A8
PAGE LABEL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
WEDNESDAY
September 25, 2019
Prairie City/Burnt River coach’s ejection from game overturned
OSAA official
states 6-man
snap rule was
misapplied
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
An official’s decision
to eject the Prairie City/
Burnt River Panther foot-
ball coach was overturned
after the school appealed to
the Oregon School Activities
Association.
Six-man football has
some different rules than
11-man or even 8-man, and
one rule was misinterpreted
by the officiating crew during
the Sept. 13 game between
the Panthers and the visiting
Sherman/Condon Huskies.
Oregon is in its second year
of a two-year six-man foot-
ball pilot program to allow
small schools to continue
with the sport.
OSAA Assistant Exec-
utive Director Brad Gar-
rett said Panther coach Scott
Dean “was ejected and Prai-
rie City appealed, which is
allowable, and the commis-
sioner granted that appeal.”
He added, they see 300-
plus ejections by the end of
the year, in various sports,
and not every appeal is
granted. In this case, there
was a misapplication of the
rules, he said.
“No person is perfect,”
Garrett said.
He said both teams were
incorrectly penalized for a
direct hand-to-hand snap.
The
misunderstanding
stemmed from a bulletin that
reminded officials that the
quarterback has to be at least
a yard from the line of scrim-
mage, and Garrett said the
quarterback is indeed a yard
behind when they receive the
hand-to-hand.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City/Burnt River football coach Scott Dean walks off
the field after a timeout huddle with his team in the Sept. 13
game against the Sherman/Condon Huskies in Prairie City.
“We can’t rewind the
clock, but all the correct
actions have been taken,”
Garrett said.
Dean said his team had
been practicing their plays
under center, where the cen-
ter hands the ball directly
under him to the quarter-
back, rather than pitch-
ing it back in the shotgun
formation.
“We were under center
for the prior game and scrim-
mage for the most part,” the
coach said. “Not one time
were we ever questioned.”
“Direct or indirect, what
got me fired up, on film,
Sherman went under cen-
ter five times before called
on it,” Dean said. “We had
a center and snapping issue
that under center we would
have not had — 12 times in
the game we mishandled the
snap, which we would have
not done if not for the deci-
sion (incorrect or not) of the
referee.”
Prairie City Athletic
Director Billy Colson said
the ejection came when
Dean continued to tell them
that they were misinterpret-
ing the rule. He said the
coach’s frustrations were
exacerbated when the other
team was allowed to take
snaps under center.
“Hopefully, this interpre-
tation is fixed moving for-
ward, so that this type of
miscommunication doesn’t
happen again,” Colson said.
“Everyone makes mistakes,
and in working with the
referee commissioner and
OSAA, we were able to han-
dle this situation profession-
ally and move forward from
it.”
“I know that our coach
was extremely frustrated,
but at no point do I think
he was inappropriate in his
language and demeanor,”
Colson continued. “I also
know that our kids showed
a lot of perseverance in
the game with the difficul-
ties of not being allowed to
run a majority of their plays
because of the misinterpre-
tation of the rule.”
Prairie
City/Burnt
River will host the Hun-
tington/Harper
Locomo-
tives at 7 p.m. Friday,
Sept. 27. If the ruling had
not been appealed with
that appeal granted, Dean
would have been sus-
pended from coaching that
game.
Dean said he’s happy the
decision was overturned.
“I have not been ejected,
ever, over rules,” he said. “I
will always stand up for my
players and have 40-plus
years of coaching. An injus-
tice was corrected, and it’s
time to move on.”
Grant Union volleyball defeats
Heppner in first league game
Prairie City spikers
sweep three teams
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Prospector
volleyball team was victorious in
its first league game of the season,
beating Heppner 3-2 at the Mus-
tangs’ home court.
Grant Union won with scores
of 21-25, 25-13, 13-25, 25-14 and
15-6.
“The match is pretty reflective
through the scores,” said Grant
Union head coach Ali Abrego. “The
first game was much closer than
any of the rest, but Heppner is a
hard gym to play in. The girls really
just fought hard to win this week-
end which was awesome to see.”
Standouts in the match were
Grace Taylor, Taylor Allen and
Paige Gerry, Abrego said.
“Overall, going into the match,
we talked a lot about how that par-
ticular game would set the tone for
the season as far as momentum —
wins vs. losses — that type of thing,
and we really laid out some posi-
tive momentum and mindset going
into that,” she said. “The girls really
worked hard, and I’m proud of how
they are growing together.”
After losing a 3-1 match to Grant
Union at the Prairie City court on
Sept. 17, the Prairie City Panthers
went on to sweep three teams on
the road, including Harper in the
Panthers’ first league game of the
season.
Prairie City defeated Harper
25-4, 25-11 and 25-15. They also
beat Sherman 25-17, 25-18 and
25-21 and Trinity Lutheran 25-10,
25-19, 23-25 and 25-18, both games
played at Trinity Lutheran in Bend.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Rilee Emmel spikes the ball as Grant Union Prospectors Grace Taylor (13) and Kaytlyn Wells
(15) attempt to block.
