Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2017)
Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, January 25, 2017 A9 WEDNESDAY January 25, 2017 New baseball coach excited to lead team Prairie City players to join Grant Union team By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle It’s only January, but Dusty Williams is al- ready looking forward to the high school base- ball season. Williams was chosen as head coach of the Grant Union baseball team at the Jan. 18 Grant School District No. 3 school board meeting. He replaces Brian Delaney, who led the Prospectors since 2010 and recently moved out of state. “I’m excited,” he said. “We’re a joining the Grant Union team. young team, and there aren’t many “We love to have those kids down seniors. I want to get back to the here,” Williams said. “They are a fundamentals of the sport ... and part of the community, and I hope Grant Union’s traditional baseball.” everybody supports all the kids.” He said the game is “about life.” Williams has 12 years coaching Developing leadership and instill- experience, including coaching his ing a sense of pride in their school two boys, who are now grown, at and community, as well as respect home. for the game and the coaches, are Cody, a 2010 Grant Union grad- Dusty hallmarks of the program he will uate, was Oregon’s 3A Player of the Williams run. Year his senior year, and was rec- “We want to work on developing ognized as the strongest pitcher and these kids to be productive citizens, working utility player in the state. Lane, a 2014 Grant hard, being proud in what you’ve done,” he said. Union graduate, pitched the 2013 champion- This year, players from Prairie City will be ship game, the Prospectors winning the title. Coach Williams said the team may be short on pitching this year, and a new OSAA rule will make things more diffi cult. Instead of determining how much pitching the play- ers can do by innings, they now are allowed a maximum of 110 throws and are then required to have four days of rest. Williams, who has lived in John Day since 1992, is the groundskeeper at the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day. He’s selected an assistant coach and staff, awaiting approval from the school board. “I’m looking forward to coaching these young men,” Williams said. “It’s an exciting time. I’d like to see the community get back behind the program.” Tiger boys come back to win over Antelopes Boys notch their fifth consecutive win By Angel Carpenter Contributed photo Prairie City Panther Devin Packard (20) is in action during Friday’s game against the Adrian Antelopes at the Prairie City court. The Panthers won the game 81-53. Blue Mountain Eagle The Monument/Dayville Tiger teams hosted the Adrian Antelopes at their Dayville court Saturday, the Tigers boys winning 43-39. The Tiger boys notched their fi fth consecutive win with the night’s victory. Monument/Dayville head coach Jeff Schafer said, while he was happy with the win, they didn’t play their best ball. “It was a rough game, but we pulled through it,” he said. “Tanner hit two big free throws at the end.” S PORTS R OUNDUP By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle See BOYS, Page A10 Prairie City boys on fi ve-game win streak The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector Elijah Humbird makes a comeback, pinning a Union opponent at Friday’s Grant Union Tournament in John Day. The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Monument/Dayville Tiger Cody Kluser (42) goes up to score under pressure from Kenny Purnell (24). Lady Tigers fast on fl oor but unable to catch ’Lopes Coach says team gave 100 percent in game By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Monument/Dayville Lady Tigers battled hard in Dayville Saturday, but came up with a 66-40 loss The visiting Lady Antelopes were off to a quick start in Saturday’s game, adding seven points to the board before a shot fell for the Lady Tigers. Monument/Dayville shot within two points of the visitors in the fi rst two min- utes of play with Kyla Emerson making the fi rst basket, and adding two more at the free-throw line. See GIRLS, Page A10 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Monument/Dayville Tiger Faythe Schafer pushes past Adrian’s Selina Villarreal in Saturday’s game at the Dayville court. WRESTLERS BATTLE AT GRANT UNION TOURNEY Ten teams compete at John Day event By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle The Prospectors hosted nine teams at Friday’s Grant Union Wrestling Tourna- ment. Grant Union head coach Andy Lusco said the round-robin event went smoothly, and he was pleased his wrestlers. “Our conditioning is coming along, and I think we wrestled pretty skilled,” he said. “There are a bunch of kids in there that did well.” To highlight a few of the Grant Union wrestlers: Clay Johnson wrestled 3-0, Drew Lusco went 3-1, Russell Hodge went 3-0 and Elijah Humbird went 2-0. Coach Lusco said one of the most exciting moments came during one of Hum- bird’s matches. “He wrestled a kid with seconds to go who was ahead in points, and he came back and pinned him – and he was really tall and aggressive, so he did a good job there,” Lus- co said, adding, “There were tough kids in a lot of these pods, and our kids wrestled really well as a group.” Lusco’s varsity assistants include Guy Johnson, Tye Parsons and Jake Batease. Hodge said his tough- est match was his last one, against an Irrigon wrestler. See TOURNEY, Page A10 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Grant Union Prospector Clay Johnson takes down his Union opponent in Friday’s tournament in John Day. The Panther boys basketball team had an 81-53 win on Friday over the Adrian Antelopes at the Prairie City court. That decisive win and a couple more big wins place the team in the No. 2 spot in the High Desert League. Prairie City head coach Jonathan Gill said the Adrian game was the best yet of the season for his team. “Everyone was sharing the ball and playing for each other,” he said. “We had seven players score, and everyone con- tributed to the win. It was a good show for our home fans.” Dorran Wilson scored 23 points, fol- lowed by Levi Burke with 22, Brogan McKrola with 15 and Lucas McKinley with nine. On Saturday, the Panthers took a 71- 27 win over Burnt River on the road in Unity. Gill said the game gave more play- ers experience and an opportunity to see what they can do. “It will help us as a team later in the season,” he said. “I’m very proud of the improvement I’ve seen from all the play- ers.” After a 67-49 road win on Tuesday over the Harper Hornets, Gill said they are looking forward to home games. “We look forward to a very big week- end as we host the top two teams in the High Desert League,” he said. “A rival game with Monument/Dayville on Fri- day night and Saturday evening with Jordan Valley. We need our community to come out and support us this week- end.” The Panthers host Monument/Day- ville at 7:30 p.m., the girls game at 6 p.m., and junior varsity girls will have a half game at 5:15 p.m. On Saturday, the Jordan Valley Mus- tangs (6-0, 10-2) come to town. The boys game starts at 4:30 p.m., the girls game at 3 p.m, and the junior varsity teams will start half games at 1:30 p.m. Lady Panthers enjoy two road wins The Eagle/Angel Carpenter After a 42-25 loss to Adrian at home last Friday, the Prairie City Lady Panthers basketball team en- joyed the thrill of victory, twice, in road games. On Saturday, the Prairie City girls beat Burnt River 51-18 in Unity, and Tuesday the girls picked up a 50-30 win against the Harper Hornets. In the game against Adrian, Prairie City head coach Bo Workman said the team had a hard time dealing with the Antelopes’ high-pressure defense. Grant Union Prospector Russell Hodge (red uniform) has a successful match, wrestling an Irrigon opponent. See ROUNDUP, Page A10