A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2016
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Rodriguez garners all-state soccer honor
Freddy Rodriguez
caps prolific prep
career with first
team honors
By ERIC SINGER
Hermiston Herald
FILE PHOTO
Freddy Rodriguez (9), of Hermiston, and Henry Ruiz (14), of Sandy,
battle for the ball during a game this fall at Kennison Field.
For the past four years,
Freddy Rodriguez was an
integral part of the Herm-
iston boys varsity soccer
team.
He quickly rose through
the ranks from freshman
role player to being elected
a team captain as a junior,
and being an electric offen-
sive player every step of the
way. As a senior this year,
Rodriguez led his Bulldogs
to the quarterfinal round
of the state playoffs and
earned all-league honors
for the fourth-straight year.
Last week, Rodriguez
added one more accolade to
his prolific Hermiston ca-
reer — all-state player.
Rodriguez was selected
to the first team all-state
roster for Class 5A as vot-
ed by the coaches, the lone
Hermiston player to be rec-
ognized. He scored 24 of
the team’s 66 total goals
(36 percent) and also led
the team with 12 assists as
a senior, helping the Bull-
dogs to a 12-4-1 overall
record.
“It’s
absolutely
de-
served,” Hermiston head
coach Rich Harshberger said
of Rodriguez’s honor. “He
was a four-year letter winner,
a four-year all-league guy
and this is just the cherry on
top for his senior year.
“He was absolutely an
integral part of this team
beyond physical skill on
the field, but also by being a
leader and working hard and
leading by example, show-
ing the younger guys what
it takes to play at this level.”
Rodriguez was joined
on the all-state team by
three players from Co-
lumbia River Conference
rival Hood River Valley
as seniors Jorge Campos
and Noe Magana made
first team and junior Angel
Sonato made second team.
State champion Woodburn
— who knocked Hermis-
ton out of the state tourna-
ment with a 2-1 win in the
quarterfinals for the second
straight year — led the way
with five all-state selections
as well as Coach of the Year
honors for Stan Baker.
————
5A Boys All-State Soccer
First team
Jorge Campos, sr., Hood River Valley
Andy Ellingson, sr., Woodburn
Cade Ficek, jr., Marist
Noe Magana, sr., Hood River Valley
Raul Ochoa, sr., Springfield
Reggie Reyes, sr., Woodburn
Freddy Rodriguez, sr., Hermiston
Anthony Santillan, sr., Woodburn
Bryan Tapia Silva, jr., Hillsboro
Mack Van Der Velde, sr., Summit
Eddie Cabrera, sr., Woodburn
Coach of the Year
Stan Baker, Woodburn
————
Contact Eric at (541)
966-0839.
Hermiston loses
fourth straight
Hermiston comes
up short against
Kamiakin
By ERIC SINGER
Hermiston Herald
The Hermiston Bulldogs
girls basketball team was
handed its fourth straight loss
on Saturday night, as the Ka-
miakin (WA) Braves came
to The Dawghouse and left
town with a 59-40 victory.
But even with those cir-
cumstances, Bulldogs coach
Juan Rodriguez wasn’t all
that disappointed.
“Actually I’m pretty hap-
py with the performance
tonight,” he said. “This last
week has been kind of rough
and it hasn’t been anything
basketball-wise, we’ve just
been lacking leadership when
we get to the tough moments.
Yesterday we challenged
the girls to come out and be
leaders and play and compete
hard and I thought they did
that very well.
“I know the scoreboard
doesn’t reflect it and it’s not
something fans might see, but
they came out and turned the
corner psychologically and
that’s what’s been affecting
us the last few games. Sure
there’s lots of basketball mis-
takes out there, but our main
concern was making sure that
psychologically we are ready
to play for the rest of the sea-
son.”
The Bulldogs (2-4) started
the game playing well, dis-
playing great ball movement
on offense and giving great
efforts on the defensive end
of the floor. Hermiston led
for the entire first quarter and
held a 9-7 advantage after one
full. But that’s when Kami-
akin started showing that it
was the better team.
The Braves (4-0) took the
lead at 13-11 with just over
six minutes left in the second
quarter on a 3-point play by
Oumou Toure and then stayed
in front for the remainder of
the game. Hermiston tallied
just seven points in the sec-
ond quarter, and also played
out a 6-minute drought be-
tween made field goals.
But just as Rodriguez said,
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Maddy Juul (20), of
Hermiston, goes up for a
shot under pressure as
Kamiakin’s Oumou Toure
(24) tries to block during
Saturday’s non-conference
game in Hermiston.
the Bulldogs never hung their
heads throughout the rest of
the game. The team worked
into plenty of good looks at
the basket, registering 55 shot
attempts but again struggled
with the execution as they
sank just 16 of those.
What pleased Rodriguez
was the 17 offensive re-
bounds that his team grabbed
in the game.
“That’s the hustle plays
that are hard to teach,” he
said. “We’re missing little
lay-ins that’ll start going in at
some point, but the girls are
working towards those offen-
sive boards and that’s what
I’m happy about. They did a
good job of competing and
eventually that’ll pay off.”
Maddy Juul and Rileigh
Andreason each scored nine
points to lead Hermiston’s
offense, and Jordan Thom-
as pitched in eight points for
Hermiston. Andreason scored
Hermiston’s first 3-pointer
with 6:30 left in the game,
and the Bulldogs were just
2-14 from there overall.
Oumou Toure led Kami-
akin with a game-high 23
points and Kylie Larson add-
ed 10 for the Braves.
Hermiston will travel to
Hillsboro for its next game at
5 p.m. Saturday.
—————
KHS
7 18 15 19 — 59
HHS
9 7
8 16 — 40
KAMIAKIN — O. Toure 23, K. Larson 11,
K Hollie 4, R. Clark 4, C. Williams 4, S.
Brown 2.
HERMISTON — M. Juul 9, R. Andreason
9, J. Thomas 8, K. Padilla 5, H. Meyers 5,
J. Romero 4.
3-pointers — KHS 3, HHS 2. Free throws
— KHS 8-10, HHS 6-12. Fouls — KHS 13,
HHS 9.
—————
Contact Eric Singer at
(541) 966-0839.
SCOREBOARD
Local slate
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Thursday’s Games
Umatilla vs. Jordan Valley (at Union
Tournament), 3:30 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Ione vs. Riverside (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment) 3:30 p.m.
Nyssa at Stanfield (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment), 6:30 p.m.
Irrigon at Grant Union, 7:30 p.m.
Imbler at Heppner, 7:30 p.m.
Helix at Echo, 7:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Union Tournament),
TBD
Saturday’s Games
Yakama Tribal (WA) at Irrigon, 1 p.m.
Hillsboro at Hermiston, 5 p.m.
Heppner at Grant Union, 5:30 p.m.
Echo at Pine Eagle, 7:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Union Tournament),
TBD
Riverside vs. TBD (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment), TBD
Ione vs. TBD (at Stanfield Tournament), TBD
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Thursday’s Games
Umatilla vs. Jordan Valley (at Union
Tournament), 2 p.m.
Friday’s Games
Ione vs. Riverside (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment), 2 p.m.
Nyssa at Stanfield, 5 p.m.
Irrigon at Grant Union, 6 p.m.
Imbler at Heppner, 6 p.m.
Helix at Echo, 6 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Union Tournament),
TBD
Saturday’s Games
Yakama Tribal (WA) at Irrigon, 1 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Imbler, 4 p.m.
Heppner at Grant Union, 4 p.m.
Echo at Pine Eagle, 4 p.m.
Hermiston at Hillsboro, 5 p.m.
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Union Tournament),
TBD
Riverside vs. TBD (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment), TBD
Stanfield vs. TBD (at Stanfield Tourna-
ment), TBD
Ione vs. TBD (at Stanfield Tournament),
TBD
PREP WRESTLING
Friday
Hermiston at North Idaho College (Tri-
State Tournament), TBD
Echo at Dobbs (ID) Invitational, 3 p.m.
Saturday
Hermiston at North Idaho College (Tri-
State Tournament), TBD
Riverside, Irrigon, Heppner at Mac-Hi
Tournament, 10 a.m.
Echo at Dobbs (ID) Invitational, 3 p.m.
PREP SWIMMING
Saturday
Hermiston at La Grande, Noon
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Kamiakin’s Garrett Paxton (11) and Thomas McCullough (32), of Hermiston, fight for a rebound Saturday during a non-
conference game at the Dawg House.
Bulldogs can’t hold off Braves
Hermiston falters
late in first
loss of season
By ERIC SINGER
Hermiston Herald
For one half on Satur-
day night, everything went
the Hermiston Bulldogs
way.
The Bulldogs were
driving to the basket with
ease and finishing at the
rim. They were defensive
stalwarts at the other end
of the floor, keeping their
hands in the passing lanes
and forcing turnovers that
kept the opposing Kami-
akin Braves off the board
more often than not.
But then in the second
half, the two schools effec-
tively switched places. It
was the Braves that were
the ones scoring with ease
and playing stout defense
while Hermiston struggled
to keep its offense trending
upwards.
In the end, the Bulldogs
didn’t have enough in the
tank as Kamiakin left town
with a 58-51 victory, the
first loss for Hermiston
this season.
“I give it up to Kami-
akin,” Hermiston coach
Casey Arstein said after
the game. “They’ve got
athletes, they’re smart,
they’re well-coached and
it was a good game to have
for our preseason for sure.
It was kind of a playoff
atmosphere with a good
crowd, we just have to
be able to execute in the
half court and get stops,
which are things to build
on now.”
