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
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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