PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
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Coach Nick and
the fi nal dance
File
Craig Nicholas, a teacher and coach at McNary High School for nearly 30 years, celebrates a
baseball state title win with fellow coaches in 2009. Nicholas reitred from both the classroom
and fi eld two weeks ago.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
In 1999, the McNary High School varsity
baseball team made it to the state title game with
Lakeridge High School and lost 6-3.
It was Craig Nicholas’ fi rst year as head coach.
“We beat some really good teams and we
did some really good stuff, but we got to the
game and lost. I felt terrible about that game,”
said Nicholas, who retired from the school two
weeks ago after 29-and-a-half years as a teacher
and coach in everything from football to wres-
tling and baseball at McNary.
In the minutes after the game, someone
walked up to Nicholas and asked how he was
doing. He responded that he was trying to
breathe.
“The thing is, you get on a run in baseball
and suddenly you lose and you’re done, but it
was more than that. I felt like I’d let the city of
Keizer down,” Nicholas said.
One of the things that becomes clear when
talking with Nicholas about his career is that it
was never about a single game or a single title.
It’s always been about representing the city of
Keizer well.
It was a decade before the Celts returned to
the fi nal dance in baseball.
“That was group of kids I knew were going
to be pretty special even as freshmen,” Nicholas
said. “But then, in their senior year, all but two
or three players ended up with some weird in-
jury.”
Nicholas said the Celts were “damn lucky”
to fi nish third in league that season, but then
everyone on the roster started getting healthy.
For the rest of the season, the Celtics would
only be behind another team for one half of
one inning and took the state title for the fi rst
time since 1992.
One of Nicholas’ former students fl ew all
the way in from New York to watch the game,
another called him from Africa. However gruff
some might perceive Nicholas as, he inspired
loyalty among his athletes.
“Winning it was a monkey off my back,”
Nicholas said, then added. “Coaching baseball
Please see NICK, Page A13
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Celt Michael Phelps wrangles for an escape in his West Albany match Thursday, Jan. 29. Phelps
won 7-5 on a night when much of the team struggled.
Dawgs chain up Celts
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
varsity and junior varsity wres-
tling teams both took a beat-
ing in a dual meet with West
Albany High School Thursday,
Jan. 29.
On a night when the Celts
struggled to fi nd any sort of
momentum, both teams lost.
The varsity squad fell 42-31,
the JV team fell 51-30.
“I feel like, as a team, we’re
dwindling. Our heart for
wrestling was there earlier in
the season and we were losing
it,” said Taran Purkey, a Celt
senior. “On the other hand,
we redirected ourselves at
practice the next day and fo-
cused on wrestling rather than
talking to each other.”
The varsity Bulldogs took a
hefty lead in the lighter weight
classes, but there were some
bright spots even in the losses.
Junior Joey Kibbey, at 113
pounds, had a lead over West
Albany’s Connor Schaffner
going into the fi nal round and
held onto it despite impressive
Please see WRESTLE, Page A14
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Cade Goff looks for a shot around a South Salem High School defender in the game
Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Loss to Saxons knots
up fi rst place in GVC
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Prior to a big game with
the South Salem High School
Saxons, Ryan Kirch, head
coach of the McNary High
School varsity basketball team,
wanted three things from the
Celtics: guarding well, guard-
ing without fouls and the abil-
ity to slow down the pace of
the game.
He got one of three. The
resulting 71-62 loss means the
Celts drop from the top of the
Greater Valley Conference into
a tie for fi rst with the Saxons.
“They’re really not like
anybody else we face,” Kirch
said.
Throughout the game
Tuesday, Feb. 3, McNary’s ath-
letes played a relatively clean
defensive game while the Sax-
ons racked up fouls. But South
never let up on offense and,
even when the Celts were try-
ing to slow things down, they
would end up rushing shots
or outrunning dribbles creat-
ing turnovers that played right
into South’s ability to score
quickly.
South also locked down
McNary’s top shooters Tregg
Peterson and Harry Cavell.
Peterson, who had been av-
eraging 16 points per game,
experienced long droughts in
his 11-point total for the night.
Cavell managed only 13.
One of bright spots in the
game was a stronger start for
the Keizer team than it has
had in a while. The Celts
edged South to take a 15-14
lead by the fi rst period buzzer,
but South spent the rest of the
night in the driver’s seat.
On a 10-2 scoring run in
the fourth period, McNary
drew within six points of the
Saxons. However, from that
point on, South had an answer
“They shot the ball re-
ally, really well. We shot the
ball well, we just didn’t guard
as well as we needed to,” said
Kirch. “They had a kid hit
fi ve threes, two of them from
NBA-range.”
Slow starts have plagued the
Celtic team for much of the
season, but it’s not as though
the team is in denial.
“We need to get a lot better
at the start of the game,” said
Peterson. “We can’t come out
thinking we’re
going to roll
anyone over.
We have to
play like every
team is going
to push us like
— Tregg Peterson South Salem.”
Per usual,
the
Keizer
for every bucket or missed op- team hit the court with a re-
portunity by McNary. Senior newed sense of urgency and
Devon Dunagan led the team turned the tables. McNary
in scoring for the night with outshot Forest Grove 16-8
16 points.
in the third frame, cutting
The prelude to McNary’s the Vikings’ lead to 48-47. A
game with South Salem was a 19-point fourth period gave
game with Forest Grove High the Celts a 66-58 win.
School Friday, Jan. 30, and it
“It wasn’t a sloppy game,
was another sluggish start for but it was physical and we got
McNary.
to the line and hit our shots
After McNary edged the there. We survived it,” Kirch
Vikings 24-22 in the fi rst pe- said.
riod, Forest Grove put out a
Junior Harry Cavell led the
monster second frame out- team with 19 points; Peterson
scoring McNary 18-7.
Please see LOSS, Page A14
“We can’t come out
thinking we’re going to
roll anyone over.”