Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • November 8, 2017 13A
PREP VOLLEYBALL
Dragons fall to state champions in quarterfinals
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
HILLSBORO — Dallas’
volleyball team’s magical
ride ended in the quarterfi-
nals of the 5A state tourna-
m e n t a t L i b e r t y Hi g h
School.
The Dragons lost to
eventual state champion
Bend 25-9, 25-17, 25-19 on
Friday before falling to
North Eugene 25-12, 25-13,
25-14 in the consolation
bracket on Saturday.
“The last time they made
it this far was 27 years ago,”
coach Shana Lavier said.
“The girls were extremely
nervous, especially that
first set against Bend. The
next two sets, they fought
hard and competed well.”
Dallas finished the sea-
son with a 16-12 record
overall – a stark contrast to
the start of the season
when the Dragons lost their
first four league matches of
the season.
“The girls just started be-
lieving in themselves,”
Lavier said. “We worked on
the mental part of the game
and bringing a positive en-
ergy each day. They really
started believing that they
could accomplish great
things this season.”
The result was a run to
the state tournament that
included an upset over No.
6 Marist Catholic in the first
round of the state playoffs.
“I told them don't re-
member our last match,”
Lavier said. “The match
against Marist was one of
the best matches I've ever
been a part of. I want the
girls to focus on that.”
Dallas was one of three
teams from the Mid-
Willamette Conference to
advance to the quarterfi-
nals.
The Dragons will lose
seven players to gradua-
tion, leaving some big
shoes to fill next season,
but Lavier is confident in
the talent coming up
through the ranks. She
hopes they will see that
they have the potential to
accomplish big things on
the volleyball court.
“The best part is we had
several girls who were on JV
last year,” Lavier said.
“You’re never sure how
everyone is going to mesh,
but we had 11 amazing
young women. Really good
human beings. They are
kind and compassionate
and really fun to be around.
I think it’s a great thing for
the younger girls to see
they can do great things,
and you don’t have to be a
four-year varsity starter to
do it.”
That included helping
excite the community.
“The fan support was
huge,” Lavier said. “Dallas
police and fire sent our girls
off on Friday. It’s amazing
how our community em-
braces and gets behind our
youth and our programs.”
Mountaineers
Continued from Page 12A
Labrado finished with 16
carries for 161 yards and
three touchdowns on of-
fense, and five solo tackles
and an interception on de-
fense.
Jesse Sickles threw for
117 yards and two touch-
downs, and ran for 38 yards
and three touchdowns.
Noah Sickles added 18
carries for 155 yards. Austin
Burgess had four catches
for 80 yards and two touch-
downs on offense, and two
solo tackles, three assisted
tackles and a sack on de-
fense.
Falls City’s attention now
turns to Camas Valley.
“This is the best team
we’ve played this year since
we played Dufur,” Cook
said. “We’re not going to be
able to make mistakes. …
They throw all kinds of for-
mations at you. There’s a lot
of smoke and mirrors.
They’ve got some speed
and are a 50/50 team.
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Class 5A State Football
Who: No. 6 Falls City vs. No. 3 Camas Valley.
What: Class 1A state football, quarterfinals.
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
Where: Roseburg High School.
Admission: Adults, $8; students, $6.
What’s at stake: The winner advances to the semifinals
Nov. 10-11.
They’ll run it 50 percent of
the time and throw it 50
percent of the time. Defen-
sively, they play good,
sound gap defense and
tackle well.”
Saturday will be unchart-
ed territory for the Moun-
taineers. This is the first
time Falls City has ad-
vanced to the quarterfinals
in 67 years.
“It’s an exciting time for
the kids,” Cook said. “They
are doing a great job taking
it for what it is. They’re not
blowing it up. A lot of them
haven’t had this kind of suc-
cess, but we’ve just to go
stay the course, believe in
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Emma Classen (5) goes up for a block against Bend on Friday afternoon.
what we tell them, execute
and let the chips fall where
they may.”
Saturday’s matchup will
be a challenge, but Cook
said the Mountaineers are
ready to leave it all on the
line.
“A lot of times the teams
are pretty evenly matched,
and it comes down to who
makes the fewest mis-
takes,” Cook said. “This
group of kids seems to rise
to the occasion. … I’m
prouder than heck of the
kids. They’ve embraced
this and are continuing to
make believers out of peo-
ple.”
Football falls to Azusa Pacific
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon University’s football
team lost to Azusa Pacific
41-16 on Saturday. The
Wolves led
13-7 after
the first
quarter
thanks to
an 8-yard
t o u c h -
down run
by Devon
Duckworth
Fortier and
a 2-yard
touchdown
pass from
Nick Duck-
worth to
Paul Revis.
B u t
Azusa Pa-
cific held
the Wolves
Revis
to a field
goal over the final three
quarters to pull away for the
victory. Duckworth finished
the game with 243 yards and
a touchdown.
Western Oregon (2-8 over-
all, 1-6 Great Northwest Ath-
letic Conference) hosts
Simon Fraser Saturday at 1
p.m. in the team’s season fi-
nale.
VOLLEYBALL DROPS TWO:
Western Oregon University’s
volleyball
team lost a
pair of con-
ference
matches last
week . The
Wolves lost
to Concor-
dia 25-23,
25-17, 25-19
on Oct. 31
Bettinson
b e f o r e
falling to Montana State,
Billings 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 21-
25, 15-12 on Thursday.
Sierra Stultz had 19 kills and
one ace to lead the Wolves
against Montana State, Billings.
Alisha Bettinson recorded 18
kills, one block and one ace.
