schools
december1
2016
13
VHS Winter Sports Preview
Boys Basketball – The Vernonia
Loggers are the defending State
Champions in Oregon 2A! Let’s say that
again... the Loggers are the defending
State Champions!
Last season head coach David
Weller and his staff took a loaded
squad all the way to the promised land
in Pendleton, at times making it look
easy on the way to a 28-1 record. After
Pendleton and know what it will take to
get there again. Add junior, team captain
Clay Sullivan to the mix, who has been
the leader of the team since his freshman
year, along with senior varsity returners
Luke McCallum and Blake Clark, and
you have a lot of potential.
Rounding out the bench will be
senior Chase Tolonen, junior Andrew
Vazquez, sophomore Jake Handegard,
and freshman Kale Sullivan, none of
whom have seen any signifi cant varsity
playing time in the past.
“We’re not going to be deep like
we were last year,” says Weller. “We’ll
Tristan Adams
losing their season opener, the Loggers
reeled off 28 straight wins while going
undefeated in Northwest League play,
and then beat Burns, Bandon and top
ranked Regis to win the school’s fi rst
state team title in almost 40 years.
The last time Vernonia won the
state title in basketball was 1978 and that
team turned around and won it again the
following year. Is a repeat in the works
again?
“I have every expectation that
we’ll be back there in Pendleton,” says
Weller. “That’s my goal, but it’s going
to be tough.”
This year things won’t be
anywhere near as easy as last season.
While Weller returns a solid core group
of players, he doesn’t have the depth
he had last season. The starting fi ve
would match up well with anyone in the
state, but after that the roster has limited
varsity experience.
For Weller, Matt Blair is back
this season as his assistant coach and
Reed Watson takes over as coach of the
JV team.
Seniors Brett Elliott, Tristan
Adams, and Brett Jones are a formidable
group who have been playing together
since middle school and have all been to
Brett Elliott
go as far as our fi rst six guys can take
us and hopefully we can get the rest of
these guys up to varsity speed quickly.”
Clay Sullivan, who was named
to the All-Tournament Team in Pendleton
will lead the offense and should be one of
the top two or three players in the league,
if not the state, this season. Sullivan is a
great all-around player who always fi nds
a way to contribute, whether it’s scoring
points, grabbing rebounds, making steals
or a great pass.
Elliott, who was also named
to the All-Tournament Team, is also an
all-around player who is big and strong
and can go to the hoop or shoot from
outside. Weller will need Elliott to step
up and be a team leader, stay positive,
and consistently give 100% if the team
is going to make it back to Pendleton.
Adams, who led the team in
scoring in last year’s championship fi nal
and is a key part of the Logger offense,
has a deadly outside shot and will be
counted on to keep defenses honest.
McCallum, at 6’5” will give the
Loggers some height and a strong inside
presence. He has worked hard in the off
season to improve his game and should
play an important role.
Jones is a scrappy player who
gives Weller a little bit of the intangible.
He’s a player who hustles, dives for
loose balls, plays hard defense, and also
scores important points.
“Right now we don’t have the
swagger that should come with being
the state champs,” said Weller during
the Thanksgiving holiday. “I’d like
to see more energy, more intensity,
more passion. We need to develop
some leaders that will go out and lead
by example with a strong work ethic
in practice and hopefully it becomes
infectious and contagious and the rest of
the guys buy in.”
The rest of the Northwest
League looks to be improved and will
provide a good test for the Loggers this
season. Weller says Life Christian and
Knappa all return solid squads and look
to be tough this year, along with league
newcomer Columbia Christian, who
made it to the state title game at 1A last
year.
“We’re going to have to win a
lot of tight games this season, a lot of
single digit games,” says Weller.
The Loggers have some strong
early season opponents on their schedule,
including a trip to Kennedy on December
6 and a match-up at home against
Western Mennonite on December 12,
who Weller predicts will be one of the
top teams in the state this season. The
Loggers open their season by hosting
Gervais and Riverdale in the Vernonia
Tournament on December 2-3. They
open Northwest League play at home
against City Christian on December 13
and host Knappa on December 15.
Girls Basketball – The Vernonia
girls basketball program, defending
champions of the Northwest League,
will have a slightly different look this
season. Former assistant coach Jim
Krahn takes over as head coach for the
departed Steve Whiteman, who retired
during the summer after leading the
continued on page 14
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