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MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
A9
WEDNESDAY
October 30, 2019
Grant
Prairie City volleyball team advances to state playoffs
Union
Panthers place
third at district
places
tournament
third at
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
district VB The Prairie City Pan-
ther volleyball team will
tourney
face the Joseph Eagles
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union
Prospector
volleyball
team placed third at the
2A Blue Mountain Con-
ference District Tour-
nament Saturday, and
now await news to see
if they advance to the
state playoffs with a
wildcard.
The
Prospectors
started the tournament
with 3-2 loss to Stan-
field, the Tigers win-
ning with scores of
18-25, 25-17, 26-24 and
25-21.
“We came out and
played the first set per-
fectly, executed our
game plan well, and
won the first set of the
match,” said Grant
Union head coach Ali
Abrego. “Throughout
the course of the next
three sets, the girls bat-
tled really hard, always
working
for
each
point, and had sev-
eral bright spots with
our hitters, just unfor-
tunately couldn’t pull
out the win — still
very proud of their
efforts.”
Grant
Union
next
defeated
the
We s t o n - M c E w e n
TigerScots 3-2, with
scores of 25-19, 16-25,
23-25,
25-23
and
15-13.
“This game was
intense — coming down
to the last two points of
the game (in three out of
five) sets,” Abrego said.
In the final set,
the Prospectors were
down several points
at the start, then bat-
tled back to win the
match and claim third
place.
“This weekend Abby
Lusco was a huge stand-
out in both matches,
Harli Grove came into
the Weston (during)
set four and had some
very crucial plays for
us, and Baylee Combs
with assists,” Abrego
said.
Receiving
All-
League honors were
seniors Kaytlyn Wells
and Taylor Allen for
second team. Honor-
able mention recog-
nition went to junior
Maddie Spencer, senior
Baylee Combs and
sophomore
Lauryn
Pettyjohn.
The Union Bobcats
placed first at the district
tournament with the
Stanfield Tigers in sec-
ond. After Grant Union,
Weston-McEwen placed
fourth, and the Hep-
pner Mustangs were
fifth.
A ranking freeze
will take place Tuesday
night, past press time.
The top two teams
from each of the six
leagues will advance to
the playoffs, as well as
the four highest-ranked
teams that were not
in the top two of their
league.
As of Tuesday morn-
ing, Grant Union was
ranked 11th in the state.
The teams ranked first,
third, fourth, sixth,
seventh and 10th as
of Tuesday morning
advanced to the playoffs
as the top two from their
leagues.
The league with
the second- and fifth-
ranked teams had not
announced
its
top
two as of Tuesday
morning.
at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Oct. 30, in Joseph in round
one of the 1A OSAA State
Championships.
Prairie City defeated the
Adrian Antelopes 3-2 for
third place Saturday at the
District 1A High Desert
League Volleyball Tourna-
ment playoffs in John Day.
The Panthers and Ante-
lopes went back and forth
with Prairie City pulling
ahead to claim the victory,
25-15, 16-25, 25-17, 10-25
and 15-9.
Panther Katie Hire had
several kills in the first set,
and Rilee Emmel had a
couple aces early on, help-
ing their team stay ahead of
Adrian from the beginning.
Prairie City’s Emily
Ennis made it 19-11 with a
kill. Then, after a long rally,
Panther Hailee Wall blocked
to make it 20-11 on their
way to the 10-point win in
set one.
Adrian turned the tables
in set two. Prairie City came
within 2 points midway, but
Adrian pulled ahead with a
6-point serving run and held
the lead.
The teams went back and
forth again for sets three and
four.
In the fifth set, the teams
were tied 6-6. Then Panther
Laken McKay spiked the
ball, and with McKay serv-
ing, the team jumped ahead
11-6.
Prairie City finished it
off with Wall and Emmel
attacking the ball. Then
Ennis served an ace, fol-
lowed by Hire spiking for
the win.
“We knew the girls had
it in them the whole time,”
said Prairie City head
coach Jordan Bass. “When
the girls played Adrian in
Adrian (earlier in the sea-
son), we didn’t have our best
day, so going into today, I
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Katie Hire (1) hits the ball with Dayville/Monument Tiger Aubreianna Osborne (7) looking to block at the
District 1A High Desert League District Tournament.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Dayville/Monument Tiger Brooklyn Near (2) slams the ball
over the net to the awaiting Prairie City Panthers.
just hoped everything would
come together.”
“I always tell them, I’m
never going to stop demand-
ing their best,” she said. “It
was good to see that those
girls were mentally tough
today and were able to get it
done.”
Bass said Hire had a solid
day.
“Definitely on offense,
this was probably her big-
gest showing,” the coach
said, adding that both Hire
and Emily Ennis performed
well as setters.
“Shaine Madden (defen-
sive specialist) was work-
ing really hard trying to do
her job back there and serv-
ing really tough today,” Bass
said.
The coach said Laken
McKay, a freshman, also
performed well and gained
valuable experience.
