Gage
Gubrud of Eastern Washington University was Big Sky Conference football offensive
“Player of the Week” for a game played 9/3/2016 evening.
In the
opening season contest for both teams, EWU upset favored Washington State,
45-42, at WSU’s Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
Making his first start at
quarterback for the victorious Eagles, Gubrud, a sophomore from McMinnville (McMinnnville High Class of 2014), had
a record-breaking performance.
He completed 34-of-40 passes for
474 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 77 yards. Gubrud’s 30-yard bootleg TD
with 1:39 left in the game followed by a PAT kick gave EWU a 45-35 lead.
(Gubrud’s 551 yards of total
offense broke the EWU record of 518 set by QB Vernon Adams Jr. against Oregon
State in 2013, when he passed for 411 yards and rushed for 107 yards.)
EWU coach Beau Baldwin said
Gubrud’s “played like we went live in a scrimmage – and we’ve done that before.
“He didn’t go out there wide-eyed
or nervous. He didn’t play perfect – nobody played perfect and I didn’t coach
perfect. You’re always searching for that, but he went out there with
confidence and attacked it. I think that helps you a lot when you settle down
and don’t pay attention to everything else that’s going on.”
Story based on Big Sky Conference news release
of 9/5/2016 and other sources.
McMinnville’s Gage Gubrud (McMinnville High Class of 2014) might be Eastern
Washington University’s starting QB for the EWU Eagles' opening season game 5
p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Pullman, Wash., versus Washington State
University.
Video
and photos by Mac News 7/5/2016
unless indicated:
•Video (no audio) Gage with Dave Cook, EWU sports info director, on
EWU campus in Cheney, Wash. •Gage with football and EWU Eagles
logo signage. •EWU Athletics photo shows Eagle cheer
staff with rally flags at EWU’s famous home football venue, red turf Roos Field
(also known as “The Inferno.”)
•Roos Field sign and farmland near EWU campus.
EWU depth chart has a few surprises; QB still ‘either, or’
By Jim Allen, Spokane
Spokesman-Review 3:58 p.m. Monday 8/29/2016
Eastern
Washington has released its depth chart for Saturday’s football opener, and for
the most part it’s what you’d expect.
However, coach
Beau Baldwin has thrown in a few surprises, while trying to prolong the mystery
on who will start at quarterback this weekend at Martin Stadium …
Eastern Washington has released its depth
chart for Saturday’s football opener, and for the most part it’s what you’d
expect.
However, coach Beau Baldwin has thrown in a
few surprises, while trying to prolong the mystery on who will start at
quarterback this weekend at Martin Stadium.
At least four, and possibly five or six,
are expected to make their first starts this week. Most of those are on the offensive
line, where all five starters and the top two backups have departed.
Freshman redshirts Tristen Taylor (left
tackle) and Chris Schlichting (left guard) make their debuts on the left side
of Eastern’s line, and sophomore Matt Meyer makes his debut at right guard.
Right tackle Nick Ellison (four career starts) and senior center Jerrod Jones
(two) are the only O-linemen
Sophomore Gage Gubrud is expected to start
at quarterback, but the depth chart follows his name with the word “or” – as in
or sophomore Reilly Hennessey, “or” senior Jordan West.
Gubrud, a third-stringer last year,
attempted just 13 passes in 2015, while West started 10 games and Hennessey
two.
Likewise, three players are also listed as
possible starters at running back, including true freshman Antoine Custer Jr.
and sophomore Sam McPherson. They would be making their first starts, while the
third, senior Jabari Wilson, has 10 starts in his career.
The lone starting debut expected to be made
on defense is sophomore cornerback Josh Lewis, but Eastern has plenty more
experience at that position. Nzuzi Webster (10 career starts), Victor Gamboa
(21) and D’londo Tucker (one) have a collective 32 starts between them. Webster
is listed as the other starter at cornerback.
The biggest surprise could be junior
defensive lineman Albert Havili, a former middle linebacker who missed all of
the 2015 season with injury. He’s atop the depth chart at field end, ahead of
true sophomore Keenan Williams.
He set an Eastern true-freshman record with
61 tackles in 2013.
Placekicker. Roldan Alcobendas, who missed
most of the 2014 season and all of last year with an ACL injury, apparently has
beaten out 2015 starter Brandyn Bangsund. Alcobendas also is listed as the top
backup to Jordan Dascalo at punter and as a possible starter for kickoffs.
EWU depth chart has a few surprises; QB still
‘either, or’
By
Jim Allen Spokane Spokesman-Review 3:58 p.m. Monday 8/29/2016
Eastern Washington has released its depth
chart for Saturday’s football opener, and for the most part it’s what you’d
expect.
However, coach Beau Baldwin has thrown in a
few surprises, while trying to prolong the mystery on who will start at
quarterback this weekend at Martin Stadium …
Eastern
Washington has released its depth chart for Saturday’s football opener, and for
the most part it’s what you’d expect.
However,
coach Beau Baldwin has thrown in a few surprises, while trying to prolong the
mystery on who will start at quarterback this weekend at Martin Stadium.
At
least four, and possibly five or six, are expected to make their first starts
this week. Most of those are on the offensive line, where all five starters and
the top two backups have departed.
