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continued from Page A9
of the season, last year’s Echo Cougars were on a
mission and, largely, accomplished what they wanted
to. The only thing they didn’t do was get to the state
tournament, but the district bracket now hangs in the
Cougar Den as a reminder of the accomplishment.
. 6tanÀeld girls basketball
enters respectability
,WKDGEHHQDZKLOHVLQFH6WDQ¿HOG¶VJLUOVEDVNHW-
ball program wasn’t a laughingstock, and under Dan-
iel Sharp last season, the laughter turned to applause.
They played solid ball all year long and played in
some district basketball tournament games, beat Cul-
ver 26-22, and won 10 games. The Tigers went 1-23
(0-16) the year before. They’re continuing to climb
under Sharp — who, as an aside, coached both the
boys and the girls last season before taking over the
girls program solely this season. Last year’s stark im-
provement was fun to watch.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Edwin Rosales passes the ball in front of Hood
River’s Mario Sandoval in the Bulldogs’ 2-2 tie against the
Eagles in Hermiston.
8. Hermiston boys soccer raises
basement, pushes ceiling
You could kind of see it coming. The Hermiston
boys were an athletic bunch who played really hard
and sometimes just had some bad luck. After earn-
ing the fourth seed in the 5A state tournament this
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Rich Harshberger, then brutally lost 2-1 on penalty
kicks to Woodburn. I suppose they still had some
bad luck. But out of that came three all-state selec-
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and John Mejia on the second team. Both these feats
are indications that the Bulldogs are climbing in a
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schools, with the obvious exception of Hood River,
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FILE PHOTO
Hermiston head football coach Mark Hodges talks to his
players after a practice in Hermiston.
9. Hermiston coaching carousel
So, head football coach Mark Hodges retires in
May, head volleyball coach Becky Wadekamper re-
tires shortly thereafter, then Kylee Lete (softball),
Mike Frink (boys golf), Shaun Williams (wrestling)
and Jake McElligott each leave for disparate reasons.
It must’ve been a heck of a summer for Hermiston
Athletic Director Blaine Ganvoa. Some positions
ZHUH¿OOHGIURPHLWKHUZLWKLQWKHSURJUDPRUORFDO-
ly. David Faaeteete, who had been an assistant under
Hodges his entire seven-year stint here, was pro-
moted. Kyle Larson, who wrestled at Hermiston and
had been an assistant here for the previous handful
of seasons, was promoted. Dorothy Smith, who of-
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volleyball in the area, was named to that position,
and Dave Ego, who previously coached Hermiston’s
boys team and was principal of the high school, took
over the boys program on a one-year interim basis. It
was rare to see Hermiston have the level of success
it had — state title in football and wrestling, league
champs in volleyball, state participants in boys golf
— and have so much coaching turnover.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015
Brothers in Basketball
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
As one scans the recent
Hermiston football and bas-
ketball rosters, a common
name emerges: Neal. It be-
longs to Tre, a senior forward,
and Dayshawn, a sophomore
guard.
“Well, growing up play-
ing together, we get to know
each other’s moves and what
they’re thinking and what
they’re gonna do,” Tre said.
³,W¶V GH¿QLWHO\ IXQ ,W¶V UHDO
fun.”
The pair played together
on their middle school bas-
ketball team when Tre was in
eighth grade and Dayshawn
in sixth.
“That’s what I looked for-
ward to,” Dayshawn said.
It’s an interesting dynamic
between them. Though broth-
ers, they’re both independent
and see each other as individ-
uals who are brothers. They
don’t take their identities alone
from who their siblings are.
“I don’t think one of them
wants to be the other one’s
brother,” head basketball
coach Dave Ego said. “I don’t
think...the announcers say,
‘This is Dayshawn’s brother
Tre.’ I think they want their
own identity. That’s import-
ant to them.”
And with that desire to
have separate identities,
the brothers, especially
Dayshawn, don’t feel shack-
led to each other. Though
Tre is the elder of the two,
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
The Neal brothers Dayshawn (left) and Tre (right) are playing on the same basketball team for
the second time in their lives.
Dayshawn sees them as
HTXDOV
Ego said that Tre has be-
come a leader, a “rah-rah
guy.” Dayshawn, meanwhile,
is independent and stands his
ground.
“(Dayshawn’s) not gon-
na take any crap from his
brother,” Ego said smiling.
“His brother probably got in
trouble for giving him crap
early on. And so I think that
probably only a couple times
so far that I’ve seen (Tre) tell
Dayshawn, ‘Straighten up.
Get into this.’ But it’s in the
same tone that he’s telling ev-
eryone else.
“(Dayshawn) probably re-
sponds better to Tre than any-
one else.”
Playing on the same foot-
ball team as siblings is differ-
ent than playing on the same
basketball team. Tre played
defensive line, and Dayshawn
SOD\HGTXDUWHUEDFN5DUHO\LI
ever, do they participate in the
same drill, and rarely, if ever,
DUH WKH\ RQ WKH ¿HOG DW WKH
same time.
Basketball is different.
They’re always practicing
together and often are on the
court together. In fact, they
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“We have our little knacks
that get on each other’s
nerves,” Tre said.
