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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2015)
FEBRUARY 25, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM A6 WEDNESDAY, SPORTS PREP BASKETBALL • SCHEDULE Moving on HERMISTON SLIPS BY PENDLETON from loss Lady Bulldogs clinch CRC title B rutal losses stick with people. They linger and taunt and tease and laugh. It’s the kind of pain one can’t lose and time doesn’t heal. It nestles up between your head and heart and tears at both, never resting, never relenting, never restraining. I have a few. Remember that football game against Woodland my senior year? I blew a coverage and gave up the go-ahead touchdown late-ish in the fourth quarter. That one still hurts. The last two games I pitched in high school were both losses. The ¿UVWDSOD\RIIJDPHRQ our home diamond, I gave up a two-out, two-run one-hop-the-fence double to the opposing clean-up hitter on a change-up. I should’ve thrown a curve. I still think about that. Two games later, in a win-or-go-home game against a league rival, I started but only went a couple innings. We lost by two or three, and I still remember watching the other team celebrate going to state. All I remember thinking is, “That should be us.” My coach had to pull me to the dugout. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t believe we lost, that we lost like that. We had state title-caliber talent, and we didn’t get out of districts. This is where the 6WDQ¿HOGER\VDUHULJKW now after their soul- crushing 60-59 loss to Heppner in the district VHPL¿QDOV6DWXUGD\,W¶V pretty well known by now that Heppner hit a shot ZLWK¿YHVHFRQGVOHIWWR put them ahead. It was the third out-of-nowhere, wait- what-did-I-just-see game that the two teams played. Back LQ-DQXDU\6WDQ¿HOG RYHUFDPHDKRUULG¿UVW half with unbelievably hot shooting in the third quarter and won 51- 46. In early February, a Heppner shooter was fouled 30 feet from the basket and heaved a last-second prayer with the Mustangs down two. He would hit all three, and Heppner slipped past. Then Saturday happened. I know exactly how the Tigers feel. I know exactly how seniors Milan Davchevski, Hunter Braithwaite and Erik Galarza feel. More than likely, they’ll never get to play a competitive basketball game again. They’ll never don a jersey and shorts, run out onto DKRPHÀRRULQIURQWRI home fans and play a game that has reporters in attendance and postseason UDPL¿FDWLRQV7KH\¶OO never run out of the locker room with more energy and adrenaline than should be allowed. They’ll never feel the uplifting joy of a big win or the abysmal feeling of a tough loss. SAM BARBEE FROM THE SIDELINES Sports reporter Man, I feel for them. 7KH\ZHUHDFRQ¿GHQW bunch, and they had a right to be. They could play basketball. They gave Irrigon a run for its money, a game that had Irrigon re-evaluating itself. This loss, though, won’t ruin these players’ lives. The losses certainly didn’t ruin mine. But they haven’t left yet. The sting of those losses is still as sharp now as it was six years ago. It’s just another memory and another thing to talk about. Every time I see the guy who was catching me in the home playoff game, he asks why I shook off a curve ball and went to a change-up. He knows I should’ve thrown a bender, and we laugh about it now. That doesn’t change the fact that we lost and that it was my decision, but we don’t stew over it and let it consume us. I hope the 6WDQ¿HOGER\VGRQ¶WGR that. I hope they use that feeling to drive them into whatever’s next, be it another basketball season, college or life. Famous college basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Sports don’t create character. They reveal it.” Now I’m not trying to go toe-to-toe with a sports icon who can’t rebut me, but I only subscribe to that partially. Sports do reveal who we are as people. Adversity brings out the true, if you will, from people. You see their mental makeup. You see their decision-making process right in front of you. You see how they handle pain and how they handle joy. But sports do create character. Tough situations only make tough people tougher. It’s a slippery slope. The