Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2016)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016 Herald Sports A friendly plea for feedback Hermiston’s Neal goes from 1A to FCS Two-time CRC Defensive Player of the Year commits to Eastern Washington I want to have a discussion with you guys. I don’t like sitting at this desk and VHHPLQJOLNH,¶PSRQWL¿FDWLQJ I’m not the Pope. That’s not my job. I do get this space weekly to share my opinions and what I’ve seen. That’s what a column is for, I suppose. But I can’t shake this feeling that there’s a glass wall between us. I can see you and you can see me, but that’s where the relationship ends. I feel cut off from you. I have no idea what you think about what’s going Sam on in the world of Barbee local high schools FROM THE SIDELINES sports. I’ve tried to toss some things out to you. I was interested in some of your best sports memories. I shared a story of the funnest, most unexpected and ultimately lasting sports memory of mine, a comeback in a high school baseball playoff game that sent the state’s No. 1 team home early. I asked you to tell me your stories, and got nothing. Two weeks ago, I gave you the sports stories I thought told the story of 2015 best. I lobbed an offer to you to give me your lists so that perhaps we could run them. Again, nothing. I understand how this could be perceived: that I’m lazy and want to do less work. I can assure you I’m not trying to lighten my workload by crowd-sourcing content. All I’m doing is simply trying to reach out to you, the readers, to learn a little about you as people. I’ve written a lot about myself and the experiences I’ve had and what I’ve learned along the way. But that feels so one-sided, for you and for me. Sometimes I don’t know to whom I’m writing, and that can make WKLQJVGLI¿FXOW/DQJXDJH is a generational thing, and sometimes I don’t know which to use. A lot of that comes from knowing your audience, but I don’t know you guys. A sportswriter I very much respect once said that writing is the loneliest part of the job. And he’s so right. To combat that, I really want to establish a larger relationship with you than you seeing my name and picture in the paper every week or you seeing me at a game I’m covering. 7KHUHXVHGWREHD¿UPZDOO between readers and reporters, but that’s lessening. Social media has given people direct lines to anybody, from athletes to actors to politicians. Comment on a story on Facebook or hit me up on Twitter. I want this to be a two-way street. I’d still love to hear your fondest sports memories. They can be just little anecdotes in an HPDLORUDIXOOÀHGJHGFROXPQ,W doesn’t matter to me. I just want to get to know you guys better. — Sam Barbee is a sports re- porter for the Hermiston Herald and East Oregonian based out of Hermiston. He can be reached by email at sbarbee@hermistonher- ald.com or on Twitter @SamBar- bee1. Follow Herald Sports @ HHeraldSports. Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports By SAM BARBEE East Oregonian STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST Hermiston’s Tre Neal sacks Coeur d’Alene sophomore quarterback Colton Yankoff during a game this season at Kennison Stadium. Before his junior season, Tre Neal was contemplating a trans- fer. The 6-foot-3 defensive line- man, then listed at 215 pounds, decided that if he wanted a bet- ter shot at continuing his football career, a better education, and “a better challenge,” as he put it, then he would have to go to a bigger school. He transferred to Hermis- ton, where he quickly gained 15 pounds of muscle, was named the Columbia River Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and after a senior season — now weighing 250 pounds — that saw him repeat as CRC DPOY and a ¿UVWWHDPDOOVWDWHVHOHFWLRQ1HDO has committed to play football at Eastern Washington in Cheney, Washington. “For Tre it was the best move he ever made,” former Ione foot- ball and basketball coach, current Hermiston assistant coach and longtime mentor of Neal Dennis Stefani said. “He blossomed big time. There really weren’t any weight programs at Ione ... He was a big kid already but it helped KLPDWRQDQGKHOSHGKLPÀRXULVK and helped his speed and every- See NEAL, Page A10 STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BARBEE Hermiston junior Chance Flores goes up for a layup during the second half of Hermiston’s 53-47 loss Friday night to La Salle Prep. Flores led all scorers with 19 points. COMEBACK FALLS SHORT La Salle built 14-point lead in second half By SAM BARBEE East Oregonian HERMISTON — In their last home game, the Hermiston Bulldogs over- FDPHDGH¿FLWWRFRPHDZD\ZLWKDZLQ in a nail-biter at home. Friday, it was the same story but a different result. 7KH /D 6DOOH 3UHS )DOFRQV EXLOW D 14-point lead in the third quarter and held on during a furious Bulldogs rally to earn a 53-47 win at The Dawghouse. “We were just trying dig ourselves out of a whole that we dug,” senior point guard Austin Naillon said. “That was a game that we should’ve had — home game and they were nothing special.” “They were big, they were long, they were athletic. How they were 3-8, I don’t know,” interim head coach Dave Ego added. /D6DOOHERDVWHGIRRWMXQLRU center Mathew Berger, 6-3 forward Ja- son Burns and 6-2 guard Stew Robert- son against Hermiston’s small lineup. 7KH %XOOGRJV DJDLQ VWDUWHG ¿YH guards, and early on had a tough time FRQWDLQLQJ /D 6DOOH¶V VKRRWHUV 5REHUW- son and Ange Toku. The pair hit four 3-pointers between WKHPLQWKH¿UVWTXDUWHUSXVKLQJWKHYLVLW- Hermiston sophomore Dayshawn Neal leans back for a fadeaway during the Bulldogs’ 53-47 loss Friday night to the La Salle Prep Falcons. See HOOPS, A10 Bulldogs dominate dual meets at OWC in Redmond Hermiston wrestlers win second straight tournament Sam BARBEE Staff Writer The Hermiston Bulldogs turned in a dominant performance this weekend at the Oregon Wres- tling Classic in Redmond, go- ing 4-0 in dual meets and taking home the team championship with a convincing 45-12 cham- pionship round win over Hills- boro. The Bulldogs outlasted the Spartans for last season’s 5A team championship. Hermiston eased through pool play, notching blowout wins over Ridgeview (78-6), Mountain View (60-21) and St. Helens (68- 9) on Friday. Saturday, in bracket play, Hermiston handled Central (71-6) and Crater (51-18) before handily beating Hillsboro in the ¿QDO “Our guys wrestled hard, ex- DFWO\KRZZHZDQWWR´¿UVW\HDU FRDFK.\OH/DUVRQVDLG +RZ /DUVRQ ZDQWV KLV JX\V to wrestle is attacking, going for- ward and scoring lots of points. The Bulldogs were a bit too de- fensive early in the season, high- lighted by a dual loss to Post Falls (ID) in December. At the Oregon Classic, Herm- iston was most certainly attack- ing. Of the eight wrestlers who WRRNWKHPDWVL[WLPHV¿YHZHQW undefeated and two did it without forfeits. Valen Wyse (four pins), Andy Wagner (four pins, techni- FDOIDOODQG&-+HQGRQ¿YHSLQV each went 6-0 to lead Hermiston. 6DP &ROEUD\ ¿YH SLQV Bob Coleman (6-0, three pins), -RH\ *XWLHUUH] ¿YH SLQV each had a forfeit to add to their totals. “We want to dominate and we want to put pressure on guys and EUHDNµHP´¿UVW\HDUKHDGFRDFK .\OH /DUVRQ VDLG ³$QG WKDWV what they did this weekend.” “We want to go out there and ZHZDQWWRGRPLQDWH´/DUVRQUH- iterated. “We want to beat guys by major decisions. We want to get pins and tech falls.” Hermiston did just that. In the ¿UVW WKUHH GXDOV +HUPLVWRQ ZRQ by pin in 25 of its 27 wins with eight forfeits. /DUVRQ HVSHFLDOO\ SUDLVHG WKH efforts of Valen Wyse and Bob Coleman. Wyse, who has been steadily near-dominant all season, showed See OWC, A10
