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SEPTEMBER 22, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11 KEIZERTIMES.COM Perfect storm Sprague scores 55 in fi rst half of rout By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary fi gured it would get Sprague’s best, coming off an embarrassing loss to West Salem. Combine that with the Celtics worst and the end was a 62-6 Olympians rout on Friday, Sept. 15. “I’m sure they were em- barrassed and pissed and I’m sure they had a very long challenging week of practice from their coaches,” McNary head coach Jeff Auvinen said. “We were the brunt of them being really good and we did not play well in any aspect. I don’t think we could have played worse.” The Celtics received the ball fi rst and went right down the fi eld as quarterback Erik Barker and Jacob Jackson connected for a 28-yard gain. Runs by Lucas Garvey and Junior Walling got McNary to the Sprague 20-yard line but four consecutive incom- plete passes resulted in a turn- over on downs. The Olympians needed only fi ve plays to reach the end zone as running back Noah Mellen got to the edge of McNary’s defense and raced 67 yards down the side- line for the fi rst score of the night. Senior defensive lineman Tim Kiser had to leave the fi eld with an injury and didn’t return. The Celtics again moved the ball into Sprague territory but Barker was intercepted on a jump ball to Jose Solorio. Five plays later, Sprague was back in the end zone on a Mellen two-yard run. After another Barker in- terception, a two-yard touch- down run by Michael Mur- phy gave the Olympians a 21-0 lead with 4:23 still re- maining in the fi rst quarter. Sprague quarterback Spencer Plant then connected with Zach Lovell to stretch the lead to 28-0. With 30 seconds remain- ing in the fi rst quarter, the Olympians added one more score on a 35-yard pass from Plant to Alek Altringer. Plant then found Altringer again for a 50-yard strike to put Sprague on top 42-0 less than a minute into the second quarter. Altringer wasn’t done. On defense, the Sprague senior intercepted Barker and ran untouched to the end zone to extend the lead to 49-0. The Olympians added one more touchdown, this time on the ground, to lead 55-0 with 5:04 remaining in the second quarter. Sprague fi nished the fi rst half with 176 yards rushing and 200 passing. The Olympians had seven plays of more than 25 yards. “We didn’t get through blocks,” Auvinen said. “We didn’t keep any leverage. We didn’t do much of anything on defense, right. “We tried lots of pressure. We tried a little bit of pres- sure. We tried man. We tried zone. It didn’t matter what we were running if the kids aren’t going to play. We just got it handed to us and we didn’t respond like we needed to.” KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley Sprague defensive back Zach Lovell intercepts a pass away from McNary senior Jose Solorio in the fi rst quarter of the Celtics loss on Friday, Sept. 15. With 44 seconds remain- ing in the fi rst half, Garvey fought his way into the end zone from the three-yard line for McNary’s only score of the game. The extra point was then blocked. Mellen added his third rushing touchdown early in the third quarter to complete the scoring. “Take nothing away from Sprague because they’re a good football team and they did not play like it the week before and our kids may have put too much into that,” Auvinen said. McNary fi nished with 236 yards. Garvey had 42 yards on 19 carries. Barker com- pleted 14 of 32 passes for 139 yards and three interceptions. Brayden Ebbs was his leading receiver with fi ve catches for 45 yards. Celtics come back, tie West Salem Lady Celts also earn tie By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary showed it will not go down without a fi ght in its Greater Valley Conference opener, coming from behind to earn a 2-2 tie against West Sa- lem on Tuesday, Sept. 19. For nearly 60 minutes, the Celtics created opportunity af- ter opportunity, fi ring shots off the post and the goalkeeper’s hands, but trailed 2-0. The Titans scored their fi rst goal on a header off a free kick in the opening three minutes. West Salem struck again in the 50th minute, using a cross to slip the ball past McNary goal- keeper Sebastian Lopez. But the Celtics never stopped believing. “I feel like the start of the game was just unlucky,” Mc- Nary sophomore Jack Baez said. “We had so many oppor- tunities and we just kept our intensity high and never let up. That’s something we’ve been working on for a while is just not letting up and going after it. No matter how far you’re down, you can always come back. We just had that mental- ity. We knew we weren’t going to lose from the beginning of the game.” With 20:49 remaining in the match, Baez fi nally got the Celtics on the scoreboard, slip- ping the ball past the keeper and into the left corner of the net. “I didn’t even look at the goal,” Baez said. “I just hit it. I knew what corner I would put it into. I’m just so relieved that it went in. It was amaz- ing and I think that brought up the whole team. It gave us confi dence because we had so many opportunities and it just wouldn’t go right for us. I got that one and we knew we could do it. We knew we weren’t go- ing to lose this game.” Bhavdeep Bains then rock- eted a shot in the 74th minute, which the goalie was able to keep in play but Jovanie Bravo fi nished to tie the game. McNary fi red another shot off the bar in the 77th minute before the fi nal whistle blew. The Celtics nearly scored at least two more goals in the fi rst half. Please see TIES, Page 13 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary freshman Jose Martinez had two goals overturned on offsides penalties in the Celtics 2-2 tie against West Salem on Tuesday, Sept. 19. McNary fighting through injuries KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Sophia Salinas stepped in at setter with starter Samantha Van Voorhis out sick at West Albany. By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes An injury ended McNary’s run in the fi rst volleyball tour- nament of the season prema- turely. After defeating Mountain View 2-0 (25-23, 25-22) and Churchill 2-0 (25-23, 25-22) in pool play of the Rogue Val- ley Classic in Medford on Sat- urday, Sept. 16, the Lady Celts had to play the rest of the day without senior Valerie Diede. McNary split its next pool play match, 25-17, 22-25, against Willamette and then lost its fi rst bracket game of the single elimination tournament 2-0 (19-25, 20-25) to Cascade Christian, a 3A school in Med- ford that fi nished second in the 16-team tournament, falling to Bend 2-1 in the championship game. “In the afternoon we just lost a little bit of momentum,” McNary head coach Crystal DeMello said. “We had a great experience. We had the over- night stay in Medford, which is always fantastic for team bond- ing. We like doing that at the beginning of the season. “That’s the fi rst time that we’ve had to play that many games in a row. It was good for the girls to fi nd out how well they can maintain a level of play. We ran a couple of dif- ferent offenses and we ran four different lineups in those. It was a good mix and a great oppor- tunity to move girls around and see what fi ts and might be best against other opponents.” The Rogue Valley Classic was the fi rst of four Saturday tournaments the Lady Celts will play in this season, the South Albany State Preview on Sept. 23, the Westview Tourna- ment on Sept. 30 and the West Linn Tournament on Oct. 14. McNary was also short- handed in its league match at West Albany on Thursday, Sept. 14 as setter Samantha Van Voo- rhis was out with an illness. Sophia Salinas, a senior libero, stepped up in her place. “We didn’t know that Sam wouldn’t be able to play until after warmups,” DeMello said. “Sophia was ready to go and that’s a characteristic you love in a setter. She did great. But that’s still a tough change when you have someone that’s used to being there six times on the court.” The Lady Celts won the fi rst two games 27-25 and 25-18. However, West Albany grabbed the momentum in the third set and never let it go, winning three straight, 25-10, 25-16, 15-10, to take the match. “It’s tough to get that mo- mentum back when it’s gone,” DeMello said. “We made some defensive adjustments and it just wasn’t quick enough. We’re excited to see them again.”