Appeal Tribune
❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018 ❚ 1B
Sports
Silverton riding high
with ‘12 strong’ chemistry
Gervais wrestler Alexys Zepeda spars
with teammate Jonathan Cruz. MOLLY
J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL
OSAA adds
state title
for girls
wrestling
Oregon 7th state with
championship event
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
WILSONVILLE — A year from now,
hundreds of high school girls in Ore-
gon will be competing for the first
OSAA state girls wrestling champion-
ships.
The Oregon School Activities Asso-
ciation’s Executive Board voted unani-
mously Feb.12 to create a separate
state championship division for girls
starting in the 2018-19 school year.
Oregon will become the seventh state
to award state championships for girls
wrestling.
“We’re excited about making the
change for next year with girls wres-
tling,” OSAA Executive Director Peter
Weber said. “We think it’s an area
that’s continuing to grow.”
Four years ago, there were about 100
girls competing in high school wres-
tling in Oregon; there are more than
400 girls competing this season.
When Washington started sanc-
tioning girls high school wrestling in
2007, the state had fewer than 200
girls competing. As of 2017, there were
more than 1,000.
Currently, girls in Oregon can com-
pete against boys in district and OSAA
state tournaments or they can com-
pete against other girls in a separate
exhibition state tournament.
Gervais freshman Alexys Zepeda,
for example, is competing against boys
in the OSAA Class 3A state wrestling
tournament Friday and Saturday.
She won her weight classes at the
3A Special District 2 championship
against boys and also won in the wom-
en’s high school state qualifier.
Zepeda had to choose between
competing in the girls’ exhibition state
tournament — which runs concurrent-
ly with the OSAA state tournament —
or competing with the boys.
She chose to compete with the boys
and is the No. 4 seed at 113 pounds.
In the championship model ap-
proved by the Executive Board, girls
like Zepeda will be able to compete
against girls for an official girls state
championship or in the bracket
against boys starting in the 2018-19
school year.
As opposed to sanctioning girls
wrestling as a separate activity in Ore-
gon — as is the case with sports like
tennis, basketball and soccer — girls
will have their own division for state
championship under the wrestling
banner, much like how Class 6A is its
own division for wrestling.
“Depending on the growth of girls
wrestling and as they develop, you
could see the OSAA Executive Board
request to them to sanction girls wres-
tling,” said OSAA Assistant Executive
Director Brad Garrett, who oversees
wrestling.
“At this point, while they’re grow-
ing, they’re not there yet. There were a
little over 400 certifications for girls
this year. We have about 5,000 boys.”
Willamina has a traditionally strong
wrestling problem for boys but — like
most high schools — has experienced a
decline in participation in recent
years.
“We have some girls wrestling in our
middle school,” said Willamina princi-
pal Tim France, who is on the Execu-
tive Board. “I’m hoping that yes, this
will be an avenue that will hopefully
increase participation.
“I think all we’re doing is expanding
the possibilities for that gender of the
sport to grow. Overall, I think it’s going
to be a good move for the sport.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
or Twitter.com/bpoehler
Silverton head coach Jamie McCarty talks to the team during a time out in a basketball game against Woodburn on Feb.
13 at Woodburn High School. PHOTOS BY MOLLY J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Gary Horowitz
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
SILVERTON – At midseason first-
year Silverton boys basketball coach
Jamie McCarty and his players went to
see the film “12 Strong.”
It evolved into an enduring team
bonding experience.
“12 Strong” is the story of 12 Green
Berets who volunteered to fight the Ta-
liban on horseback in Afghanistan less
than two months after 9/11.
It’s a story that resonated with play-
ers and symbolized their own team
commitment, which is illustrated on
the team’s black and orange warm-up
jerseys with the words 12 STRONG.
“We kind of said hey, we’re going
that direction this year,” McCarty said.
“We have 12 on our roster, each one of
you is that important to us and our
success.”
It has been a season-long success
story.
No. 1-ranked Silverton (20-1, 12-0
Mid-Willamette Conference) has won
14 games in a row and is a legitimate
contender to win the Class 5A state
championship.
While players like 6-foot-5-inch
senior wing Cade Roth (18.1 points per
game, 6.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists), 5-
foot-10-inch sophomore point guard
David Gonzales (16.3 ppg, 4.0 assists)
and 6-foot-4-inch junior post Levi
Nielsen (10.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg) lead the Fox-
es statistically, everyone contributes
in their own way.
Senior power forward Clay Martin-
son, who rounds out the starting line-
up with junior forward Josiah Roth,
had eight points and 15 rebounds in
Friday’s 82-57 win at No. 6 South Alba-
ny that clinched the conference cham-
pionship for Silverton.
