MARCH 4, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A6 WEDNESDAY,
SPORTS
PREP WRESTLING • PREP BASKETBALL • CONFRENCE AWARDS
Hermiston’s Edmiston, Ramirez named
season comes co-Players of the year this week
boys
to an end Hermiston
receive three all-
EO MEDIA GROUP
The
Hermiston
boys basketball season
reached the end of the
road Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs fell be-
hind by double-digits in
the opening half and de-
spite a second-half ral-
ly, fell to Sandy 46-42
in a road play-in game
that ended their season.
Senior Dillon Zim-
merly scored 10 of his
team-high 12 points in
the second half to lead
Hermiston to within
three points in the clos-
ing minutes of what
would prove his final
prep game. The senior
had a chance to tie the
game with two minutes
remaining but rattled
off a three-point try.
The Bulldogs had
three other easy looks to
cut into the lead down
the stretch but failed to
convert any of them.
“We had our chances
at the end of the game,”
Hermiston coach Jake
McElligott said. “We
played hard.”
Sandy (13-12) burst
out to a nine-point half-
time lead.
The Bulldogs were
ice cold from range in
the opening half — fin-
ishing just 1-for-9, but
picked it up in the sec-
ond making seven tries.
Hermiston switched
from a zone to a man and
the change proved effec-
tive leading to a flurry
of turnovers that helped
pace the comeback.
The
Bulldogs
might’ve ended their
season with a thud, but
the final defeat was not
for a lack of effort.
“Those guys plays
hard and left it all on
the floor. We wanted
to look ourselves in
the mirror and say we
played our best, and we
did that,” McElligott
said.
Umatilla boys fall to
top-ranked Dayton
to end season
would only continue to im-
prove, based on the effort
they displayed against the
The key word for the top-seeded team in 3A.
Umatilla boys basketball
“He was kinda joking,
team this season was adver- ‘If you had a guy over 6
sity.
feet you’d be the best team
7KH9LNLQJV¿QLVKHGWKH in the state,’ ” Lete recalled.
year 14-13 and a solid 7-2 in “That’s how I’ve always felt.
the Eastern Oregon League, I said, ‘Man, if we could get
good for second place and a one big guy...’ We have the
spot in the round of 16.
guards and quickness and
There, the Vikings stum- speed to do it, but when we
bled, and their season ended face a little bit of size, we’re
with a 69-56 loss to top- just so mismatched.”
ranked Dayton Friday.
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“Overall, it was a suc- his team at least made an
cessful season for us,” sec- impression. When Umatilla
ond-year head coach Derrek went west for games or tour-
Lete said Tuesday. “Tough naments, they were respect-
ending, but it is what it is at ed more by other teams,
the end of the season.”
something that only comes
Lete took a program that with success and hard work.
was in the depths of the 3A
Looking to next year,
ranks two years ago and has Umatilla loses some im-
posted back-to-back 14-win portant players. Primary
seasons and back-to-back EDOOKDQGOHU DQG ¿UVWWHDP
playoff appearances. Un- all-league performer Dany
fortunately for the Vikings, Ayala and Umatilla’s lead-
they’ve been the No. 16 ing scorer Eric Garcia,
seed these past two seasons, ZKRZDVDOVR¿UVWWHDPDOO
and last year they came up league, are both graduating.
against eventual state cham- Energy guy Andrew Jaime
pion Valley Catholic in the is a senior, too, as are big
play-in round.
men Edgar Morales and Da-
This year, despite also vid Garcia.
playing the top-ranked
“They’re the reasons
team, the game was consid- we were where we were,”
erably different, and it gave Lete said of the departing
a silver lining to the end of seniors. “Just how hard they
the season that was absent a worked — it was a special
year ago.
group that we had. We were
In Friday’s game against always undersized, and our
Dayton, Umatilla kept the boys just worked so stink-
GH¿FLW LQ WKH VLQJOH GLJLWV ing hard. It’s tough when
for most of the game until a you lose a game like that
late run by Dayton pushed because of how hard they
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said, by keeping the score
That said, the Vikings
relatively close, his players have some important players
had hoped they would have coming back. Point guard
a different outcome than the Kaden Webb, a freshman,
one last year in the same got valuable minutes and hit
game.
some big shots this season.
