SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
Ego plans to turn Bulldogs into greyhounds
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
In a college basketball
game 30 years ago, then-In-
diana Hoosiers head basket-
ball coach Bob Knight earned
sports immortality when, in
a game against the Purdue
Boilermakers, Knight lost his
composure and hurled a chair
from his bench, across the
lane and onto the baseline on
the opposite side of the court.
He was ejected, and the mo-
ment lives on in sports history
as one of the most interesting
forms of passion ever seen.
Dave Ego, Hermiston’s
interim basketball coach, has
similar sensibilities.
“I won’t fold my program
up and watch the game quiet-
ly,” he quipped. “I probably
come closer to throwing a
chair across the gym.”
After a 20-year hiatus
from coaching basketball,
Ego hopes to bring success
and stability to a program that
hasn’t had much of either in
the last ¿ve years.
Working with a largely
new roster, Ego will bring dis-
cipline and pace to the Dawg-
house. He believes teenagers
¿nd solace in structure and
dedication in discipline.
But how much has the
game changed? The last time
Ego coached a high school
basketball game, the game
had yet to evolve into the pe-
rimeter-focused screen-and-
roll game we watch today.
The 3-point line is bigger than
its ever been, and tall players,
once banished to the low
block, are starting to develop
outside games.
Has this affected any of
Ego’s theories and philoso-
phies? No.
“The fundamentals
haven’t changed,” he
said. “They still drib-
ble. They still rebound.
They still shoot. Does
the 3-point line change
anything? Some for the Ego
better, some not for the
better. But I think what you’re
able to do — you can shoot
37 percent from that line and
feel pretty good about it. It’s
probably changed the game,
the outside game, a little, but
generally not (basketball).”
He noted some college
basketball teams — old West-
ern Kentucky and Chicago
Marymount squads — played
a modern up-and-down style
with lots of outside shooting.
“That’s because the funda-
mentals haven’t changed,” he
said. “Dribbling, rebounding,
shooting, things like that. If
you look back, defenses ha-
ven’t changed as much
as people think. We
are still revisiting the
UCLA press and some
of those things people
want to still do today.
“But what’s really
paramount is the at-
titude, the behavior. Right
now, particularly right now
in Hermiston, commitment
has to be a capital ‘C’. That’s
one of the things that’s imper-
ative.”
He said commitment starts
with the parents. He’s going
to have his players doing
certain things — like eating
a certain way — and he said
he needs the parents on board
with that.
“And that’s not just at the
varsity level, the JV level,”
he said. “We’re talking about
AAU programs and every-
thing else. Parents want to be
really involved. But how do
we want them involved?”
Ego puts the program
above everything else. It’s
above a single player, a single
level, a single team. He wants
all four teams — varsity, ju-
nior varsity I, junior varsity
II, c-squad — to all have the
same uniforms so transfer-
ring players between levels is
logistically easier. He’s also
willing to play the best play-
ers regardless of class. If that
means four freshman start on
the varsity roster because they
deserve it, then that’s what
he’ll do. In his mind, the pro-
gram comes ¿rst.
“It’s not a problem if
they’re ready,” he said. “But
if they’re not ready, I won’t
throw them in the ¿re.”
Behind senior point guard
Austin Naillon, Ego wants
to run. He’s already had
conversations with Naillon
about leadership and setting
the example. The senior has
been running with the Bull-
dogs’ cross country team to
get in shape for the up-tem-
po system Ego wants to run.
Ego said he wants Naillon to
be in such good shape when
practice starts in November
that he’s not tired while con-
ditioning, and hopefully that
will bleed into the rest of the
group who sees Naillon’s
work.
In addition, Ego hopes to
have 6-foot-3 athlete Tre Neal
come out, as well as 6-foot-5
Brok Palmer, who was on the
team last year. He knows that
Neal, who is the defensive
end on the football team, is
athletic and can bang in the
post, And about Palmer?
“You can’t teach 6-5,” he
said.
Volleyball
trouble winning the large
school championship at the
Pasco Bulldog Invite on
Saturday.
The Umatilla senior
broke the tape for the
fourth time this season
with a winning time of 15
minutes, 53.9 seconds in
the 5,000 meter race.
In second was Lew-
iston’s Austin Byrer in
16:02.9. Lewiston (ID)
won the team title with
26 points, and Kennewick
(WA) and Richland (WA)
tied in a distant second
with 96.
Umatilla was fourth
with 99 and had another
top 20 ¿nisher in Bradley
Bensen, who was 20th in a
time of 18:47.
Weston-McEwen (3-2,
0-1) limited Stan¿eld run-
ning back Thyler Monkus
to 78 yards on 17 carries,
but quarterback Dylan
Grogan was still able to
run for 113 yards and two
touchdowns on 12 carries.
He attempted just ¿ve
passes, going 1 for 5 for 14
yards.
Three more Stan¿eld
rushers combined to add
93 yards, and Abraham
Gomez added a touch-
down.
“It was a tough defen-
sive game, the yards were
tough to come by tonight,”
Stan¿eld coach Davy Salas
said. “There was lots of hard
hitting and both teams were
playing their hearts out.”
