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.