JANUARY 27, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
It’s okay not to get your deer
With each deerless week
he became more miserable.
Soon he was like the prover-
bial wounded grizzly.
He developed a terrible bad
cough. He would cough like
a choking buffalo and pound
his chest with his fi st. “Always
knew someday I would come
down with TB. Exposed to it
as a young man back when I
was still smoking.”
On the last day of the sea-
son, just before dark, he killed
a big spike (it was either sex
season). No more cough! A
miraculous cure had taken
place. He was well.
I decided to never be like
that. I’ve killed my share of
deer. I’m okay with not get-
ting a deer.
Now that I’m older, I fi nd
plenty of reasons not to be
sitting out there, in the cold
rain, an hour before daylight.
I no longer sit out there in the
evening, watching some feed-
ing area,--until the air turns
black–and have to fi nd my
way back to the truck.
My friend Bill–my age–still
does. He and his wife, Gail, go
up the night before and sleep
in the back of the truck. They
drink cold coffee and eat cold
stuff for breakfast. And in the
evening he will sit and watch
some deer trail until shooting
time has passed.
I could probably do that
too, if we could just clone
Gail.
I broached the subject with
Bill, but he went into quite a
snit.
Guess he was afraid I
would be out there, stumbling
around before daylight, scar-
ing off his deer. He killed an-
other buck this season--open-
ing day, before sunrise.
It’s not that my wife doesn’t
support my hunting. She
only has a couple of minor
requirements of me: Shut off
the alarm before it rings--and
slip out without waking her.
The toughest part of not
getting a deer is answering all
the questions. My mother-
in-law asks, “Get your deer
yet?”
“Nope, haven’t seen a
thing.”
“The guys two doors
down from me have brought
home four,” she states matter-
of-factly. “Hung ‘em up and
skinned ‘em on that oak tree.
Maybe you should go talk to
them, they would probably
tell you where to go.”
“Bet they would, Berna-
dine.”
Then there’s the little girl
next door. She always spots
me sneaking in, wearing my
red cap and shirt. “Did you
get your deer, Mr. Wilson?”
“Nope, honey, I didn’t.”
“How come? My daddy
killed his buck fi rst morning–
before sun up.”
But I’m O.K. with not
getting a deer this season.
Most important thing now
is just getting well. My doc-
tor referred me to a specialist.
Couldn’t fi nd any spots on my
lungs, and the TB skin test was
negative.
They’re going to try me on
a new cough syrup. The fi rst
fi ve didn’t even faze me. He
prescribed a 16-ounce boxing
glove for my right fi st–should
help protect the old bruised
chest.
Hope the cough doesn’t
hang on until next deer sea-
son.
Would be pretty diffi cult to
hunt making all this noise.
GVC play. The Celtics play at
Sprague on Friday, Jan. 27.
Kirch believes the break
came at the right time.
“Our bodies are just
banged up and people are just
tired physically and emotion-
ally,” he said.
“With the schedule, we re-
ally haven’t had a chance to
get better ourselves. Having
a week off really gives us a
chance to really focus on our-
selves. I think we’re aware of
what we do well and our areas
for improvement.”
And playing in such a
strong league will benefi t the
Celtics at the end of the sea-
son.
“It’s an unbelievably tough
year,” Kirch said. “We prob-
ably have fi ve, maybe six of
the top 20 teams in the state. I
wouldn’t be surprised to see at
least four of our teams in the
fi nal 16.
“One of the things I think
is good for us is we’re seeing
lots of different styles. Hope-
fully, when we get to the point
where we’re in the playoffs,
whether you’ve got a team
that wants to press or zone
you, half court and slow it
down, by that point we should
be pretty battle tested.”
At 7-2, the Celtics are tied
atop the GVC standings with
West Salem. Sprague is 6-2,
Forest Grove 5-3 and South
Salem 5-4.
McNary senior Matthew
Ismay is averaging nearly 14
points, fi ve rebounds and fi ve
assists per game.
The Lady Celts, who are
4-3 in league play, have also
face an improved GVC.
After starting 1-2 with
losses to West Albany and West
Salem, McNary won three in
a row before falling to South
Salem 58-56 on Tuesday, Jan.
17.
“There were a couple of
games that I wish we could’ve
taken care of that we didn’t but
I knew before the year started
that our league as a whole was
better,” McNary head coach
Derick Handley said.
“I knew there were some
teams like West Albany and
Forest Grove that were going
to be tough.”
Since North Salem’s girls
are playing a non-league
schedule and a game against
Beaverton was canceled, the
Lady Celts have had 10 days
off before they return to the
court on Friday, Jan. 27 at
Sprague.
Handley noted McNary
was playing its best basketball
of the season before the break.
“In the last four league
games, we’ve been a lot more
balanced,” Handley said. “I
think we’re becoming more of
a unit. Less than just a couple
of girls and more of a team.
We’re growing and learning
our new roles.It’s kind of un-
fortunate to have 10 days in
between but hopefully Friday
we’ll be back where we were
and ready to go.”
