NOVEMBER 3, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celtics to open
playoffs at home
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Surrounded by his team-
mates who have become like
brothers, Hakam Nagra sat
at midfi eld for as long as he
could, trying to fi ght back
the tears after a 57-6 loss to
West Salem on Friday, Oct.
27, thinking he had played his
fi nal home game at McNary.
But thanks to a top 16 fi n-
ish in the fi nal OSAA power
rankings, Nagra and Mc-
Nary’s other 22 seniors will
get another shot to go out at
home as winners when the
Celtics, No. 14, host No. 19
Grants Pass on Friday, Nov. 3
in the fi rst round of the state
playoffs.
“To get one back home
is a real blessing,” Nagra said.
“Everybody is amped. Every-
body is watching fi lm. Every-
body is going hard at practice.
I’m really excited going for-
ward.”
McNary and Grants Pass,
both 6-3, have similar re-
sumes. Grants Pass fi nished
third in the Southwest Con-
ference behind two of the top
10 teams in the state, falling to
No. 5 South Medford 40-21
and No. 7 Sheldon 62-20.
The Cavemen’s other loss
came to Sprague, 54-27.
McNary head coach Jeff
Auvinen and Nagra both
compared Grants Pass to Mc-
Minnville, who came from
behind to defeat the Celtics
39-35 in the fi nal minute on
Oct. 6.
Please see HOME, Page 13
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary linebacker Jakoby Doke tackles West Salem running back Jacob Denning, who scored fi ve touchdowns against the Celt-
ics on Friday, Oct. 27.
McNary hit with deja vu
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Another
home
game
against a top 10 team in the
state resulted in another blow-
out loss for McNary as the
Celtics fell to West Salem 57-6
on Friday, Oct. 27 to close the
regular season.
“It was Sprague revisit-
ed,” McNary head coach Jeff
Auvinen said after the game.
“One bad thing happens and
we just lost our will. We need
to be able to play the next play
and we’ve been talking about
that but obviously we’re not
very good at it yet.”
After McNary’s fi rst pos-
session ended with an Erik
Barker interception, the Ti-
tans scored on just their third
play as West Salem running
back Jacob Denning went un-
touched for a 31-yard touch-
down. A successful two-point
attempt gave the Titans an 8-0
lead with 8:02 remaining in
the fi rst quarter.
The Celtics were able to
get within 8-6 early in the
second quarter. After Barker
connected with Alan Jefferson
on two passes for 43 yards to
get McNary deep into West
Salem territory, Barker found
Junior Walling for a 3-yard
touchdown.
But then West Salem’s of-
fense really began to heat up,
scoring four touchdowns on
its next fi ve plays from scrim-
mage to take a commanding
36-6 lead with 7:11 remaining
in the second quarter.
The Titans ran 13 plays in
the second quarter for 265
yards and fi ve touchdowns.
After quarterback Grant
Thies threw a 61-yard touch-
down pass to Anthony Gould,
Denning rushed for a 70-yard
score. Denning added a 5-yard
touchdown after a Barker in-
terception and then 68-yard
and 2-yard touchdown runs
to give West Salem a 43-6 lead
at halftime.
“We didn’t take on blocks.
We didn’t tackle,” Auvinen
said. “You’re not going to win
any games against any good
opponents when you don’t
take on blocks and you don’t
tackle. We didn’t cover people,
the trifecta. That fi lm is going
to be tough to watch.”
McNary’s defense forced a
punt to start the second half.
However, a promising drive
ended with Barker fumbling
at the Titan 15-yard line.
West Salem then added to
its lead with 1:06 remaining
Submitted
McNary junior Sydney Snapp had 15 saves against Lincoln in
the fi rst round of the state tournament on Saturday, Oct. 28.
Lady Celts knocked
out in opening round
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Alan Jefferson caught two passes in the Celtics
only scoring drive against West Salem on Friday, Oct. 27.
in the third quarter as Thies
threw a 19-yard touchdown
pass to Andy Moreno.
Both teams emptied their
benches in the fourth quarter
with McNary senior Casey
Toavs and junior Ryan Bam-
ford splitting time at quarter-
back.
Please see DEJA VU, Page 13
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Missing Katy Wyatt, Mc-
Nary’s co-leading scorer and
best defensive center mid-
fi elder, the Lady Celts couldn’t
keep up with Lincoln, falling
3-2 on Saturday, Oct. 28 in the
fi rst round of the state playoffs.
McNary gave up its fi rst
goal in just the fi fth minute as
nerves got the best of the Lady
Celts and the Lincoln center
midfi elder took advantage of
a poor clearance on a crossed
ball in the box, and placed a
driven shot to the upper cor-
ner from 22 yards out.
“The fi rst fi ve minutes, I
couldn’t believe what I was
seeing,” McNary head coach
A.J. Nash said. “We were just
frozen. But we settled in and
realized they weren’t as scary
or as good as we were making
them seem.”
The Lady Celts earned a
corner kick in the 28th min-
ute that was crossed in by ju-
nior Gina Munguia. The Lin-
coln defense was able to play
out the initial attempt but
Munguia gathered it quickly
and sent another cross into the
box that was volleyed with the
Please see STATE, Page 12
Bright future on display at GVC Championships
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Led by senior Kailey Doutt, 168, and freshman Ella Repp, 198, McNary’s girls cross country team
fi nished seventh at the GVC Championships on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary didn’t accomplish
everything it wanted at the
Greater Valley Conference
Championships this season but
the future continues to look
bright for the cross country
program.
“The kids this year, seniors
all the way down to fresh-
men, they competed really
hard, they worked really hard
and they pushed themselves all
season long,” McNary coach
David Holcomb said. “We’re
excited with how young we
are and how much we have to
improve on for next year.”
McNary senior Kailey
Doutt and freshman Ella Repp
both ran their best times of
the season on Wednesday, Oct.
25 at Bush’s Pasture Park but
missed out of the top 10 and
advancing to the state meet
by fi nishing 12th and 13th in
19:39 and 19:46.
Doutt said she felt good for
the fi rst mile but her legs just
wouldn’t allow her to keep up
with the lead pack. North Sa-
lem senior Madison Willhoft
placed 10th in 19:18.
“I was trying to be super
confi dent and positive,” Doutt
said. “I was telling myself to
go but my legs didn’t feel very
good. They haven’t felt very
good this whole season.”
Repp, who was able to
break 20 minutes for the fi rst
time, battled a side ache for the
fi rst mile.
“I grabbed on to my side
to try stopping the pain and
tried ignoring it,” Repp said.
“I thought I was going to run
slower but I thought this has
to go away, it just has to and
it ended up going away. That
shouldn’t be an excuse why I
didn’t get top 10.”
Sprague junior Ginger
Murnieks led from start to
fi nish to easily win the varsity
girls race in 18:04. South Sa-
lem junior Anna Chau took
second in 18:23. Sprague put
two more runners in the top
fi ve, Kaylee Mitchell and Elise
Abbott, to edge Forest Grove
for the team title.
The Lady Celts placed sev-
enth.
Another McNary freshman,
Nina Garland, beat her season
best by nearly 40 seconds, fi n-
ishing in 21:31. Sophomore
Duyen Barr, who also had a
PR of 23:14 and Alison Repp
(23:56) completed the scoring.
The varsity boys race was
much closer with Forest Grove
sophomore Quincy Norman
edging out McMinnville ju-
nior Zane Fodge by two sec-
onds for fi rst place.
McNary junior David Allen
fi nished 21st in 17:40.
“I’ve just got to keep prac-
ticing,” Allen said after the
race. “It’s obviously been
working so far. I just to need
to keep working hard and run-
ning more.”
Please see GVC, Page 13