A10
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
WEDNESDAY
October 10, 2018
SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Wednesday,
Oct. 10
Long Creek/Ukiah JV
soccer vs. Riverside in
Long Creek at 3 p.m.
Thursday,
Oct. 11
Prairie City volleyball
@ Adrian in Unity, JV
at 4:30 p.m., varsity at
5:30 p.m.
Long Creek/Ukiah JV
soccer vs. Nyssa in
Long Creek at 3:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 12
Prairie City volleyball
@ Jordan Valley, JV at
1 p.m., varsity at 2 p.m.
Dayville/Monument
football vs. South
Wasco in Monument at
1 p.m. (homecoming)
Grant Union football
vs. Riverside at 7 p.m.
Prairie City football vs.
McKenzie at 7 p.m.
Saturday,
Oct. 13
Grant Union volleyball
vs. Enterprise, Pilot
Rock (Dig Pink Rally)
at 12 p.m.
Dayville/Monument
volleyball vs. Long
Creek/Ukiah, Crane
in Monument at 2:30
p.m., 4 p.m. and Long
Creek/Ukiah vs. Crane
at 5:30 p.m.
Long Creek/Ukiah JV
soccer @ Umatilla at
3 p.m.
Tuesday,
Oct. 16
Grant Union volleyball
vs. Crane, JV at 5 p.m.,
varsity at 6 p.m.
Grant Union volleyball sweeps
three more league matches
Lady Pros now
ranked first in state
By Annie Fowler
EO Media Group
The Grant Union volleyball team
moved to the top of the state standings
this week, and the honor is deserved.
The defending state champion Pros-
pectors (20-4, 9-0) swept Weston-McE-
wen and Stanfield on Saturday after
sweeping Heppner Thursday in Blue
Mountain Conference play.
“Grant Union is pretty exciting to
watch,” said Stanfield coach Blaine
Ganvoa, whose team hosted Saturday’s
matches. “They are rolling right now.”
The feature match of the day was
between the Prospectors and Tiger-
Scots, who were then ranked No. 3.
Senior Kaylee Wright had 14 kills,
and her twin sister Hailie Wright hand-
ed out 18 assists as Grant Union rolled
to a 29-9, 25-17, 25-14 victory.
“That is the best they have ever
played,” Grant Union coach Ali Abrego
said. “It’s hard to describe. Being a new
coach, it’s a blessing to have that much
athleticism on your team.”
Hailey Weaver had five kills and
Bryce Thul handed out 11 assists and
had nine digs for the TigerScots (19-4,
6-2), whose two league losses are to the
Prospectors.
“Grant Union is the real deal,”
Weston-McEwen coach Shawn White
said. “They are outstanding athletes,
but we didn’t play particularly well to-
day.”
Hailie Wright had 11 points in the
opening set against Weston-McEwen,
and as a team, the Prospectors had sev-
en aces. They finished the set with a kill
by Sydney Brockway.
Brockway then turned around and
reeled off seven consecutive points in
the second set to give her team a 12-3
lead. Weston-McEwen would get as
close as 16-9 and 21-15, but unforced
errors down the stretch helped Grant
Union pick up the win.
Kaylee Wright had six of her 14
kills in the third set.
“She hammers it down, and her sis-
ter is a hustler and a selfless player,”
Abrego said of Kaylee Wright.
Brockway had eight kills, while
Trinity Hutchinson had five blocks and
Alcie Moore eight assists.
In the 25-3, 25-14, 25-12 victory
over the Stanfield Tigers (11-12, 1-8),
Kaylee Wright had 12 kills and eight
digs, and Hailie Wright had 16 assists
and four aces.
Grant Union also swept the Heppner
Mustangs Thursday on the road, 25-12,
25-22 and 25-12.
The No. 1-ranked Prospectors were
scheduled to face Union (11-7, 5-4)
Tuesday past press time and to host Pi-
lot Rock (9-10, 3-5) and Enterprise (6-
11, 1-7) at noon and 2 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 13, which is the annual Dig Pink
Rally.
Panthers meet match in Mustangs
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City Panthers,
with one starter out for the
season, lost Thursday night’s
battle with Crane, the Mus-
tangs claiming a 3-1 win with
scores of 25-9, 25-21, 24-26
and 25-18.