“It’s huge for her, going
into the next parts of her
career,” Bass said. “It’s
really exciting to see what
she’s going to do.”
Emmel was an “all-
around” at the tournament,
Bass said.
“I really have a lot of
faith in her,” she said. “She
really stepped up today all
around the court, serving,
passing, hitting — I couldn’t
be happier with the way that
they all played today.”
Bass is assisted by Lance
and Louanne Zweygardt.
On the way to third at
the tournament, Prairie City
beat the Dayville/Monument
Tigers 3-1 in Game One,
then fell to the No. 1-seeded
Crane Mustangs, Crane win-
ning 3-0.
Concerning the upcom-
ing round one state play-
off match, Bass said that on
Saturday they can only have
so many expectations about
what the other team is going
to bring.
“We just have to bring
our best and if our best is
better than theirs, that’s all
we can hope for,” she said.
Dayville/Monument
Tigers
Dayville/Monument
went on to beat the Hun-
tington Locomotives in the
consolation game.
“My kids, they were
good teammates,” said
coach Osborne. “They ral-
lied behind each other.”
For the day, she said
Aubreianna Osborne had
“a couple knock-down mid-
dle blocks,” and Aubrey
Bowlus did a great job of
finishing the rallies.
She said Miranda Cook
had a good serving roll,
and they fought to keep her
serving.
“All the kids that came
in did well, like Maggie
Loescher,” the coach said.
“She had some great passes
from the back row. Hannah
Hand had a couple kills in
the front row. The kids did
really well.”
Coach Osborne, assisted
by Steven Schmidt, said
she’s looking forward to
seeing some of their sopho-
mores and juniors stepping
up next year.
She said their team
is small, and they have
a gap between veterans
and beginners, but they
plan to attend camps and
work hard to bridge that
gap.
Grant Union falls to Heppner 41-18 in John Day
Team faces
Weston-McEwen
on Friday
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Pros-
pectors had hoped to
be the first team to beat
the Heppner Mustangs
this season on Friday,
but Heppner came away
with the 41-18 win in
John Day.
Heppner’s Kason Cim-
miyotti scored the first
touchdown of the game off
a pass from Mustang quar-
terback Jayden Wilson,
Cimmiyotti wide open in
the center of the end zone.
Prospector Frank Dou-
glass blocked the Mus-
tang’s attempted kick for
extra points.
Wilson scored 6 points
on a keeper, with Mason
Lehman
adding
the
2-point conversion. Then
Grant Union fired up their
offense.
Prospector
Justin
Hodge ran more than 50
yards on a kickoff return,
weaving through a pack of
Mustangs to score Grant
Union’s first touchdown.
Heppner led 34-6 at the
half.
Grant Union was ener-
gized after halftime.
Justin Hodge scored in
the third, again on a kick-
off return.
On Heppner’s next pos-
session, Prospector Jack
Strong made a tackle to
bring up fourth and 1
for the Mustangs. Then
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector wide receiver Jordan Hall catches a long pass from Prospector
quarterback Devon Stokes in Friday’s game against Heppner.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospectors Jack Strong, left, and Tanler Fuller
(20) wrap up a Heppner ball carrier in Friday’s game.
Grant Union stopped Wil-
son in his tracks to take
over on downs at the Hep-
pner 32-yard line. Unfor-
tunately the Prospectors
fumbled at the 5-yard line,
giving the ball up to Hep-
pner, the Mustangs leading
41-12 going into the final
15 minutes.
With four minutes to
go, Grant Union had pos-
session of the ball on third
and 9, and an offside pen-
alty against Heppner made
it third and 4.
Justin Hodge then made
a carry for first down, and
Grant Union quarterback
Devon Stokes completed a
pass to Russell Hodge.
Stokes connected with
receiver Jordan Hall on
a 31-yard pass, followed
by Russell Hodge rush-
ing 4 yards to score a
touchdown.
“Tonight, we got behind
the eight ball early,” said
Grant Union head coach
Jason Miller. “A couple
mistakes gave (Heppner)
a short field, and they
scored, and we were play-
ing catch up for the rest of
the game.”
He added, “The sec-
ond half, I was extremely
proud of our guys. They
battled, they tackled well
and completed some good
passes. There were some
great efforts, and we just
can’t wait — we’ve got to
do that from play one.”
Miller said that Hep-
pner,
led
by
head
coach Greg Grant, is
No. 1 in the state for a
reason.
“They’re well coached,
they have great talent,”
Miller said. “Their quar-
terback is amazing, but
you know, we can hang
with them if we choose
to.”
He said Stokes threw
well, and the receivers
came through and made
some good catches.
“Defense was lights
out second half,” he said.
“They just battled, and
that was great to see.”
Grant Union will face
the
Weston-McEwen
TigerScots on the road Fri-
day at 7 p.m. in Athena.
The TigerScots fell to
the Stanfield Tigers 28-14
on Oct. 28, and Stanfield is
a team Grant Union beat at
home 32-0 on Oct. 11.
If Grant Union wins,
they would be second
in league with a chance
to move on to the state
playoffs.