FEBRUARY 23, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Ebbs, Vincent, Parra place
at state wrestling tournament
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
PORTLAND—McNary senior Brayden
Ebbs has heard from all of his coaches that the
most honorable thing a wrestler can do at a
tournament is place third.
At the state tournament, Ebbs took that to
heart, defeating Oliver Myers of Newberg by
a 13-0 major decision on Saturday, Feb. 17 at
Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the 160-pound
third place match.
“After my semis match, I told myself I’m not
taking anything less than third,” Ebbs said. “I
think it was supposed to be a close match but
something fl ipped in my mind and I wrestled
what I think is my best match and I just put the
points on the board that I needed to. ‘Score fi rst,
score fast and keep on scoring’ is what my club
coach always told me.”
McNary head coach Jason Ebbs said Brayden
was as focused as he’s ever seen him.
“I think Brayden did what you hope all your
best wrestlers will do,” coach Ebbs said. “He
came out in the third place match and he was
at the peak of his intensity and ready to roll.
This is the fi rst time that I’ve ever seen Brayden
wrestle such a focused style, in those last three
matches, the semifi nals, the consolation semifi -
nals that goes into overtime, I’ve never seen him
stay so focused on his technique and his strategy
and what he needs to do instead of worrying
about scoring and worrying about being ahead
or behind. He matured really well this year and
did some of his best wresting here. I’m proud
of him.”
Ebbs earned an 11-2 major decision and two
pins on Friday to reach the semifi nals, where he
lost to No. 2 seed Josh Grant of Century 6-3.
Grant scored the fi rst two points on a take-
down off a scramble. Ebbs then tied it on an
illegal hold and an escape but couldn’t complete
the comeback.
“Almost caught him twice in a head and arm
(move) that could’ve been pretty lethal,” coach
Ebbs said. “Turns out that guy (Grant) had some
magic hips and didn’t quite break far enough
and couldn’t quite seal it up. It was defi nitely
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Brayden Ebbs, left, placed third in the state at 160 pounds, junior Enrique Vincent fi nished fourth at 126 pounds and sophomore
Nicolette Para took fourth at 135 pounds in the girls tournament.
a good close match and could have gone either
way.”
In the consolation semifi nals, Ebbs defeated
Mitchell Sorte of West Albany for the third time
this season. Like the district fi nals, the match went
to overtime after Ebbs tied it on reversal with
about 10 seconds remaining in the third period.
Ebbs then won on a takedown in the extra period.
While the state tournament ends his career
at McNary, Ebbs plans to continue wrestling in
college. He may play football as well as Southern
Oregon and Grand View University have offered
him in both sports.
“If I don’t end up doing both, I’ll just wrestle,”
Ebbs said. “I think that would be fun (to play both)
but there’s no way I could stop wrestling. I love it.”
McNary junior Enrique Vincent found it hard
to crack a smile as he stood on the podium after
placing fourth in the state at 126 pounds. Vincent
fi nished third the year before at 120 pounds.
But Vincent was also aware of what he was up
against. After losing to No. 2 seed Phillip Kue of
Centennial 7-1 in the semifi nals, Vincent wrestled
No. 1 Gaven Jolley of Sherwood, a two-time
state champion, for third place after Jolley was
Please see STATE, Page B2
Celtics stay hot at West Salem
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary (18-5, 13-2) just
keeps getting better.
Three days after blowing
out South Salem 70-48, the
Celtics went into West Salem
and came away with a 74-60
victory on Friday, Feb. 16.
“We probably played as
complete a game for 32 min-
utes as we have all year,” Mc-
Nary head coach Ryan Kirch
said.
The key has been getting
better at the little things.
“One of the things we kept
telling our guys is in big games
both teams are going to make
plays,” Kirch said. “You’ve got
great players on both sides. It’s
really all the little things if you
add them up that make a big
difference.”
The Celtics jumped out to
a 22-13 lead in the fi rst quar-
ter at West Salem and led 39-
29 at halftime.
McNary then held the Ti-
tans to just six points in the
third period.
“Our mindset going into
the South Salem game is that
every game we’re going to
play is a playoff-like game so
our kids were ready and well
prepared and played with a
lot of confi dence and a lot of
poise,” Kirch said.
“Some of our staff recog-
nized some things we would
tweak a little bit and kids
came out with some energy
and were able to execute. We
were just pretty consistent bell
to bell with our effort and our
ATHLETE
of the Week
presented by
RICCARDO GARDELLI
McNary High School basketball
McNary senior Riccardo Gardelli posted a double-
double of 10 points and 14 rebounds on Friday,
Jan. 16 in a 74-60 victory at West Salem. “Riccardo
has been great on the boards,” McNary head
coach Ryan Kirch said. “He’s just becoming more
comfortable and able to score all over the fl oor.”
energy.”
McNary had 26 assists in
the game.
Boston Smith led the Celt-
ics in scoring with 22 points.
Chandler Cavell had 21 points,
seven assists and fi ve rebounds.
“West pressed us and we al-
ways think of press attack ver-
sus press break and our guards
did a real nice job of getting
the ball in the middle of the
fl oor and Boston was the
benefi ciary there at the end,”
Kirch said. “He did a great job
and just keeps getting better
with every game.”
Riccardo Gardelli posted
a double-double of 10 points
and 14 rebounds. He also add-
ed four assists.
“Riccardo, the last couple
of games, has just been great
on the boards, which is just
huge,” Kirch said. “He’s just
becoming more comfort-
able and able to score all over
the fl oor and do some great
things.”
Please see HOT, Page B5
File
McNary senior Chandler Cavell scores against West Salem earlier this season. Cavell had 21
points, seven assists and fi ve rebounds against the Titans on Friday, Feb. 16.