Lessons for gridders amid struggles
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
varsity football team ended
its season with a 42-21 loss
to Central Catholic High
School in the fi rst round of
the state playoffs Friday, Nov.
6.
The Celtics experienced
a fair bit of success in the
season’s early going, but ran
into the buzzsaw of its sched-
ule four weeks ago. McNary
ended up losing its last four
games of the season.
Jeff Auvinen, McNary
head coach, said the season’s
pivotal game proved to be a
10-7 loss to McKay High
School in the fourth week.
“It really hurt us in the
power rankings and gave us
a loss that we couldn’t really
afford, but it also woke us up
a little bit. It spurred us into
some good efforts with the
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McNary’s Hayden Sader turns up the fi eld en route to a fi rst down in McNary’s game with Central
Catholic High School Friday, Nov. 6.
teams after that,” he said.
McNary won its next
two outings against Mc-
Minnville and Forest Grove
High School. The latter was
the Celtics’ most dominating
performance of the season
and ended with a fi nal score
of 51-28.
After losing the next week
in a 43-40 squeaker hosting
West Salem High School,
the boys seemed to lose a bit
of confi dence as the league
leaders in the Greater Valley
Conference took their posi-
tions on the opposite side of
the fi eld.
Still, McNary fi nished
fourth in the league.
“The thing was is we were
in a tough league this season
and we fi nished near the top,”
said Celt LaCroix Hill.
Even as the season was
ending Trent Van Cleave, Mc-
Nary quarterback, said some
things had survived the team’s
late-season struggles.
“We defi nitely didn’t fulfi ll
our potential, but we’re still a
family,” he said.
In hope of getting closer
to fulfi lling that potential in
2016, Auvinen planned to
start offseason workouts in
the coming weeks.
“We need to get a little
stronger and tougher physi-
cally and mentally. The big
thing is getting stronger. The
younger kids are pretty ex-
cited to start on that path,”
Auvinen said. “We didn’t
quite get there this season,
but its our goal in every
game. I want our younger
kids to learn from the desire
our seniors had this season
and from the pitfalls they en-
countered along the way.”
For the team’s depart-
ing seniors, Auvinen said he
would like them to take away
lessons of cooperation and
teamwork.
“Football is the ultimate
game of everyone doing their
job. That means doing your
job and trusting everyone
else to be doing their jobs,”
he said. “It’s a total coop-
erative effort and, when we
were doing those things, we
were a pretty good team. I’d
like them to learn from those
moments about the value of
cooperation and teamwork.
It makes us a lot stronger
when we work together.”
WILSON,
continued from Page A11
where-to and how-to from
them. George, who had lived
there all his life, warned me,
“Opening weekend is always a
mess. Too many hunters, too
many dogs and lots of confu-
sion. You have to know most of
the farmers to get permission
to hunt. A high percentage of
the hunters will not hunt again
the rest of the season.”
My trusty book had warned
me not to hunt my young dog
in a crowd with other dogs. So,
opening weekend I slipped out,
not letting Rusty see me leave.
I was thankful for the guid-
ance of the book. As George
had said, “it was a mess.” We
had big aggressive dogs out of
control, dog fi ghts, birds going
in all directions, cripples down
and running, and lots of shoot-
ing and yelling. I learned a
lot about what not to do. All
weekend I kept thinking that
Monday after work, Rusty
and I would be out there for a
quality experience.
So, here we are, and he’s
locked on point. He doesn’t
fl inch as I ease up to him in
the ankle deep alfalfa.
I think to myself, “I have to
kill this fi rst bird for Rusty.”
The rooster explodes into
the air with a loud cackle as
he heads straight away. The
12-gauge Ithaca swings into
place and, as coach had taught
me, I whisper, “shoot-him-in-
the-butt.” The rooster is dead
in the air at 30 yards.
This is a totally new experi-
ence for Rusty. The bird hits
the ground and he is on it in a
heartbeat. The next minute or
so becomes one of the greatest
experiences I have ever had in
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the fi eld.
Rusty grabs the rooster,
drops it, wheels, lets out a “yip”
and charges at me in a dead
run. My fi rst thought is he has
grabbed a sharp, broken wing
bone. At about three feet, he
leaps straight into my chest,
and almost knocks me down.
I try to hug him with one arm,
but it’s like trying to hug a
freshly landed 40-pound salm-
on. He squirts out of my arm
and heads back to the rooster.
He fl ips it in the air, streaks out
in a 30-yard circle as hard as
he can run, ears fl ying in the
air, and a “yip, yip, yip” each
time he hits the ground! I put
the shotgun aside just in time
for him to jump into my arms
again.
I have never seen such un-
controlled joy in an animal.
He repeats his circling routine
again. I sit there in the cool
autumn air, tears of joy rolling
down my cheeks.
Rusty’s fi rst rooster will al-
ways occupy a special place in
my heart.
WMS,
continued from Page A11
“Undefeated? I still can
hardly process it. I remem-
ber our fi rst practice like it
was yesterday,” said T. Lar-
imer. “Eleven of my 25 play-
ers had never played football
before, and half of them took
one look at Junior and Fowler
and Young and were scared to
death. But my staff—Marcus
and Coach Barker, as well as
my main assistant Angel Ochoa
and line coaches Jason Wall-
ing and Zach Drake (another
former Whiteaker and Mc-
Nary captain) were amazing
from day one—they created
a culture based on technique,
teaching, repetition and pure
positive reaffi rmation, and the
kids completely bought in.”
“Before the game tonight
I asked my kids if they cared
enough about their teammates
to give their very best on the
biggest stage—and that’s ex-
actly what they did.”
J. Walling added, “This sea-
son is the result of players and
coaches who are fully com-
mitted to a common cause.”
Submitted by Tom Larimer