FOOTBALL

Rude welcome to new league — Bend was the first Central Oregon football team to be tested in the new Class 6A Special District 6, and the early returns were not favorable. Friday night at West Salem, the host Titans ran the opening kickoff back 85 yards for a touchdown, scored the game’s first 28 points and routed the Lava Bears 56-27. West Salem was a 6A state quarterfinalist last year, and Bend was a 5A playoff team last season and coming off a 55-21 win over Barlow in its season opener, so a lot of eyes were on the Bears-Titans matchup. Bend coach Matt Craven said Saturday that he considers West Salem the early league favorite, but he stopped short of handing the Titans the district title. “I still think the jury will be out until everybody’s body of work is in,” Craven said.

Another 200 for Cougars’ Larson — Mountain View’s Jonas Larson rushed for more than 200 yards for the second straight game, netting 248 yards and scoring four touchdowns in the Cougars’ 46-33 nonleague victory over Sandy on Friday night. The senior running back had 210 rushing yards and five TDs in Mountain View’s season-opening win over Roseburg and now has 458 yards and nine touchdowns in the first two games. But the Cougars are proving they are more than just a running team, as Forrest Love had 142 receiving yards and a touchdown in the win over Sandy.

BOYS WATER POLO

Mountain View perfect in jamboree — Mountain View made an early-season splash Saturday at the Barlow Jamboree in Gresham, posting a 6-0 record. The Cougars defeated Aloha-Mountainside, Sheldon, Barlow, Sandy, Reynolds and Southridge, paced by Preston Carey with a total of 12 goals and Tarren Black with seven goals and 12 assists.

BOYS SOCCER

Turnaround at Central Christian — In just two games this season, Central Christian’s Tigers have scored three more goals than they did all of last year, and they have doubled their win total of the 2016 and 2017 seasons combined. On Monday, the Tigers from Redmond beat Open Door Christian Academy 5-2 in Troutdale, improving to 2-0 this season. Central Christian has now scored 12 goals in two games this season after scoring only nine in a winless 2017 campaign. Coach Mark Hughes noted that his roster includes six freshmen, all of whom are starters.

Freshman nets two for Summit — Nathaniel Deperro, a freshman who had played sparingly for the Summit varsity in its previous two games, scored a pair of goals for the Storm on Saturday in a 3-1 victory at North Medford. Summit coach Ron Kidder said Deperro, one of four freshmen on the varsity roster, was given the option to play with the JV over the weekend and perhaps get more playing time. Deperro decided to stick with the varsity, and the decision paid off. Other players, Kidder observed, have been shouldering the load in getting the Storm to its current 3-0 record. But on Saturday, Deperro was “in the right place at the right time.”

CROSS-COUNTRY

Summit girls make a statement — It’s still nearly two months before the state championships, but Summit sent a message that it does not intend to have its impressive streak of girls cross-country titles end anytime soon. The Storm won the Ash Creek XC Festival on Saturday in Monmouth, scoring 22 points to 51 for runner-up Jesuit. Summit, winner of the last 10 Class 5A girls state championships, and Jesuit, two-time defending 6A champion and winner of 14 top-classification state titles since 1996, figure to be the teams to beat at this year’s state finals on Nov. 3, when for the first time both teams will be competing at 6A. In the individual standings Saturday, Jesuit senior Makenna Schumacher edged Summit junior Fiona Max by just two-tenths of a second for first place.

Locals shine at Saxon — Mountain View senior Kelsey Swenson finished third among the girls and two Bend High runners finished among the top 10 boys Saturday at the Saxon Invite at Bush Park in Salem. Bend finished sixth and Mountain View seventh in the 15-team girls field. Bend was third out of 18 teams on the boys side behind junior Bennet Jackson, who finished fourth, and senior Trevor Wilber, who placed ninth.

— Bulletin staff reports

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