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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2017)
B2 Sports Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, December 20, 2017 S PORTS R OUNDUP Grant Union battles on the mats in Elgin Grant Union Prospector sophomore wrestler Drew Lusco stood at the top of the podium in the heavyweight division at the Dec. 15-16 John Rysdam Memorial Tournament in Elgin. The 2A Prospectors took fourth as a team behind first-place Weiser, Idaho, second-place Baker (3A) and third-place La Grande (4A). Grant Union sophomore Damion Young, wrestling at 138, had a third-place fin- ish. Head coach Andy Lusco said they had several sick and injured players last week, but his athletes who competed battled hard with lots of matches. “Mat time is critical at this point in the season,” Lusco said. “Our younger wrestlers are really making progress. We look forward to the second half of the sea- son after Christmas break and hope to get healthy over the next couple of weeks.” The Prospectors’ next competition is the first weekend of the new year, Friday and Saturday Jan. 5-6, at the Jo-Hi Wrestling Tourna- ment in Joseph. Individual results Ethan Moore (106): 5-3, fourth place Braden Spencer (132): fourth Quinten Hallgarth (152): 3-3, fourth Damion Young (138): third Cameron Hallgarth (170): fourth Josh Carpenter (JV, 170): second Drew Lusco (285): 5-0, first Prairie City Lady Panthers fierce at Triad Tourney The 1A Prairie City Pan- ther girls notched two wins at last week’s three-day Tri- ad Tournament in Klamath Falls, taking one loss. “They all did well, and presented themselves well for a three-day trip,” said Panther head coach Bo Workman. Prairie City’s Megan Ca- marena led the team in scor- ing Thursday with 15 in the Panther’s 44-17 win over the 1A Pacific Pirates of Port Orford. Eight Panther girls Contributed photo Grant Union Prospector sophomore Damion Young (138), left, takes third at last weekend’s John Rysdam Tournament in Elgin. Contributed photo Grant Union Prospector Drew Lusco (285), a sophomore, takes the top spot on the podium at last weekend’s John Rysdam Tournament in Elgin. contributed points for the victory. The Panthers had a 20-8 lead at the half and out- scored the Pirates 18-3 in the third. On Friday, Prairie City beat Horizon Christian-Hood River 32-21, Camarena leading the Panthers with 12. Horizon came within 3 points going into the fourth, but Camarena contributed 7 points in the final 8 minutes to help the Panthers leap away with the 11-point win. The 4A Klamath Union junior varsity team present- ed a bigger challenge for Prairie City, and the Pan- thers fell 50-30. Prairie City had an 11-10 point lead in the first and were down by two at the half. Klamath Union outshot the Panthers 19-2 in the third, and stayed ahead for the win. Workman said, overall, his team performed well at the tournament. “The girls stepped up and took care of the ball,” he said. “They played aggres- sive defense, but there’s still room for improvement.” Prairie City hosted the Powder Valley Badgers Tuesday past press time. The Panther varsity girls will face Grant Union varsi- ty at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, in John Day. Prairie City boys battle top-ranked team at Triad The Prairie City Panther boys overpowered Powers 65-47 to start things off at the Dec. 14-16 Triad Tour- nament in Klamath Falls, but fell in two close con- tests, including one against the No. 1-ranked team in the state. Against Powers, the Pan- thers were up 32-22 at the half, and Prairie City head coach Sam Workman said younger team members saw playing time. The Panthers’ contest with Triad was a showdown to the end, Prairie City los- ing 51-48. Prairie City was up 27-26 at the half, but lost ground in the fourth. “We couldn’t make our last shots, but it was a good game the whole time,” the coach said. The Pacific Pirates of Port Orford are currently ranked No. 1 for OSAA. At halftime, Pacific led 29-27. Workman said it was a 1- to 2-point con- test until his team had to start fouling late in the game. “They had a tough 6-foot-8 player,” Workman said. “I put Syd (Holman) on him, and he did really well.” He said the games with Triad and Pacific could have gone either way. “They played tough, and I hope they continue to play just as tough the rest of the season,” Workman said. “It was good competition, which we need to see early in the season.” Levi Burke and Dorran Wilson led the Panthers in scoring throughout the tour- nament, Workman