A10
Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
TOURNEY
Continued from Page A9
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Prairie City Panthers work on drills in last
Wednesday’s practice. The varsity team has its first
game of the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 1, hosting Spray/
Mitchell in Prairie City.
COACH
Continued from Page A9
Idaho, and his dream turned
into an accomplished goal of
playing for Ricks.
Barber has help from
David Packard, who has 10
years experience as an as-
sistant coach. Packard said
he’s been impressed with
the dedication of the team
members.
“They’re coachable,” he
said. “They want to be win-
ners.”
He noted, when daily
doubles ended, players came
in for extra time to learn and
increase their efficiency in
executing the plays.
Danner Davis is the sole
senior this year.
Davis joined the Army
Reserves and spent time in
boot camp this summer.
“Being the only senior,
I look forward to this being
my last year of football,”
he said. “I have confidence
in the younger guys. They
seem to have a lot of heart
and want to play football.
Everybody seems like they
want to play.”
Five juniors, three soph-
omores and six freshmen
round out the team.
The four returning start-
ers joining Davis are Lane
Williams, Jonathan Law-
rence, Connor Jones and
Syd Holman.
Junior Jonathan Law-
rence and sophomore Con-
nor Jones said they are con-
fident in their team.
“Everyone’s showed up,
and hopefully, we have an
awesome season this year,”
Lawrence said. “Our team
goal is to make it to the play-
offs.”
“We have a great team
this year,” Jones said. “We
have a great chance to go
to the playoffs and possibly
state.”
He added, “We’re just a
well-rounded team. We have
speed. We have everything
you could ask for.”
The
High
Desert
League includes Prairie
City, Adrian/Jordan Val-
ley, Cove, Crane, Echo,
Harper, Huntington, Jo-
seph, Pine Eagle, Powder
2017 Prairie
City
football
schedule
Sept. 1: vs. Spray/
Mitchell, 7 p.m.
Sept. 8: vs. Pine Eagle,
7 p.m.
Sept. 16: @ Joseph
(cross district) in North
Powder, 1 p.m.
Sept. 22: vs. Harper
(Homecoming), 7 p.m.
Sept. 29: @ Hunting-
ton, 1 p.m.
Oct. 6: vs. TBD, 7 p.m.
Oct. 13: @ Crane, 1
p.m.
Oct. 20: @ Adrian, 6
p.m.
Oct. 28: @ cross district
playoff, TBD
Valley and Wallowa.
Barber said Spray/
Mitchell and Pine Eagle are
returning with some size
this year, and he also ex-
pects Adrian/Jordan Valley
to be one of their toughest
competitors.
Improving each week is
the main goal for the team,
Barber said.
“The kids are very
coachable, so I think we’ll
see some growth each
week,” he said.
“We’re young, but those
freshmen are amazing ath-
letes, with great speed,” he
said, adding the team is a
group with which they can
build a program.
Barber said he’s been
impressed with freshman
starting quarterback De-
clan Zweygardt, and he
said freshman Jojari Field
is also quick and athletic,
noting Field’s quickness on
the track is translating well
to the football field.
Staying healthy and pay-
ing attention to details will
be key for a good season, he
said.
“It’s the little things we
have to do right,” Barber
said. “If you make one play
and make a mistake, just fix
it and move on to the next
play, and just have fun and
enjoy the game.”
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Prairie City Panther football team works on
shoulder hits in last Wednesday’s practice.
VOLLEYBALL
Continued from Page A9
Prairie City will face eight
opponents in league, includ-
ing
Monument/Dayville,
Adrian, Jordan Valley, Crane,
Burnt River, Harper, Hunting-
ton and Long Creek/Ukiah.
Louanne said she expects
Adrian, Crane and Jordan
Valley to all return strong this
season.
Prairie City beat Crane in
pool play at Saturday’s Grant
these teams here, and we just
really showed what we’re go-
ing to bring this season,” she
said.
When the team got down
in the final set, she said the
team stayed focused.
“We did a good job of
communicating which helped
us keep our intensity up,” she
said.
Grant Union’s Whitney
McClellan said it was a good
way for them to start the sea-
son.
“I think it’s a good outlook
for what we have in store for
the season,” she said.
Speth said McClellan had
a great day, defensively.
“She has improved much
since last season on reading
hitters to make strong defen-
sive plays,” Speth said.
She noted Mariah Moulton
showed strength offensively
and defensively with strong
hitting.
“Sydney Brockway had a
strong showing in her first full
varsity match,” Speth said.
“She went on many serving
runs, hit well and was solid in
serve-receive.”
“Taylor Allen came in as
a serving and defensive spe-
cialist, serving several aces
and getting our opponents out
of system offensively,” the
coach said.
She added Hailie Wright
performed well at setter, run-
ning the offense and keeping
the tempo where they needed
it.
“This first weekend al-
ways reveals our strengths
and weaknesses early in the
season, both as a team and
individually,” Speth said.
“Over the next few weeks,
we’ll work on making the
needed adjustments.”
Prairie City started off on
the right foot with a 25-14
win over Crane in pool play.
“We were ahead at the
start,” said Prairie City
assistant coach Louanne
Zweygardt. “The young-
er girls are stepping up and
improving rapidly, and the
upperclassmen are showing
strong leadership skills.”
The win was followed by
a 25-12 loss to Grant Union,
and in bracket play, the Pan-
thers lost 25-17 and 25-5 to
Pilot Rock.
Panther head coach Lance
Zweygardt said they had ex-
cellent coverage but had too
many unforced serve-receive
errors.
“We’re
working
on
some new things with them
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Reagan Shelley returns the ball in a game at Saturday’s Grant
Union Varsity Volleyball Invitational in John Day.
Prairie City’s Cassie Hire dives for the ball in the Panther’s first game against Crane at
Saturday’s Grant Union tournament.
Grant Union Prospector Sydney Brockway dives to
keep the ball in play during the final moments of their
championship game.
and switching things up,”
Louanne said. “Some of them
worked and some didn’t.”
Panther Cassie Hire said
their first games of the sea-
son at the tournament were
rough.
“I thought our lower class-
men stepped up,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to the
next tournament.”
Panther player Brianna
Zweygardt said the team has
some things to work on, but
she’s ready for the next game.
“Beating Crane — that
was big for us,” she said.
“We’ll face them throughout
the season.”
Her teammate Rilee Em-
mel agreed.
“For our first game against
Crane, we played really
good,” Emmel said. “It was
our strongest game.”
After hosting Burns on
Wednesday, Aug. 30, and
Spray/Mitchell on Thursday,
Prairie City will host teams
on Saturday for their home
tournament.
Although Monument/Day-
ville lost their matches, they
had a good learning experi-
ence against 2A Weston-McE-
wen and Heppner.
Monument/Dayville head
coach Kristi Emerson said
she is pleased with her team.
“We still have a lot to go
over, but the girls are grasp-
ing it,” she said, adding she
was happy to see her players
correct mistakes made in the
first game when they played
in the second.
In pool play, the Tigers
fell 25-15 to Weston-McEw-
en, then kept it close in their
second game with a 25-22
loss to Heppner.
“I thought they did very
well,” she said. “They didn’t
get down on themselves and
stayed positive.”
Other teams competing
included 1A Jordan Valley
and 3A Nyssa, which beat
Monument/Dayville 2-1 in
the consolation bracket with
scores of 22-25, 25-15 and
15-7.
Kids and
Junior Fair
Rodeo
results
Pee Wee Stick Horse
First: Rider Moulton
Second: Paisley Churchfield
Senior Poles
First: Aurela Bryant
Second: Dani Bates
Wooly Bullies
First: Beau Clingman
Second: Bransyn Harper
Junior Poles
First: Sarah Clark
Second: Bailey McCracken
Senior Breakaway
First: Katie Johnson
Youth Poles
First: Hayden Churchfield
Second: Aaliyah Marciel
Jr. Break away Roping
First: Coy Schaffeld
Goat Tail Undecorating
First: Tenley Parsons
Second: Paisley Churchfield
Youth Barrels
First: Aaliya Marciel
Second: Hayden Churchfield
Senior Goat Tying
First: Aurelal Bryant
Second: Lacey Churchfield
Junior Barrels
First: Kase Schaffeld
Second: Bailey McCracken
Youth Goat Tail Tying
Forst: Aaliya Marciel
Second: Hayden Churchfield
Senior Barrels
First: Lacey Garber
Second: Dani Schultze
Jr. Goat Tying
First: Coy Schaffeld
Second: Kase Schaffeld
Youth Calf Riding
First: Brett Burril
Second: Helen Rowell
Junior Steer Riding
First: Coy Schaffeld
Second: Talon Van Cleave
Senior Steer Riding
First: Keyan Woodcock
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Kenyon Woodcock stays on for the ride in the senior steer riding at Saturday’s Grant
County Kids/Junior Rodeo.
Hayden
Churchfield
competes
and wins the
youth pole
bending at
Saturday’s
Grant
County
Kids/Junior
Rodeo.
Coy Schaffeld wins the junior breakaway
competition at Grant County Kids/Junior
Rodeo in John Day.
Union Invitational Tourna-
ment in John Day.
Lance added those teams
are usually tough, and Monu-
ment/Dayville is always com-
petitive.
Burnt River, with their ro-
tating student body, and Harp-
er and Huntington are un-
known as far as what they’ll
bring to the table.
The Panthers will have a
look at most of these teams
hosting the Prairie City Tour-
nament at 8 a.m. Saturday.
“We expect the league
this year to be strong again,
with good competition,”
Lance said. “Having a strong
district competition helps
if you make it into the state
bracket.”
He said he’s looking for-
ward to seeing how his team
will do this year.
“We have good chemistry
and experience in the seniors,
good leadership and athleti-
cism in the younger girls,” he
said. “They have an obvious
desire to learn and excel in the
game.”