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Country Christian Makes Their Case To Just Roll The Ball Out
The 1A Country Christian Cougars rolled into Astoria Friday night, and clawed out a pair of supposed “upsets” that make the case that, at least in hoops, the imagined differences between schools of different sizes might just be mostly imagined.
First the Country Christian Girls bumped off the hosts 40-32. Then, for the main event, the Cougar boys’ team added a surprising page to the long history of Astoria basketball, pulling off a 60-52 win in overtime. The Country Christian boys overcame a nine point, 27-18 halftime deficit.
(Disclaimer – As some know, neither the “CC” nor the “Cougar” in this writers’ “handle” have anything to do with the Country Christian program, it is just a coincidence.)
Lest anyone think this is an anomaly caused by pitting the top 1A team against a weakling, think again. Both the Astoria boys, (14-5, 5-0) fifth ranked in 4A, and alone in first place in the Cowapa conference at the midway mark of the league race, and the Astoria girls (11-7, 4-1), currently second in the Cowapa, are both likely headed for the postseason. And as long time followers of Oregon high school sports know, the Fishermen, one of the oldest programs in the state, especially at home, are always a quality win for anyone. The Cougars weren’t “cherry-picking” a headline win when they scheduled this trip.
Country Christian’s teams are among the best in 1A, but aren’t “the runaway best” either. The Cougar boys (14-6, 10-0) lead the Casco, but are only ranked eighth in the 1A Coaches’ poll. Some, but not all of their losses are a result of playing up in class.
The CC girls (16-5, 10-0) also lead the Casco, but have only recently climbed as high as third in the 1A girls’ coaches’ poll. Their record has also been fashioned against a schedule including some higher classification opponents, and out of state competition.
So Friday’s victories are a boost (and a big one) for the small school from between Molalla and Colton, but nothing the big school from the north coast has any reason to be any more concerned about than any other close loss to a quality opponent would be.
Clearly, classification separation for enrollment is more critical for some sports than others, such as football, where the game is a numbers game as much as anything. But Country Christian proved that when it’s one on one, or just a handful against another handful, they are not at any disadvantage hard work can’t overcome.
Anyone from one of the larger classifications interested in scheduling a road game at CC? The Cougars are willing and ready to just roll out the ball…
CC
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