
Pleasant Hill Billies complete warm-up exercises during a practice session last week.
‘When we received word that we could begin playing football, kids began smiling once again,’ Billies Coach Says, and School Board OKs Tennis Proposal
By DEAN REA/Chief Correspondent/The Herald
“We’re bringing back football,” Pleasant Hill’s school superintendent announced during Monday’s school board meeting.
“We’re not going to have any spectators in the stands, but we’ll live-stream the games,” Scott Linenberger said during the Feb. 22 meeting.

Quarterback Maxwell Smith
Linenberger said Pleasant Hill qualifies to field a team under Oregon School Activities Association guidelines, in part, because of the district’s contract tracing COVID-19 practice.
The Pleasant Hill varsity and junior varsity teams were scheduled to participate Saturday in a jamboree in La Pine.
Then it will be back home to afternoon scrimmages in preparation for a 7 p.m. Friday, March 5 game in Sisters, which will be broadcast on NFHS.com.
“Thirty-three students turned out to field two teams this year,” coach Joel Smith reported.
Maxwell Smith will quarterback the Billies’ varsity for the second year, and a dozen teammates have varsity experience, said Smith, who is in his third year as head coach and who also coaches baseball and basketball.
“When we received word that we could begin playing football, kids began smiling once again,” Smith said. “They were struggling. Now they have something to look forward to.”
As soon as the six-week football season wraps up, the Billies will play baseball and softball, then basketball.
The OSAA executive board adopted a three-season plan with six-week seasons, starting with fall sports contests March 1, followed by spring (April 12) and winter (May 17). The seasons include an “opt-in culminating week,” an option for postseason competition.
Two Billie Siblings Get OK to Play Tennis for Creswell
The school board granted permission for two Billie students, freshman Lilly Rodrigues and her brother Ben Rodrigues, a senior, to join the Creswell High School tennis team because Pleasant Hill doesn’t have a team. They will be permitted to wear Billie uniforms.
The girls’ volleyball team hosts Creswell on March 2 and travels to Harrisburg on March 4; the girls’ soccer team travels to Creswell on March 3; the boys’ soccer team travels to Central Linn on March 6. Check the Pleasant Hill district’s website for schedule information.
Oregon is moving in the right direction dealing with COVID-19, Linenberger told school board members, and has made it possible for districts to expand in-school instruction,
“If the good news continues to trend, we would like to bring high school in during mid-March,” he said.
Lottery System Could Be Implemented
The superintendent also presented attendance projections used in helping the district determine how many students will be admitted to classes in the fall. He noted that new students who reside in the district will be accepted but that a lottery system would apply if enrollment for various grades exceeds the district’s ability to accept an applicant from outside the district.
John Goldberg’s application to serve on the 10-member budget committee was approved. Another position remains unfilled. Five members are selected by the board for staggered three-year terms.
All school board members were present: Jeff Bernardo, chairman; John Oldham, Wylda Cafferata, Curt Offenbacher and Stephen Hammond.
Dean Rea, a retired newspaper journalist and former university professor who lives in Eugene, is The Herald’s chief correspondent for Pleasant Hill, Lowell and their neighboring communities.