“The matches in Bend were
more challenging, but the team did
well and came out on top,” said
Panther assistant coach Louanne
Zweygardt. “We had 95% serv-
ing as a team against Sherman with
Rilee Emmel, Hailee Wall, Emily
Ennis and Samie Workman all
serving 100%.”
Katie Hire had three aces and
only one error on 17 serves. Emmel
had six kills, and Ennis had five.
“Shaine Madden continues to
dominate our back row, which is
allowing our setters to get the ball
to our hitters,” Zweygardt said.
“The girls got a little tired in the
second match, particularly since
Trinity Lutheran did a good job of
keeping the ball in play. We still
had strong serving.”
Emmel had six aces and only
one error on 22 serves. Laken
McKay had five aces and one error
on 23 serves. and Hailee Wall had
five aces and two errors on 18
serves. Hire and Emmel each had
10 kills.
“We were able to get playing
time for everyone, which makes a
difference for developing players,”
Zweygardt said.
The 1A Panthers hosted the
neighboring 2A Prospectors Sept.
17 with the Prospectors winning
3-1.
Grant Union won the first two
sets 25-18 and 25-16. Then Prairie
City took a stand, taking the third
set 25-21.
Grant Union went on an 11-0
run in the fourth to overtake Prai-
rie City 25-9 in the final set for the
victory.
“The last game showed how
we should be playing all season,”
Abrego said.
She was happy with good serv-
ing runs from sophomores Taylor
and Gerry, and said seniors Allen
and Kaytlyn Wells both hit well.
“It’s a good win for us going
into the weekend,” Abrego said.
“It’s always good to have a posi-
tive swing going into the start of
league.”
She said they’d need to focus on
being disciplined and controlling
the momentum of the game.
“We struggled in the beginning,
but we came back, hitting well,”
she said, adding they also played
good defense.
Prairie City coach Jordan Bass
said her team has the skills to win.
“We’re still working on start to
finish and keeping that energy and
drive to win the whole game, not
just a set,” she said.
“If they want it, they’ve got to
play like they want it,” she added.
Emmel said they didn’t play
Grant Union Prospector Grace
Taylor spikes the ball over the
reach of Prairie City Panther Hailee
Wall (5) on Sept. 17 in Prairie City.
to the full potential against Grant
Union they’ve shown previously.
“We need to stop being so timid
and be aggressive to everything
and learn how to battle, be strong
and maintain throughout,” Emmel
said. “We’d rather compete against
these teams, because that’s the
level that we’re at.”
Allen, the Prospector senior,
said their defense and hitting was
strong and she is looking forward
to league play.
The Prospectors continue with
league competition this week,
facing Stanfield at noon and
Weston-McEwen at 2 p.m. Sat-
urday at Stanfield, then Union at
5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, on the road.
“We are looking forward to
meeting them, and putting our dis-
cipline to the test,” Abrego said.
“Union has a tough environment to
play in as well, and I think they will
provide our girls with an opportu-
nity to prove what we want.”
Tigers attack Mountain Lions at Dayville volleyball court
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Dayville/Monument
Tiger volleyball team may
have swept the Ukiah/Long
Creek Mountaineers in Day-
ville Friday, but both teams
played with heart.
The Tigers won with scores
of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-16.
Dayville/Monument pulled
away early in the first set,
Tiger senior Aubrey Bowlus
had three good serves, includ-
ing two aces, when her team
gained an 18-7 point lead.
Ukiah/Long Creek sopho-
more Lilly Cave answered with
four good serves and two aces
to narrow the gap to 7 points,
but Dayville/Monument came
back swinging for the 8-point
win.
The teams tied the score
four times in the second set
before the Tigers started to pull
away.
Dayville/Monument fresh-
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Dayville/Monument sophomore Aubreianna Osborne sends the
ball back to Ukiah/Long Creek in Friday’s game, her teammate
Katie Barker in back.
man Hannah Hand was instru-
mental in the push forward
with seven good serves, includ-
ing three aces. A gentle tip at
the corner from Tiger sopho-
more Aubreianna Osborne had
the Mountain Lions unable to
return.
“We had some players step
up and work on their transition-
ing and offense and defense,”
said Dayville/Monument head
coach Treila Osborne. “Haylee
Collins and Hannah Hand did a
great job and served very well
— they all served well.”
Early in the third, Ukiah/
Long Creek junior Kitty
Vaughn had an ace, then
Bowlus hit hard on the next
play to get the ball back, and
Tiger senior Denali Twehues
added two aces.
The Mountain Lions kept
their fight strong, keeping
within 1-2 points until the
halfway point. Dayville/Mon-
ument senior Katie Barker
closed the game with two good
serves.
“This week we worked
really hard on teamwork and
talking to each other,” said
coach Osborne.
“Denali,
Aubrey
and
Aubreianna were our anchors
this week,” she said. “They
were talking to our other play-
ers and were very consistent.”
She added that junior
Samantha Adams “did a great
job and was coachable, eager
and she hustled,” and Katie
Barker “hit well in the front
row and had lots of great kills.”
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
See VB, Page A9
Ukiah/Long Creek junior Jenny Kim saves the ball in
Friday’s game against Dayville/Monument.