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MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
A13
WEDNESDAY
March 24, 2021
Prospectors victorious against Panthers
Close second set
ends 27-25
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Prospec-
tors volleyball team was vic-
torious against the Prairie City
Panthers March 17.
In competitive sets that
included many rallies, spikes
and an intense second set for
both teams, Grant Union won
in Prairie City with scores of
25-12, 27-25 and 25-17.
“The second set was defi -
nitely the most intense of
the three,” said Grant Union
senior Jordyn Young. “It was
pretty competitive.”
Young said a combination
of good hits and great serves
helped the Prospectors get the
win for the night.
Prairie City senior Katie
Hire said she felt the game
was defi nitely a battle between
both teams, but she felt like
her team improved from last
week.
“I think we worked as a
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Grant Union seniors Madison Spencer and Abby Lusco block a spike launched from the Prairie City
Panthers on March 17.
team really well,” Hire said.
“We really pulled it together
in the second set, and we got a
lot of opportunities and things
opened up to us to score.”
Grant Union began the
game with momentum and
carried it throughout the fi rst
set with a distant lead. At 21-9,
Prairie City junior Caitlin Wil-
let ended a rally between both
teams with a spike to score
the 10th point for the Pan-
thers. The Panthers defense
blocked a spike from the Pros-
pectors for a point, and then
Prairie City senior Samantha
Workman served the ball for
another point, 21-12.
Once Grant Union got
got the ball back at 22-12,
the Prospectors closed the
set with Grant Union senior
Madison Spencer serving
the ball and scoring the fi nal
point.
In the second set, the Pan-
thers and Prospectors stayed
close until 7-4 with Grant
Union in the lead. Grant
Union junior Paige Gerry
then helped build momentum
for the Prospectors when she
tipped the ball back to Prairie
City to score a point. Gerry
then scored an additional 2
points with a serve and an
ace.
The
Panthers
then
answered back with their own
momentum that started with
a kill from Hire. The Pan-
thers defense continued the
momentum as they blocked
two spikes launched from the
Prospectors. A combination
of blocks and serves carried
the Panthers back to a lead at
13-10.
The set continued with
multiple rallies, aces and
blocks. At 25-25, both teams
continued the pressure and
the fi ght to win the set. Grant
Union junior Lauryn Petty-
john closed the nail-biting
set when she served the fi nal
point, 27-25.
In the fi nal set, Grant
Union closed the game,
25-17.
Grant Union head coach
Shanna Northway said the
game went well.
“We served as tough we
could against them, and (Prai-
rie City) passed well,” North-
way said. “We have things we
need to work on such as cov-
ering short serves. That killed
us today, and then we were
out of system to much.”
Prairie City head coach
Jordan Bass said it was excit-
ing to see the girls battle and
the team working together.
She said there are a couple
of freshman players on the
team who were able to get
great experience in the game
such as freshmen Brooke Teel
and Jaycee Winegar who had
big plays in the sets. She also
said, when Hire was on, she
was on fi re.
“This year in particular,
our serving was really tough,
and I think our ability to keep
the ball alive and keep play-
ing is really going to serve
us well as we keep moving
on,” Bass said. “We need
to get some of our off ense
more involved. So (senior)
Samantha Workman, one of
our middles, she was really
doing some good work, but
we just need to get her more
involved.”
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Sophomore Cole Teel rushes past Eagles defenders Friday in the Panthers’ 48-26 loss to the Joseph.
Prairie City falls to Joseph 48-26
Panthers face Echo
April 2 in Prairie City
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
It was a competitive game of
football until the end in Joseph’s
48-26 win over Prairie City in the
team’s second loss of the season.
“I think we just need to do a
few things better,” Prairie City
head coach Nick Thompson said.
“I think there are some fundamental
things — blocking, tackling, snaps
— there are just some things that
we wish that we would have done
better. Having said that, (Joseph
is) a tough team. They always
have been.”
Although the Panthers were able
to tie up the score 13-13 in the sec-
ond quarter with touchdowns by
freshman Wes Voigt and sophomore
Cole Teel, the Eagles were able to
capitalize on missed snaps, tack-
les and blocks to open up a large
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Senior Tanner Way catches a pass from senior quarterback Jayden Wine-
gar for a touchdown Friday in the fourth quarter against Joseph.