more adversity a person deals with, the more that person can cope with and move through adversity. :KDWWKHVH6WDQ¿HOG boys do with Saturday’s loss will be the biggest legacy of the game. It won’t be easy because these things aren’t. They’re inherently GLI¿FXOW:KDW¶VHDV\WR do is pack it up and say, “Well shoot, that was our best chance. We won’t be that good again.” The hard thing to do is to sit down and say, “You know, that ended horribly. Let’s make sure it never happens again.” I’ll bet on the latter. I’m hoping for the latter, and I’m excited to see what they do with it. You might see a 6WDQ¿HOGEDVHEDOOWHDPRQ a mission. — Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for the Hermiston Herald. He can be reached at sbarbee@ hermistonherald.com GO SEE IT Wednesday, February 25 No events scheduled Thursday, February 26 No events scheduled Friday, Feburary 27 Boys Basketball Umatilla @ Dayton, 7 p.m. Saturday, February 28 Girls Basketball Umatilla @ Amity, 6 p.m. BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD Early on in the final girls installment of the War on 84, Hermiston couldn’t shake the pesky Buckaroos of Pendleton. The ninth-ranked Bucks matched Hermiston score-for-score in the first quarter and had a chance to either come within a point or tie things up in the final 10 seconds. Hermiston junior Jan- sen Edmiston wasn’t hav- ing any of that, however. The point guard picked off a forced Pendleton pass and laid it up at the buzzer to give Hermiston an 18-13 lead to end the first quarter, providing the Bulldogs with a spark they carried to a 53-44 ZLQ DQG &ROXPELD 5LYHU &RQIHUHQFH WLWOH 7XHVGD\ in Pendleton. “If we’re just in their heads and just get the ball on defense, obviously it’s going to convert into of- fense,” Edmiston said af- ter the game. “It was just natural.” Edmiston led Hermis- ton with 15 points, and Kynzee Padilla scored 11 for the Bulldogs. None were bigger, though, than Edmiston’s six in the sec- ond quarter. Up 24-21 with about two minutes left, Edmis- ton picked off a Pendle- ton pass and raced to the other end for a layup. Af- ter a Bucks’ miss, Edmis- ton got the outlet pass and again scored an easy two. Immediately following, Edmiston picked off an- SAM BARBEE PHOTO Hermiston’s Jansen Edmiston (left) is closely defended by Pendleton’s Shelby Greb during the ÀUVWKDOIRI+HUPLVWRQ·VZLQRYHUWKH%XFNV7XHVGD\QLJKWDW:DUEHUJ&RXUW other pass and converted it into points at the other end, prompting Pendle- ton head coach Michelle Gomez to take a timeout. The 6-0 run by Edmiston pushed Hermiston’s lead to seven at 28-21, and a Tavin Headings’ three- ball seconds later pushed the lead to 10. It was a run that Herm- iston head coach Steve Hoffert said he was wait- ing for. “It was just telling (Edmiston) that there’s nobody out here that she SEE BULLDOGS/A7 SAM BARBEE PHOTO +HUPLVWRQ·V-DQVHQ(GPLVWRQORRNVWRFUHDWHVSDFHIRUDVKRW GXULQJWKHÀUVWTXDUWHURI+HUPLVWRQ·VZLQRYHU3HQGOH WRQ7XHVGD\QLJKWDW:DUEHUJ&RXUW Echo boys’ season over, girls play Saturday BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD On Monday night at Echo High School, the boys basketball team was HDWLQJ WDFRV 7KH &RXJDUV gathered in the cozy school library and read good-luck letters from young students. They received food mon- ey from the school. They boarded a bus and headed RXW WR &UDQH ZLWK D SROLFH escort from wrestling coach Monte Tombs. Unfortunately, that’s ZKHUH WKH &RXJDUV¶ SRVW- season ended after they ORVW7XHVGD\QLJKWWR&UDQH 54-49 in the state play-in round. ,W ZDV WKH ¿UVW WLPH VL[ or seven years, however, the Echo boys team has made it past districts, a fact that isn’t lost on the team. “It’s pretty crazy,” ju- QLRU JXDUG &DUORV &KDYH] said. “We’ve worked hard. We’ve worked hard all this year. Honestly, I thought we’re gonna make it. I can’t really explain it that well.” Early on, it didn’t seem OLNH&KDYH]¶VIHHOLQJZRXOG FRPHWRIUXLWLRQ7KH&RX- gars started 1-4, but a 65-33 win over Irrigon’s junior varsity team got the ball rolling positively. A four- game winning streak in -DQXDU\SXWWKH&RXJDUVXS to 10-7, but a three-game losing drought dropped them back to 10-10. Then &KDYH]ZHQWGRZQZLWKDQ ankle injury, and Klay Jen- son had to miss games for academic reasons. The wheels were start- ing to fall off a little bit. ³, JRW VFDUHG´ &KDYH] remembered. “I was like, ‘Ooh, not sure how this is gonna work out now.’ I recovered quick, thank God. (Jenson) got eligible again. We just played bas- ketball.” (FKR ¿QLVKHG VWURQJ ZLQQLQJ WKUHH RI LWV ¿QDO four games — including two at districts, before los- LQJWR&UDQH The Echo girls also left for state Monday. Their season hasn’t been quite the roller coaster as the boys, but it had peaks and valleys, too. 7KH &RXJDUV VWDUWHG 10-0 before dropping a SDLU WR &RXQWU\ &KULVWLDQ DQG7UL&LWLHV3UHS:$ Echo lost two more in late January, a “wake-up call” to Wallowa and an emotional home defeat to former league rival Dufur. Two-straight losses at the end of the slate to Nixy- aawii and Powder Valley KDGWKH&RXJDUVUHHYDOX- ating their team. “I took it as a reali- ty check,” senior guard Bailey Strofe said. “Not KDYLQJ+DQQDK0F&DUW\ those two games (and) going 0-2 that weekend, I took it as a reality check. I think a lot of us did. We just came back that next week at practice and worked harder because we didn’t like that feel- ing, that locker room. We knew that we were better than that.” With a renewed focus, Echo rolled through the district tournament, de- feating Wallowa and Pow- der Valley. In the district WLWOH JDPH WKH &RXJDUV¶ nerves got to them, with Strofe saying she was close to vomiting on the court. But a big third quar- WHU URFNHWHG WKH &RXJDUV WRWKHLU¿UVWGLVWULFWWLWOHLQ recent memory. It sets up WKH¿UVWKRPHVWDWHSOD\RII game in Echo in decades. “It’s pretty cool to say we’re a part of that team,” Strofe said. Neither head coach JD Brazil nor the captains ² (OL]DEHWK 0F&DUW\ Kelsey Ranger and Stro- IH ² VDLG WKH &RXJDUV are peaking right now, but they are happy with how they’ve been playing these past couple weeks. “We’re in a good spot,” Brazil said. The Echo girls take on Adrian at 7 p.m. on Satur- day. Hermiston’s Santoyo signs with Kansas’ Tabor College I only knew about the big colleges — Oregon, Ore- HERMISTON HERALD gon State, not small col- Luis Santoyo never leges, but once he talked to thought about playing foot- me about it, I was hooked ball in college. In fact, he on it.” hadn’t thought about col- After a successful senior lege that much at all. campaign that included Then Hermiston High Bulldog league and state ti- football coach Mark Hodg- WOHVDQGD¿UVWWHDP$OO&R- es pulled the senior-to-be OXPELD 5LYHU &RQIHUHQFH LQWR KLV RI¿FH EHIRUH WKLV pick for Santoyo, he signed year’s football season and his National Letter of In- said that if the guard worked tent Tuesday to play guard hard and did everything he DW 1$,$ 7DERU &ROOHJH LQ needed to, he could play at Hillsboro, Kansas, a short a small college somewhere. drive north of Wichita. “I just gave him a The whole process took EODQN VWDUH IRU DERXW ¿YH about two weeks, Santoyo mintues,” Santoyo said said. Hodges sent out game Tuesday. “I couldn’t imag- tapes and talked to coach- LQHP\VHOISOD\LQJ$I¿UVW es, and, shortly after, Tabor BY SAM BARBEE contacted Santoyo. He said the coach told him he saw early starting potential in the 6-foot, 240-pound of- fensive lineman. “That’s what caught me,” Santoyo said. “I want- ed to start early.” Two weeks later, San- toyo’s decision was made. He would be a Tabor Blue Jay. Tabor competes in the .DQVDV &ROOHJLDWH $WKOHWLF &RQIHUHFQH DQG ODVW \HDU the football team went 7-4, missing the playoffs by one game. The Blue Jays em- ploy a triple-option offense that relies on mobile guards to pull outside and deal with outside linebackers or defensive backs. That im- mediately caught Santoyo’s attention, as he enjoys play- ing in space but never got the opportunity in Hodges’ SRZHUUXQKLJKÀ\LQJ RI- fense. Santoyo watched a Geor- gia Tech game this season and saw how the Yellow Jackets ran their version of the triple option and where KH FRXOG ¿W LQ +H VDLG LI he wasn’t convinced before then, he was afterward. “That’s what I always wanted to do,” he said. Santoyo hasn’t been to Tabor yet but said he plans to visit in April. While SEE SANTOYO/A7