Tre and Dayshawn,
though, are just two members
of a basketball team trying to
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though, the mixing of person-
alities that comes with any
team has begun to gel.
“It’s been fun so far,” Ego
said. “As a group, we play
with a lot of different per-
sonalities. There’s been some
self-doubt from kids and not a
lot of self-esteem about what
they’re doing. But I think
with those two we don’t have
to worry about that depart-
ment.”
play in the Swoosh bracket.
No other details were report-
ed.
With the win, Hermiston
LPSURYHV WR RQ WKH VHD-
son.
UMATILLA 44, ST.
MARY’S MEDFORD 19
— At Salem, the Umatilla Vi-
kings started off the Crusader
New Years Invitational on a
positive note, defeating St.
0DU\¶V0HGIRUG
No details were reported.
Classic.
“We worked well as a
team and played great de-
fense to shut (Echo) down in
the second half,” said Knights
coach Austin Cinnamond.
Alex Lindsay led the
Knights in scoring with 17
points and 12 rebounds off
the bench. Michael Thomp-
son netted 19 points on
VKRRWLQJ DQG DGGHG D
team-best 12 rebounds.
PREP ROUNDUP
Girls basketball
Hermiston JV defeats
Heppner in tourney
HERMISTON (JV) 41,
HEPPNER 31 — At Pend-
leton, the Heppner Mustangs
struggled with shooting on
Monday against the Hermis-
ton junior varsity, as the Bull-
dogs pulled out a 10 point
win.
Jacee Currin led Heppner
with 19 points in 31 minutes
of action in the game. She
FRQQHFWHGRQ¿YHRI¿HOG
goal attempts and nailed 9-12
from the free throw line. Jes-
sica Kempken had a team-
best nine rebounds.
Regan Meyers topped the
Bulldogs’ scoring efforts with
SRLQWVRQVKRRWLQJ
———
Boys Basketball
CONDON/WHEELER
49, ECHO 39 — At Du-
fur, the Condon/Wheeler
Knights pulled away from
the Echo Cougars in the
second half to earn a 10
point victory on Monday
afternoon at the 1A Hoops
HEP (2-8)
3 8
9 11 — 31
HERM (1-0) 7 12
4 18 — 41
HEPPNER — J. Currin 19, J. Kempken 5, K.
Gray 3, K. Lindsay 2, C. Grieb 2, R. Dompier, J.
Mahoney, R. Kollman, J. Evans, M. Correa.
HERMISTON — R. Meyers 14, K. Smith 7,
J. Thomas 7, C. Wheeler 6, H. Thompson 5, K.
Green 2, H. Earl, S. Stefani, M. Huff.
3-pointers — HEP 0, HERM 3. Free throws
— HEP 11-29, HERM 12-21. Fouls — HEP 16,
HERM 21.
STK# 16T038. MSRP $24,130. SALE PRICE $21,249. $1,250 CUSTOMER CASH PROVIDED BY TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES.
Echo falls to
Condon/Wheeler in
A1 Hoop Classic
CONDON/WHEELER
44, ECHO 19 — At Dufur,
the Condon/Wheeler Knights
kept its undefeated season
going with a win over Echo
at the 1A Hoops Classic on
Monday afternoon.
7KH .QLJKWV KHOG D
lead at halftime before put-
ting the game away for good
in the second half. Annika Ri-
etman led the way in scoring
for the Knights with 16 points
on 7-9 shooting and added
nine rebounds. Emma Logan
chipped in 12 points and 10
rebounds.
As a team, Condon/
:KHHOHUVKRWSHUFHQWIURP
WKH ¿HOG ZKLOH (FKR VKRW D
meager 10.7 percent — mak-
ing just 7-65 attempts from
WKH ÀRRU +DQQDK 0F&DUW\
led Echo with eight points
and eight rebounds.
STK# 15T561. MSRP $32,660. SALE PRICE $18,999. $1,250 CUSTOMER CASH PROVIDED
BY TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES.
STK# 15T435. MSRP $41,180. SALE PRICE $38,180. $2,100 CUSTOMER CASH PROVIDED BY TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES.
———
C/W ()
9 10 11 14 — 44
EHS ()
1 3
7
8 — 19
CONDON/WHEELER — A. Rietman 16, E.
Logan 12, B. Dyerr 6, J. Homer 6, L. Aamodt
4, K. Reser, A. Terland, B. Jaeger, A. Ramsey,
A. Carnine.
ECHO — H. McCarty 8, E. Parks 3, K.
Ranger 3, D. Tarvin 2, L. Cox 2, B. Milbrodt 1, T.
Swaggart, L. Wiggins.
3-pointers — C/W 2, EHS 0. Free throws —
C/W 4-7, EHS 4-13. Fouls — C/W 15, EHS 14.
Fouled out — L. Cox (EHS).
STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE
Though David Faaeteete is Hermiston’s new head football
coach, the vision set forth by his predecessor, Mark Hodges,
is still the vision he’s using, Faaeteete said.
HERMISTON
79,
WEST LINN 74 — At Lake
Oswego, the Hermiston Bull-
dogs gutted out a win over
West Linn in a consolation
game at the Nike Interstate
Shootout on Monday.
The Bulldogs rebounded
for the win after falling on
Sunday to South Medford
62-56 to begin the Shootout
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