said. Prairie City was scheduled to host the Powder Valley Badgers Tuesday past press time, and they are scheduled to travel to Powder Valley for a 5 p.m. contest on Thursday. The Panthers will face Grant Union varsity at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, in John Day. The Panther boys will also face an alumni team at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, in Prairie City. Hello Grant County, I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Christmas will be here before we know it! Be sure to visit the Chamber Businesses listed in our ads in the Blue Mountain Eagle for great gift ideas. Don’t forget to check out House to Home, Twisted Treasures and Gnarly Goods (who were accidentally missed on our Think Local Ad). Congratulations to the winners of the Timber Trucker’s Light Parade, and thanks to all of you who organized it. It was a great parade enjoyed by many people. We had a nice crowd at the Chamber to watch the parade and enjoy the fire pits. Welcome new members Timbers Bistro, John Day/Canyon City Parks and Rec, and Portrait Connection. And, congratulations to the 1188 Brewing Company on their expansion! Our next Chamber meeting will be Thursday, December 21st. The board will have their business meeting at 11:00 AM at the Chamber office and then we will move over to the Outpost for our no-host luncheon. Our guest speaker will be Tracie Unterwegner. She will be sharing information about the library project. I will be sharing some new ideas for the coming year so please plan to join us. Monument/ Dayville girls lose hoops battle to No. 2 team, boys fall to Redsides The Monument/Dayville Lady Tigers came up with a 48-31 loss Tuesday, Dec. 12, to No. 2-ranked South Wasco Redsides, but came away with lessons from the game. “Last Tuesday was a good experience for our girls, and for most of the game I was happy with how we played,” said Tiger head coach Taylor Schmadeka. “Our defense was very good in the first half, but we lost focus in the sec- ond half and committed a lot of fouls that hurt us late in the game.” Monument/Dayville was trailing by two at the half, 16- 14, then the Redsides outshot the Tigers 14-8 in the third. “South Wasco was a very good team, and they played tough for all four quarters,” Schmadeka said. “Looking forward, we will work on conditioning so that we can still compete into the fourth quarter.” He said free throws that were missed also could have made a difference in the out- come. Tiger Danielle Rhoda led Monument/Dayville’s scoring with 13 points followed by Kyla Emerson with 8. The Monument/Dayville Tigers boys fell 40-28 to the Redsides. The Tiger boys and girls will compete at the three-day Union Christmas Classic tour- nament Dec. 21-23. The Monument/Dayville girls will face Union at 8 p.m. Thursday, followed by the boys at 9:30 p.m. Ukiah/Long Creek boys and girls compete at Harper Tournament The Ukiah/Long Creek Mountain Lion boys and girls each came away with one win and one loss at the Dec. 15-16 Harper Tournament. The Mountain Lion boys held out for a 47-45 win over Harper on day one, and lost to Huntington 58-29. The girls fell to Harper 50- 19 on day one, then followed up with a win over Burnt River 28-15. Amos Studtmann, who coaches the boys and girls teams, along with TC Conner, called the boys’ win over Harp- er a defensive victory. He said the entire team contributed to the win. “Every one of our players contributed with most of the bench scoring as well,” he said. “They all worked together.” He said the Huntington boys deserved their win, and the game pointed out holes in his team’s defense. “Because we lost, we get to take more from the game in terms of improving,” he said. Studtmann said the girls need to work on their team effort, adding one player was scoring 3-pointers in the first half of the Harper game only to be double-teamed and shut down in the final quarters. “The girls need to learn to work together on offense, be- cause no game is a one-man show,” he said. The coach said they will hold practices over Christmas break. They return to competition Jan. 2, when they host Prairie City junior varsity in Ukiah with game times at 4 p.m. for the girls and 5:30 p.m. for the boys. Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year season filled with good times and good memories. Have a very Merry Christmas and safe and Happy New Year!, Oster Professional Group 101 NE 1st Ave., John Day, OR 97845 541-575-2717 Bruce Ward President, Grant County Chamber of Commerce 23649 30031