Prairie City head coach
Jordan Bass said her team has
been adjusting to a new line-
up, starting this week, since
starter Shaine Madden is now
out for the season.
“We moved some girls
around, trying to come
up with something really
strong,” Bass said. “I think
it’s there, but it’s pretty new
still.”
The Panthers fell hard in
the first set, 9-25, then gained
some momentum, leading to
the hard-fought score of 26-
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
24 in the third set.
To start the third, Crane Prairie City Panthers, from left, Samantha Workman, Rilee Emmel and Emily Ennis are
served, and Panther Emily ready for Crane’s serve in Thursday night’s game.
Ennis made the kill. Then
Panther Katie Hire’s power- man said her team wanted the hard, but the Mustangs had a uled for Saturday, Oct. 20, at
ful jump serves gave Prairie win, and although it slipped couple solid players.
Grant Union Junior-Senior
City a 5-0 lead.
away, she said they worked
The Panthers had a road High School in John Day.
Crane caught up to tie well together.
Prairie City has an overall
win on Friday against the
the score 9-9, and the Mus-
“We stayed positive and Huntington
Locomotives, record of 8-10, and they are
tangs kept in close range. The tried not to get down on 25-7, 25-12 and 25-16.
3-1 in league.
teams tied a few more times ourselves,” she said. “We’re
“We’re trying to ham-
Prairie City was sched-
as the fans cheered loudly.
looking forward to the next uled to face Burnt River on mer out some of these kinks
Tuesday, past press time, in our new line up, so we
Prairie City edged out game.”
their opponents with Ennis
Bass said she felt her team then face Adrian and Jordan can be prepared for that and
serving the winning shot for was prepared for what Crane Valley on the road next week. get the girls feeling com-
The 1A High Desert Dis- fortable and confident,”
the set.
was going to bring to the ta-
Panther Samantha Work- ble. She said her team played trict Tournament is sched- Bass said.
Prairie City Panther Katie
Hire helped her team with
powerful serves in the
battle with Crane.
1A-8 High
Desert League
standings
Crane, 5-1 league, 11-12
overall
Jordan Valley, 4-0, 10-7
Prairie City, 3-1, 8-10
Adrian, 3-2, 14-10
Dayville/Monument, 3-3,
6-4
Harper Charter, 2-4, 3-6
Burnt River, 0-4, 1-6
Huntington, 0-5, 0-6
S PORTS R OUNDUP
Middle school
runners place
third in Heppner
The Grant Union Pros-
pector cross country teams
competed at the Mustang In-
vitational Thursday in Hep-
pner, running through alfalfa
fields, across pivot ditches and
through a fast-flowing creek.
“Heppner was a good race
for everyone,” said Prospector
head coach Sonna Smith. “All
but one athlete had a personal
best or a season’s best at the
meet.”
Among the Grant Union
varsity boys, Gage Brandon
finished first with a time of
19:48.2.
Erika Dickens was first of
the Prospector girls varsity run-
ners with 23:09.9, setting a per-
sonal record.
The middle school Prospec-
tor boys team placed third at the
meet, earning a wooden trophy
— their first. Held at Thompson
Ranch, one of the competitors’
greatest challenges was run-
ning through an area covered in
4 inches of loose dust.
“As athletes ran through it,
visibility was reduced to a mere
3 feet,” Smith said. “It looked
apocalyptic as they emerged
from the huge dust cloud pro-
duced by the hundreds of
pounding feet.”
The Grant Union teams will
next compete at the Idlewild In-
vitational hosted by the Burns
Hilanders with races starting at
10:30 a.m., varsity running at
11:30 a.m., at Idlewild Camp-
ground.
Grant Union
Prospectors
win first league
football battle
In their first league game
of the season on Friday, the
Grant Union Prospector
football team came out vic-
torious over the Stanfield
Tigers, 32-8.
The game, played in Stan-
field, was marked by numer-
ous penalties and turnovers
in the first half. Grant Union
trailed 6-8 going into half-
time.
“In the second half, we
tackled better and played
more physical,” said Pros-
pector head coach Jason
Miller. “We were able to
move the ball and take ad-
vantage of Stanfield mis-
takes.”
He said Garrett Lenz,
Russell Hodge and Justin
Hodge piled up yards in what
was mainly a running game,
“thanks to great blocking by
the offensive line and perim-
eter players.”
