Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2015)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2015 SPORTS around the inherent violence of MMA and the desire to re- move violence from schools. Williams said, to overcome Hermiston head wrestling the School Board’s concerns, coach Shaun Williams and he came with research. He *UHJ &RUWDEHUULD D ORFDO said he learned that some QDWLRQDO JXDUG RI¿FHU DQG high schools on the East supporter of local wrestling. &RDVWKDYHFOXE00$WHDPV Because wrestling is such an High schools there host sanc- integral part of mixed mar- tioned MMA cards regularly, WLDODUWV&RUWDEHUULDVDLGWKH\ although that hasn’t quite thought the perfect fundraiser caught on out West yet. would be to host a sanctioned Bobb said, initially, doubts card at the high school. Once about a high school hosting the new fairgrounds are built, mixed martial arts events are the event, if successful, will common as the violent nature move there and become a lo- of the sport seems to disagree cal staple. with what high schools stand It wasn’t a smooth process for. He added, however, other to convince the School Board sports, such as football, are to sign off on the event, how- violent in nature and are com- ever. mon at high schools. “It was like ‘Gladiator,” Bobb said, overall, MMA Williams said of the pitch. is safer than football with 38 The concerns centered percent fewer injuries than MARTIAL in high school football and 8 percent less steroid abuse. With the event scheduled to take place, Williams said he hopes the team will raise enough money from the event to store in the wrestling pro- gram’s account and purchase all sorts of things, from buy- ing shoes for an underpriv- ileged athlete, to taking his team to national tournaments so his wrestlers can get more exposure, something he said he really hopes to do. Hermiston and Knuckle- head Promotions have agreed the wrestling program will get $5 per $20 ticket. Williams said he has 1,500 tickets, and if the team were to sell half, that would net $3,750 for the program. His eventual hope is to help convince area colleges like Eastern Oregon Univer- VLW\RU%OXH0RXQWDLQ&RP- PXQLW\ &ROOHJH WR UHLQVWDWH wrestling or for wrestlers to be recruited at the collegiate OHYHO&XUUHQWO\WKHUHDUHMXVW seven colleges with wrestling programs in Washington, Ida- ho and Oregon. “It’s not enough,” Wil- liams said. “It’s important to get our kids out there to where coaches can recognize the tal- ent that they have and recruit them, and, not only that, I think, if we can demonstrate that Oregon does have the kids to compete at the next level, it will also boost getting ZUHVWOLQJ EDFN DW %0&& ,W will boost getting wrestling back at EOU.” The main event March 21 features a three-round bout between welterweights Jason Lambert (2-4) — who has IRXJKW LQ WKH 8)& DQG LV D CHAMPIONS: said it meant a lot to him and his teammates that so many peers and commu- nity members attended to congratulate the Bulldogs on their successful season Thursday afternoon. He said, while the wrestling team has been dominant, an observation the eight titles in nine years supports, Hermiston athletics, as a whole, are just an indication of where Hermiston is as a commu- nity. “With wrestling, we’ve found a little niche, like watermelons and Herm- iston, where it’s known everywhere and pretty frickin’ amazing,” he said. “I mean, everyone loves Hermiston watermelons. Hermiston wrestling — my freshman year, we were 25th in the nation in rankings. It’s not all of Hermiston, but it’s a good side of it.” &ROHPDQ VDLG WKHUH DUH other teams that are just as successful and well known as the wrestling team, such as boys cross coun- try team, which is