Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • October 18, 2017 10A
SCHEDULE
PREP BOYS SOCCER
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18
Cross-country: Central,
Lebanon, South Albany at
Dallas (Dallas City Park), 4
p.m.
Best
foot
forward
THURSDAY, OCT. 19
Boys soccer: Corvallis at
Central, 7 p.m. Dallas at
Woodburn, 6 p.m.
Girls soccer: Central at
Corvallis, 6:30 p.m. Wood-
burn at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Women’s soccer: West-
ern Oregon at Concordia, 7
p.m.
Volleyball: Woodburn at
Central, 6 p.m. South Al-
bany at Dallas, 6 p.m. Casco
League Tournament: Falls
City vs., TBA, TBA. Western
Oregon at Central Washing-
ton, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCT. 20
Football: Central at Sil-
verton, 7 p.m. Crescent Val-
ley at Dallas, 7 p.m. Falls
City at Mapleton, 7 p.m.
Oakridge JV at Perrydale, 7
p.m.
SATURDAY, OCT. 21
Cross-country: Western
Oregon at Great Northwest
Athletic Conference Cham-
pionships (at Bellingham,
Wash.), 10 a.m.
Football: Western Ore-
gon at Humboldt State, 6
p.m.
Vo l l ey b a l l : Ca s co
L e a g u e To u r n a m e n t :
Crosshill Christian vs. Perry-
dale (at Oregon School for
the Deaf), 4 p.m. Western
O re g o n a t N o r t hwe s t
Nazarene, 1 p.m.
Women’s soccer: Saint
Martin’s at Western Oregon,
1 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCT. 24
Boys soccer: Central at
Woodburn, 6 p.m. Dallas at
South Albany, 6:45 p.m.
Girls soccer: Woodburn
at Central, 6 p.m. South Al-
bany at Dallas, 4 p.m.
Volleyball: Central at
Corvallis, 6 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25
Cross-country: Central,
Dallas at Mid-Willamette
Conference District Meet (at
Willamette Mission State
Park, Gervais), 2:30 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Registration open
for championship
POLK COUNTY — Regis-
tration is open for
ROTC/JROTC Physical Train-
ing Championship Oct. 28
at the Chemeketa Commu-
nity College’s Brooks Re-
gional Training Center, 4910
Brooklane Road NE, Salem.
Five -member high
school JROTC and college
ROTC teams along with
three member teams from
the community will take
part in a contest of
pushups, pullups, sit ups, a
300-meter dash and 2-mile
run.
Proceeds from the event
will go toward awards for
veteran students through
the Chemeketa Community
College Foundation.
There is no cost to regis-
ter at www.chemeketa.tha
nkyou4caring.org/rotc-
jrotc-physical-training-
championship.
Polk Pedalers to
hold 30-mile ride
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central midfielder Evan Hoover (6) dribbles past a Lebanon defender during the Panthers’ 13-0 victory on Oct. 11.
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral’s boys soccer team has
been here before.
The Panthers have been
on the cusp of a special sea-
son, only to see it end soon-
er than expected.
After a 13-0 victory over
Lebanon on Oct. 11, Central
entered the week undefeat-
ed and with a chance to win
a league title and earn a high
seed for the state playoffs.
The situation is similar to
2016. The Panthers entered
their final two league match-
es — against Corvallis and
Woodburn — with a chance
for a league title. Two losses
later meant Central finished
third in the Mid-Willamette
Conference.
The Panthers are ready to
write a different ending.
“We haven't won anything
yet,” senior Evan Hoover
said. “We have a good
record, but we haven't ac-
complished what we want
yet.”
—
Prior to defeating
Lebanon,
Central de-
feated Cres-
cent Valley
3-2 on Oct.
9. The Rai-
ders led 1-0
in the first
half — the
Hoover
first time
t h e Pa n -
thers had
trailed all
s e a s o n
long. It was
one of the
few re-
maining
tests Cen-
tral had yet
Padilla
to pass.
“I was worried we weren’t
going to react well,” senior
Aaron Padilla said.
