Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
TIGERS
Continued from Page A8
no playoffs, but if coaches de-
cide to move forward after the
two-year trial run, there will be
OSAA championships.
Hand said the six-man op-
tion is giving his athletes a
more competitive edge.
One new rule, he said, is
that the offense must hand off
or throw the ball — no quar-
terback keepers — though the
quarterback can later take it
back.
“Everybody is eligible to
receive the ball, so everybody
can score,” he said.
He said endurance will be
key in the game, as well as
containing their opponents and
not getting down if the other
guy gains yards.
The game is generally
played on a 40-by-80-yard
field.
Hand said his team is work-
ing hard and showing drive.
Last year, the Tigers could
not muster a win, but the new
format and team’s efforts could
translate into a better season.
“I feel really confident,” he
said. “I think we’ll be a force
to reckon with.”
He said his 13 players are
showing an excellent work
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Head coach Kyle Hand speaks with quarterback Donovan Schafer during practice.
ethic with size and speed to
run the game well.
“We have the best of both
worlds,” he said.
Starting quarterback is
Donovan Schafer, who will
switch off with JT Hand in the
position. The coach said each
of the players have distinct
qualities to help the team.
Sophomore Mark Thomas,
a tailback, had a great season
on the Monument track team
last school year, taking fifth
place in the 1,500-meter run
at state.
“He’s fast and has one of
the best attitudes on the team,”
Hand said.
The coach said senior Gabe
Walker-Hopkins “will be a big
part of offense and defense for
us,” and senior Cade Milton as
center is part of the “crucial”
line.
The two seniors on the ros-
ter are joined by one junior,
five sophomores and four
freshmen. One other freshman
may also join the team.
At Thursday’s practice,
Walker-Hopkins was looking
forward to their first competi-
tion and seeing the team move
into game speed.
“It’s going to be a lot fast-
er,” he said. “Everyone is try-
ing really hard, and it’s push-
ing me to try even harder.”
Milton said he didn’t think
he’d like six-man at first, but
he’s found it to be even better
than eight-man.
“I feel like we’re good this
year,” he said. “We have a
closer bond this year than we
ever have, and there’s a lot
more kids that actually want to
play and are putting 110 per-
cent in.”
Hand’s assistant coach-
es are Heather Bowlus and
Rocky Perkins.
Perkins said Hand will
make an excellent coach, and
said sports teach kids valuable
life lessons and responsibility.
Hand said his goal is to
finish the season winning
three-quarters of their games
or more.
“I just enjoy this sport and
the kids, especially when they
have good attitudes,” Hand
said. “If you see a six-man
football game — Dayville/
Monument or Prairie City —
on the schedule, come and see.
It’s going to be a blast!”
PROS
Continued from Page A8
Justin Larson will be the
Prospector junior high coach.
Grant Union competes in
their first game of the season
on the road at 7 p.m. Friday,
Aug. 31, against the Knappa
Loggers in Astoria.
The Prospectors’ first home
game will be at 6 p.m. Friday,
Sept. 7, when they host de-
fending 2A state champions
the Monroe Dragons.
In league contests, Grant
Union will be up against Hep-
pner, Stanfield, Weston-McE-
wen and Riverside in Special
District 6.
“Heppner is tough again,”
Miller said, adding Stanfield
and Weston-McEwen have
improved.
Miller said he doesn’t know
a lot about Riverside yet, but
the team also has 22 players
with no junior varsity team.
They have four seniors and
Grant Union Prospector
Jordan Hall makes a catch.
nine freshmen.
The Prospector roster in-
cludes six juniors, seven soph-
omores and seven freshmen.
“This group has been a lot
of fun to coach, and they are
all giving great effort,” Miller
said. “I am looking forward to
gaining valuable experience
with our first few games.”
He said with many of the
guys moving up from junior
varsity to varsity, they’ll need
to acclimate to the speed of a
varsity game.
“Most have some experi-
ence; they’re just young and
raw,” he said. “The kids have
a great attitude and work hard.
We have a lot of work to do.”
The Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Jesse Douglass listens to instruction from head coach Jason Miller.
Continued from Page A8
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Ellie Justice holds her Reserve Champion turkey,
standing with buyer representative Dustin Oates of Ed
Staub & Sons.
Springer said.
The add-on checks are
especially appreciated by
the kids whose animals
didn’t make weight or had
ROUNDUP
Continued from Page A8
be, she saw the challenge
of facing the highly ranked
teams as an opportunity.
“This tournament was a
great first challenge for us,”
Bass said. “This was some
of the toughest competition
we will see all season, and it
gave me the opportunity to
see what our strengths and
weaknesses are before we
enter into league play.”
On Friday, Prairie City
fell to Echo 1-2 with scores
of 25-18, 20-25 and 12-15.
Perrydale and McKenzie
also proved tough as the
Panthers lost 0-2 in those
matches.
On Saturday, Prairie City
won one set in their match
against Alsea, but lost with
scores of 27-25, 18-25 and
10-15. The Panthers also
took a loss to Country Chris-
tian 0-2 and Days Creek 0-2.
Bass said the experience
gave her girls plenty of court
time with a valuable experi-
ence playing together early
in the season.
“Their communication
was really strong, and I was
proud of the leadership I saw
from some of our players,”
she said.
Bass said they found
some skills to work on in
practice as the team prepares
to face the Dayville/Mon-
ument Tigers at 4 p.m. Fri-
day in Dayville for their first
league game of the season.
The Panthers will host a
tournament at 9 a.m. Satur-
day in Prairie City.
Dayville/
Monument and
Prairie City
compete at
Echo football
jamboree
FAIR
“It’s phenomenal we had
over $220,204 auctioned this
year — just from the auc-
tion,” she said. “We had an
additional $26,596 in add-on
donations.”
Add-ons come from peo-
ple who may not want to buy
an animal but would like to
donate to a particular youth,
or, for example, all the Day-
ville kids or all the sheep kids,
she said.
“Always, any kid that
takes an animal to the fair,
they have to put in a lot of
hard work,” she said.
The prices paid for animals
are inflated, she added. For
example, Reid Dole’s three
grand champion chickens
were auctioned off for $310.
“It’s a way to support the
kids for their hard work,”
A9
other problems.
“Sometimes they put in all
the hard work, but they learn a
lot of good lessons, and some-
times hard lessons,” she said.
Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger Photography
Brady Dole poses with his pen of three Reserve
Champion chickens at the Grant County Fair with the bid
going to Gordon and Julie Larson of Berry Creek Ranch.
KNOW THE
RULES:
The Dayville/Monument
Tigers and Prairie City Pan-
thers were among five teams
competing at the Echo Jam-
boree. Harper, Joseph and
Echo also competed.
Each team had 36 offen-
sive plays and 36 defensive
plays.
Dayville/Monument
head coach Kyle Hand said
overall his team did well.
“We started out slow,
but we ended up strong,” he
said.
Tiger freshman Tel Cox
was named Offensive Play-
er of the Game.
“He gave our team a
spark,” Hand said. “He got
to the outside corner and
scored a touchdown.”
He said Gabe Walk-
er-Hopkins handled his as-
signments well, showing
a good defensive perfor-
mance, and also scoring a
touchdown run.
“It was a very good look
at the team,” he said. “We’ve
improved 100 percent since
last year. The younger guys
are showing promise.”
Prairie City head coach
Nate Barber could not be
reached for comment.
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