known statewide, and the girls basketball team, which is the top seed heading into the state tournament. Then there’s the football team, ZKLFK ZRQ LWV ¿UVW VWDWH title in November in con- vincing and dominating fashion. He mentioned the speech and debate program, which, in just its third year, already has state champions, as well as the chess club, which is growing and quickly be- coming successful. “It’s just showing that Hermiston’s on the rise,” &ROHPDQ VDLG ³:H KDYH new schools in Hermiston. It’s showing through the community’s support. It’s showing through the ath- letic programs.” &ROHPDQ VDLG WKH IXOO gym Thursday afternoon not only speaks to the lev- el of support for the wres- tling team and athletics as a whole, it speaks to the level of growth in the town. “We won (a title) in football, and everyone’s behind us,” the junior said. “We win it here, and, as you can tell, ev- eryone’s behind us. It shows even through the community members, the school administration help us get this assembly done. The student body was here supporting us. It’s a pyramid, and ev- eryone is behind and they get behind every sport in Hermiston.” calendar for you, hands down,” he said Thursday. “I don’t care what hap- continued from page A7 pened the rest of the sea- produced seven individual son. So everything that champions. Williams was we do during the season also named 5A Wrestling culminates at the state &RDFK RI WKH <HDU IRU WKH tournament. So there’s no 2014-15 season. doubt about that. But, in Williams said, for him, terms of winning and los- winning state champi- ing, like I tell my kids: If onships isn’t the most the best that we can do is important thing to him. VHFRQG LV ¿IWK ZH EHWWHU What’s most important is WDNHVHFRQGRU¿IWK7KDW¶V his wrestlers perform to our goal. We need to live their best potential. up to our potential.” “The state champion- %RE &ROHPDQ ZKR ship is probably the most was the state runner-up at important event on the 170 pounds last weekend, SAM BARBEE PHOTO +HUPLVWRQ·V%URFN0F'RXQRXJKZKRSODFHGÀIWKDW SRXQGVDWODVWZHHNHQG·VVWDWHWRXUQDPHQWZDONVLQWRWKH'DZ- JKRXVHWRDSSODXVHE\FRPPXQLW\PHPEHUVDQGVWXGHQWV LEARNING: continued from page A7 two of them you can just show up and win. That’s not the case against 5, 6A WHDPV<RXQHHGWRSUHSDUH well and play well.” Then, he said, on top of that, the Bulldogs had to play Pendleton, Hood River and The Dalles three WLPHV 6LQFH WKH &ROXPELD 5LYHU&RQIHUHQFHEUDQFKHG off from the Intermountain &RQIHUHQFH ¿YH \HDUV DJR Hermiston has been in a four-team league that plays three league matchups. It eliminates any secrets a team might have and makes coaching that much more GLI¿FXOW0F(OOLJRWWVDLG “They counter what you’re doing, and you have to counter the counter,” he said. “It’s a game of chess and adjustments.” The learning curve wasn’t limited to just McEl- ligott and his staff. He said his players had to learn new system, new plays and even had to relearn some ways of doing things on the court according to how McElli- gott wants the game to look and his team to play. These aren’t things that just happen overnight, he said: They take time to in- stall and even longer for players to become comfort- able with them. “The thing is, to teach a style and system, some- times it takes until the second or third year to put a system in place,” McEl- ligott said. “(Assistant coach) Dennis Stefani and I talked about this. It takes until the second year for WINNERS: continued from page A7 his army with many a war elephant from present-day Tunisia to Rome, crossing the Alps to get there. Most guys to know what we want from them.” Early on in the Bulldogs’ season, the players didn’t quite know what was ex- pected of them. McElligott called those early season games “apathetic.” In their ¿UVW ¿YH JDPHV WKH %XOO- dogs went 0-5 and were out- scored 318-217, an average margin of 20.2 points. The offense was stagnated, and the defense lacked effort. 