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