The Intermountain Conference just isn’t the good old IMC of years past. With the changes to Hybrid and “special” districts, the only sure thing for Bend schools is that they play each other. While some district meets now include teams like Ashland and Eagle Point, it’s hard to say who the best of the “IMC” is… because there really isn’t an IMC anymore. But what we can see is how the three Bend schools stack up against each other. Simply by taking each teams’ league finish and giving 3 points for first, 2 points for second and 1 point for third. So here’s how they finished this fall:

Fall points total:
Summit 15
Mountain View 14
Bend 7

Football
1 Mountain View
2 Bend
3 Summit

Volleyball
1 Summit
2 Mountain View
3 Bend

Boys Cross County
1 Summit
2 Mountain View
3 Bend

Girls Cross County
1 Summit
2 Mountain View
3 Bend

Boys Soccer
1 Mountain View
2 Summit
3 Bend

Girls Soccer
1 Summit
2 Mountain View
3 Bend

Junior point guard James Reid is off to a fast start. The returning starter and coaches son is averaging 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6 assists per game in the early season. Reid, who let his team to second place in the Class 5A state tournament as a sophomore, was kind enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete:

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you been playing basketball?
James Reid – Organized since 1st grade. But been a gym since I can remember.

COA – How long have you lived in Bend?
JR – Since I was 5 yo.

COA – What’s the best part of playing in your dad’s basketball program?
JR – I can always talk to him about the team and getting better individually.

COA – What was it like playing in the state championship game last season?
JR – It was something I’ll always remember even though we came up short.

COA – What is your biggest strength on the basketball court?
JR – Probably leadership and just making the team run how its supposed to.

COA – What do you like to do when you aren’t playing basketball?
JR – Definitely play video games. It gets pretty heated with my friends.

COA – What are some of your goals for this season?
JR – I think as a team we can win league and make it back to Eugene for the State Tournament.

COA – What advice can you give to younger point guards?
JR – Work on as much ball handling as you can so you dont even have to think about it in games.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
JR – Our “director of development” Jim McCaffrey puts some pretty challenging workouts together after practice and in the offseason.

Sherwood beat Mountain View 42-22 to end the Cougars season @ 11-1. Sherwood will play Marist for the Class 5A state championship.
Cody Hollister had a huge game for Mountain View with eight catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
FULL STATS HERE.

Mountain View sophomore John Carroll has helped lead his Cougar football team to a perfect 8-0 regular season. The speedy Carroll slowed down long enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete:

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you lived in Bend?
John Carroll – About 8 years.

COA – What positions are you playing this season?
JC – Wide Receiver and Free Safety.

COA – What other sports do you play?
JC – Baseball, Basketball, and I also Ski.

COA – How long have you been playing football?
JC – I started playing tackle football in 6th grade, but I first played flag football in 2nd grade.

COA – What has been the highlight so far for you this football season?
JC – We just took it to the Lava Bears and beat them pretty handily. And being a sophomore i get two more chances to beat them and I look forward to the opportunities.

COA – What is the best part of playing Mountain View football?
JC – Definitely the atmosphere of everything. We have coaches that care about us, player that get along and that makes it so we keep things light, but we can also take care of business when we need to.

COA – What do you like to do when you aren’t playing sports?
JC – I have a pool at my house so in the summer I like to hang out there, also just hang out with friends, and get better at sports.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
JC – Actually one of the volleyball coaches at USC used to live here and me and my brother would workout with him in the summer to to improve our speed and power.

Austin Sears has established himself as one of the premier running backs in the entire state of Oregon and has led his Mountain View team to an undefeated record so far this season. Austin took a break from running over defenders to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete:

Central Oregon Athlete – What positions are you playing this year in football?
Austin Sears – Mostly running back and a little corner back and linebacker.

COA – How does it feel to step up as the featured back for Mountain View?
AS – It’s tons of fun, but stressful to live up to the expectations because of how many great backs that we have had in past years.

