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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, October 25, 2017 A9 WEDNESDAY October 25, 2017 Prairie City heading to state Panthers persevere to win district championship By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle It wasn’t quite a Cinderel- la story, but the Prairie City Panthers pulled off an upset at the 2017 High Desert League Volleyball Tournament at Grant Union high school on Saturday. Going in as the No. 4 seed at 4-3 in league play and 15-6 overall, the Panthers knocked off the top-seeded Jordan Valley Mustangs in the sec- ond round and took home the championship trophy after a tough match against the Adri- an Antelopes. The Panthers started the day by defeating No. 5-seed Harper in three sets, 25-12, 25-13 and 25-10. The young- er Hornets had diffi culties competing with Prairie City, which boasted fi ve seniors. “We did a pretty good job of playing our game,” Panther coach Lance Zweygardt said. “It was a good warm up for our next game, which should The Eagle/Richard Hanners be tougher.” The Panthers faced No. Prairie City’s Emily Ennis goes up for a hit during the championship match against Adrian in the 2017 High Desert League Volleyball Tournament. 1-seed Jordan Valley in the The Panthers’ Brianna Zweygardt and Megan Camarena back up Ennis at the net. second round. The Mustangs, with two seniors and less fi rst two sets and then got a height, had defeated Prairie little complacent before we City in league play, but the came back where we needed Panthers had beaten them at to be.” the Crane tournament in Sep- Meanwhile on the other tember. end of the gym, No. 3 Adrian In a hard-fought match defeated No. 2 Crane in an- with numerous lead chang- other close match, leaving the es, the Panthers won the fi rst two upstarts facing each other two sets, 27-25 and 25-18, but in the championship match. lost the next two sets, 20-25 Zweygardt was confi dent the and 21-25. Prairie City won Panthers could prevail against the fi nal set 15-13 in another the Antelopes. nail-biter. “We beat them in league The Eagle/Richard Hanners “I knew it would be a play in three sets,” he said. The Prairie City Panthers won the 2017 High Desert League Volleyball Tournament Saturday, Oct. 21, at Grant Union tough battle,” Zweygardt said See STATE, Page A16 high school in John Day. They defeated No. 5-seed Harper 3-0, No. 1-seed Jordan Valley 3-2 and No. 3-seed Adrian 3-2. after the match. “We took the Prospectors win district volleyball tournament Grant Union beats Imbler in three sets By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Contributed photo/Elizabeth Shelley Grant Union’s Cameron Hallgarth carries the ball in Friday’s game against Enterprise. The Prospectors won the game, 52-6, improving their league record to 2-0. Pros crush visiting Outlaws Grant Union defeats Enterprise 52-6 on senior night By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle The Prospectors had their way with the visiting Out- laws on Friday, easily defeat- ing Enterprise 52-6 on senior night in nice fall weather at Grant Union high school. “It was a great way to end the season for the seniors,” Grant Union coach Jason Miller said, “a great celebra- tion of what they’ve done over the past four years.” Grant Union came into the game at 5-1 overall with 11 seniors. Enterprise was 2-2 overall, with a smaller roster and only four seniors. Prospector senior quarter- back Wade Reimers started the scoring rout with a 33- yard run into the end zone just 2 1/2 minutes into the game. Sophomore Kellen Shelley followed up with another Contributed photo/Elizabeth Shelley Grant Union’s Wade Reimers runs the ball in Friday’s 52-6 victory over the Enterprise Outlaws. sweep for the two-point con- version. The Outlaws established a consistent pattern early on of four downs and out, keeping the special teams busy all eve- ning. On their second posses- sion, Grant Union pushed past midfi eld on a long ground-gainer. Reimers ran in another touchdown, and senior tight end Cauy Weaver caught a pass for the points after. The Prospectors drove down fi eld on their next pos- session, and senior running back Zack Dieter ran in the touchdown. A fumbled later- al cost Grant Union the extra points, leaving the score 22-0. Enterprise then made it to midfi eld before giving up the ball on downs. On their fi rst play from scrimmage, Re- imers completed a 34-yard pass to Shelley. A few plays later, Reimers ran in another touchdown. Dieter ran in the extra points, making it 30-0 at the end of the fi rst quarter. On their next possession, Reimers completed a 19-yard pass to Dieter, but the Pros- pectors were unable to gain another fi rst down on the drive. That was easily made up a few plays later when Shelley intercepted an Outlaw pass. Dieter followed that up by a 69-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Reimers pitched the ball to Dieter for the extra points, making it 38-0. Dieter intercepted Enter- prise two plays later, and se- nior running back Cameron Hallgarth scored on a 5-yard See FOOTBALL, Page A16 It was a long drive to La Grande for just one volley- ball match on Saturday, but it was worth it. The Grant Union Prospectors defeated the Imbler Panthers to win the Wapiti League champi- onship. The Prospectors came into the tournament as the top seed, at 8-0 in league play and 22-1 overall. Imbler, which was tied at third until defeating the Enterprise Out- laws on Oct. 18, came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed at 3-5 in league and 5-14 overall. The Panthers defeated the No. 2-seeded Union Bobcats in fi ve sets in the fi rst round of the district tournament on Sat- urday to move on to the cham- pionship match. “Imbler is a much im- proved team, especially on defense,” Grant Union coach Shae Speth said. The Prospectors defeated Imbler in three sets, 25-21, 25- 13 and 25-13. “In the fi rst set, we started off a little slow, making too many errors,” Speth said. “But by mid-set, we were able to get into an offensive fl ow we were able to keep throughout the remainder of the match. We served and passed pretty well, and were able to work on options in some of our weaker rotations.” Senior outside hitter Mari- ah Moulton notched 13 kills, Contributed photo/Elizabeth Shelley Sydney Brockway spikes the ball in the Wapiti League championship game against Imbler Saturday, with teammates Whitney McClellan and Trinity Hutchison (5) backing her up. six aces and six digs in the win. Junior Sydney Brockway posted seven kills, three aces, 100 percent serve-receive and nine digs. Junior Hailie Wright had two kills, two aces, one block assist, 10 digs and 24 assists, and junior Kaylee Wright had six kills, one ace, two block assists and three digs. Senior Reagan Shelley had three kills and one block assist, and senior Whitney McClel- lan had fi ve aces, 100 percent serve-receive and 12 digs. Junior Trinity Hutchison had three kills and one dig, soph- omore Taylor Allen had two aces and one dig and junior Alcie Moore had two digs. “We served particular- ly well this match, with 19 aces against Imbler and get- ting them out of system quite often,” coach Speth said. See DISTRICT, Page A16
