PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 25, 2015
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Big wins all around
Boys surge to sixth
on win over Vikings
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
In one of the McNary High
School boys varsity basketball
team’s most controlled wins
in years, the Celts handily de-
feated the Forest Grove Vikings
76-62 Friday, Dec. 18.
The victory sent the Keizer
team soaring up the state rank-
ings to sixth in the OSAA 6A
classifi cation.
“Forest Grove is a very tal-
ented team, but our kids have
practiced and prepared with a
sense of purpose that they can
win regardless of the situation.
They’re not arrogant or cocky,
but they are very confi dent in
their abilities and have a strong
belief in themselves,” said Ryan
Kirch, McNary head coach.
“It was just beautiful to watch
them at times tonight.”
The Celtics started the game
with a 5-0 lead but soon found
themselves trailing the Vikings
12-5. Three-point goals by
Harry Cavell, Easton Neitzel
and Alex Martin help close the
gap to 23-18 by the close of the
frame, but Forest Grove still led.
A three-pointer by Chan-
dler Cavell kept the Vikings
within reach shortly after the
beginning of the second pe-
riod. Coupled with another
trey by Martin, McNary then
kept the game close. The Celts
fi nally retook the game lead
with a two-point goal by H.
Cavell with 3:30 to go in the
half.
The Vikings took the lead
back on their next posses-
sion. As the clock was wind-
ing down, C. Cavell scored his
second three-point goal of the
night to give McNary a 41-40
lead and then H. Cavell made
a steal and scored on a dunk to
give McNary a 43-40 lead go-
ing into halftime.
“We shut down (Taylor)
Jensen, who is one of the lea-
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Kaelie Flores heads for the rim in the game with Sheldon High School. The girls beat
the then-No. 1 OSAA 6A team 75-57.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Celt Cade Goff dribbles around a Forest Grove defender just
before putting up a shot.
ing scorers in the state right
now, but they had a lot of oth-
er guys step up,” said Mathew
Ismay. “The only problem was
we gave up 40 in the fi rst half,
which isn’t something we want
to do.”
The second half was all
McNary from the get-go. The
Celtics scored seven unan-
swered points at the top of the
third frame, fi ve by Ismay.
With limited trips to the
foul line, the Keizer boys out-
scored the Vikings 33-22. Un-
til the Forest Grove match, the
Celts had relied on making
trips to the foul line to win
close games, but only got one
in the fourth period this time
around.
“We came out strong in
the second half and really ex-
ecuted. On defense we played
hard and shut down their bet-
ter players,” said Neitzel.
Kirch said the game came
down to some key perfor-
mances in a strong team effort.
Please see BOYS, Page A13
Lady Celts take down
Oregon’s 6A leaders
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School girls varsity bas-
ketball team took most everyone by surprise in
a 75-57 win over Sheldon High School Satur-
day, Dec. 19, themselves included.
“It was kind of a surprise to be winning but,
by the end of the game we were like, ‘Oh, this
is us and who we are as a team,’” said Kaelie
Flores, a Celtic senior.
Going into the game, Sheldon was the top-
ranked team in the OSAA 6A division, Mc-
Nary moved up to No. 14 with the win.
McNary hosted the match-up and started
out with a seven-point run that included two
two-point goals by Flores and a three-pointer
by Madi Hingston.
The Keizer girls carried that lead into the
second frame and lost it only briefl y midway
through the quarter. After falling behind 26-24,
sophomore Kailey Doutt hit a two-pointer to
knot the game 26-26. The Lady Celts would
trail through the end of the half, but a fi nal
bucket by Reina Strand sent the teams to half-
time with the Fighting Irish leading 35-33.
“We started doing things a bit different even
in the pre-game warm-ups and that made for a
good start,” said Strand.
By midway through the fourth quarter, the
Lady Celts had a 19-point lead over the Irish.
McNary spent much of the late minutes at the
Wrestlers take down Grizzlies
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Four McNary High School
wrestlers were key to pick-
ing up the team’s fi rst win,
44-28, over McMinnville
High School since the Griz-
zlies joined the Greater Valley
Conference.
“It was a four-man puzzle,
and we had some kids step up
who had never been bumped
up a weight class before. You
do that and it’s like a fl ip of
a coin. It was a string of kids
that came out of their shell
and did some good things,”
said Jason Ebbs, McNary head
coach.
McNary hosted the meet
Thursday, Dec. 17.
It came down to needing
a 195-pound wrestler to win
the duel, Ebbs added. To make
that happen, Celt Jesse Gomez
wrestled at 160 pounds and
lost by pin. Up next Carlos
Vincent, usually a 160-pound
entry, wrestled at 170 and
won in a 16-8 major deci-
sion. Blake Gerstner wrestled
at 182 pounds and won a barn
burner with a 15-9 fi nal score.
McNary’s Isaiah Putnam,
who was giving up about 20
pounds by the time he took
the mat at 195 pounds, won in
an 8-2 decision.
“It was a good milestone.
McMinnville is one of the
teams that fl oats near the top
and we knew they had four
studs coming out this year. We
ended up losing those match-
es, but we competed well even
in those matches,” Ebbs said.
The evening started with
the 106 pounders and Celt
Brooke Burrows taking on
August Hirsch. Burrows dom-
inated throughout, but strug-
gled to turn Hirsch for a pin
as the match wore on.
“I realized it wasn’t work-
ing, so I decided to try for a
tech fall,” said Burrows, who
has been part of McNary’s
Mat Club for about eight
years. Burrows got close to her
goal of the tech fall, but simply
ran out of time. She won in a
19-8 decision. “It helps that I
only have brothers,” she said.
“It’s made me really competi-
tive.”
At 120 pound Joey Kibbey
won by pin in 1:30; Jon Phelps
won by pin in 1:12; and Wyatt
Kesler won in a 16-0 tech fall.
Please see WRESTLE, Page A11
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Blake Gerstner cinches in a half-nelson during his match of the McMinville duel meet
Thursday, Dec. 17.
Please see GIRLS, Page A13
Walkers
buy out
Volcanoes
The Walker family recently
purchased 100 percent of the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes after
decades of co-ownership with
Bill Tucker.
Tucker and Jerry Walker
brought the franchise to Sa-
lem-Keizer, from Bellingham,
Wash., in 1997, as the Salem-
Keizer Volcanoes, and have
jointly owned the franchise
since 1989.
“Lisa and I are honored that
this ownership partnership of
27 years helped contribute
to three World Series Cham-
pionships and six Northwest
League pennants; it is one of
the great recent runs in Pacifi c
Northwest Minor League
baseball and we thank Bill
Tucker and his family for their
true passion for the game,”
Jerry Walker said; Lisa is his
wife. “The commitment to
championships and this com-
munity is stronger than ever
before.”
The full ownership al-
lows for continuity as Walker
Please see WALKER, Page A13