Senior running back Declan Zweygardt crashes into a defender for a fi rst down Fri-
day in the Panthers game against the Eagles.
enough lead to where the Panthers
could not catch up.
Senior quarterback Jayden Win-
egar said the Panthers improved
quite a bit from their March 5 loss
to South Wasco County, where they
fell 55-6.
With a never-say-die mentality,
the score of 40-13 with less than 10
minutes to go in the fourth quarter,
Winegar connected with senior Tan-
ner Way on two touchdown passes
and an extra-point conversion to cut
the defi cit to 48-26.
Winegar said he would like to
see the team continue to improve on
their open-fi eld tackling and work
on pass defense and blocking up
front on off ense.
Thompson said he was proud of
the Panthers in their second outing.
“My big question to them is, did
you learn something, and did you
have fun?” he said. “If we got those
two things, then we’re moving in the
right direction.”
The Panthers March 12 game
against Harper Charter was canceled
due to COVID-19 concerns.
The team is scheduled to face
Echo at 1 p.m. Friday, April 2, in
Prairie City.
the season.
He said Heppner is a bigger,
faster, stronger team than Grant
Union. He said another factor was
that “simple mistakes” made big
plays for Heppner as well.
He said Devon Stokes had a
couple big passes for yards and a
touchdown.
Next up, Miller said the Pros-
pectors’ Friday game at 1 p.m.
was canceled. He said Lakeview
canceled the game, citing travel
difficulties.
Grant Union will host Umatilla
on April 2 at 6 p.m.
said it was a tough loss, and they
were unable to secure two onside
kicks. After getting down early,
they could not recover, he said.
Their April 2 game with Harper
Charter was canceled.
Next up, the Tigers will host
Prairie City on April 9 at 1 p.m.
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Cross-country team competes
in Burns
Grant Union cross-country com-
peted at the Burns Invite on March
18 in the team’s third competition
this year.
Head coach Sonna Smith said the
boys team placed third, and the girls
did not have a complete team.
Brady Dole placed fourth with a
time of 18:51. Smith said Dole’s time
was his best this season and moved
him up in league standings.
Sophomores Quinn Larson and
Max Bailey fi nished in 20:36 and
20:59, respectively, while freshman
Skylor and Landon Boyd fi nished in
21:06 and 22:10.
Senior Jesse Randleas clocked his
best time of the season, coming in at
23:02. Junior Cole Ashley came in at
27:22
For the girls, freshmen Aliciana
Archibald and Abbie Justice came
in at 6:45 and a 26:57, respectively,
while juniors Audrey Walker and
Riley Robertson came in at 31:20
and 32:35.
Next up, the Prospectors will host
a meet on April 2 at Seventh Street
Complex at 1 p.m.
SPORTS
SCHEDULE
MONDAY, MARCH 29
Grant Union volleyball @ Crane,
5 p.m.
TUESDAY, MARCH 30
Lady Pro volleyball team splits
matches Friday and Saturday
After shutting out Prairie City 3-0
on March 17, the Lady Pros dropped
a game to Heppner 3-2 and came
back to blank Stanfi eld 3-0.
Head coach Shanna North-
way did not immediately respond
to the Eagle’s request for comment
Monday.
Next up, Crane will host the Pros-
pectors on March 29 at 5 p.m.
Dayville/Monument volleyball
vs. Grant Union JV, 4 p.m.
Prospectors fall to Heppner
The Grant Union football team
fell to Heppner 35-16 Thursday.
Head coach Jason Miller said
the team team played hard and
did better against Heppner than
they did before when they were
blanked 35-0 in their first game of
Dayville/Monument falls to
Sherman/Condon
The Dayville/Monument Tigers
football team lost to Sherman/Con-
don 39-7 Friday. Coach Kyle Hand
Lady Panthers volleyball
games with Crane and
Joseph canceled
Prairie City’s last two games
were canceled on both Thursday
and Friday.
Billy Colson, Prairie City’s ath-
letic director, said the school dis-
trict had to cancel the games due
to COVID-19 and contact trac-
ing. He said the April 2 game with
Dayville/Monument is still sched-
uled at this point.