PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 13, 2015
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KEIZERTIMES.COM
Wolverines fi nish undefeated
Under the lights at Mc-
Nary High School and in
front of the biggest crowd in
memory for a middle school
football game, the Whiteaker
Wolverines heavyweight foot-
ball team capped off an his-
toric undefeated season with a
win over rival Claggett Creek
Middle School.
“First, I want to thank all
three principals who made this
happen: Julia Dewitt (WMS),
Rob Schoepper (CC), and
Eric Jesperson (MHS). It is
great to win this game, be-
cause Claggett has had White-
aker’s number for a while now.
But what’s better than the win
is this atmosphere—the color
guard, the band, and the stands
fi lled. Keizer came out and re-
ally made every one of these
kids—on both teams—feel
special tonight,” said Tom Lar-
imer, Whiteaker head coach.
Immediately after the game,
McNary Head Coach Jeff
Auvinen gathered all the play-
ers together at midfi eld, say-
ing, “I saw some great players
out here tonight representing
two rivalry schools—White-
aker and Claggett—but now
you are all one team. You are
McNary’s future team. Tonight
you played hard, but now
the rivalry is over. You are all
teammates now.”
The game was all Whiteak-
er from the get-go. Whiteaker,
which never trailed at any time
the entire season, scored on
its fi rst play from scrimmage
when wide receiver Junior
Walling took a fl anker sweep
and followed blocks by Joel
Knight and Nico Sandoval to
go 58 yards nearly untouched
to paydirt.
“As good as Junior is — and
Photos courtesy of J&H Photo
Above and right: scenes from the Claggett Creek Middle School and Whiteaker Middle School
heavyweight football game Wednesday, Nov. 4.
he is the most talented middle
school back I have ever seen
— that play is so successful
because of our offensive line:
Josh Patton, Nate Young, Sion
Springer, Andrew Shaw and
Malakai Vasseur, and the un-
sung star of this team: H-back
Joseph Fowler,” said Larimer.
“Three of our starting O-
line had never played football
before this season, but you
wouldn’t know it.”
Minutes after Walling’s
touchdown, all three starting
Wolverine linebackers—Wall-
ing, Brian Schindler and Fowl-
er—combined on a fourth
down stop to force CCMS to
turn the ball over on downs.
Speedster Nico Sandoval took
a toss to the left and scampered
60 yards untouched for White-
aker’s second score.
Sandoval
recovered
a
Claggett fumble on the ensu-
ing kickoff, and quarterback
Erik Barker hit wideout Riley
Flores with a 40-yard touch-
down pass. A second consecu-
tive fumbled kickoff recovered
by Noah Lelack gave WMS the
ball right back on the Claggett
40-yard line. Barker led a four-
play touchdown drive that
ended with a perfectly thrown
26-yard strike to Walling, and
the two-point conversion run
by Layton Thurlow gave the
Wolverines a 28-0 lead.
WMS defensive coordina-
tor Kurt Walling said, “Many
people don’t understand how
much intensity and emotion
can help get a team off to a
good start. Our kids made a
commitment to each other to
take the momentum in that
game and, once they did, they
never looked back.”
Larimer credited his son,
Offensive Coordinator Marcus
Larimer, for his work with the
offense.
“Marcus has a great of-
fensive mind. He has a sixth
sense for what to run, and I
don’t worry because I know
we have done literally hun-
dreds of controlled, technique
based reps on every one of our
plays, so each guy knows his
job on each play and executes
it properly,” said T. Larimer.
M. Larimer credited the
student-athletes for their
work.
“That preparation and
commitment by my kids al-
lows me to run almost any
play in any situation and know
the kids are ready to execute it
properly,” said M. Larimer.
The offense was sharp, both
on the ground and in the air.
Barker completed four of six
passes for 137 yards and three
touchdowns, while backup
quarterback Layton Thurlow
added a 65-yard second quar-
ter touchdown strike to Riley
Flores.
Thurlow, fresh off being
named a team captain for
his unselfi sh play, made the
most of his big night, adding
a 56-yard touchdown run of
his own. He also recorded a
quarterback sack when the
Claggett wideout could not
shake the tight coverage of
defensive back Anthony Rice.
Nine different Wolverines
carried the ball, but none
more than twice. Walling had
66 yards rushing, Thurlow 63
and Sandoval 60. Flores led all
receivers with two catches for
107 yards and two scores. The
defense was led by Schindler
and Fowler’s 10 tackles apiece,
with Nate Young adding nine
and Walling eight.
Please see WMS, Page A11
Rams take 42-21 victory Rusty’s 1st rooster
in fi rst round of playoffs
by G.I. Wilson
BY ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
McNary High School’s
varsity football team never
threatened in a 42-21 loss to
Central Catholic High School
in the fi rst round of the play-
offs.
Fortunately for the Celt-
ics, the team had just enough
big plays – led by quarterback
Trent Van Cleave’s three inter-
ceptions – to keep the game
interesting despite the lopsid-
ed score.
