PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 6, 2015
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celts draw defending state champs
BY ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
To advance to the second
round of the Oregon football
playoffs, the McNary High
School varsity football team
will have to unseat the OSAA
6A champs of the past two sea-
sons.
The 28th-ranked Celt-
ics travel to meet fi fth-ranked
Central Catholic High School
Friday, Nov. 6. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
at Hillsboro Stadium.
“We want to compete and
play our best game. Nobody’s
seen our best game yet this sea-
son and that is our best weap-
on,” said Celt Hayden Sader.
To make an impact in the
game, the Celtics will have to
put together 48 minutes of
offense, defense and special
teams, said Jeff Auvinen, Mc-
Nary head coach.
“If we do that it helps our
chances tremendously,” he said.
The Rams have won sev-
en straight games, but haven’t
been the crushing offensive
force of seasons past. The last
time the two teams faced each
other, in 2013, Central Catho-
lic routed McNary 62-7.
The Rams have thrived
this season on defense. In its
last seven wins, the team has
held its opponents to 99 total
points. The defensive line has
had huge help from punter
Owen White.
Two weeks ago, White
kicked a 47-yard fi eld goal
and fi ve punts of more than 45
yards.
“They’re a better defense
than they are an offense so that
means I’m going to have to get
the ball off quick and get the
right reads. After that, it’s just
making holes,” said McNary’s
Trent Van Cleave.
On Ram offense, quar-
terback Deandre Smith has
completed 67 of 100 for 930
yards with one intercep-
tion and seven touchdowns.
Running backs Ronnie Rust
(686 yards for the season with
nine touchdowns) and Brady
Breeze (449 yards) lead the
ground attack.
“We have to keep working
on defense and I want to have
no leakage on the run game,”
said Celt LaCroix Hill. “We
have to regroup after the loss
last week and make sure every-
one is on the same page, and
there is no intimidation.”
McNary’s offense will have
to fi nd its center this week if
the Celtics stand a chance of
coming out on top. The Keiz-
er team will also have to halt
a three-game losing skid. The
team has shown signs of great-
ness at times when it makes
use of its many weapons on
the receiving end of the ball,
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
The Celtic defensive line makes a goal-line stand preventing a touchdown in the game Friday, Oct. 30.
but frequently relies on the
rushing skills of quarterback
Trent Van Cleave and running
back Brady Sparks.
Its best performances so far
this season have been in a 51-
28 rout of Forest Grove High
School and an admirable start
in a 56-12 loss to South Salem
High School two weeks ago.
In a 21-14 loss to Sprague
High School last week, the
Celtic defense proved it was
capable of coming up with red
zone stops. However, break-
downs on ball returns and long
passing plays have plagued
McNary since the start of the
season.
“To win, we have to have
great practices all week and
everybody has to buy in. That’s
what its going to take,” said
Sader.
WMS streak still alive
Whiteaker Middle School’s
heavyweight football team
kept its dream season alive
with a 24-0 win over a tough
Houck team in a game that
was closer than the score re-
vealed.
Houck’s physical, ball con-
trol scheme used the clock
and kept the high fl ying Wol-
verine offense grounded for
long stretches.
After a scoreless fi rst quar-
ter, in which each team had
promising drives thwarted
by penalties, Houck had the
fi rst chance to score. Driving
deep into Whiteaker territory,
the Salem team was denied
by an inspired goal line stand
that began with Oskar Ol-
sen and Nate Young tackling
the Houck ballcarrier on the
Photo courtesy of J&H Photo
Lady Celt Shaylee Williams sends the ball over the net in McNary’s game with Cleveland High
School Wednesday, Oct. 28..
Netters fall to Pacers
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School varsity volleyball
team took down Cleveland High School in the
fi rst round of the state playoffs, but ran into a wall
in the second round.
The Lady Celts lost 3-1 to Lakeridge High
School Saturday, Oct. 31, in the second round,
ending the season.
“We worked a lot in practice on taking care
of each other when things go wrong, we also fo-
cused on doing what we do well with blocking
and defense. The girls felt good going into the
match,” said Kellie Scholl, McNary head coach.
While McNary had beaten the Pacers as little
as two weeks prior to the match, Scholl said the
Lake Oswego team found a way around the Celt-
ics’ big blockers.
