TD, Hood River renew basketball rivalry Friday

“There’s always a big rivalry between Hood River and The Dalles,” said first-year The Dalles Coach Jordan Rowland. “I lived in Hood River for four years prior to moving to The Dalles last summer. I’ve played in city league games with Chris Dirks (Eagles coach) and their assistant coaches Juan Zuniga and Noah Noteboom, so I know all those guys really well.

“Even though we moved down to 4A they’re in 5A, it’s still nice that we continue to have this rivalry and go back and forth with each other. Since it’s our first (home) game, it will be a packed house. Every time we play Hood River it’s always like that and so it’s going to be a nice and loud environment in Kurtz Gym.”

The Dalles returns four of its five starters from last year along with a core group that helped the Riverhawks qualify for a 5A first-round state playoff game. The Dalles lost four seniors to graduation, but only one of the four (Jaxon Pullen) had extensive playing time.

The Eagles (13-9 last year) lost nine seniors to graduation, including their entire starting five. Hood River is off to an 0-3 start this season, having played successive games this past weekend at the Wilsonville tournament.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of community involvement and fill up the gym,” said Rowland. “That’s kind of what makes basketball what it is. Yes, it’s about the players, but also the crowd kind of makes the game lots of fun, too, from everyone’s standpoint. Obviously, the boys are looking forward to it. We know the kids on Hood River’s team, and they know our kids, so it will be kind of interesting to see how everything plays out.

“Everyone is looking forward to it and it’s always fun playing Hood River. Hopefully, we’ll shake off the rust a little bit and be ready to go.”

Following Friday’s contest, The Dalles will meet the defending 4A champion Cascade High Cougars (2-0) in a 6:30 p.m. non-league home game Dec. 13.

The Riverhawk girls have won four consecutive games against the Eagles over the last two years and will be seeking to make it five in row on Friday. The Riverhawks won 49-38 on Feb. 3, 2021, at Hood River, and they won 51-45 at home on Feb. 11, 2021.

“I’m excited for that (game Friday),” HRV Coach Steve Noteboom said. “I’m excited for that because last year I just felt we didn’t play up to our potential.”

The Dalles girls coach Darcy Hodges said, “I’m not real sure who is coming back for Hood River this year, but we’ll see how beat up we are after the Pendleton game.”

The Riverhawks have a Tuesday contest at home against the Pendleton Buckaroos. “Playing Hood River is always fun because of the rivalry that we have with them,” Hodges added.

Hood River also plays Tuesday at Heritage in Vancouver.