COA – Have some of the great MV running backs before you had an influence on you?
AS – Since I’ve been at Mtn. View, Ash, Scott, and Sol have all taken me under their wings and really helped me learn a lot about how to run the ball.

COA – Do you consider yourself a football player who plays tennis, or a tennis player who plays football?
AS – A football player who attempts to play tennis.

COA – What sports to you play other than football?
AS – Hockey, soccer and tennis.

COA – What do you like to do when you aren’t playing sports?
AS – Hang out with friends. Movies, x-box, and anything active.

COA – What has been the highlight of your football career so far?
AS – Finally getting to run the ball.

COA – What’s your favorite thing about playing football for the Cougars?
AS – Our whole team is very close, we work really hard but have a good time doing it. We all have the same goal to win state.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
AS – It’s a strength training program by Kelly Engam. He really helped us improve our strength this off season.

Rank, Team, (First place votes), Points
1 Sherwood (8) 89
2 Marist (1) 82
3 Mountain View 69
4 Jefferson 66
5 Corvallis 52
6 Crescent Valley 37
7 Wilsonville 34
8 Lebanon 29
9 West Albany 13
T10 Bend 5
T10 Hood River Valley 5
Others receiving votes: 11. Silverton 4; T12. Pendleton 4, Hermiston 4; 14. Putnam 2.

– Photo by Tim Dority

Joel Skotte is a 6-foot-3, 221 pound junior for the dominant Mountain View football team. Skotte is a monster at middle linebacker and backs up senior Austin Sears in the backfield as the latest in a long line of Cougar running backs. Joel was kind enough to answer a few questions for Central Oregon Athlete:

Central Oregon Athlete – How long have you lived in Bend?
Joel Skotte – I’ve lived in bend for my whole life, so 16 years.

COA – How long have you been playing football?
JS – I’ve been playing football since the second grade.

COA – What other sports do you play?
JS – I play Basketball and I run the 100 and 200 in track.

COA – What do you like to do when you aren’t playing sports?
JS – When i’m not playing sports I like to hang out with friends, dirtbike, go to church/fellowship of christian athletes, and go to the lake in the summer.

COA – What positions are you playing in football this season?
JS – I play middle linebacker and tailback.

COA – What’s the best part of playing Cougar football?
JS – The coaches really care about us as individuals as well as players. We have a close bunch of guys who have eachother’s backs on and off the field.

COA – What has been the highlight of your football career so far?
JS – Being able to play with the guys i look up to has been really awesome, it has helped me learn how to carry myself as a person and as a player.

COA – What are your goals for this football season?
JS – I hope to get defensive player of the year for our league and get all state linebacker.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
JS – My favorite workout is crossfit.

COA – Anything else to add?
JS – I hope to play college football at a division one school. Oregon state is my first choice.

Mountain View (4-0) @ The Dalles-Wahtonka (2-2)
• Mountain View is on fire having outscored its opponents 150-73.
• TDW is coming off a one-point loss to Bend.
• Mountain View is ranked No. 1 in the Class 5A OSAA power rankings.
• TDW is ranked No. 18 in the Class 5A OSAA power rankings.

Redmond (3-1) @ Bend (2-2)
• The oldest rivalry in Central Oregon.
• Redmond has 3 in a row.
• Bend has won 2 in a row.
• Bend is ranked No. 7 in the Class 5A OSAA power rankings.
• Redmond is ranked No. 31 in the Class 6A OSAA power rankings.

Hood River Valley (3-1) @ Summit (0-4)
• The teams haven’t played each other since 2005, a game Summit won 23-21.
• All 4 HRV games this season have been decided by 6 points or less, including a double-overtime loss to Redmond.
• HRV is ranked No. 22 in the Class 5A OSAA power rankings.
• Summit is ranked No. 30 in the Class 5A OSAA power rankings.

Mountain View remains undefeated after its 35-0 shutout of Mazama to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Bend pulled out a 21-14 win over Sprague to improve to 1-2 on the season. Bend’s Gavin Gerdes ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns.