MARCH 6, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
COACH,
continued from Page A10
Courtesy of J&H Photo
McNary’s Brayden Ebbs celebrates after a win in the state tournament held February 28 and 29
in Portland.
where we left off.”
Sperle went directly to varsity action skip-
ping a tenure under Auvinen, but sophomore
Kolby Barker was part of Auvinen’s team as a
freshman.
“We actually didn’t have that great of a sea-
son, but we’ve got the right guys in the right
places to be successful under Coach Auvinen.
I’m excited, it’s going to be good,” Barker said.
Auvinen laid out the plan for the immedi-
ate future while greeting the troops for the fi rst
time as head coach.
“The goals we have are to develop excellent
community members, develop our football IQ
and become as much of a family atmosphere as
we can. We’ll do the last part by having fun,”
Auvinen said.
In football, Auvinen has served as varsity de-
fensive coordinator, defensive back coach, head
junior varsity coach, junior varsity offensive co-
ordinator, freshman offensive coordinator and
freshman head coach. He also led the Lady Celt
softball program as head coach for six years and
assistant coached the junior varsity basketball
team for four years.
He said he’ll be looking for leadership in the
Ebbs sixth in state BOYS,
McNary High School’s
other wrestlers in the state
tournament were led by fresh-
man Brayden Ebbs.
Ebbs took sixth in state at
120 pounds after coming in
second at the district tourna-
ment and ousted the No. 1
seed in the tournament along
the way.
Junior
Joey
Kibbey
knocked out the No. 1 seed
in the state at 106 pounds. He
nearly toppled the fi rst-ranked
wrestler at the tournament in
a close 9-8 loss.
Sophomore Wyatt Kessler
kept improving in the waning
weeks of the season, but only
managed one win at the tour-
nament. Kessler is bouncing
back this season after being
sidelined in 2014.
Jon Phelps was one of the
Celts’ biggest prospects head-
ed into the state tournament,
but ended up benched with a
concussion in the fi rst day.
Mike Phelps, despite nag-
ging knee injuries, made it all
the way to the quarterfi nals.
Taran Purkey had one of
the tougher routes to making
the podium and lost to Bar-
low High School’s Zephrain
Childs. Purkey was winning
the match when Childs got
him in a head-and-arm pin-
ning him.
While a state title wasn’t
in the cards this season, Head
Coach Jason Ebbs said the
team will return a powerful
line-up next winter.
“Thanks to the develop-
ment of many guys in the off
season, we were able to exceed
our projections considerably
by the growth our team was
able to accomplish. Our line-
up at districts had only four
returning district placers from
last year and no returning state
placers. We ended up placing
13 kids at districts and qualify-
ing seven for the state tourna-
ment,” Ebbs said.
GIRLS: ‘They’re not looking
to run for four quarters’
(Continued from Page A10)
they’ve been successful this
year. The thing we have is some
pretty good size and good post
defenders,” said Derick Hand-
ley, McNary head coach. “Their
posts are their center points and
everything works off that, very
similar to West Salem.”
Handley’s plan going into
the game was to double-up
on the posts each time they
got the ball forcing shots and
attempting to keep everything
running at a high tempo.
“Their posts are tall, but
they’re not looking to run for
four quarters. If we make them
run the whole game, we hope
they won’t be much of a fac-
tor,” he said.
After starting the season
with four consecutive losses,
McNary’s road to this point
hasn’t been a cakewalk. But the
team has only lost three games
since the beginning of January.
That was no small feat, said Er-
nest.
“This year began with the
third new head coach since
I started as a freshman,” Er-
nest said. “Restarting again
with a whole new program
has been great and getting to
this point in the fi rst year with
new coaches is something I’m
proud of.”
Several of the Lady Celts
were all-league selections this
past week in addition to top-
ping 6A teams in average
GPA. Hingston was named to
the fi rst team all-league. Kae-
lie Flores and Sydney Hunter
was placed on the second team
all-league. Ernest and Lauren
Hudgins were both honorable
mentions.
The team’s average GPA is
3.85.
ranks immediately, which will mean everything
from marching in the Keizer Iris Festival Parade
to mentoring youth football players on the fi eld.
“We want people like you guys helping them
get a good start. Some of them need a good
male role model in their life,” he told players.
After the meeting, Auvinen said he put con-
siderable thought into taking on a “dream job.”
“I have thought about this job for 20 years or
so, and have had some nice talks with my family
about the biggest obstacle - time. We decided
that we can make this entire endeavor a family
affair and it really has turned into a dream job,”
he said.
He said he’ll put an emphasis on getting
stronger and quicker, but mostly developing
players’ confi dence in their own abilities.
“There are two big challenges for next year
and they are mental and physical preparation,”
Auvinen said.
As far as a game plan, Auvinen said there will
likely be more of a mix of passing and running
the ball, a slight change in direction from Park-
er’s vision for a run-fi rst offense.
“We want to keep them guessing and cause
paralysis by analysis. We want them confused as
to what we’ll be doing,” Auvinen said. “Most
importantly, we have to play as a team. We need
11 people doing their job. If we’ve only got
nine, we don’t have a play.”
continued from Page A10
the refs called a foul before it
left his hands and the points,
which would have made the
score 46-44, came off the
board.
