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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017 Isaac Sanchez runs in father’s footsteps SPORTS HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11 Postseason hopes alive STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s Isaac Sanchez leads the pack in front of Hood River’s Josh Haynes at the Columbia River Conference district meet on Thursday in Mission. Hermiston runner wins district title 22 years after Juan Sanchez took first in school history By ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER MISSION — In 1995, Juan Sanchez won the boys cross country district title for Hermiston High School, the first individual title for the school. Twenty-two years later on Thursday afternoon, his son, Isaac, bookended the family legacy at Hermis- ton and captured the final district title in Oregon for Hermiston. The school will join the Washington Inter- scholastic Activities Asso- ciation next year. Isaac, a senior for the Bulldogs, completed the 3.1 mile course that winds through the hilly front nine holes at the Wildhorse Re- sort Golf Course in a time of 16 minutes, 11 seconds for the Columbia River Conference 5A District 5 boys title. It was the first thought that went through his mind as he sped toward the finish line to seal his victory. “For my dad to be the first and now I’m the last in Oregon, I thought that was pretty neat,” Sanchez said proudly after the race. “It feels great, I’ve worked hard ever since my fresh- man year ... and it finally paid off today.” Sanchez and his Bulldog teammates ran the same course just one week ago at the Kyle Burnside Memo- rial Invite where he ran a time of 16:32 with a fourth place finish. He confirmed that having that prior ex- perience on the course was a help to him, making him feel more prepared for some of the challenging hills and quick turns. It seemed to help, as Sanchez hit the one mile and two-mile mark- ers neck-and-neck with Hood River Valley’s Josh Haynes. Then with rough- ly a half-mile left, Sanchez turned it on and finished with a 14-second cushion on second place. “My strategy was to try and take the lead early but not go too crazy,” he said. “Kind of maintain my pace until the end and then kick it in towards the end of the race.” Hood River Valley won the boys team title with 33 points and The Dalles finished in second place with 40 points. Hermiston missed out on a team quali- fication to state with a third place finish with 53 points and Pendleton finished in fourth place with 119. However, senior Emmanu- el Ibarra will join Sanchez at state after finishing in fifth place individually on Thursday with a time of 16:49.4. Pendleton’s top finishers were senior Nick Oja in 21st with a time of 18:04.2 and senior Richard Scott in 23rd with a time of 18:28.2. On the girls side, Herm- iston senior Melany Solor- io (19:34.1), and freshmen Amanda Nygard (19:42.7) and Julianna Joyce (20:03.80) all earned top- 10 finishes to help the Bull- dog girls team finish second in the district and qualify as a team for the state meet. Solorio, who finished in fourth place with a time of 19:34.1, said that qual- ifying for state was one of their biggest goals of the season in Hermiston’s final year in the OSAA. “It feels really great, wonderful,” Solorio said happily. “Since the start we’ve said ‘We have to go’ and we really wanted to be- cause we haven’t been in a few years and it feels really good.” All three Bulldogs also improved their times from last week’s meet, though it wasn’t enough to catch the Hood River Valley trio of Josephine Dickenson (19:18.7), Frances Dicken- son (19:20.9), and Lottie Bromham (19:27.2) who took the top three spots indi- vidually. Hood River Valley also won the girls team title with 23 points, while Herm- iston was second with 46, The Dalles third with 55 and Pendleton fourth with 108. The OSAA 5A State Championship will take place on Nov. 4 at Lane Community College in Eu- gene. ———— District Meet Results Boys Team Scores 1. Hood River Valley, 33; 2. The Dalles, 40; 3. Hermiston, 53; 4. Pendleton, 119. Girls Team Scores 1. Hood River Valley, 23; 2. Hermiston, 46; 3. The Dalles, 55; 5. Pendleton, 108. Hermiston Individual (BOYS) 1. Isaac Sanchez, 16:11.1; 5. Eman- uel Ibarra, 16:49.4; 12. Gregory Anderson, 17:22.2; 16. Angel Benites, 17:38.3; 19. Freddy Ibarra, 17:53.2; 20. Martin Heredia, 17:57.9; 22. Nicholas Breshears, 18:24.3. (GIRLS) 4. Melany Solorio, 19:34.1; 5. Amanda Nygard, 19:42.7; 10. Julianna Joyce, 20:03.8; 11. Sheila Solorio, 20:17.4; 16. Sidney Tovey, 21:08.7; 22. Faith Bartch, 22:02.2; 25. Morgan Hancock, 22:11.7. STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Hermiston’s Joel Mendez (7) gets ready to change direction as Alex Valyavskiy (19), of Milwaukie, heads the ball Saturday at Kennison Field. By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ STAFF WRITER HERMISTON — After pulling off a hat trick on senior night, Joel Mendez was feeling good. And so was the rest of the Herm- iston boys soccer team. The Bulldogs ended their regular season with a com- manding 8-0 win over Pendleton on Tuesday, and had to prepare for a quick turnaround to keep their season alive. The play-in game at Kennison Field on Satur- day did just that. Hermiston hosted Mil- waukie for a win or go home match up, and de- feated the Mustangs 3-1. The physical match once again showed off the talent of Mendez, as he was responsible for two of STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY the three goals en route to the victory. Hermiston’s Jael Fuentes prepares to kick the soccer ball “It’s the strikers instinct during Saturday’s state play-in game against La Salle at and he’s always had that,” Kennison Field. head coach Rich Harsh- Hermiston will face berger said of Mendez. “I iston held onto the 1-0 lead Hillsboro in Round 1 of look back, and he hasn’t into halftime. After the break, Mendez the 5A Boys Soccer State always gotten the most minutes through his soph- knocked in another one as Championships. Hillsboro omore and junior year but he slid the ball into the net. will host the match on There was no short- Nov. 1. The start time has he has scored some big goals for us over the years, age of shots on goal for yet to be determined. tonight not the least of any Hermiston in the second half, but it would take Hermiston girls end of them.” “It’s just that strikers nearly the rest of the half season at home instinct that you can’t until the Bulldogs scored The Hermiston girls train,” he continued. “You again. During that time, can’t teach somebody to Milwaukie made things season came to an end do that. They just have to interesting when it got one Saturday evening as the know where to be, know past Hermiston goalkeeper La Salle Falcons escaped what to expect from their Juan Navarrete in the 71st Kennison Field with a 3-1 teammates and fortunately minute, but Hermiston win in a play-in game. The defensive effort on these guys have been play- then scored its insurance ing together for a long time goal and sealed its post- both teams kept the game scoreless for a good part of so they know what to ex- season fate. “Sometimes these play- the first half. Hermiston’s pect from each other.” Mendez scored his first in games can be as hard Heidi Fuentes had some goal in the ninth minute as a semifinal or quarter- good stops to keep La Sal- with three defenders on final,” Harshberger said. le at bay, but the Falcons him in the box. He man- “They brought it and they finally broke through in aged to head the ball from stepped up to that chal- the 24th minute, as a head- a cross just outside of the lenge and they didn’t back er from La Salle’s Audrey Schelb off a corner kick keeper’s reach and Herm- down from it at all.” put the Falcons up 1-0. They would enter half- time up by one more score after a Hermiston handball in its own box led to a pen- alty kick. Megan Lyver set up a nice fake that sent Hermiston’s goalkeeper Lanie Gomez in the oppo- site direction of the ball. Four Bulldogs were missing from Saturday’s contest: Jael Fuentes, Amanda Nygard and Dan- iela and Adriana Rodri- guez. Hermiston missed their presence, especially Nygard’s speed up front but a handful of junior var- sity players stepped in to help. “We had a few holes but we asked a couple of the JV girls to come up and they stepped up and they were good for us,” head coach Danielle MacBride said. After the break, the Bulldogs were finally able to get on the board of what seemed like an impossible shot by Hannah Thompson in the 54th minute. Johnson controlled a short pass on the far right side of the field, and then sent the ball sailing into the opposite side of the goal. The ball barely caught the net, and then bounced in to cut Hermiston’s deficit. “She does that, I don’t know where it comes from,” MacBride said of Thompson. “There’s not much more you can say to it. I told David (Watten- burger), ‘I want to see her do it again, prove it.’ At the same time, a goal is a goal. We’ll take it.” But it was too little too late for the Bulldogs, as La Salle scored its third and final goal just minutes into the second half. Again it was a header from Schelb off a corner that sealed the deal. ROUNDUP Mustangs, Tigers, Cougars roll into playoffs HERMISTON HERALD HEPPNER — The Hep- pner Mustangs put together their fifth consecutive vic- tory on Friday night with a 48-6 win over Corbett at Les Payne Field. Heppner (5-3 overall) held Corbett to just 98 yards of total offense, while the Mustangs piled up 491 yards in the victory. The Mustangs ran the ball 53 times for 363 yards and two touchdowns, with Coby Dougherty leading the way with 181 yards on 20 carries. Beau Wolt- ers had 54 yards and one touchdown and Jayden Wil- son ran for 28 yards and a score as well. Wilson’s more impres- sive night came in the pass- ing game, where the fresh- man completed 11-of-18 passes for 128 yards and four touchdowns. Wolters was on the receiving end of two of those and led the team with 51 yards, while Kevin Smith and Logan Burright also hauled in a touchdown reception. Heppner will host Neah-Kah-Nie (Rockaway Beach) on Saturday at 1 p.m. MONROE 55, STAN- FIELD 27 — In Stanfield, the Tigers finished the reg- ular season with a loss to the No. 2-ranked Monroe Dragons, but showed an impressive offensive per- formance heading into the playoffs. The Tigers will get a sec- ond chance at the Dragons this week in a first-round playoff rematch, this time in Monroe. The game is at 6 p.m. in Monroe. The 27 points Friday were the second-most scored in a game by the Ti- gers this season, but Mon- roe’s offense was too much for the Tigers defense. Stanfield finished the regular season 2-5 overall and 2-1 in the Columbia Basin Conference. ECHO 70, HARPER CHARTER 14 — At Echo, the Cougars clinched a spot in the 1A state playoffs by thumping Harper Charter 70-14 in a league playoff game on Friday night. Echo (7-2 overall, 4-1 Special District 1) will trav- el to Falls City on Friday for a 7 p.m. playoff game. BURNS 30, IRRIGON 6 — In Irrigon, the Knights’ season came to an end Fri- day when they suffered at 24-point loss at the hands of Burns. The Knights (4-4 overall, 2-3 Eastern Oregon League) played tough in the first half and entered the break down only 8-6, but the Hilanders (5-4, 3-2) ral- lied in the second half, and their efforts were too much for Irrigon to stop. “(Burns) came out and had some answers for us in the third quarter and we had answers for them in the first half.” head coach Steve Sheller said. “We’re trying to com- pete and this Eastern Ore- gon League play. The kids played well and actually to their credit, we ended up 4-4 while playing a really tough schedule.”