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