“It was a positive out-
come for our first league
game,” Miller said. “Stan-
field is always a tough place
to play.”
The Prospectors (3-3
overall, 1-0 league) host the
Riverside Pirates (0-5, 0-2)
at 7 p.m. Friday for Grant
Union’s homecoming game.
“It should be a good
game,” Miller said. “Players
will need to be disciplined and
physical to beat the Pirates.”
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Long Creek/Ukiah’s Alea Douglas is in action in
Saturday’s match against Jordan Valley junior varsity
with her teammates Alexandra Knudsen (21) and Gladys
Johnson (14) nearby.
Prairie City
football team
claims first
victory of season
The Prairie City Panther
football team claimed a 67-22
win on Friday over the Hun-
tington Locomotives.
It was the first win of the
season for the Panthers.
“We had much better
blocking this game,” said
Prairie City head coach Nate
Barber. “It made a difference
in our running game, and we
were able to pass the ball a
little bit.”
He said Isaac Koopman
performed well as running
back, and Declan Zweygardt
did well running and catching
the ball.
“Jake McHatton and Mar-
cus Judd were also able to
score for us,” Barber said.
Prairie City focused on
man-on-man defense and put-
ting pressure on Huntington’s
quarterback, he said.
“We were able to be con-
sistent the whole game, which
was nice to see,” Barber said.
Long Creek/
Ukiah volleyball
falls 3-1 to
Jordan Valley JV
Losing a starter to injury in
the second set of Saturday’s
game hurt Long Creek/Uki-
ah as they fell 3-1 to Jordan
Valley.
Jordan Valley won the ju-
nior varsity game with scores
of 18-25, 25-8, 25-15 and 25-
20.
Head coach Linda Studt-
mann said the team struggled
at first when Alea Doug-
las hurt her knee, but “they
eventually pulled themselves
together, fought hard, got
their focus back and worked
together to bring the scores
back up.”
Studtmann said the girls
worked on communication
and encouraged each other,
especially with the less expe-
rienced players.
“Reagan and I were both
proud of the girls that stepped
in and pulled the team back
together,” Studtmann said. “I
think the scores show that,
even though we lost overall.”
Long Creek/Ukiah was de-
feated by the Rockets in Pilot
Rock in a close match Oct. 1,
the Rockets winning 3-1 with
scores of 27-25, 22-25, 25-23
and 27-25.
The Mountaineer/Cougars
claimed a 3-1 victory over
the Burnt River Bulls Friday
in Unity with scores of 30-28,
22-25, 21-25 and 25-21.
On Saturday, Long Creek/
Ukiah will face Monument/
Dayville at 2:30 p.m. and Crane
at 5:30 p.m. in Monument.
Riverside junior
varsity outpaces
Long Creek/
Ukiah soccer
team
Long Creek/Ukiah soccer
coach Amos Studtmann said
his team played well on Oct.
2, but the agile 3A River-
side Pirates overcame the 1A
Mountaineer/Cougars 11-0 in
Boardman in the junior varsi-
ty match.
“Riverside, they play fast,
they have great passing, and
they are super-quick runners,”
Studtmann said. “They have
some good shooters on the
team.”
The Pirates’ varsity team
won state last season, he said.
Sitong “Tiger” Zeng did
well as goal keeper, the coach
said, and Mathéo Buchart and
Marcel Kozhogvlov both per-
formed well on offense, but
were unable to score.
On Saturday, Long Creek/
Ukiah traveled to Ontario
where they fell 12-3 to the 1A
Four Rivers varsity team.
Studtmann said Thom-
as Kreamier, who had been
ill and missed the Riverside
game, played well against the
Four Rivers Falcons.
The teams were tied 2-2
early in the match, when the
Falcons pulled away.
“I’m looking for improve-
ments and adjustments from
my team to show they are
growing,” the coach said.
“High school sports aren’t
just about winning, but about
growth, so as long as I see
improvement in my players it
will be a successful season.”
Long Creek/Ukiah will
host Riverside at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 10, in Long
Creek, and at 3 p.m. Thurs-
day, the Mountaineer/Cougars
host Nyssa in Long Creek.
On Saturday, the team
travels to Umatilla for a
match at 3 p.m. against the
3A Vikings.