Hermiston (5-1) was
boosted by a especial-
ly strong first quarter on
Saturday, as the defense
forced seven Brave turn-
overs and Hermiston shot
6-10 from the floor to
take a 20-10 lead on Ka-
miakin. But over the next
two quarters, Hermiston’s
offense went cold and the
Braves began to figure out
the defense as Kamiakin
outscored Hermiston 24-
19 over the next two quar-
ters.
“The kids played hard
the whole game, but I think
we got a little sluggish in
our motion offense and
not picking our spots,” Ar-
stein said. “We got a little
impatient, playing not to
lose instead of continuing
to play to win. The little
mistakes add up to bigger
mistakes, and now we just
have to fix those.”
The Bulldogs defense
also got a bit too aggres-
sive in the second half
committing 16 team fouls,
turnaround as it hosts Ir-
rigon tonight at 7:30 p.m.
and Condon/Wheeler plays
Enterprise on Friday at the
Pilot Rock tournament at 3
p.m.
11 points off the bench.
Coach Jeremy Maddern
said that the balance came
from an increased focus in
ball movement.
“We’ve talked about
sharing the ball more and
trying for more assists,”
he said. “It was a priority
tonight and we were able
to do it well. We also were
able to rotate deep into the
bench and my younger
girls played really well.”
Kendra Hart had nine
points to lead Stanfield (0-6).
Next up for Nixyaawii
is a road game on Friday
in Wallowa to start Old
Oregon League play at 6
p.m. and for Stanfield, the
Tigers will host Nyssa at
5 p.m. for the start of the
Stanfield Tournament.
FROM SATURDAY
See BULLDOGS, A9
PREP ROUNDUP
Hermiston Herald
HEPPNER — The
Heppner Mustangs and
Condon/Wheeler Knights
finally squared off on the
basketball court Monday
night after last week’s
snow storm canceled the
previously
scheduled
Thursday night contest.
And the Mustangs were
ready for it, using strong
defense to get a good jump
on the Knights early to
cruise to the victory 70-33.
“We were really active
defensively,”
Heppner
coach Jeremy Rosenbalm
said. “We worked on that
in practice and the intensi-
ty was there all game and
the defensive effort led to a
lot of steals and easy shots
in our favor.”
Logan Grieb led Hep-
pner (2-1) with 19 points
while Nikalos Dias Mar-
tins had 13 and Jake Lind-
say had 12. For Condon/
Wheeler (4-1), Bryce Har-
rison led with 12 points.
Heppner has a quick
————
C/W
6 10
7 10 — 33
HHS
21 10 22 17 — 70
CONDON/WHEELER — B. Harrison 12,
H. Winslow 8, C. Johnson 6, J. Bold 2, J.
Jaeger 2, C. Homer 2, J. Hoover 1.
HEPPNER — L. Grieb 19, N. Dias Mar-
tins 13, J. Lindsay 12, C. Hedman 8, K.
Smith 7, H. Nichols 3, C. Dougherty 3, K.
Murray 2, B. Wolters 2, A. Lindsay 1.
3-pointers — C/W 3, HHS 9. Free throws
— C/W 5-14, HHS 7-18. Fouls - C/W 18,
HHS 11.
GIRLS
BASKETBALL
NIXYAAWII
51,
STANFIELD 26 — At
Mission, the Nixyaawii
Golden Eagles used a bal-
anced scoring effort to put
away the Stanfield Tigers
in a non-league game on
Monday night by a score
of 51-26.
Nixyaawii (3-0) had
five scorers with at least
eight points in the game,
and freshman Tristalynn
Melton led all scorers with
————
SHS
5 2
3 16 — 26
NCS
16 9 15 11 — 51
STANFIELD — K. Hart 9, B. Braithwaite
6, M. Esquivel 6, S. Sharp 2, J. Martinez
2, K. Soto 1.
NIXYAAWII — T. Melton 11, K. Melton
10, M. Stewart 9, S. Fuentes 8, T.
Broncheau 8, S. Fitzpatrick 5.
3-pointers — SHS 1, NCS 2. Free throws
— SHS 7-14, NCS 3-8. Fouls — SHS 11,
NCS 16.
STANFIELD 70, UMA-
TILLA 59 — At Umatilla,
the Stanfield Tigers over-
came a slow first quarter
and a valiant effort by the
Umatilla Vikings to win
the Columbia River Clash
boys tournament champi-
onship, 70-59, on Saturday
night.
“It was a total team ef-
fort,” Stanfield coach Ja-
son Sperr said. “We played
10 guys and each and every
one of them played well.”
Ryan Bailey led Stan-
field (3-1) with 21 points
and Jose Garcia added 11
points. Grogan scored 13
points for Stanfield, all of
which came in the second
half. For Umatilla (3-2),
Sebastian Garcia and Seth
Cranston both scored 12
points each to lead the
team, while Tyrone Mor-
ris scored nine and Kaden
Webb had seven.
See ROUNDUP, A9