7KH %XOOGRJV ¿QLVKHG WKH¿UVWPRQWKRIWKHVHDVRQ with a record of just 2-7, and the season appeared to be getting away from them. Things were at their worst when a winless Sun- nyside team came into the Dawghouse and shocked the Bulldogs with a nar- row 47-45 win. Hermiston had the lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold it against a hungry Sunny- side team. After that, things started to change. Games were tighter for longer and a spark emerged that wasn’t there early in the season. ³<RXFRXOGWHOOWKDWWKH\ didn’t like to lose,” McEl- ligott said of his players. “They would go down 10 points — in (the playoff game against Sandy) they went down 10 points in the ¿UVWTXDUWHUDQGFDPHIURP way back. They showed ¿JKW DQG D ORW RI FKDUDF- WHU7KH\ VKRZHG ¿JKW DQG toughness. I thought we did ¿QLVKVWURQJDQGFRQWLQXHG WR¿JKWDQGFODZEODFNLQWR games. That’s a sign of im- provement: that a team has heart and character.” Though Hermiston won LWV ¿UVW WZR OHDJXH JDPHV over The Dalles and Hood River Valley — and found of his elephants died in the mountains, and his army was obliterated by the Romans, but the Roman generals still wrote of him as great in their memoirs — even though his decisions were bad SAM BARBEE PHOTO Austin Nailon (10) of Hermiston rises for a layup as Hood 5LYHU9DOOH\·V7\URQH6WLQW]LZDWFKHVGXULQJWKHÀUVWKDOIRI WKHLU&ROXPELD5LYHU&RQIHUHQFHEDVNHWEDOOJDPH-DQLQ the Dawghouse. LWVHOI DWRS WKH &5& UDQN- ings in the process — it couldn’t keep that momen- tum down the stretch. Af- ter the 2-0 start, Hermiston ORVWIRXURILWVQH[W¿YHDQG VSOLWLWV¿QDOWZRJDPHVRI the regular season to put the Bulldogs in third in WKH &5& DQG RQ WKH URDG for their play-in game. The Bulldogs went to Sandy and went cold down the stretch in a 46-42 loss Tuesday. “They left the door cracked, and we couldn’t kick it down,” McElligott said. Despite the disappoint- LQJ ¿QLVK 0F(OOLJRWW VDLG the loss hasn’t diminished his players’ enthusiasm. He said many are clamoring to play basketball, to know the spring, summer and fall basketball schedule. “Guys are really excited about what’s next,” McElli- gott said. “It’s good to have that hunger back.” and his tactics worse — so they could be remembered in higher regard for their military prowess. Williams does the same but the opposite. That’s only part of his program, though. Acting with class is something each of the wrestlers possesses. They aren’t show-boaty, and they aren’t overly cocky either. For how successful the program is in terms of banners and IRUPHU :(& KHDY\ZHLJKW champion — and Tyson Jef- feries (11-9), who hails from &RORUDGR DQG KDV FRPSHWHG in Bellator MMA, a lower level promotional company. Lambert last fought on Oct. 11, when he was TKO’d in the second round. Jefferies is coming off a win over Rocky Johnson with an arm bar sub- mission in the second round at Knucklehead 10: United We Fight in Salem. The co-main event, which ZLOO KDYH WKUHH ¿YHPLQXWH rounds, features two more welterweights: Mike Dubois (4-0) from Georgia and John Bartlett (1-1) from Oregon. In Dubois’ last bout, he sub- mitted Josh Snodgrass with just 27 seconds remaining in the third round by way of a choke. Bartlett lost his last match, just his second as a professional, to Ryan Walker by way of a rear naked choke in Portland on Jan. 24. 2WKHU ¿JKWV LQFOXGH -XV- tin Milani (0-4-0) vs. Dar- rio Mobley (2-5-0), Samuel Sprauer (2-1-1) vs. Ricardo Martinez (11-4-0), Michael Gonzalez (7-4-0) vs. Freddie “The Humble” Bailey (6-3- &KDVH +ROLGD\ vs. Justin True (6-2-2), Mark &DQR -U YV 0RUJDQ Mansken (2-0-0), Rafael Pal- ma (3-0-0) vs. Ray Gonzalez (2-2-0), Wyatt Passentino (1- 0-0) vs. Jesse Ibarra (0-0-0), &ROE\ *UD\VRQ YV Brandon Miller (1-1-0), An- drew Perri (1-0-0) vs. TBD, Weston Simonis (0-1-0) vs. %ULDQ .DPQD &KULV Evans (0-2-0) vs. TBD and 0LFKDHO &ROOD]R YV TBD. Doors open at 6 p.m. SAM BARBEE PHOTO Hermiston’s Tavin Headings (22) moves in for a basket against Hood River’s Breanna Weekly (43) and another de- IHQGHUGXULQJWKHÀUVWKDOIRID&ROXPELD5LYHU&RQIHUHQFH girls basketball game Feb. 10t in Hermiston. BULLDOGS: continued from page A7 of Hermiston’s record (and) what they were do- ing. It was all about Sil- verton, and now it’s back to all about La Salle.” ³7KH\WRRNDOOWKH¿UVW place votes, and we hav- en’t lost any games (since we beat La Salle),” Hof- fert continued. “That’s ¿QH,W¶VQRWWKDWWKDWUXQV us or drives us, but it’s what’s going to be in the back of our minds from this point on.” Before Hermiston gets its second shot at La Salle, however, WKH %XOOGRJV PXVW ¿UVW HDUQ D VSRW LQ WKH ¿QDO ¿HOG RI HLJKW LQ &RUYDO- lis next week by win- ning their home play-in round matchup against WKVHHGHG &UHVFHQW Valley of the Mid-Willa- PHWWH&RQIHUHQFHWRGD\ The Raiders are 10- 0:& ² LURQ- ically the same league in which Silverton com- petes — and are in the playoffs despite suffer- ing through an eight- game losing streak that started in December and sprawled into January. &UHVFHQW 9DOOH\ WRSSHG North Eugene 45-41 — a team Raiders lost to during their eight-game skid — in a mild upset to earn its spot against top- ranked Hermiston. In all honesty, Hoffert doesn’t care much about ZKDW &UHVFHQW 9DOOH\ does. Not that he knows very much. He said it has been a struggle for him to learn anything about the Raiders, but he’s fo- cused on doing what got his team to the top-ranked position in the state: run, defend, be relentless. trophies, it’s even more successful in building a program the right way and building men the right way. “(Hermiston) likes com- petitors, but they also like peo- ple who put Hermiston in a “They’re gonna have to stop what we do,” Hof- fert said. “We’re gonna do what we do full speed the entire 32 minutes, and we’re gonna see if they can do that for 32 minutes. I don’t know if they can play that way for 32 min- utes. Like I said, they’re gonna have to come here and stop what we do well, and we’re not gonna al- low that. We’ll make ad- justments on their scorers, ¿QGRXWZKRWKRVHDUHDQG ¿QG RXW WKHLUNH\ SOD\HUV and make sure those key players don’t score, and we’ll shut them down and let them deal with their problem facing us be- cause they’re gonna have a tough time matching up ZLWK DOO ¿YH JLUOV RQ WKH ÀRRU´ Hoffert said, in a way, La Salle being ranked ¿UVW ERWK PRWLYDWHV WKH Bulldogs and takes pres- sure off them, similar to what happened with the Hermiston football team. At that time, the team ÀHZ XQGHU WKH UDGDU DV Silverton was premature- ly crowned champion in September and used that perceived slight as moti- vation. Then the Bulldogs unseated Silverton when it counted. Hoffert said fans can expect the same from the girls basketball team. “Everything’s coming together for us,” he said. “We expect to make a deep run and to be playing Friday (March 13). We expect to have a shot at what we’ve been working for all year. ... Anything can happen, but we expect to be in that position.” Tip-off to today’s game starts at 3 p.m. Gates open at 1:30 p.m. Tickets cost $6 for adults and $4 for students. positive light,” Williams said. “They’re good ambassadors, is really what my kids are.” — Sam Barbee is the Hermiston Herald sports reporter. He can be reached at sbarbee@ hermistonherald.com