PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McKay on tap
for homecoming
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary
overlooked
McKay last season.
Senior
Kolby
Barker
guaranteed that won’t be the
case this Friday.
“We didn’t give them the
respect they deserved and
we had a really off night,”
Barker said of last year’s game.
“Probably the fi rst quarter was
overlooking them and then
after that we couldn’t recover.”
Along with last season’s
10-7 result, which turned out
to be McKay’s only win of
2015, the Celtics are coming
off back-to-back losses to
South Salem and Sprague.
“You have to forget about
those (losses),” Barker said.
“You can’t dwell on them. You
learn from your mistakes and
move on. We’re working really
hard. We’re ready to go.”
It’s also homecoming for
McNary.
“It should be a big week
for them for a lot of reasons
and I think they’re prepping
pretty well,” McNary head
coach Jeff Auvinen said of his
team. “I think this year we
have a different attitude. These
seniors have done a really nice
job of getting ready.”
McKay went 4-24 over
the last three seasons but
have a new head coach in
Josh Riddell, who previously
spent a season at McNary as
the freshman team’s offensive
coordinator.
The Royal Scots, 1-2, have
shown improvement with a
3-point loss to West Salem,
followed by a blowout loss
to McMinnville and then a
convincing win over Forest
Grove.
Please see HOME, Page 9
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Scott Gragg, left, played 11 seasons as an offensive lineman in the National Football League. His son, Brian, is now a lineman on
the McNary football team after the family moved to Keizer from Missoula, Mont.
Big man on campus
Graggs join Celtic
football program
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
At 6-11, 400 pounds, Brian
Gragg would stand out in a
NFL lineup.
At McNary, he’s quickly
become one of the most
popular players on the Celtic
football team.
When Gragg saw his fi rst
game action, against South
Salem on Sept. 9, the McNary
student
section
erupted,
chanting, “Brian,
Brian,
Brian.”
“I felt really excited for
the crowd that they were
getting excited over football
and getting really pumped up
about the sport but I also felt
a little bit of embarrassment
because I am a new student
here and I’d only been there
for about a week,” Gragg said.
“It’s not like I’ve been here
since freshmen year. I literally
just got here and everybody
in the student section already
knew my name. It just blew
my mind. I’m riding it and
it’s so much fun. It’s a great
experience.”
Gragg said he didn’t get
many second glances on the
fi rst day of school, probably
because the other kids didn’t
realize he was a student. Once
they did, the questions started.
“I’ve probably been asked
over 100 times how tall I was
over the last two weeks and
I don’t really expect that to
be stopping anytime soon,”
Gragg said.
Brian, who was born 10
pounds, two ounces and
23 inches long, gets his size
from his father Scott, a NFL
offensive lineman for 11
seasons with the New York
Giants, San Francisco 49ers
and New York Jets, who was
6-8, 315 pounds during his
playing days.
Scott said up until about
two years ago, Brian was
growing fi ve or six inches a
year. Over the last two years,
it’s been more like an inch
or two, and he may not be
fi nished.
“It’s just astonishing to me
to see that,” Scott said of his
son’s growth. “It’s big for me. I
still tease him and when other
people are around I question
whether he’s taller than me
and claim that I can still take
him but I won’t let him test
that.”
Scott wears a size 16 shoe.
Brian is a 17.
Brian’s sister, Anna, is 6-2
and a freshman on the Liberty
University volleyball team.
Scott said the kids get their
athleticism from their mom,
Toni, who played college
basketball at Chemeketa
and then Carroll College in
Montana.
“I would say that my wife
is a much better athlete than I
am,” Scott said.
The highlight of Scott’s
NFL career came in 2002.
Playing for the 49ers against
his former team, the Giants,
in New York, Scott held
defensive end Michael Strahan,
who had set the single season
sack record the year before,
sackless. San Francisco also
met the Giants in the wild
card playoffs and Scott again
held Strahan without a sack
in a come-from-behind win
to advance to the divisional
playoffs, where the 49ers lost
to Tampa Bay, the eventual
Super Bowl champs.
“I had practiced against
Strahan for fi ve straight
years while I was with the
Giants so we had a love-hate
relationship, mostly hate,”
Scott said.