“They tipped the ball a lot, something they
didn’t do the fi rst two times we met this year. Our
girls just had trouble adjusting,” she said. “We still
played great defense and with confi dence.”
Set scores were 21-25, 25-13, 25-18 and 25-
22.
The Keizer girls beat Cleveland in the fi rst
round Wednesday, Oct. 28, to advance to the sec-
ond round. Set scores were 25-8, 25-20, 20-25
and 25-21.
While the team will lose a several big con-
tributors in seniors Kylie Gilmour, Madie Cloyd,
Kaelie Flores, Madi Hingston, Reina Strand and
Vanessa Hayes, Scholl was confi dent the team
would return next season as good as ever.
“The team will do great things next year,”
Scholl said. “Last year, we lost fi ve seniors, all
starters, and we came in this year even stronger.
They had great leadership and role models with
this year’s seniors, and our juniors and sopho-
mores will do great things and follow in their
footsteps.”
Scholl herself won’t be part of the program
next year. She notifi ed school offi cials of her in-
tention to resign midway through the season, a
result of relocating to Sisters.
Even if the team fell a bit short of its goal for
the season – fi nishing in the top three in the state
– she said there were still lessons to take away.
“The girls are proud of what they have done
– being competitive while creating a family at-
mosphere where they play for each other. When
they played with confi dence and didn’t get scared,
the girls could accomplish anything,” Scholl said.
Whiteaker one-yard line. Af-
ter a tackle for no gain by An-
drew Shaw and Josh Patton, a
sack by Layton Thurlow made
it fourth-and-goal, Houck’s
back broke free for a sure
touchdown but was stopped
inches short of the goal line
by Joseph Fowler, Noah Le-
lack and Thurlow.
Nico Sandoval gave White-
aker breathing room with
a 15-yard run. On the next
play quarterback Erik Barker
hit wide receiver Junior Wall-
ing on a quick slant; Walling
slipped an arm tackle and
sprinted 84 yards untouched
for a touchdown. A Fowler
run for the two-point conver-
sion put Whiteaker up 8-0. A
long Houck drive then ended
as the fi rst half expired with
Houck on the Whiteaker
nine-yard line.
Head Coach Tom Larimer
said, “Houck deserves a ton
of credit. They came out with
a great plan. They wanted to
dictate the tempo of the game,
and they did. They wanted
to control the clock, and they
did. Coach Jeff Lafountaine
had a plan and stuck to it. I
credit him and his kids. But
our defense made stops when
it had to, and our offense re-
sponded with some quick
scores to fi nally put the thing
away.”
Houck began the second
half with a 12-play drive, but
again the Whiteaker’s defense
held.
Whiteaker then struck
Please see WMS, Page A16
Olys take 21-14 win
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Sprague High School
varsity football team domi-
nated possession time in their
game with the McNary High
School Celtics to take a 21-14
win Friday, Oct. 30.
The Olys ran up a 14-point
early in the match-up and held
on as the clock wound down
to take the win.
“We actually did pretty
well, but it’s executing on both
sides of the ball. I feel like we
lost control of the tempo a lot
and that hurt us,” said Hayden
Sader, a McNary senior.
McNary’s fi rst possession
sputtered quickly, and the
Celtic defense looked set to
spoil Sprague’s fi rst drive. Tack-
les by Kyle Aicher, Jon Ander-
son, Sader and Kolby Barker
brought up fourth-and-10 at
midfi eld. However, Sprague
faked a punt and junior run-
ning back Dane McKinney
took the snap. McKinney bar-
reled up the fi eld to the Celt-
ics’ one-yard line. Teammate
Anthony Nunn punched it
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Sam Farr fends off a pair of Oly linemen.
into the end zone two plays
later for a 7-0 lead.
On McNary’s next drive,
the Keizer boys pushed all
the way to the Oly 17-yard
line and quarterback Trent Van
Cleave ran a weaving route for
a touchdown that was called
back. After that setback, the
drive ended with McNary fac-
ing fourth-and-18.
“We weren’t very consistent
offensively and that hurt us
quite a bit when it came down
to it,” said Jeff Auvinen, Mc-
Nary head coach.
On the fi rst play of Sprague’s
return, Oly Nick Brotton
sloughed off three Celtic tack-
lers to get the second touch-
down of the game and give the
Please see OLYS, Page A15