The Keizer team was off to
a rough start from the get-go.
Three plays in to their fi rst
drive, a wild snap was recov-
ered by the Rams at the Celtic
20-yard line. It took Central
Catholic only two plays to
notch the fi rst touchdown of
the game at 10:49.
The Celts made it to mid-
fi eld before fi zzling on their
fi rst possession. Once Cen-
tral Catholic had the ball
back, a 31-yard rushing attack
brought up fi rst-and-goal at
the one-yard line. The Rams
scored again on the next play
for the 14-0 lead.
McNary’s drive started at
the fi ve-yard line because of
a holding penalty and a fum-
ble on the fi rst play was re-
covered by Central Catholic.
The Rams scored on the next
play and, with 7:28 remaining
in the fi rst quarter, McNary
trailed 21-0.
“The diffi cult thing to
swallow is that, if you take
away the fi rst four minutes
of the game, we played them
even the rest of the way,” said
Jeff Auvinen, McNary head
coach. “It’s just too bad we
couldn’t compete to our full
ability those fi rst four min-
utes.”
The Celtics fi nally bolt-
ed the wheels back on their
game in their next posession.
A fi rst-down rush by running
back Brady Sparks was helped
along by a personal foul that
reset the chains at McNary’s
42-yard line. Sparks reeled in a
one-handed catch on the next
play but it was called back on
a holding penalty.
Facing fi rst-and-22, Van
Cleave found teammate Josh
Benson cutting across the fi eld
for a short gain, but lost fi ve
yards on a penalty. On sec-
ond-and 20, Van Cleave made
a short pass to Hayden Sader
and it took four tacklers to
bring him down at third-and-
seven.
The Rams drew a defen-
sive holding penalty and reset
the chains for McNary at the
Central Catholic 45-yard line.
Sader and Benson fi nished
off the drive with catches and
the Celtics made it to the
board with 2:19 left in the fi rst
quarter.
Sader and Bobby Botta got
key stops for the Keizer team
on Central Catholic’s return,
but the Rams scored on a long
rushing attack facing third-
and-one, making the score
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Celt Jon Anderson chases down Ram quarterback Marcu
Mildenberg at Hillsboro Stadium Friday, Nov. 6.
28-7. The Rams cushioned
their lead to 35-7 on their
next possession shortly after
the start of the second quarter.
After punting away their
next opportunity, Van Cleave
pulled down a one-handed in-
terception at the McNary 15-
yard line and ran it all the way
back to the 40-yard line. After
a Ram player was judged out
of bounds and returned to the
playing fi eld, McNary took
possession at Central Catho-
lic’s 43-yard line.
Please see PLAYOFF, Page A12
The young Brittany freezes
in a classic point–a breathing
orange and white statue. The
months of training, working
and learning are fi nally over.
This is the real thing. It’s ham-
mer time!
I had taken a job in Good-
ing, Idaho, knowing the
area could provide excellent
pheasant hunting. One of my
hunting friends, an avid bird
hunter, convinced me to buy
a Brittany spaniel.
When I saw an ad in the
newspaper, I called and made
an appointment to see the
eight-week-old litter. It was
obvious the owner knew Brit-
tanies and had a deep passion
for them. He took me into
the fi eld behind his house
and demonstrated the female’s
skills and eagerness to please.
Her bloodline was impressive,
and the sire’s line consisted of
a long string of fi eld cham-
pions. “These pups have the
best genes that can be bred
into a bird dog. They will do
it all naturally,” the breeder
said. I came home with a
bouncing bundle of energy
that loved people. My three
kids returned his love three-
fold. They named him Rusty.
We moved to Gooding in
late August. The hunters at
work informed me it was go-
ing to be a bumper year for
pheasants. You could hear
roosters crowing, in all direc-
tions, from any place in the
small town. It was diffi cult to
contain my excitement.
I had never owned a bird
dog. I had grown up on a
farm in the southwest, where
we always had hunting dogs,
but my dad thought all bird
hunters were “city slickers.”
As a teenager I had hunted
quail, over a pointer, with my
high school basketball coach.
He had also been a great
coach for wing shooting.
The breeder had suggested
I buy the book: Training Your
Hunting Dog. It proved to
be an excellent resource. So,
armed with “book knowl-
edge” and a starter’s pistol
borrowed from the track
coach, Rusty and I headed for
the fi elds to learn.
He actually pointed the
very fi rst pheasant he came
across! I was amazed how
natural it was for this six-
month-old pup. He would
point a bird, I would fl ush
it and fi re the starter’s pistol
(to train him not to be gun
shy). He learned not to chase
fl ushed birds, to keep track
of me, and to respond to the
whistle. I learned to follow
him to where the birds were
when he turned into the wind
and went into his “stalking”
mode. I was anxious for sea-
son to open.
The hunting group at work
took it for granted that I was
to hunt with them opening
weekend. I was the new guy
on the block and I could learn
Please see WILSON, Page A11