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.”