Senior forward Sam Twede doesn’t
get much playing time, and jokingly
said his role in games is “left bench,”
but teammates point to him as an in-
spirational leader.
No one is more animated during
games than Twede, who routinely
leaps from his seat on the bench and
shouts encouragement.
“We all see the heart that he has,”
Martinson said. “He’s an inspiration to
all of us.”
McCarty has played a major role
with his commitment to an aggressive
man-to-man defense and rebounding,
and he implemented a fast-break style
that players embraced.
Mid-Valley high school hoops fol-
lowers may remember that McCarty
was the boys basketball coach at Stay-
ton for nine years. The Eagles won
league titles in his last seven seasons,
culminated by an appearance in the
2007 4A state championship game – a
loss to Baker – in his final game.
McCarty stepped away from high
school coaching after the 2006-07
season because as a principal in the
North Santiam School District it was
determined by administrators that he
could not continue to do both jobs.
While McCarty said the career
move “was perfect timing” because it
gave him more time to spend at home
Silverton’s Levi Nielsen (34) goes up for a basket in a game against Woodburn on
Feb. 13 at Woodburn High School.
with his wife, Heidi, and their two young
children – Brooke and Jordan – he still
missed coaching.
“It’s always been in my heart. It was a
big, big hole,” McCarty said of his dec-
ade away from high school coaching.
“It’s my biggest passion and it’s a bless-
ing to be back.”
Four years ago McCarty became prin-
cipal at Victor Point and Silver Crest ele-
mentary schools in Silverton, and cur-
rently holds principal positions at Vic-
tor Point and Evergreen Elementary
School.
The Silver Falls School District
placed no restrictions on McCarty’s
coaching ambitions, and he was named
Silverton boys basketball coach in May.
He had the opportunity to work with in-
coming players last summer in prepara-
tion for the 2017-18 season.
McCarty has known many of his cur-
rent players for years through his princi-
pal jobs in Silverton, and because
daughter Brooke, a senior on the Silver-
ton girls basketball team, is friends with
players on the boys team.
“It’s been cool seeing them at the
house all the time and then coaching
‘em,” McCarty said.
Former Silverton coach Steve Roth,
who led Silverton to a 5A state champi-
onship in 2015, remains on staff as the
freshman boys basketball coach. He is
Cade and Josiah Roth’s uncle.
It has been a smooth transition from
Roth to McCarty. Roth also stressed de-
fense and rebounding, but there has
been more emphasis on the offensive
transition game under McCarty.
“I think he’s a great fit for our team,”
Gonzales said. “I think that he’ll con-
tinue to build the program. I don’t think
it will be just a one-year deal.”
With three starters due back next
season – Gonzales, Nielsen and Josiah
Roth (Cade’s first cousin) – along with
McCarty’s track record, there is reason
to believe Silverton will remain formida-
ble for years.
The season after Silverton’s state
championship, the Foxes went 17-8 and
lost in the first round of the state play-
offs. Last season they slipped to 12-14
and had another first-round playoff exit.
Silverton has a veteran roster that in-
cludes Cade Roth, a first team all-league
selection last season, and six seniors.
There was reason to believe the Foxes
would be much improved this season.
But a state championship contender?
“I knew coming into it we were gonna
be good and it was gonna be fun, but this
has definitely exceeded my expecta-
tions,” Nielsen said.
Silverton has been winning in domi-
nant fashion.
The Foxes, whose only loss came in
December against Mater Dei High (San-
ta Anna, California) in the Capitol City
Classic at Willamette University, are av-
eraging 68.0 points per game and giving
up 44.7. They lead the state in scoring
defense.
“We’ve been so unselfish and every-
body knows what they bring to the team
and everybody executes it every game,”
Cade Roth said. “We don’t take a game
off.”
The Foxes also have benefitted from
the addition of Nick McWilliams to the
coaching staff.
McWilliams, who led the South Sa-
lem girls team to back-to-back 6A state
championships in 2015 and 2016, is not
surprised by McCarty’s early success at
Silverton. He recalls coaching against
McCarty’s Stayton teams when he was
boys coach at Central.
“He was one of best prepared coach-
es that I ever went against,” said McWil-
liams, an English teacher at Silverton.
“There’s no question that he’s a great
coach and I think all those years off
stoked that fire even more.”
It’s home stretch time for the Foxes,
who close the regular season next week
with home games against Central and
Dallas, followed by the state playoffs.
If Silverton wins its first playoff game
March 3, it would advance to the eight-
team state tournament March 7-9 at Gill
Coliseum in Corvallis. The last time the
Foxes played at Gill they cut down the
nets, and their state championship ban-
ner hangs in the school gymnasium.
“I’m ready to hang another one,” Cade
Roth said.
ghorowitz@StatesmanJournal.com
or Twitter.com/ghorowitz