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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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-
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in a nail-biter at home. Friday, it was the
same story but a different result.
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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.
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center Mathew Berger, 6-3 forward Ja-
son Burns and 6-2 guard Stew Robert-
son against Hermiston’s small lineup.
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guards, and early on had a tough time
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son and Ange Toku.
The pair hit four 3-pointers between
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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
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“Our guys wrestled hard, ex-
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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
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undefeated and two did it without
forfeits. Valen Wyse (four pins),
Andy Wagner (four pins, techni-
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each went 6-0 to lead Hermiston.
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Bob Coleman (6-0, three pins),
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each had a forfeit to add to their
totals.
“We want to dominate and we
want to put pressure on guys and
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what they did this weekend.”
“We want to go out there and
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iterated. “We want to beat guys by
major decisions. We want to get
pins and tech falls.”
Hermiston did just that. In the
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by pin in 25 of its 27 wins with
eight forfeits.
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efforts of Valen Wyse and Bob
Coleman.
Wyse, who has been steadily
near-dominant all season, showed
See OWC, A10