Brian, a junior, spent his
fi rst two years of high school
at Valley Christian, a small
private school in Missoula,
Mont. His family moved to
Keizer to be closer to family
in Silverton.
Scott, who has coached at
alma maters Silverton (four
years) and University of
Montana (fi ve years) and been
the principal of Fort Benton
in Missoula for a year since
retiring from the NFL in
2005, is an instructional coach
at McNary High, providing
professional development for
teachers. He is also serving
as a volunteer assistant on
the football team, primarily
working with Brad Lomax on
the offensive line.
Please see GRAGG, Page 11
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Whiteaker lineman Coleman Young tackles Adams Stephens
quarterback for a loss on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
Defense fuels
Whiteaker win
Whiteaker Middle School
opened its football season
with a 14-6 win over Adams
Stephens on Wednesday, Sept.
14.
After a scoreless fi rst quarter,
WMS got on the board on the
fi rst of two short touchdown
runs by Ian Martin, who led
the Wolverines with 65 yards
rushing.
Whiteaker led 6-0 until
just before halftime, when the
Wolverines stopped Stephens
on downs just short of the
goal line, only to fumble in the
end zone on the ensuing play,
which Stephens recovered for
the game-tying touchdown.
In the second half, f ollowing
an 18-yard run by Whiteaker
quarterback Rian Canini and
a completed pass to Cameron
Parks down to the Stephens
6-yard line, the Wolverines
took a 14-6 second half lead
when Martin punched it in
from the 3-yard line behind
the right side of the offensive
line (Eric Sorenson, Matt
Mehlhoff and
Please see DEFENSE, Page 9
Doutt wins cross country race
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary junior Kaily Doutt outran Jaden Mandal, of West Salem,
to win a dual meet at McKay on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
SALEM—Kailey
Doutt
and Emma Garland fi nished
fi rst and third, respectively, to
lead the McNary girls cross
country team Wednesday,
Sept. 14 at McKay.
Doutt was running neck-
and-neck with Jaden Mandal
for much of the race before
the McNary junior left the
West Salem sophomore on
the fi nal stretch to fi nish in
20:42, or 17 seconds in front
of Mandal.
“My fi rst strategy was to
stay with her and then the last
200 meters kick it because
that’s what I usually do,” Doutt
said. “I have a pretty good
kick. Then when I felt like she
was getting tired, I took off.”
The win was a confi dence
booster for Doutt, whose legs
had been really sore when she
fi nished behind Mandal in
the Greater Valley Conference
preview meet on Aug. 31.
“It helped me gain a lot of
confi dence because I think
it’s going to be a really tight
race at districts,” Doutt said.
“The top fi ve or six girls are
really close together. I’ll keep
pushing myself in races and
hopefully I’ll do good things.”
Garland ran a personal
record 22:46 to take third
for the Lady Celts. New to
cross country, she is learning
something new every race.
“I felt like I could have
probably run a little bit faster
sometimes,” Garland said. “I
think I can do better next time.
I like cross country. It’s fun. It’s
a lot of work. It’s really hard
but it’s a great experience. I
want to keep on working at it.
As weeks go by, I’m starting to
get better and better and build
my endurance up. I didn’t
really know how to run a 5K
so I’m starting to understand
how to run it a little better.”
Paced by Doutt and
Garland,
McNary
(40)
fi nished second as a team in
between West Salem (36) and
McKay (45).
Allison Repp placed sixth
in 24:35. Makayla Long had a
season best 26:03 to take 14th
and Madeline Bielby fi nished
16th in 26:07.
With the top six runners all
representing West Salem (15),
the Titans dominated the boys
race.
McKay (54) and McNary
(62) fi nished a distant second
and third.
Jonas Honeyman was the
fi rst Celtic boy to cross the
fi nish line in a season best
20 minutes to take ninth.
Cameron Garrison (20:06)
and Brock Wyer (20:22)
weren’t far behind in 10th and
11th.
“I think I probably helped
push some of my teammates
along, Honeyman said. “I
think I might have had faster
splits, which is good. I’m
slowly getting back to where
I was last season.”
Noah Egli (20:47, 15th)
and Tyler Dougall (21:02,
17th) rounded out the scoring
for McNary.