Senior Sydney Hunter
leads McNary, averaging 15
points and 11 rebounds per
game.
Kailey Doutt is scoring 12
points per contest.
The Lady Celts are fourth
in the GVC behind South Sa-
lem (8-0), West Salem (6-2)
and West Albany 5-3).
“We do have the ability and
the talent that we could run
the table in the second half,”
Handley said. “It’s huge. The
second part of league is going
to be big for us.”
MIDDLE,
continued from Page 10
Burrows, Claggett Creek has
about 30 kids in its wrestling
program.
Aaron Carr, who coached at
Claggett for three years before
the team went away, is glad to
have wrestling back.
“We had an after school
program but it wasn’t really the
same,” Carr said. “They did one
tournament a year so the kids
didn’t really get to experience
wrestling matches. It’s good to
have it back. I think it’s going
to be great for the high schools.
It’s getting more kids interested
in it. We’re having issues trying
to rebuild the program. It’s go-
ing to take a few years to get it
back to where it used to be.”
McNary also has the Celtic
Mat Club but Carr said that’s
for more hardcore wrestlers
like Burrows, Rodriguez and
Parks, not kids just wanting to
give the sport a try.
“Getting new kids inter-
ested in it, that’s going to be
the hard challenge,” Carr said.
“I think it’s really good for kids
to have options because not ev-
eryone is going to be 6-foot-3
and play basketball.”
Claggett and Whiteaker
both have 10 duals, the fi -
nal one against each other on
Thursday, Feb 23 at McNary
High School.
Celtics head coach Jason
Ebbs believes middle school
wrestling will only strengthen
his high school program, which
used to have as many as 90 kids
but started with only 54 this
season.
“Why anyone would ever
take away an opportunity like
wrestling from kids, I haven’t
the slightest clue,” Ebbs said.
“Wrestling is a no cut sport.
All we do is serve kids. We have
all kinds of kids come in here.
I’ve got kids with great grades.
I’ve got kids who are riding the
fence. I’ve got kids who need
wrestling as bad as wrestling
needs them. It’s a unique envi-
ronment that serves the needs
of all of those kids. We’re still
trying to fi nd the upswing.
We’re in the process of trying
to reintroduce wrestling to the
city of Keizer.”
DUAL,
continued from Page 10
sure we get our school down,
get our activities done and
we’re performing everywhere
at the highest level we can.”
One of the bright spots
for the Celtics against North
Salem and McKay was junior
Joe Collins. Wrestling in the
heavyweight division, Collins
went 2-0.
“I think one of the biggest
things is just the mental mind-
set, just going out there and
telling yourself that you’re go-
ing to give it your all and that
you’re going to win,” Collins
said. “I try to keep that in my
mind while I’m warming up
and in practice.”
Collins pinned McKay
wrestler Andy Nguyen in 1:12.
“He was a little bit smaller
and made a couple of mis-
takes,” Collins said. “He tried
to snap my head down and I
just improvised off of that.”
At 106 pounds, Noah
Gatchet started the dual
against McKay with a pin. At
132 pounds, Sean Burrows
also won by pin fall. McNary’s
other points came from Killian
Dato, who at 138 pounds won
a 8-4 decision and Noah
Grunberg, who at 145 pinned
his opponent in 1:20.
Collins defeated Obbelis
Garcia of North Salem by a
9-4 decision.
“That was a tough match,”
Collins said. “I just had to
keep my head up and just
fi ght for it.”
At 126 pounds, Jerry Mar-
tinez won by pin fall. Dato
then picked up a 12-7 vic-
tory at 138. Wyatt Kesler at
152 and Carlos Vincent at 170
both got pins for the Celtics.
by G.I. Wilson
I didn’t get a deer this sea-
son. Can’t remember the last
time that happened. But I’m
okay with that.
I learned a valuable lesson
from my dad years ago. He
killed a lot of blacktail bucks.
In fact, he killed seven bucks,
in seven years, on opening
morning. “Killed ’em all be-
fore sun up.” Over a period
of 17 years, he never failed to
fi ll his tag.
Then came the year Weeks
of season passed and no deer.
HALF,
continued from Page 10
McNary had a week off
before it throttled North Sa-
lem 85-39 on Tuesday, Jan. 24
to begin the second half of
“They don’t understand
how important they are. We’re
trying to make them under-
stand that even though we
may be busy we’ve got to bal-
ance our priorities and make
PURCHASE 1 ENTREE + 2 DRINKS
Rodriguez picked up more
hardware on Saturday, Jan.
14 at the Oregon Classic in
Redmond. Competing in the
girls division for All-Phase
Wrestling Club, she won her
weight class.
Rodriguez looks forward to
wrestling for her school. Her
goal is not to lose a match.
“It’s pretty cool because I’ve
gone to Virginia and done dif-
ferent dual meets but it’s differ-
ent because I’m doing it for a
school,” Rodriguez said.
Led by eighth grader Grady
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