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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2017)
BAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 24, 2017 KEIZERTIMES.COM Vincent shows fi ght of champion FEEL GOOD STORY Saluting the people that make us proud of our community capitolauto.com By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes SALEM—When McNary sophomore Enrique Vincent’s knee swelled up early in the wrestling season, he didn’t know if he’d be able to re- cover in time to compete for a district championship. After fi nally getting cleared, Vincent ran twice a day, in the morning before school and then after prac- tice, to cut 12 pounds so he could get back down to 120 and wrestle in the Celtics fi - nal two duals of the regular season on Feb. 8 and 9. The hard work paid off as Vincent defeated West Albany junior Wyatt French 11-5 in the fi nals of the OSAA 6A Special District 5 tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18 at West Salem High School. Vincent thanked his coaches, Jason Ebbs and as- sistant Devin Reynolds, for pushing him. “They knew my limits. They knew I would do any- thing for this spot right here,” Vincent said. “It feels great. It makes up for all the days and weeks I’ve missed.” Vincent started the dis- trict tournament with two KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley Top, left: McNary sophomore Enrique Vincent gets his hand raised after winning the 120-pound district title. Bottom, left: Vincent wrestles West Albany junior Wyatt French in the fi nals. Right: Vincent celebrates with McNary assistant wrestling coach Devin Reynolds. pins on Friday. After defeat- ing Sprague sophomore Luke Merzenich 8-5 in the semi- fi nals, Vincent led French from the beginning, scoring a quick two points on a take- down in the opening seconds. “He (Vincent) loves to wrestle and when you’ve got a kid out there who wants to be out there, great things can happen,” Ebbs said. Vincent said the key to winning the fi nals match was controlling his opponent’s wrist. “I knew he was a big scrambler and I’m a big scrambler, too. I love scram- bles,” Vincent said. Vincent was one of eight McNary wrestlers to place in the top four in the dis- trict and qualify for state: Sean Burrows (second, 132), Brayden Ebbs (third, 145), Jerry Martinez (fourth, 126), Killian Dato (fourth, 138), Carlos Vincent (fourth, 152), Isaiah Putnam (fourth, 170) and Blake Norton (fourth, 285). Senior Sean Burrows has attended the state wrestling tournament in Portland as a spectator since he was in el- ementary school. But this will be his fi rst time as a competi- tor. Burrows pinned McMin- nville sophomore Andre Mushombe in the third pe- riod of the semifi nals. “I had a kid I hadn’t seen or heard of or wrestled all season,” Burrows said. “He was a 138-pounder that dropped down, just out of no- where. I watched him wrestle a few times and he’s strong and solid but he’s not special. My goal was just to out work him. He was a 138-pounder and I’m a 132-pounder so I should have better endurance. I just wrestled him until he broke and then pinned him.” Burrows was then pinned by Forest Grove senior Lucas Higginbotham in the fi nals. “It’s going to be a different experience,” Burrows said of wrestling in the state tourna- ment. Blease see CHAMB, Bage 13 Lady Celts come up short in home fi nale KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior boys basketball players Matthew Ismay, from left, Alex Martin, Kevin Martin, Easton Neitzel, Adam Harvey and Cade Goff were recognized before their fi nal home game of the regular season, a 61-47 win over West Salem on Friday, Feb. 17. A fond farewell Celtics top West Salem on senior night By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes When Matthew Ismay and Cade Goff cracked the Mc- Nary varsity lineup as fresh- men four years ago, the Celt- ics were coming off two of the worst seasons of any bas- ketball team in the state. In the two seniors fi nal regular season home game, McNary suffocated the No. 4 ranked team in the OSAA power rankings, West Salem, 61-47, on Friday, Feb. 17. “This senior group has changed my six years here from where the program was, where we were the worst team in the state,” Celtics head coach Ryan Kirch said. “I told them before the game, 15 years doing this, this is my favorite group I’ve coached. I’m just so happy for them. It was an awesome night.” The evening started with a recognition of McNary’s six seniors, which along with Is- may and Goff, includes Adam Harvey, Easton Neitzel, Alex Martin and Kevin Martin. “I was sitting in the locker room before the game and it’s crazy how fast four years actually goes by,” Ismay said. “It was great tonight. We had a lot of fans, a great atmo- sphere. It was a good game to end on.” With 2:30 remaining in the fi rst quarter, Chandler Cavell broke a 4-4 tie. Alex Martin then knocked down a 3-pointer and the Celtics rolled from there as Harvey scored fi ve straight points to extend McNary’s lead to 14-4. Cavell closed the fi rst quarter with fi ve more points as the Celtics led 19-7 at the end of the fi rst quarter, which grew to 33-14 by intermis- sion. Blease see BOYS, Bage 13 By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes Sydney Hunter, Jaylene Montano, Gabby Schmit and Kelsey Koenig’s fi nal home game at McNary wasn’t one they’ll likely want to remem- ber as the Lady Celts lost to West Salem 55-44 on Friday, Feb. 17. “Inconsistent effort” and “inconsistent execution” were the reasons head coach Derick Handley gave for the loss, Mc- Nary’s third in a row. “We’re still looking for leadership, someone on the fl oor who isn’t just emotional every time something good or something bad happens,” he said. “We’re not consistent with our attitudes. We’re not con- sistent with our effort on a play to play basis. If things go well, we’re a good team. If things don’t go well, we tend to fold quite a bit earlier than we should.” The Lady Celts fell behind 16-6 as West Salem knocked down a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded to end the fi rst quarter. McNary opened the sec- ond quarter on a 7-0 run with a Schmit basket in the paint, a Montano 3-pointer, followed by a Kailey Doutt 3-point play to get within 16-13 with 4:20 remaining. However, West Salem was able to stretch its lead back out to 30-17 at halftime. KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior girls basketball players Gabby Schmit, from left, Kelsey Koenig, Jaylene Montano and Sydney Hunter were rec- ognized before their fi nal home game on Friday, Feb. 17. Doutt, who fi nished with a team-high 16 points, kept the Lady Celts in the game with 10 points in the third quarter but McNary couldn’t get any closer than nine points of West Salem. A Doutt jumper made it 35-26 with 3:49 remain- ing and then Abigail Hawley banked in a jump shot at the 1:33 mark to get the Lady Celts within 39-30. But the Titans answered with the next eight points to extend their lead to 47-30 early in the fourth quarter. McNary closed the game on an 8-2 run but it wasn’t enough. “We’re having really good practices,” Handley said. “The frustrating part as a coach- ing staff is what we’re putting in the game plans, we’re do- ing in practice and it’s look- ing really good and we’re able to do it for stretches in the game. Sometimes the mo- ment is getting too big. I don’t know what it is at this point but these are games that we need. We need to do our job. We need to be better at this point.” Hawley was the only other Lady Celt to score in double fi gures, fi nishing with 10 points. Blease see GIRLS, Bage 13
