SPORTS
Grizzlies slip past Bulldogs
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A7
PREP BASKETBALL • COLLEGE FOOTBALL • SCHEDULE
Rooting for
the Ducks
A
s a University
of Washington
alumnus, I was
split about Monday
night’s national college
football championship
game between the
University of Oregon
and Ohio State
University.
I’ve grown up in a
household that holds
contempt for Oregon
football and had a hard
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in, arguably, the most
important college football
game ever played.
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side of it, though, a side
that had been creeping
into my mind since the
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on New Year’s Day.
I found myself
halfway hoping Oregon
would win.
I texted Eugene
native and Oregon fan
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a sports reporter for the
East Oregonian, during
the game and told him
I was a 45 percent
Oregon fan that night. It
was the biggest number
I could force myself
to give. I said I would
hope he would do the
same for Washington.
“No doubt!” he wrote
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them once a year.”
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the thing a lot of
people have come to
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between Oregon and
Washington, though
fierce and dormant
at the same time, is a
once-a-year deal. It did
hurt a bit to see Oregon
where Washington once
was, but there was
something about it that
was easy to understand.
First, it was the Pac-
12, the conference the
national media forgets
about because of the
horrible scheduling
with which the league
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are too late for even
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very many good reasons
to stay up until 10:30
p.m. on a Saturday
watching Colorado
play Washington State.
I mean, who cares?
Obviously, I watch the
UW games, but even
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maybe even pull off an
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
upset, nobody will see
it. It hurts the league.
So, for a Pac-12
school to be in college
football’s biggest game
is good for the league.
Oregon is also a
Northwest school,
which is a small
brotherhood in major
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are just four of us, and,
for the most part, two
are afterthoughts.
For the Northwest
corner of the United
States to be featured
so throughly is a good
thing. I was rooting for
the region.
Alas, Oregon got
“Oregon-ed,” meaning,
a team pulled away at
the end of the game to
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not close.
At halftime I called
my dad, and we had the
same perspective on the
situation, both about
the conference and
about the region. It’s a
perspective not a lot of
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fans were openly
rooting against the
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noun Schadenfreude,
meaning pleasure
from others’ pain, was
rampant around the
Washington community.
I wasn’t one of them. I
was hoping the league
would get to be on top
for the first time in a
decade, and, even then,
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away from USC.
I would venture to
say some will read this
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fan.” Well, guess
what? Four years ago
I would have thought
that same thing. I had a
deep, irrational hate for
Oregon that I couldn’t
explain. Now, I’ve
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picture. Seeing Oregon
State fans openly
rooting for Oregon
Oregon helped me and
SEE DUCKS/A8
GO SEE IT
Wednesday, January 14
No events scheduled
Thursday, January 15
Girls Basketball
Umatilla vs. Riverside, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball
Umatilla vs. Riverside, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 16
Wrestling
Hermiston @ Oregon Wrestling Classic, Redmond,
8 a.m.
Girls Basketball
Hermiston @ La Salle Prep, 5:30 p.m.
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Echo vs. Powder Valley, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball
Hermiston @ La Salle, 7:15 p.m.
6WDQ¿HOG#3LORW5RFNSP
Echo vs. Powder Valley, 7:30 p.m.
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
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Rocky start
SEE BULLDOGS/A8
Teams adjusting to
new hand-check rule
Coaches say refs
don’t always apply
mandate
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
It’s been an all too com-
mon occurrence in local
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games this season: A de-
fender stymies an opponent
on offense, only to be called
on a foul.
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season started in Oregon,
the National Federation of
State High School Associ-
ations instituted new hand-
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maneuver where the defen-
sive player places his or her
hand on an offensive player
— usually on the hip — to
maintain control of the op-
posing athlete and gains an
advantage because of it.
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sociations in an attempt to
even out the rules, so that
each state — more or less
— is playing by the same
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Cindy Simmons, the Or-
egon School Activities As-
sociation associate director
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also a member of the na-
tional rules committee for
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of emphasis in this state for
many years, but merely em-
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
According to the new National Federation of State High School Associations hand-check rule,
Matison Aby (20) of Weston-McEwen should have been whistled for a personal foul for a hand-
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doing enough to curb the
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the rule was adopted.
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created problems for local
teams. Fouls were up, and
the games went longer.
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ball game early this season,
more than 60 fouls were
called. All Cougars coach
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say that his players would
have to adjust because all
the calls were correct, ac-
cording to the new rules.
Simmons said the new
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things fair for players,
SEE ADJUSTING/A8
UO, OSU fans join to cheer
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ly since they’re meeting the
team they played for the
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Hermiston was quiet ship,” Eugene-born Herm-
Monday night.
iston resident David Rich-
%XVLQHVVHV FORVHG HDU- ards said during the game.
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Disappointingly
for
ly empty, and many eyes University of Oregon fans,
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vision sets as the Oregon handily, 42-20, but it wasn’t
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WKH¿UVWHYHU&ROOHJH)RRW- tional title.
ball Playoff Championship
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Game.
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7KH VLJQL¿FDQFH ZDVQ¶W Webfoots, rolled through its
lost on many Oregon-na- regular season and met the
tives.
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“It means they have a championship. Oregon won
chance to set the bar, to win
SEE CHEERING/A8
in the new format, especial-
BY SAM BARBEE
Saturday, January 17
Wrestling
Hermiston @ Oregon Wrestling Classic, Redmond,
8 a.m.
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Swimming
Hermiston @ La Grande, 12 p.m.
Girls Basketball
Umatilla vs. Vale, 4 p.m.
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Echo @ Wallowa, 4 p.m.
Boys Basketball
Umatilla vs. Vale, 5:30 p.m.
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Echo @ Wallowa, 5:30 p.m.
Sunnyside was winless
and hungry.
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hadn’t lost a game by fewer
than nine points all season
and had to drive an hour
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who were playing their best
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Sunnyside was rewarded
for its patience and hunger,
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and stressful affair at the
Dawghouse.
Sunnyside
freshman
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show, leading all scorers
with 18 points and made a
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Dillon Zimmerly scored 12
points on his 18th birthday,
and Austin Naillon chipped
in with ten.
Hermiston had a chance
to win with eight seconds
left in the game, but a costly
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dogs before a game-win-
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Hermiston head coach
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missing ingredient for the
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patience offensively, espe-
cially since they demon-
strated that patience in their
last two games against La
Grande and Summit. He
said his team was showing
a bit of complacency, as
well.
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coming into the game and
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end of the tunnel,” McEl-
ligott said of Sunnyside’s
hunger to win.
He said one of his main
points before the game was
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their spirit.
Unfortunately for the
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weren’t able to do that.
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to Cole Smith grabbing
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