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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2015)
OCTOBER 23, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11 LOSS: Kickoff return puts Titans ahead late in game erything as best we could up With 3:39 left in the fi rst, front. They did bring a lot of McNary struck again on a 17- pressure from the outside in yard touchdown rush by Kyle the fi rst half, but we made a Aicher making the score 13-8. few adjustments at halftime “We’ve been really working and I thought we did well hard in practice and we’ve re- with that,” said Celt Jason ally found our weapons. If you Sperle. look back at that game with The Titans made a steady West it wasn’t like we had one march to the Celtic end zone receiver domi- to score at 7:34 nating or even in the third one runner,” frame for a Aicher said. score of 27-22. It took West “It really only two plays came down to to reclaim a discipline,” said 15-13 lead on Van Cleave. — Trent Van Cleave “On a long, perfect- that McNary quarterback t o u c h d o w n ly timed bomb. Sparks was we only had the next one to 10 guys on the the board on a 25-yard touch- fi eld, and there’s little things down run at 8:04 in the sec- like that we need to take care ond quarter. With a successful of.” point after, McNary led 20-15. McNary punted away its Three drives later Van fi rst drive after a steady rain Cleave connected with Aicher started to fall, but West fum- for another touchdown and bled on the fi rst play of its re- the 27-15 lead going into the turn and Celt Hayden Sader half. recovered the ball at West’s “I think we handled ev- 45-yard line. (Continued from Page A10) “It really came down to discipline.” The Celts extended their lead again when Van Cleave ran in a touchdown from the Titan four-yard line to make the score 34-22. However, West jumped right back into the fray on its next drive and made the score 34-29 and set- ting up the fourth quarter. Despite the loss, Auvinen said the team had the right mindset going into the game, it was simply little things lead- ing to touchdowns that broke down over time. “On offense we executed well and came out pretty strong. It wasn’t that great at the end, but we started good,” Van Cleave said. McNary faces the Greater Valley Conference leaders, South Salem High School, Friday, Oct. 23. “Offensively, we just have to keep moving the ball and doing what we’ve been doing. Defensively, we really have to pick it up this week and study lots of fi lm. If we catch them on an off day, it’s a game that can go our way,” Aicher said. Wrestle camp starts Monday Middle school wrestlers looking to get a jump on learning the skills of the sport are encouraged to check out McNary High School’s annual wrestling camp. Any student in kindergarten through eighth grade is welcome to sign up, and ath- letes fi nishing their football season before joining the camp will receive a discounted rate. The camp runs Monday, Oct. 26, through Wednesday, Nov. 11 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The camp will meet Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week in the McNary High School upper gym and explore takedown techniques, top and bottom techniques and match strategies. Cost is $25 per student or $40 for a family. Registration can be completed at the door. puzzle answers KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Celt Brodie Sparks knocks a tackler from the path of quarterback Trent Van Cleave in the West Salem game Friday, Oct. 16. Celts, Saxons clash By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The McNary High School varsity football team kicks off against the Greater Valley Conference’s top dogs in a game at South Salem High School Friday, Oct. 23. The Saxons were ranked fi fth in the state headed into the game and hadn’t lost a contest all season. “They have a quarterback (Gabe Matthews) with good eyes and a great touch on the ball. They also have big lines on both sides of the ball so we are going to have to be ready in the trenches,” said Jeff Auvinen, McNary head coach. Matthews was 12-18 pass- ing for 187 yards with two touchdowns last week in a 39-14 win over North Salem High School. Matthews also had 78 yards rushing with a touchdown, kicked one 42- yard fi eld goal and four extra points. “I’m excited for the challenge and I think we’ll be ready to compete” — Jason Sperle McNary center Saxon wide receiver Jo- seph Carey led the offense with fi ve catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns while running back Fran- cisco Ramirez-Perez piled up 110 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. “It’s hard going into the game coming off a loss, but we have a chance to get a good seed going into playoffs and we have to focus on win- ning this game and that pos- sibility,” said McNary’s Kyle Aicher. McNary lost a 43-40 heartbreaker as the clock wound down to West Salem High School last week. Mc- Nary was leading the game 40-37 with 1:18 left in the game when the Titans ran back a kickoff for a touch- downs. “We had a couple of situa- tions where special teams had breakdowns in the game, but it really comes down to be- ing a little more focused on the task at hand and coun- teracting the things we know the other team is capable of,” Auvinen said. McNary quarterback Trent Van Cleave completed 16 of 21 for 201 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran the ball 30 times for 130 yards. Celt running back Brady Sparks had 87 yards on 16 carries and 87 yards on three catches. “We know we should have won that game with West and that makes this game more diffi cult, but if we play hard and with each other we’ll be all right,” Van Cleave said. Celt Senior Jason Sperle said that it wouldn’t do the team any good to point fi n- gers regarding breakdowns last week, instead they needed to focus on themselves. “I’m excited for the chal- lenge and I think we’ll be ready to compete. We’re all clicking and we’re fi nally coming together as a unit that works well together,” Sperle said.