Dayton, though, lost one Senior-to-be Aaron Sim-
game all year, the district mons continued to improve
playoff game to fellow 3A and has the ability to stretch
power Horizon Christian, defense with three-pointers.
Tualitin.
Seniors-to-be Tristan San-
“If the RPI situation was guino and Juan Coria each
a little different, I think we can score and defend, and
would have had a legiti- Jesus Ramirez, who didn’t
mate shot of making (the ¿QLVK WKH VHDVRQ ZLWK WKH
state tournament at) Coos ball club, is expected to re-
Bay this year,” Lete said. turn next year as a junior.
“I thought our boys played
“I told the guys at the end
extremely well Friday night of the season, I said, ‘It’s
against Dayton. I would not by surprise that we’re
have loved to see us get a here,’ ” Lete said. “That’s
different draw in the sweet just something, looking for-
16 and see what happened.” ward, it’s something that we
Lete said that after the do as far as go to state, go to
game against the Pirates, the playoffs. It’s not an acci-
a Dayton fan approached dent. I think we got the right
Lete and told him he was guys in right now, the right
impressed with how hard guys coming through that
the Vikings worked. The have high expectations and
fan said he had never seen high goals. Anything less
a team work that hard and than the playoffs is kind of
was sure that Lete’s team a down year.”
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
conference nods
HERMISTON HERALD
The Hermiston Bulldogs
boys and girls teams were
rewarded Tuesday with a
number of all-league selec-
tions and awards.
For the girls, junior
guards Jansen Edmiston
and Sara Ramirez were
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lumbia River Conference
performers and co-Players
of the Year.
Hermiston head coach
Steve Hoffert was named
the Coach of the Year on
the girls side.
Edmiston runs the of-
fense and sets the defense.
Her play-making skills on
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runs for the Bulldogs to
both come back in games
and to put them away.
Ramirez, a sharp-shooting
scoring guard, can shoot the
long ball and get to the cup
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good handles. Hermiston’s
offense relies on Edmiston
and Ramirez to play well
by either scoring or distrib-
uting and moving around
defenses to get looks for
others.
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Hermiston was Tavin Head-
ings, who took last year off
to swim and returned this
year to provide long-range
shooting off the bench.
Kynzee Padilla wrapped
up Hermiston’s all-league
SEE AWARD/A7
CHAMPIONS AGAIN
Hermiston wrestlers
win third-straight
state title
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
The Hermiston wrestling
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this season came a month
before the state tournament
during the championship
dual against Hillsboro at
the Oregon Wrestling Clas-
sic.
The Bulldogs lost that
dual, and the effect it had
was monumental.
“That, I guess, humbled
us,”Bulldog Andy Wagner
said Tuesday. “It showed us
that we still have work (to
do) ... Three or four weeks
before the state tournament
we just lost against a Hill-
sboro team that we (were)
gonna see at the state tour-
nament. ... We know we
have competition.”
That was the last time
Hermiston lost as a team,
and the Bulldogs went on
to win their third-straight
team title and eighth in nine
years Saturday with a score
of 161 points. Sam Colbray
took his third-straight ti-
tle at 195 pounds, pinning
Crater’s Alberto Meza to
clinch the title Saturday in
the Portland Coliseum.
“It shows how mentally
tough, from top to bottom,
we are,” Colbray said of
the team rebound. “Some
KATHY ANEY PHOTO
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Community celebration
Celebrations for the Hermiston wrestling team will take place on
Thursday and Saturday.
The Thursday assembly will be at the Hermiston High School main
gym and starts at 3:10 p.m. The team will also be recognized at
halftime of the girls basketball game Saturday. The time and oppo-
nent for the game are still yet to be determined.
teams have front runners.
Some teams can train, but,
just as a whole it shows the
leaders, the people who are
placing high or the people
with accolades and what-
not, that we can bring up
those below us and that
those below us will follow,
(and) that we can (form) a
coalition to perform.”
“It just shows how deep
our lineup is,” Wagner add-
ed. “We may not have six
state champs, but we have
15 guys that have the poten-
tial to place at state. That’s
why we won the state team
title this year.”
When the time came
for the entire team — all
15 guys — to score points
and help the team cause,
Hermiston had that kind of
showing. Jake Palmer and
Jack Meads won match-
es at state. Jesse Rodelo,
who could barely walk
at the tournament, won a
couple of matches. Brock
SEE CHAMPIONS/A7
Antelopes crush Cougars,
end Echo’s postseason hopes
It was a disappointing end to what
head
coach JD Brazil said was an oth-
HERMISTON HERALD
erwise successful season.
If the Echo girls basketball team
“We achieved a lot of the goals we
had one weakness this season, it was set out to achieve,” he said Monday.
size.
“The ultimate goal was to get to Bak-
The Adrian Antelopes exploited HU &LW\ IRU WKH ¿QDOHLJKW URXQG EXW
that weakness in the Cougars’ 60-39 we got a lot of things. We beat some
loss Saturday afternoon in the state top-10 teams. We were co-champs
¿UVWURXQGSOD\RIIJDPHHQGLQJWKHLU in our league. We won our district
season.
tournament. Those are big deals, big
The Antelopes physically domi- steps. With that, we get the big board
nated the Cougars. Adrian held a 53- to hang in our gym. That’s something
35 rebounding advantage and forced that these seniors, and everyone who
Echo to commit 31 fouls. The An- was part of it, can show.”
telopes also shot 42 free throws, al-
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though they only made 20 of them.
had its high points, despite the loss.
BY SAM BARBEE
Elizabeth McCarty dropped 26 points
to lead all scorers and made Echo’s
only three-ball of the afternoon. She
was alone, though, in double-digit
scoring as Erika Parks was second for
Echo with just eight points.
Despite the shared league title and
district title, Echo found itself with a
lower ranking than other teams with
that resumé because of two losses late
in the season that Brazil said contrib-
uted to the rank dropping.
Echo entered the round of 16
ranked 13th, the lowest district champ
in 1A. A late 53-48 loss to Nixyaawii
SEE COUGARS/A7
Hundreds of
Viking girls’
cyclists compete season ends in
in Echo Red 2 Red
BY SAM BARBEE
EO MEDIA GROUP
On a clear and crisp Sat-
urday in Echo, the histor-
ic town became a hub for
bikes, beer and smiles at
the Echo Red 2 Red moun-
tain bike race.
The event, which was
expected to draw around
500 riders prior to the
weekend,
brought
in
around 400 cyclists from
as far away as Colorado.
“Five years ago, (the
Red 2 Red) was up and
coming,”
professional
mountain biker Deejay
Birtch said. “It was a hush-
hush race. Not too many
people (knew). Now, for
the last three years, there’s
been at least 500 registered
riders. That’s pretty huge
for the end of February,
beginning of March.”
The Red 2 Red accom-
modated 25 categories for
men and women of all
ages. After the elite cate-
gory came category 1, 2
and 3, which were divided
by age.
SEE BIKERS/A7
heart-breaker
because Umatilla held a
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minute but couldn’t hold it
The Umatilla girls bas- as Amity stormed back to
ketball team’s longest los- win 57-52.
ing streak of the year was
“I think we were still
two, and it happened twice. successful in all of the
First, the Vikings lost points we were at,” head
a pair to Vale. They lost coach Scott Bow said
another to Vale at the end Tuesday. “For all the
RI WKH VHDVRQ 7KHLU ¿QDO games we played, we were
loss was against Amity in very successful in that
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we were one of the teams
playoffs Saturday.
Saturday’s loss was es-
SEE VIKINGS/A7
pecially
heart-breaking
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD