A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, MARCH 20, 2019
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SOCCER
Arstein steps away
from boys program
Hermiston
drops pair
of MCC
games
By HERMISTON HERALD
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston boys basketball
coach Casey Arstein has never
been one to seek the limelight,
preferring the focus be put on
his players.
All that changed when
Arstein turned in his resignation
at the end of the season.
“It was a tough decision,”
said Arstein, who teaches at
Sandstone Middle School. “It
came down to what was best
for our family. It will be a good
change, but I will miss the com-
petition and the relationship
with the kids.”
The Hermiston boys job is
one of three openings in the
Mid-Columbia
Conference.
Steve Davis stepped down from
the Chiawana girls job after 18
years, and Walla Walla boys
coach Mike Patterson is out
after one season, citing per-
sonal reasons. Patterson will
continue to coach the boys golf
team.
Arstein, 36, said the decision
to step aside was made in July
after he and wife found out they
were expecting their first child
in February.
Arstein and his wife Jen wel-
comed their daughter, Aliyah,
on Feb. 28.
“We both work full time,
and my wife is in grad school,”
he said. “We didn’t want our
daughter in day care from 7 to
7.”
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston coach Casey Arstein, right, celebrates with Jordan Ramirez
after a 50-46 win over Pendleton in 2018. Arstein has stepped down
after three seasons with the Bulldogs.
Arstein took the reins of the
boys program at the start of the
2016-17 season. He had been
an assistant for the better part
of 10 years.
Arstein coached under Larry
Usher and Adam Strom (now
the women’s coach at Yakima
Valley), but once Strom left,
the Bulldogs went through
five head coaches in five years
before Arstein took over for
Dave Ego.
“It was very inconsistent,”
Arstein said. “I got the oppor-
tunity to be the head coach, and
it was challenging and reward-
ing. The kids deserve to have
someone who will help them be
competitive and win games.”
Over the course of three
seasons, Arstein’s teams went
43-28.
His first season, Hermiston
finished second in the Colum-
bia River Conference. They lost
a state play-in game to Parkrose
65-50 and finished the season
16-8.
The following year, the Bull-
dogs won the CRC title with a
7-2 record (12-12 overall), then
lost a state play-in game to Cra-
ter 51-43.
This season, the Bulldogs
jumped the river to the Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference. In their
first year, they finished 10-6
in MCC play and 15-8 overall.
They were the top seed for the
3A teams at regionals, but fell
short of state.
“I thought we would be
competitive,” Arstein said of
the MCC. “We have the kids
and the coaches who put in the
work. We have committed play-
ers who were willing to play
fall ball and in the summer.”
The Bulldogs were led by
a talented senior class that
included Andrew James, Jor-
dan Ramirez, Ryne Andreason,
Cesar Ortiz, Adrian Mendez
and Cole Smith.
“I definitely had committed
seniors,” Arstein said. “They
were sophomores when I took
over and I got them for three
years. I will miss the kids com-
ing up.”
SIGNINGS
Umatilla athletes to compete at the next level
Durfey to play football at
Carroll College; Troeger will
run at EOU
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Trent Durfey’s love of football
goes back to first grade and flag
football. Tackle football began in
the third grade with Grid Kids, and
that’s when Durfey came to life on
the field.
“I like to hit people,” the Uma-
tilla senior said. “It’s controlled
aggression.”
Durfey will take his game to the
college level in the fall after sign-
ing to play for Carroll College in
Helena, Mont.
“They were the only one that
really showed interest,” Durfey
said of the Fighting Saints. “West-
ern Oregon talked to me, but they
weren’t serious.”
Durfey was one of two Uma-
tilla athletes to sign a letter of
intent to compete at the next level.
Cross-country and track runner
Zayne Troeger will attend Eastern
Oregon University.
“Multnomah College showed
a lot of interest, and I could have
Staff photo by Annie Fowler
Umatilla’s Zayne Troeger (left) and Trent Durfey have signed letters of intent
to play college sports. Troeger will run cross-country and track at Eastern
Oregon University, while Durfey will play football at Carroll College.
walked on at Idaho,” Troeger said.
“It was a hard decision. I have
friends going to Eastern. I know I
can help the team a lot, and the dis-
tance coach (Ben Welch) has had
a lot of success. There was a good
connection from the start.”
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Durfey
first caught the attention of Car-
roll College at a showcase camp at
Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
“They liked what they saw and
invited me to Junior Day in July,”
he said. “I liked what I saw there.
I went for a game day visit and
that reaffirmed why I wanted to go
there.”
Durfey has a nice resume head-
ing to college, which includes a
second-team all-state honor at line-
backer, and he was named the Spe-
cial District 3 Defensive Player of
the Year. He also has been selected
to play in the 67th annual Oregon
East-West Shrine All-Star Football
Game in August.
“This has always been a dream
of mine,” said Durfey, who will
major in health sciences.
Durfey said the Carroll coach
also liked the fact he participates
in track.
“One coach told me he likes
hurdlers who are linebackers,”
Durfey said. “They have speed and
good hip mobility.”
Durfey finished seventh at the
3A state meet last year in the 110
hurdles.
Troeger had a tremendous sea-
son in cross-country his senior
year, finishing fourth at the 3A
state meet in a time of 16 minutes,
56 seconds.