Freshman
redshirts Tristen Taylor (left tackle) and Chris Schlichting (left guard) make
their debuts on the left side of Eastern’s line, and sophomore Matt Meyer makes
his debut at right guard. Right tackle Nick Ellison (four career starts) and
senior center Jerrod Jones (two) are the only O-linemen
Sophomore
Gage Gubrud is expected to start at quarterback, but the depth chart follows
his name with the word “or” – as in or sophomore Reilly Hennessey, “or” senior
Jordan West.
Gubrud,
a third-stringer last year, attempted just 13 passes in 2015, while West
started 10 games and Hennessey two.
Likewise,
three players are also listed as possible starters at running back, including
true freshman Antoine Custer Jr. and sophomore Sam McPherson. They would be
making their first starts, while the third, senior Jabari Wilson, has 10 starts
in his career.
The
lone starting debut expected to be made on defense is sophomore cornerback Josh
Lewis, but Eastern has plenty more experience at that position. Nzuzi Webster
(10 career starts), Victor Gamboa (21) and D’londo Tucker (one) have a
collective 32 starts between them. Webster is listed as the other starter at
cornerback.
The
biggest surprise could be junior defensive lineman Albert Havili, a former
middle linebacker who missed all of the 2015 season with injury. He’s atop the
depth chart at field end, ahead of true sophomore Keenan Williams.
He
set an Eastern true-freshman record with 61 tackles in 2013.
Placekicker.
Roldan Alcobendas, who missed most of the 2014 season and all of last year with
an ACL injury, apparently has beaten out 2015 starter Brandyn Bangsund.
Alcobendas also is listed as the top backup to Jordan Dascalo at punter and as
a possible starter for kickoffs.
Home! I have
returned to sports in the Yamhill Valley
By Rusty Rae of the McMinnville, Ore., News-Register
July 22, 2016
Although Thomas Wolfe elegantly wrote, “You
can’t go home again,” I have returned. Home to McMinnville and home to the
sports editor’s desk at the News-Register.
Like many before me, I left McMinnville and
the Yamhill Valley some 40 years ago seeking fame and fortune, only to realize
that this community of rolling green hills punctuated by oak trees, filbert trees,
and now those wonderful varieties of grapes, is far more precious than anything
I could earn or win.
The journey has not been without its
rewards. I have had the opportunity to observe many different cultures and a
variety of sporting venues. From MLB play-off games to NFL football; close encounters
with the late great Wayne Woodrow Hayes and a first person view of Evel Knievel
at his Kings Island jump near Cincinnati; The Indy 500, the Daytona 200
motorcycle race, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
These experiences have seasoned
me and I hope provided me some insight into the sporting psyche.
In all my travels, McMinnville, the Yamhill
Valley (and my alma mater, Linfield) have always been close to my heart.
From
afar I learned the comings and goings of Yamhill Valley sports: the ups and
downs of the Grizzlies and the passing of Dayton’s Dewey Sullivan among many, gleaning
bits and pieces from friends and cohorts in the area.
I carried the Linfield banner in my heart
around the world, listening to Linfield football games online in places like
Madrid; Georgetown, Guyana; and Tianjin, China. I watched the first Seahawk Super
Bowl from Brussels (starting about two am).
To be clear, I am a complete sports geek. I
have a passion for sports and I love to tell the story behind the story.
A wee bit before Mr. Wolfe, Greek
philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus wrote, “It is impossible to step into the
same river twice.” When you step into a river the second time, it is not the
same river. The water is different, the current is different, and the earth
below the river is different because a river is always in flux. And, of course,
you are changed as well.
So I return to the Sports Editor desk
knowing the community has changed and looking forward to the challenge of
assimilating the myriad of changes, but ultimately focused on bringing you the
story of competition in the Yamhill Valley.
Today, very often, many know the score of a
contest before the paper is printed. We at the News-Register believe nothing
sells more poorly than old news. So, it is my hope that we will be able to use
all the modern tools of the digital age at our disposal to bring you accurate information
about who won as early as possible. Check our Twitter Feed, our Facebook Page
and the News-Register website for early coverage.
While the major sports will certainly be a
focus of our coverage, I also want to bring you the stories of all who compete
in our community. There are other endeavors deserving attention, from those who
race any flavor of motorized vehicle to those who cast a fly or paddle a kayak
– you get the drift.
It is my hope to bring you the story behind
the score. The story of the extra effort that made a difference — what I
consider the heart of competition.
Perfection is reserved for the Divine;
however, as Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, “If we
shoot for perfection, we may attain excellence.” That is my goal for the sports
pages of the News-Register.
Quoting Mr. Wolfe again, “Some things will
never change. Some things will always be the same. Lean down your ear upon the
earth and listen.”
I believe the whack of a baseball (or
softball), the swish of a basket, and the smack of a crisp tackle remain
constant over time. As is the proverbial thrill of victory and the agony of
defeat — all pieces of the fabric of community sports. I will endeavor to “lean
down my ear” to bring the story of the heart of competition in the Yamhill
Valley.
It is going to be a great ride. I hope you
will join me.
