SPRINGFIELD – Have you heard the news? The Springfield Millers football team is the talk of the town. There’s good reason for the buzz. Springfield lost only 10 seniors –…
SPRINGFIELD – Have you heard the news? The Springfield Millers football team is the talk of the town. There’s good reason for the buzz. Springfield lost only 10 seniors –…
PLEASANT HILL – Last season the Pleasant Hill volleyball team started league play 2-2. They then rattled off 14-straight wins, finishing second in the Mountain Valley Conference and grabbing the…
PLEASANT HILL – Last season the Pleasant Hill volleyball team started league play 2-2. They then rattled off 14-straight wins, finishing second in the Mountain Valley Conference and grabbing the…
CRESWELL – As they enter into a new football season, the Creswell Bulldogs are using their own version of the Dewey Decimal System. Let’s call this one Dewey 2.0. One…
CRESWELL – As they enter into a new football season, the Creswell Bulldogs are using their own version of the Dewey Decimal System. Let’s call this one Dewey 2.0. One…
SPRINGFIELD – It would be one of the understatements of the year to say that Thurston boys soccer coach Jake Bonnett is glowing with optimism about the upcoming season. The…
SPRINGFIELD – It would be one of the understatements of the year to say that Thurston boys soccer coach Jake Bonnett is glowing with optimism about the upcoming season. The…
Editor’s note:This story is part of The Chronicle’s 2023 fall sports preview special section. To see the full issue, grab a copy of the August 31 edition at any local…
Editor’s note:This story is part of The Chronicle’s 2023 fall sports preview special section. To see the full issue, grab a copy of the August 31 edition at any local…
One year ago at this time I was exhausted after putting together a fall sports preview section that spread across five pages in the weekly newspaper. A month into being…
One year ago at this time I was exhausted after putting together a fall sports preview section that spread across five pages in the weekly newspaper. A month into being…
BOB WILLIAMS / The Chronicle Cottage Grove athletic director Garrett Bridgens said he hopes to develop a community-wide philosophy around the school system’s athletics.
COTTAGE GROVE – For someone who grew up dreaming of being a filmmaker, Garrett Bridgens sure has endured plenty of plot twists in life. The Cottage Grove High School athletic director has gone from a reluctant educator to substitute teacher to coach to overseeing the entire athletics department at his hometown school. Along the way, he married and began raising a family of four children. In 2022, his wife, Heather Cunningham Bridgens, died after a battle with cancer. She was a beloved figure in Cottage Grove education as well, and an entire community shared Bridgens’ grief – and provided immeasureable support, he said.
“That was obviously super hard and traumatizing, and just really hard to go through,” Bridgens said. “She got diagnosed, they told us she didn’t have very long to live, but we went through some treatments, and she made it about a year. That was a hard, really hard, year.”
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