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.”