WOU (6-17 overall, 2-14
GNAC) plays at Alaska Anchor-
age on Thursday and at Alaska
Fairbanks on Saturday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL TO
HOST TOURNEY: Western Ore-
gon University’s men’s basket-
ball team will host the
GNAC/PacWest Challenge Fri-
day and Saturday to kick off its
2017-18 season.
]WOU will host Point Loma
Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Fresno
Pacific Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Wolves went 18-13 overall
and 13-7 in GNAC play during
the 2016-17 season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
OPENS REGULAR SEASON AT
HOME: Western Oregon Univer-
sity’s women’s basketball team
will begin its 2017-18 season at
home when the Wolves host
the WOU/Hampton Inn D2
Shootout on Saturday and Sun-
day.
WOU will play Dixie State
Saturday at 2 p.m. and Cal
State, San Bernandino Sunday
at 2 p.m. The Wolves finished 8-
19 overall and 4-16 GNAC dur-
ing the 2016-17 season.
Wolves: Ribich pulls away for win
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Central junior forward Brandon Lopez fights to gain pos-
session of a loose ball against Marist Catholic on Nov. 1.
Central
Continued from Page 12A
“It was a heart-breaker,”
senior Aaron Padilla said.
“But that’s soccer.”
Central entered the match
with hopes of a deep run,
but instead found itself mak-
ing an earlier-than-expected
exit.
“I wish we got a little far-
ther,” coach Joe Orozco said.
“ We d i d n’t f i n i s h o u r
chances. I guess that’s just
how it goes sometimes.
Sometimes you stick to your
plan and it doesn’t work. We
had some really good (scor-
ing) chances but just
couldn’t put it away. We just
couldn’t.”
Marist Catholic took a 1-0
lead midway through the
first half. The Panthers had
several shots on goal
throughout the rest of the
match, including a shot that
ricocheted off the goalie, but
Central could never quite
find the back of the net.
“Marist played and de-
fended well,” Orozco said. “If
we don’t put them in, we
don’t win. That’s what hap-
pened here.”
Marist Catholic lost to La
Salle 3-0 in the state quarter-
finals on Saturday.
The Panthers finished the
season with a 12-2-1 record
overall and 6-1 mark in Mid-
Willamette Conference play.
Central won its first league
title since joining 5A.
“To me, this season was
great because we got a
league title,” Padilla said.
“ T h a t ’s s o m e t h i n g w e
haven’t done since 2008. We
worked hard through the
summer and season. De-
spite the short playoff run, it
was still a very successful
season and I’m very proud of
my teammates and coach-
ing staff.”
The Panthers accom-
plished a lot during the 2017
season, but Orozco wanted a
happier finish to a strong
year.
“I was just hoping for a
better ending,” Orozco said.
Continued from Page 12A
But Ribich took little time
to celebrate his individual
championship. As quick as
he could, Ribich was track-
ing how his teammates
were doing.
Nading placed 13th in
30:28.9. Parker Marson fol-
lowed in 32nd (31:05.2),
with Tyler Jones (36th,
31:12.5 and Josh Dempsey
(39th, 31:16.2) rounding
out the team’s scoring run-
ners.
“I’d count two for that
team, three for this team,”
he said. “I knew Chico
(State) won (the team title),
but then I was like, who is
in contention right now? I
was nervous. I knew it was
going to be close.”
Turns out, it was closer
than even Ribich thought.
Western Oregon and Simon
Fraser were tied. The
tiebreaker was head to head
finishes for each team’s top
five runners.
The Wolves had a 3-2
edge.
“It was special for Josh
(Dempsey) and I because
that was the last race we’ll
have in a Western Oregon
uniform in Oregon,” Ribich
said.
Now, WOU is headed to
nationals in Indiana on Nov.
18.
It’s the next step in estab-
lishing the Wolves as one of
the west’s distance powers.
“It starts like a fire,”
Ribich said. “It only takes
an ember to get the whole
forest burning. When I ar-
rived, the atmosphere was
different. I credit the fact
that everyone caught fire
with what we want to ac-
complish is possible. No
one is setting their limits
low.”
That belief built slowly
over time as runners like
Ribich found success on a
national level.
“For me, it started my
sophomore year,” Ribich
said. “I qualified for nation-
als. I set that standard for
myself, and I had the mind-
set that nationals needs to
be a normal meet, not
something I’m chasing.”
Other runners, like Tyler
Jones, arrived as a quiet,
timid freshman, but devel-
oped into strong, motivated
runners, Ribich said.
Last spring may have
marked a watershed mo-
ment for the program.
“I think the distance
medley relay team (in track)
winning a national title was
a turning point in our pro-
gram,” Ribich said. “If we
had taken second in that
race by one hundredth of a
second, I don’t think it
would have had as big of an
impact. It was a tone setter.
It motivated us to put in the
work.”
The result has been a
team that believes it can ac-
complish great things and
are seeing the results to
back it up.
The Wolves are out to
make sure Saturday wasn’t
the highlight of their sea-
son, but rather another
mark in their progression.
“We were third in the re-
gion. That’s a big stepping
stone,” Ribich said. “But it
doesn’t get us a trophy at
nationals. It doesn’t solidify
us as a program. We still
have work to do.”
Running them down
WESTERN OREGON ATHLETICS/for the Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon senior cross-country runner Kennedy Rufener looks to pass runners during the NCAA Division
II West Region race on Saturday. Rufener finished 13th overall and received an individual invitation to compete
at the national meet on Nov. 18 in Indiana.