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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 2019)
SPORTS Wednesday, december 25, 2019 HermIsTOnHeraLd.cOm • A11 OSAA realignment could affect local football teams By ANNIE FOWLER sTaFF WrITer Nothing is set in stone just yet, but come February a few local football teams could be switching levels and leagues. The OSAA Football Ad Hoc Committee forwarded its recommendations to the executive board for review this week, and the pending adoption is Feb. 10. For Irrigon and Umatilla, that means a step down to the 2A level, while Pilot Rock/ Nixyaawii will go from 1A to 2A, and McLough- lin/Griswold would join a hybrid 4A/3A Special Dis- trict 6 league with Baker, Burns, La Grande, Nyssa, Vale and Ontario. The Pioneers, who played an independent schedule this fall, would compete at the 3A level. “That’s what we are anticipating,” Irrigon ath- letic director Mike Royer said of the proposed realign- ment. “It looks likes 2A for football, but we are hoping it is for other sports as well. The recommendation came from the OSAA for us and Umatilla.” Part of the criteria used was a team’s winning per- centage over the past two years. Those whose number was 22% or less were con- sidered for movement. For Umatilla, that num- ber is 18.18%, and 12.5% for Irrigon. If approved, Umatilla and Irrigon would join the Staff photo by Kathy Aney, File Photo contributed by Angela Schneider Umatilla’s Eric Hoyas (11) runs the ball as Stanfield’s Brad Sample (34) moves in for a tackle during their Sept. 19, 2019, game in Umatilla. If an OSAA recommendation is approved in February, Umatilla and Irrigon would drop from 3A to 2A for football. Local Special Olympics coach Jessica Sexton and athletes Misty Larsen, Marsha Ochoa, Jen Williams and JoJo Garcia participated in the Special Olympics Regional Swimming Competition in Baker City. 2A Special District 5 (Blue Mountain Conference) with Grant Union, Heppner, Riverside, Stanfield and Weston-McEwen. “That 2A league is a really strong league,” Royer said. “We played Weston-McEwen, Stanfield and Heppner in nonleague, and it was a struggle. Over- all, we are better suited for that league. We didn’t have enough guys for a JV team this year.” Also potentially joining the 2A group are Adrian/Jor- dan Valley, which won the 1A state title in November, and Pilot Rock/Nixyaaawii. “We aren’t getting too excited yet,” said Pilot Rock AD TJ Presley, who would like his team to stay at the 8-man level. “There are a couple of more meet- ings. It will be a big jump for us for to go to 11-man. Even where we are at, we didn’t have enough for a JV team. Our enrollment num- bers are up, but not our par- ticipation numbers. When you co-opt, your enrollment goes up — not just the foot- ball guys, but everyone in their school.” Pendleton will stay at 5A, but will have different teams in Special District 1 — Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Hood River Valley, Park- rose, Scappoose, St. Helens and The Dalles. “That makes sense,” Pendleton coach Erik Davis said. “We play everybody once and pick up a couple of nonleague games, and elim- inate the crossover game. They (OSAA) will do what’s best for everyone.” Dawgs can’t keep pace with Riverhawks By ANNIE FOWLER sTaFF WrITer Hermiston knew this season would be tough with just one returning varsity player, and the Bulldogs are starting to realize the prob- lems they will have in the Mid-Columbia Conference this year. Chiawana used its expe- rience and depth Tuesday night to hand the visiting Bulldogs an 83-44 loss. “You are 100 percent right about that,” Hermis- ton coach Drew Preuninger said of his team’s inexpe- rience. “It was tough. We knew they were strong and aggressive. It was a wake-up call. Tonight, we really didn’t compete.” Chiawana’s Connor Mendez led four players in double figures with 18 points — 11 of which came in the first half. “Both teams shot the ball well in the first half,” Riv- erhawks coach Chad Her- ron said. “They run some great stuff and play really good basketball, but we were a bit more effective.” The Riverhawks (5-0, 2-0 MCC) raced out to a 17-5 lead in the first quar- ter, but the Bulldogs cut the deficit to 22-14 at the end of the quarter as Ivan Rangel drilled a 3-pointer from the right baseline. Rangel led the Bulldogs (2-4, 1-2 MCC) with 20 points and eight rebounds. In the second, the Riv- erhawks went on a 7-0 run midway through, and by the half, had opened up a 50-28 lead. “I have an experienced group and he has a young group,” Herron said. “It makes a difference.” Another big quarter by the Riverhawks gave them a 74-41 lead at the end of three. Taylor Perez had seven points in the quarter for Chiawana. With the game out of reach, Herron played his second string a good por- tion of the fourth quarter. “I hope our guys learn from them,” Preuninger said of Chiawana. “They are doing good things here. We shot 3s pretty well, but the pace of the game was quick. For us to be success- ful, we need to slow the pace. We can’t keep