Peterson put in McNary’s
last two points from the foul
line.
Despite the long road trip
to North Medford, players
and coaches were less con-
cerned with the travel time
than the team itself. The Celts
have only lost one game this
season on the road.
“We’ve got a height ad-
vantage (over North Med-
ford), but they’ll get out and
run with quick, good guards,”
said Cavell.
“The environments don’t
matter so much as the style
of play. They’ll be more like
a South Salem and we split
the games with them this sea-
son,” Kirch added. “We need
to control the tempo and
protect the ball while getting
points on both sides of the
press.”
In other, less traumatiz-
ing news for the Celts. Mc-
Nary’s entire starting line-up
received all-league honors.
Peterson and Cavell were
both named to the fi rst team
all-league with Peterson be-
ing named Player of the Year.
Dunagan was named second
team all-league. VanCleave
was given third team honors.
Mathew Ismay was an honor-
able mention, but also named
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Drew McHugh makes a charge to the hoop in the Celts’ game
with McKay High School Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Defensive Player of the Year.
The boys also topped the
state in average GPA for 6A
teams. Collectively, they aver-
aged a 3.65. It is the second
consecutive year that the boys
claimed the state title for
classroom efforts.
bowling scores
Mixed Nuts Men’s high games: Bob Dunn, 223. Men’s high
series: Bob Dunn, 640. Women’s high game: Cheryl Wenger,
222. Women’s high series: Krystal Hall, 602.
Ladies’ Doubles Women’s high game: Nancy Sharp, 168.
Women’s high series: Nancy Sharp, 468.
Monday Nite Trio Men’s high game: Brian Kaplan, 268.
Men’s high series: Zak Lindgren, 736. Women’s high game: Jocee
Freeman, 252. Women’s high series: Margaret Burden, 638.
Queen Pins Women’s high game: Karen Putnam, 211. Wom-
en’s high series: Karen Putnam, 521.
Tuesday Seniors Men’s high game: Blair Grames, 218.
Men’s high series: Floyd Riley, 548. Women’s high game: Ruth
Tisler, 176. Women’s high series: Ruth Tisler, 455.
Men’s Continental Men’s high game: Louis McNutt, 288.
Men’s high series: Louis McNutt, 718.
Twilighters Men’s high game: Rich Ramsey, 263. Men’s
high series: Mac Wright, 706. Women’s high game: Liz LaMar,
198. Women’s high series: Stacey Thrasher, 542.
Statehouse Men’s high game: Tom Hammerschmith, 260.
Men’s high series: Tom Hammerschmith, 703. Women’s high
game: Nancy Sharp, 223. Women’s high series: Nancy Sharp, 560.
Bowl Crazy Men’s high game: Brandon Coffey, 255. Men’s
high series: Brandon Coffey, 652. Women’s high game: Bonnie
Cox, 233. Women’s high series: Bonnie Cox, 655.
Seniors in Action Men’s high game: Jim Wenger, 267. Men’s
high series: Jim McCurdy, 699. Women’s high game: Jill Poole,
219. Women’s high series: Dee Dee Shirley, 585.
Thursday Seniors Men’s high game: Charlie Golden, 218.
Men’s high series: Tim Holman, 600. Women’s high game: Ce-
ceilia Formiller, 193. Women’s high series: Pat Shirley, 505.
Sportsbar Challenge Men’s high game: Jonathan Curiel,
278. Men’s high series: Kent Miller, 683. Women’s high game:
Sally Cushman, 184. Women’s high series: Marguerite LeWright,
458.
Jr. Majors Boy’s high game: Nick Blythe, 270. Boy’s high
series: Nick Blythe, 659. Girl’s high game: Cassidy Steckmann,
83. Girl’s high series: Cassidy Steckmann, 199.
Bantam Preps Boy’s high game: Auron Davidson, 122. Boy’s
high series: Auron Davidson, 329. Girl’s high game: Rinoa Da-
vidson, 130. Girl’s high series: Rinoa Davidson, 299.
Try out for Monarchs
The Mid-Valley Monarchs
basketball program will once
again be holding try-outs/
sign-ups for spring and summer
teams.
The program is designed to
help players who wish to pur-
sue more advanced basketball
during their off season. It does
not confl ict with school pro-
grams and is intended to sup-
port their school teams. The
program will set up as many
teams as the numbers of players
and qualifi ed available coaches
provides.
Try-outs/Sign-ups are:
High School Girls (currently
in grades 8 - 11)
Sunday, March 15: 4:30 to
7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 17: 7 to 9
p.m.
Middle School Girls (cur-
rently in grades 6 - 7)
Sunday, March 15: 2 to 4
p.m.
Tuesday, March 17: 5:30 to
7 p.m.
The tryouts on March 15
will be held at West Salem High
School. The location for March
17 is TBD and will be noted on
the website www.midvalley-
monarchs.com
There will be a $25 try-out
fee.
Each of the teams will have
a fee to participate that will be
based on the number of tour-
naments in which they enter.
For more information, visit
www.midvalleymonarchs.com
or contact Ron Hittner, (503)
580-5722, ronhittner@hotmail.
com or Terry Williams, (503)
871-6551, twilliams@corban.
edu if you have questions.