Stan¿eld takes its un-
blemished record on the
road to face undefeated
Irrigon next week while
Weston-McEwen hosts Pi-
lot Rock.
right Friday night, except
¿nish drives.
After the Cougars and
Badgers went to the lock-
er room tied at six, Powder
Valley scored twice on big
plays in the third quarter
and held off a late Echo
charge to down the Cou-
gars 20-12 in Echo.
Echo (2-3, 0-2), which
was playing without start-
ing quarterback Klay Jen-
son, out-gained the Bad-
gers 307-186 and forced
two Powder Valley turn-
overs. But Echo itself had
trouble ¿nishing drives,
either turning it over them-
selves or committing a
crippling penalty.
Even so, Ty Mulder
¿lled in for Jenson by go-
ing 5-14 for 76 yards and an
interception, but it was the
ground game that buoyed
the Cougars. Damien Cu-
riel busted some long runs
on counter plays, accruing
125 yards on nine carries
and a touchdown. Fresh-
man Devan Craig also car-
ried 15 times for 65 yards
and a touchdown.
Echo head coach Rick
Thew had much praise for
senior Hayden Sather, who
led Echo with 15 tackes
Friday night, six of which
were for loss and three of
which were sacks. Kyle
Ranger and Curiel also
pitched in with intercep-
tions.
“It was one of the best
games I’ve seen played in
Echo in some time,” Thew
said. “That’s what makes it
so painful.”
Echo stays at home to
play Joseph next week at
7 p.m.
PREP ROUNDUP
Boys soccer
During the Umatilla
boys soccer team’s three-
match winning streak, the
Vikings scored 15 goals,
showing that they still re-
tain some offensive ¿re-
power after losing more
than half of its roster from
last year’s playoff team.
But the Vikings have
struggled to score in its
past two matches, scor-
ing just thrice and going
0-1-1 against a pair of 4A
Greater Oregon opponents
in Mac-Hi and La Grande.
Saturday, though, in its
third Special district 3
match of the year Umatil-
la made a habit of scoring
in a 5-0 defeat of Irrigon at
City Field in Umatilla.
Miguel Madrigal se-
cured a hat trick early in
the second half for the Vi-
kings (4-4-1, 3-1) and Di-
ego Saldana added a cou-
ple of second half goals in
the blowout. After a month
of trying to play bunched
up in the center of the pitch
and without much com-
munication, Umatilla head
coach Pedro Ortiz said his
players are ¿nally begin-
ning to play the style of
soccer Ortiz wants a Àuid,
movement-oriented attack.
Saturday was just that.
The Vikings consistent-
ly spread the ¿eld looking
for lobs and crosses that
were often accurate and re-
sulted in goals. Irrigon (1-
3-1, 1-2-1) just didn’t have
an answer.
“I’m happy with that,”
he said. “I think we kept
control of the game the
whole time, but what I
liked was they started
playing the whole width of
the ¿eld. They were giving
a lot of passes that we ha-
ven’t been doing (lately).”
The Stan¿eld Tigers
volleyball team split a pair
of matches Saturday after-
noon in Athena.
Against the Pilot Rock
Rockets, Stan¿eld was
swept 25-18, 25-22, 27-
25, and the Tigers did the
sweeping over Heppner
25-16, 25-19, 25-17.
Coach Angie Connell
said she could see a drop-
off in the Tigers’ serving as
their arms wore out against
Pilot Rock, but had few
other complaints regarding
the day’s play.
Maddie Grif¿n had a
staggering 12 aces against
Heppner and the Tigers
had 20 as a team, but had
just three total against Pilot
Rock.
Larissa Castellanos had
six kills on the day to lead
Stan¿eld, Kaitlyn Burns
added four and at team-
high three blocks, and
Shyanne Connell led them
with 13 assists.
CRESCENT VALLEY
2, HERMISTON 0 — At
Beaverton, the Bulldogs
also made a quick exit
from the Westview Tour-
nament in losses of 25-22,
25-20. No details were re-
ported.
Cross Country
Fabian Cardenas didn’t
run his fastest race of the
season, but still had no
Football
The Stan¿eld Tigers
and Weston-McEwen Ti-
gerScots stood toe-to-toe
in a Columbia Basin Con-
ference slug-fest on Friday.
With both defenses
delivering smash-mouth
blows, the Tigers were able
to deliver the knockout
punch for a 19-14 win in
each team’s league opener.
The Tigers (4-0, 1-0)
made a defensive stand on
the TigerScots’ ¿nal drive
and then were able to run
out the ¿nal 1:30 on a
night that was lacking the
gargantuan rushing totals
each team had been putting
up this season.
POWDER
VALLEY
20, ECHO 12 — The Echo
Cougars did everything
UMATILLA
28,
TRI-CITIES PREP 27 —
At Umatilla, the Vikings
(4-1) won their second in a
row against a Washington
school with Friday’s non-
league victory. No details
were reported.
Umatilla will cap a
three-game swing against
Washington programs next
week at King’s Way Chris-
tian in Vancouver.
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even before the
smoke clears .
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