He also preformed well his
junior year on the track. He was
third in the 3,000, and fifth in the
800.
“My love for distance started in
the eighth grade,” Troeger said.
One bonus for Troeger attend-
ing EOU: The school is building
a state-of-the-art indoor facility. It
should be finished this summer.
The frigid winter winds did
not blow in Hermiston’s favor
on Tuesday night.
The Bulldog boys suffered
a 3-1 loss to the visiting Walla
Walla Blue Devils to open the
season at Kennison Field.
The game served as their
debut in the Mid-Columbia
Conference, a league where
boys soccer is played in spring
instead of fall. It was their first
game in 18 months.
“You could tell it’s been a
while since we’ve been together
as a program,” said coach Rich
Harshberger. “We’re still get-
ting our legs under us.”
Walla Walla’s net was left
untouched for the entire first
half. Junior midfielder Cris-
tian Sanchez-Cuellar, senior
midfielder Agustin Arceo, and
junior forward Julio Tapia all
knocked down goals for the
Blue Devils.
Hermiston was held score-
less and went into the half
down 3-0.
“We knew (Walla Walla)
would come out and give us
their best game possible, and
we respected that,” said Bull-
dogs senior goalie Juan Navar-
rete. “I tried to help my team
the best that I could. Walla
Walla was tough.”
Navarrete toughed the game
out with an injury after rolling
his ankle in a physical educa-
tion class earlier in the week.
“Sometimes, life doesn’t
go your way,” he said. “But I
wanted to come out and start
over with a clean slate. I think
the wind was in our favor in the
second half. We played a better
game.”
You could call it the wind,
or you could call it bad luck for
the Blue Devils, but Hermis-
ton got their lone goal two min-
utes into the second half. Junior
midfielder Coleman Solano
launched the ball toward Walla
Walla’s goal and Blue Dev-
ils sophomore midfielder Juan
Segovia-Cruz deflected it into
his team’s own net.
Solano and senior midfielder
Emilio Leal both got penalty
kicks for a chance to reduce
their deficit, but missed the net.
Neither team posted another
goal as the clock wound down
and signaled Walla Walla’s win.
“This game showed us our
team’s deficiencies,” Harsh-
berger said.
“We need to tighten up our
touch and get our passes where
they need to go. Walla Walla
presses as a team really well.
They didn’t give us a lot of time
on the ball. We’ll see more of
that when we play these upper-
league teams this season.”
RICHLAND 3, HERM-
ISTON 1 ― Junior midfielder
Oliver Parades scored the first
goal Friday night to put the
Bulldogs up 1-0, but the Bomb-
ers rallied with three goals in
the second half to pull ahead
for good.
The game marks Hermis-
ton’s second consecutive home
loss.
Dawgs’ Navarrete headed to BMCC for soccer
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Blue Mountain Community
College soccer coach Austin Shick
was on hand Wednesday when
Hermiston’s Juan Carlos Navar-
rete signed his letter of intent to
play for the Timberwolves. He
was not going to let this recruit get
away.
“I’m pretty excited about it,”
said Shick, who made sure he left
with the signed documents. “He
reached out to me about this time
last year, and we watched him
play. We have loved the Hermiston
kids we have had.”
Navarrete, a goalie, said he is
excited to join the BMCC team.
“It’s close to home, and I want
to stay close to my family,” he
said. “They have something going
on up there that I really like, and I
want to be part of that team.”
Heading to college also is a
sense of pride for Navarrete, who
plans to major in agricultural
business.
“I am the first one in my family
to go to college,” he said. “I was
the first one in my family to speak
English. My motivation to go to
college is to give my family a bet-
ter future.”
Navarrete and the Bulldogs are
coming off a 2017 season where
they finished second in the Colum-
bia River Conference with a 3-0-3
record. They lost in the Oregon 5A
quarterfinals to Bend 3-0. They
finished the season 10-4-3.
Staff photo by Annie Fowler
Hermiston goalie Juan Carlos
Navarrete signed a letter of intent
on Wednesday to play soccer for
Blue Mountain Community College.
He was named a first-team
CRC goalie.
With the move to the Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference this season,
the Bulldogs have been idle for 18
months.
With a little time on his hands,
Navarrete played football in the
fall, kicking and punting for the
Bulldogs.
“I loved it,” Navarrete said.
“The atmosphere is awesome
every game. I wish soccer would
have been in the spring since I was
a freshman so I could have played
football. I really loved it.”
And, it has helped his soccer
game.
“We lifted weights, which I
liked,” he said. “It was discipline
for me. I had to wake up at 6 to lift.
I’m stronger and I can jump higher,
which is good for me. I’m still lift-
ing. I don’t want to be weak. As a
goalie, you need strength to jump
and kick.”
Shick also appreciates Navar-
rete putting in the extra work. “For
him, getting into football and stay-
ing active in the offseason was the
best thing he did,” Shick said.
A lifetime of soccer
Navarrete began playing soc-
cer when he was 4 years old. He
started as a defender, but moved to
goalie when he was 12.
He and his mother, Lisan-
dra Navarrete, moved to Hermis-
ton from Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico,
when he was in the eighth grade.
He did not play soccer his fresh-
man year, but he has been a regular
on the pitch ever since.
“I am enjoying my last season
of high school soccer,” he said.
“We are playing a higher level of
competition, and we could tell that
yesterday (against Walla Walla).”