The Panthers responded
with three goals in the sec-
ond half.
“You have to trust your
teammates,” Hoover said.
“When you get down, you
can’t change the way you
play to try and score quickly.
You have to trust your team-
mates.”
See CENTRAL, Page 12A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central defeated Lebanon 13-0 on Oct. 11.
COLLEGE CROSS-COUNTRY
Ribich, Wolves ready to go on the hunt
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon’s top cross-country
runners have been waiting
for this moment.
The Wolves will compete
at the Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference Champi-
onships Saturday in Belling-
ham, Wash.
At stake are team and in-
dividual championships —
and a chance to show the
culmina-
tion of all
the hard
work and
dedica-
tion.
“(Coach
M i k e )
Johnson al-
Ribich
ways says
the time for talking is over,”
senior David Ribich said.
“It’s time to race.”
—
For Western Oregon’s top
runners, Saturday couldn’t
come soon enough.
Aside from the San Fran-
cisco State Invitational on
Sept. 22, many of the
Wolves’ top runners have
not raced this season, with
Johnson opting to focus on
training.
“I think it’s a really smart
plan,” Ribich said. “We
raced once and then had a
good, long five weeks of
training.”
The weeks of training
A glowing time
DALLAS — The Polk Ped-
alers Bicycle Club will meet
at Courtyard Coffee House,
156 SE Mill St., Dallas, on Sat-
urday at 8 a.m. The group
will go on a 30-mile ride
touring the covered bridges
in Scio. Children must be ac-
companied by an adult. Car-
pooling available. For more
information: 503-623-6533.
www.polkio.com
Falls City beats
Yoncalla 84-32
The Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Participants stop for a photo at the photo booth during the second annual Dallas
Glow Run on Saturday. The evening featured food, music, a costume contest, kids
run and a 5-kilometer run/walk. There were more than 400 people signed up, ac-
cording to organizers. Money raised will go toward Dallas Christmas Cheer. The
amount of money raised was not available as of press time. Check
www.polkio.com for more information.
have been a pretty big
downside for me,” Ribich
said. “We are all super com-
petitive. But what’s great
about the team we have
now is, on Tuesdays and
Fridays, our workouts have
been incredibly competi-
tive. The inner squad com-
petition carries us because
our workouts are so strong.
We don’t need to race every
weekend, we’re working to
the same end goal.”
See WOLVES, Page 11A
PREP FOOTBALL
By Lukas Eggen
Cross Creek
men’s club results
DALLAS — Cross Creek’s
men’s club results for Oct.
10:
Low gross/low net
Gross: 1, Bill Karjala, 36; 2,
Ted Bennett, 37; 3, Rich Do-
minick, 38.
Net: 1 (tie), Larry Hatcher
and Steve Altman, 32; 3
(tie), Bob Bennett, Ken Ross,
Vern Smith, Darrel Smed-
stad and Wayne Baughman,
35.
without a
chance to
r a c e
against
o t h e r
schools
could have
been a
detriment
Rufener
to team
morale in years past.
But the Wolves know that
the preparation has all led to
this.
“The year before it would
FALLS CITY — Fresh off
an 84-32 victory over Yon-
calla on Friday, Falls City’s
football coach Laric Cook
had one message for his
team: We can do better.
“I think for the most part
we played well, but we gave
up a couple of touchdowns I
don’t think we should have
given up,” Cook said. “When
we play disciplined, we flat
out don’t let people move the
football. We had some mo-
ments where we were real
good and some moments
where we weren’t so good. We
have to be more consistent.”
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
Cook’s insistence on im-
provement may be surpris-
ing at first glance — but
Cook is driven by the poten-
tial he sees in Falls City to
have a truly special season.
Since a season-opening
loss to Dufur, the Moun-
taineers have won five
games in a row. The offense
has scored 58 or more points
in four of them.
“I’m very proud of this
team,” senior Jesse Sickles
said. “We’re going to go a
long way this year. The guys,
they’re great football play-
ers. They have heart and
love the game. I love playing
with them.”
See FALLS CITY, Page 11A
www.twitter.com/PolkIOSports