Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2022 | 1B
SPORTS
LEADERSHIP CHANGE
Silverton football
hires Lever after
Craig steps down
Pete Martini
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
There will be a change in leadership
in the fall for the state champion Silver-
ton football program.
Josh Craig, who guided the Foxes to
the 2021 Class 5A state title, stepped
down earlier this year to spend more
time with family, and former Tualatin
coach Dan Lever has been hired as his
replacement.
“Great tradition, great community. I
was impressed by the school, facilities,
and the administration,” Lever said. “I
want to maintain that strong tradition.
I’m excited to go into a situation where a
lot of things are already in place.”
Lever coached Tualatin to a 12-2
record this past fall, and took them to
the Class 6A state title game, where they
lost to Central Catholic.
In five seasons with the Timber-
wolves, Lever had a 39-15 record.
A big part of Lever’s decision is that
he owns 20 acres near Silverton, and
this will be a shorter commute.
“I grew up in the country, I under-
stand generational farming,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to working
with blue collar-type kids and families.”
Silverton was 12-1 last season, with
the one loss coming to Tualatin (35-28).
Craig emphasized that he would have
stepped down whether or not the Foxes
won the title because it was an impor-
tant personal decision.
Craig and his wife, Kenzie, have two
children under the age of 2, and he said
that being a teacher and head football
coach was taking too much time away
Former Tualatin football coach Dan Lever has been hired by Silverton. PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP JOHN LARIVIERE
from family.
“I wouldn’t be home until 6:30 or 7
most nights, so basically bedtime. And
then of course Friday nights, I’m not
home in the evening at all,” Craig said.
“The weekends are a killer too because
it’s basically all meetings with the team,
watching film, meeting with coaches
and putting together a scouting report.
If I’m lucky, maybe some schoolwork af-
ter that.”
Craig was Silverton’s coach for five
seasons, taking over for John Mannion.
The Foxes went 41-11 under Craig.
“It was a tough decision, and I
already miss coaching. But with Lever, I
know the program is in good hands,”
Craig said. “But I’ll get back into it when
the kids are a little older and can come to
practice and stuff.”
The beauties of Walling Pond
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
Fish local.
My suspicion is that’s going to be the
operative catch phrase for anglers who
are chafing under the current fuel prices
that probably are going to be with us
into the foreseeable future.
Roy Gault, a former Statesman Jour-
nal sports editor, fishing buddy and all-
around great guy, said that if it comes
down to driving to see the grandkids or
going fishing for salmon or steelhead at
the coast, well, no contest.
Fish are unreliably finicky and go bad
after a couple of days.
Grandkids are forever.
Which gets back to the original prem-
ise of this column.
With trout-stocking in full swing,
there are lots of opportunities within a
couple of gallons of gas, unless your
fishing vehicle is a fully loaded semi and
trailer.
There’s even one such sweet spot
that I used to fish occasionally during
my lunch breaks when the Statesman
office was downtown: Walling Pond.
Talk about fishing local.
John West of Salem fishes Walling al-
most every day, and he’s been wetting a
line in the former gravel pit since “like I
was in grade school."
“Absolutely, for the convenience, es-
pecially for people who don’t have their
own transportation,” he said about the
former gravel pit at McGilchrist and 16th
streets with parking access off 16th. “Es-
pecially for people who don’t have their
own transportation. You can catch a bus
and come here. You can even walk.”
One other unique feature is if it’s
snowing or raining hard, Walling offers
“drive-through” fishing for the hardy,
but not crazy. Anglers cast from the
bank, feed out line as they walk back to
the vehicle, then point the rod out the
window in the heated car or truck while
waiting for a bite.
“I’ve done that,” West said.
See MILLER, Page 2B
The view is urban industrial, but the fishing for trout is generally good during
the trout-stocking season. HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
John West of Salem: Success! John West of Salem with two rainbow trout that he
caught shortly after a delivery of fish Monday at Walling Pond.
PHOTOS BY HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL