantially faster. We’re not
burners by any means, but
we’ve got some kids who are
good athletes. Evidently we
were blocking well because,
my gosh, there were places
to run.”
On defense, Reid Sim-
mons and Jeremy Labrado
each had an interception.
The Mountaineers stuffed
Siletz Valley’s offense.
“I’m not sure they would
have had positive yards in
the first half if we didn’t give
them all those yards through
penalties,” Cook said.
Aside from penalties, it
was a dominating victory —
one that players hope fuels
them forward.
“Our offensive line really
executed well tonight,” Sick-
les said. “They opened up
holes for the running backs.
We came out more excited
and with more energy. (This
win) gives us a lot more con-
fidence.”
A season-opening loss
to Dufur, the defending 1A
state champions, showed
the Mountaineers how far
they need to improve be-
fore the end of the season
— but Friday’s victory gave
a taste of what it can do if
everything is clicking.
“I feel like we’re a lot more
passionate this year,” Sickles
said. “We saw what we were
able to do last year, and we
know we have to take it to
another level if we want to
keep going.”
The Mountaineers may
have the key to reaching that
new level.
Falls City was scheduled
to get a major addition this
week — Jesse Sickles.
The senior missed the first
two games, but gives the
Mountaineers a key addition
that can — and will — play
multiple positions.
“He’ll play outside line-
backer on defense,” Cook
said. “Jesse will come in on
offense and play some
quarterback and running
back, and maybe even some
tight end. (Quarterback) Je-
remy Labrado kind of
makes things go, but Jesse
can throw the ball well. If
we can give him enough
time, that’s a pretty good
weapon to have with Austin
and Jeremy in space. We’re
hoping to be multifaceted,
spread the ball around and
be balanced. That’s not typ-
ical of what I’ve done in the
past.”
Falls City plays at Lowell
Friday at 7 p.m.
Lowell presents a diffi-
cult challenge because of
their size, Cook said, but
he also believes the pieces
are starting to fall into
place for the Mountaineers
to thrive.
“If we get mentally tough,
we’ll be able to hang with
the big boys,” Cook said.
PERRYDALE FOOTBALL
Pirates drop league-opener 69-26
Itemizer-Observer staff report
PERRYDALE — Perry-
dale’s football team dropped
its league-opener, falling to
Arlington 69-26 on Friday.
Running back Cooper
Butler had 14 carries for 166
yards. Randall Canfield
rushed 11 times for 123
yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback David
Domes threw for 110 yards
and a touchdown. Josh
Crawford had three catches
for 48 yards and returned a
kick 74 yards for a touch-
down.
On defense, Butler led
the Pirates with 14 tackles.
JJ Avila recorded 11 tackles
and Domes had six tackles
and an interception.
“We are learning that it’s a
four-quarter game,” coach
Steve Mabry said. “Our
youth has shown up over the
past few weeks with a lack of
focus at times, with
turnovers, and not making
plays when they are avail-
able. I like the effort the kids
have given, we just need to
keep progressing forward.”
The Pirates (1-2 overall, 0-
1 Special District 4) plays at
McKenzie Friday at 7 p.m.
Super Senior bowling league results
First place team: Shakey
Pins and Go For It tied at 6
wins and 2 losses.
Scratch game men: Den-
nis Fritz — 235
Scratch game women: Jo
Harwood — 211
Scratch series men: Den-
nis Fritz — 585
Scratch series women: Jo
Harwood — 487
Handicap game men:
Rich Robertson and Terry
Casper — 256
Handicap game women:
Eloise Nelson — 260
Handicap series men:
Mel Smith — 737
Handicap series women:
Debbie Cates — 685