PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 29, 2016
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Boys roll near-perfect
game en route to title
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Celt Jesse Gomez tries to prevent Caulin Leach from escaping
during the West Albany dual meet.
Celts escape
Bulldogs
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
After early matches in Mc-
Nary High School varsity
wrestling meet with West Al-
bany high School Thursday,
Jan. 21, the Celts had fallen
behind.
The Bulldogs managed
a few upsets, but Jason Ebbs,
McNary head coach, said the
two programs were tough
in some of the same weight
classes.
“We knew it was going
to come down to about fi ve
critical matches. If we won
those, we were going to win
by a lot, but if we lost them it
was going to be the other way
around,” Ebbs said.
Things were looking iffy
before senior Blake Gerstner
took the mat and won by pin
to even the score 24-24.
“I knew I didn’t want to
get pinned and I was going to
fi ght off my back no matter
what,” Gerstner said. “I want-
ed to be part of getting the fi re
going again for the team.”
The Celts took a lead they
wouldn’t relinquish after Mc-
Nary’s Jesse Gomez pulled off
another pin for the team.
“I heard the coach say we
needed a pin. That made it
stressful, but I knew I had to
get it and I wanted to get it,”
said Gomez. “It was a tough
position to be in but I think
we held together pretty well.”
McNary ended up winning
the dual meet with a score of
47-25.
Other Celtic winners were:
Joey Kibbey by pin; Jon Phelps
by pin; and Isaiah Putnam by
pin.
On Jan. 22 and 23, the mat
team competed in the annual
Reser Tournament of Cham-
pions. Junior Sean Burrows
took second in the junior
varsity division and senior Jon
Phelps placed sixth at the var-
sity level.
“We had fi ve guys still
wrestling on day two and four
of them had to win their fi rst
match to have a shot at plac-
ing. Three lost, one won and
that was Wyatt Kesler who
fi nished one match away from
placing,” said Ebbs.
Celts Ricky Vincent and
Putnam also fi nished one
match away from placing.
“It was a tough tourna-
ment, we lost fi ve matches
on day one by three or fewer
points in the varsity and those
were dealbreakers for us. We
have to be able to win those
types of matches, especially at
the district and state level, to
make an impact,” Ebbs said.
Two weeks ago, the varsity
wrestling team placed fourth
out of 20 Oregon 6A teams at
the Oregon Classic Jan. 15-16.
While wrestling becomes a
mostly individual sport by the
time state matches roll around,
the Classic is one of the truest
Please see WRESTLE, Page A9
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Assistant Coach Scott Miller, Garrett Hughes, Jerome Ricks, Bailey Lee, Tim Kiser, Donovan Grubough, Head Coach Dan Kaplan,
Adam Teal, Nick Blythe and Derrick Lucas after winning the district bowling title.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
boys varsity bowling team not
only won a district title Sunday,
Jan. 24, they bowled a near-per-
fect game.
“The energy in the entire
building changed once they
started striking. There were
spectators high-fi ving each
other,” said Scott Miller, the
team’s assistant coach. The
event was hosted by Linn Lanes
in Lebanon.
Perfect games are a rare
enough occurrence, they re-
quire a bowler to deliver 12
consecutive strikes that total
300 points when all is said and
done.
Competitive high school
bowling adds another twist.
Five-person teams bowl baker-
style meaning the fi rst bowler
will bowl frames one and six.
The second bowler will bowl
Tops in Seaside
frames two and seven with the
fi fth bowler bowling frames
fi ve and 10.
With Celtics Jerome Ricks,
Bailey Lee, Tim Kiser, Donny
Grubough and Nick Blythe
on the lane, McNary posted a
game for the record books.
“We started several games
with two or three strikes, but as
the streak got longer and longer
more and more people were
paying attention,” said Dan Ka-
plan, McNary head coach.
In a single game of the semi-
fi nals, the Celtics had accumu-
lated 11 strikes plus eight pins
on the fi nal ball for a grand to-
tal of 298.
“I was jumping up and
down after every strike,” said
Grubough.
“Everybody in the place
stopped to watch us,” said Kiser.
“It was stadium-level loud,”
added Blythe.
Grubough, Kiser and Blythe
were all named all-stars of the
tournament.
The almost-perfect effort
was also the fi nal act of a trilogy
for McNary in the semifi nal
rounds. It capped a three-game
series that began with scores of
262 and 224.
“It was the most incredible
stretch I’ve ever seen in more
than 20 years as a coach,” Ka-
plan said.
The Celtics’ road to the
semifi nals was no bed of roses.
“The fi rst round is 22 games
and we did okay. We had a lot of
open frames and pins left hang-
ing,” said Kaplan.
Grubough said everyone ral-
lied after tough frames to keep
it together.
“If someboy had a bad shot,
we were all right there telling
him it was all right,” Grubough
said.
By the end of the prelimi-
naries, the McNary team was
second and had claimed a seat
in the semifi nals. In the semi-
fi nals, which consists of 10
games, all scores were reset and
the Celts began bowling out of
their minds.
At the end of 10 games, Mc-
Nary was 321 pins ahead of the
second place team.
The Celts ended up facing a
team from McKay High School
in the fi nals and won easily.
“McKay was intimidated
and we bowled 211 our fi rst
game to their 138,” Kaplan said.
The Celts fi nished ahead
377-249 for the two fi nals
games.
Blythe, a three-year veteran
of the team whose already got
several 300 games as a solo per-
former, said the experience was
his most memorable yet.
“It was the most fun I’ve had
in three years, and this is the
best team I’ve ever been part
of,” Blythe said.
Girls cage
Grizzlies
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
The sixth grade KYBA Celts girls won a Seaside tournament championship last weekend. Players are: Taylor Rubio, Mya Adams,
Piper Nelson, Kylie Nepstad, Callie Montgomery, Aubrey Smith, Mya Salinas, Lexi Dalton, Annabelle Brawley. The team is coached
by Misty Rubio and Duford Adams.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The
McNary
High
School girls varsity basket-
ball team completed its fi rst
run through the Greater Val-
ley Conference with a 53-34
win over McMinnville High
School Friday, Jan. 22.
The Lady Celts are cur-
rently second in the GVC
with a record of 7-1. South
Salem was the only team
to beat the Celts in the fi rst
round-robin, but Derick
Handley, McNary head coach,
doesn’t want the team resting
on its laurels.
“I really hope that we don’t
settle. I hope the girls aren’t
satisfi ed with taking second in
the league because our goals
have been much bigger than
that the entire season” Hand-
ley said.
With games on tap vs.
North Salem and Forest
Grove high schools before
getting another shot at the
Saxons, Celt senior Kaelie
Flores said it’s diffi cult to not
look past the next two games
to the one on the horizon.
“We defi nitely have our
eyes on South, but we can’t
overlook North and Forest
Grove. We have to work on
ourselves in those games to be
ready for (South),” Flores said.
Sophomore Kailey Doutt
said there are still things for
McNary’s team to improve
upon in the run-up to the
South game, which the Celts
host Tuesday, Feb. 2.
“Our team defense has
been a lot better, but we can
get better in our offense and
more consistent,” Doutt said.
Please see GIRLS, Page A9