up with that.” The Bulldogs also had a hard time matching the Riv- erhawks’ size inside, and on the perimeter. “Their guards were the same size as ours, but 10 to 20 pounds heavier,” Preun- inger said. “They manhan- dle their space.” Jaiden Ruloph added 14 points, including four 3-pointers for Hermis- ton, while Sergio Madri- gal had five points and five rebounds. For Chiawana, Perez finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Jayden Martinez had 14 points, and Seth Schmidt eight points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. HERMISTON 14 14 13 3 — 44 Chiawana 22 28 24 9 — 83 HERMISTON — Ruloph 14, Landin 2, Rangel 20, Madrigal 5, Jai.Ramirez 2, Ramos-Barron 1. CHIAWANA — Cantu 6, DeWitt 11, Perez 14, Martinez 14, Mendez 18, Davis 4, Bunger 8, Schmidt 8. The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. www.eomediagroup.com Special Olympics swimmers make splash at regional contest HermIsTOn HeraLd A handful of swimmers from the Hermiston/Pend- leton Special Olympics Local Program along with head coach Jessica Sexton and Local Program Coor- dinator Angela Schneider recently traveled to Baker City to compete in the Spe- cial Olympics Regional Swimming Competition at the Sam-O-Swim Center. This is the first year that Hermiston/Pendle- ton has offered training and competition in swim- ming in decades. The ath- letes trained at the Board- man Pool & Recreation Center this fall in prepara- tion for regional competi- tion against athletes from the Union and Baker local programs. Results from the competition: •Jose Angel Garcia (Jo Jo), second place silver in 50m freestyle; gold in 25m butterfly •Jennifer Williams, third in 25m backstroke; second in 25m freestyle •Misty Larsen, fourth in 25m backstroke; third in 25m freestyle •Marsha Ochoa, second 25m freestyle; participation in 25m breaststroke Coach Sexton said she was amazed at the dedica- tion and growth that these athletes made in their first endeavor to participate in competitive swimming. Athletes who trained but did not travel to Baker City were: Andrea Eiden, Rian Middleton and Antonio Altimarano. Winter sports, which begin in January, include basketball and powerlifting. For more information, call Schneider at 541-314-0166. Chiawana rolls to 63-41 win over Hermiston By ANNIE FOWLER sTaFF WrITer It wasn’t the start that Hermiston or Chiawana expected, but the end result was what the Riverhawks earned. Talia von Oelhoffen had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead host Chi- awana to a 63-41 Mid-Co- lumbia Conference win Tuesday over the Bulldogs. “They are a good bas- ketball team,” Hermis- ton coach Malloree Moss said. “If Talia isn’t scor- ing, (Alyssa) Agundis is, or (Delaney) Pink is. If we are going to beat a good team, we have to play better.” Hermiston’s Mia Her- nandez led all scorers with a career-high 21 points — 17 in the second half — but it was not enough. “She was aggressive tonight,” Moss said. “She played with no fear.” The way the Bulldogs opened the game surprised a few people, taking a 7-3 lead with 4:30 to play in the first quarter. Once the Riv- erhawks got into the flow of the game, all that changed. Chiawana led 15-7 after the opening quarter, and 27-11 at the half as the Bull- dogs shot just 16 percent from the floor. A 22-9 Riverhawks’ run in the third put the game out of reach at 49-20, but the Bulldogs never backed down. Hermiston (2-4, 0-3 MCC) went on a 21-14 run in the fourth quarter to make the game a bit more respectable. “I really liked the fourth,” Moss said. “It was nice to see our bench get involved.” Katelyn Heideman added 10 points for Herm- iston, while Kendall Dowdy had six rebounds. PREP ROUNDUP Heideman leads Dawgs past Lewiston HermIsTOn HeraLd Katelyn Heideman pre- fers to play basketball out- side the paint. On Saturday, the 5-foot, 4-inch sophomore scored all 18 of her points off of six 3-pointers to help the Hermiston girls rout Lewis- ton 77-51 on the road, and snap a three-game skid. The Dawgs jumped out early with a 16-10 advan- tage by the end of the first quarter, and extended that lead to 36-27 at the half. Jayden Ray matched Heideman with 18 points of her own, and Jazlyn Romero and Mia Hernan- dez each added nine. Tai Bausch led Lewiston with a game-high 25 points. Hermiston (3-4, 0-3 MCC) visits Southridge on Jan. 3 for a Mid-Colum- bia Conference game at 5:45 p.m. Boys basketball LEWISTON 55, HERMISTON 42 — Hermiston held a 22-17 lead at the half, but let Lew- iston run wild with a 22-5 rally in the third quarter that put the game out of reach in nonleague play on Saturday. Sergio Madrigal had 12 points to lead the Bull- dogs (2-5, 1-2 MCC), while Jaiden Ruloph added 10. Hermiston travels to Southridge on Jan. 3 for an MCC contest. Wrestling Hermiston’s Sam Cade- nas placed seventh at 220 pounds, and Jon Lee (220) was eighth at the Tri-State Tournament at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In the seventh-place match, Cadenas beat Lee 4-3. The Bulldogs finished 20th in the team scoring among the 60 schools.
