PAGE B6, KEIZERNIMES, MARCH 2, 2018
Whiteaker outduels Claggett
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When 160-pounder Jer-
emiah Ratliff earned a pin on
Thursday, Feb. 22 at McNary,
he didn’t just get his fi rst win
of the season.
Ratliff also sealed the vic-
tory for his team as Whiteaker
Middle School topped Clagget
Creek 58-36.
“He’s worked hard last year
and this year,” Whiteaker head
coach Kelly Hafer said. “He’s
just wrestled studs all year and
he got a great win to seal the
win for the team.”
Whiteaker led from the be-
ginning as CCMS had to for-
feit the fi rst two weight classes,
75 and 80 pounds, as brothers
Brandon and Max Blanco, both
undefeated, were absent.
Jesse Dyer (85), who fi n-
ished the season undefeated at
10-0, then won his match 7-0
to give the Wolverines an early
15-0 lead.
Jordan Orr (90) got the Pan-
thers on the scoreboard with a
pin. CCMS then won by for-
feit.
But Whiteaker won fi ve of
the next six matches to take
control. Hunter Ruberto (102)
and Jacob Moore (110) both
won by fall. Ben Standley, who
fi nished the season 8-0, added
a 16-4 major decision at 125
pounds. Aiden McCoy (132)
then won by decision and Des-
tiny Rodriguez (140), who
fi nished the season 9-0, got a
quick pin.
“I’m just really happy with
how my kids wrestled,” Hafer
CHAMPS,
continued from Page B1
“This is the best night of
my life,” Gardelli said. “We
played like a real team, like a
family. I’ve never been on a
team where they take me like
a member of the family and
I’ve been here just six months
and to me it’s just like a second
family. I feel blessed. I’m from
the middle of nowhere and
I’m winning a league champi-
onship. League championship,
I can’t stop saying that.
“I’m always trying to get
better and this game is showing
off the work that I did. I don’t
know how many rebounds I
get. I don’t know how many
points I get but I know that
we’re a beautiful team. We all
play together. Everybody was
on fi re tonight.”
Cavell, who had 16 points
to go with fi ve rebounds, was
at a loss for words after win-
ning the league.
“I’ve got nothing,” Cavell
said. “That was a goal from
the fi rst practice of the year. It
feels amazing. Winning with
my friends, that’s the best part.”
Sprague had appeared to
wrap up the GVC title with
a 56-47 win at McNary on
Jan. 26. But the Olympians
lost three in a row to West Sa-
lem, McKay and McMinnville,
and the Celtics took advan-
tage closing the season with
convincing wins against South
Salem, West Salem and Mc-
Minnville.
Now McNary turns its at-
tention to the state playoffs
and getting to the quarterfi nals
at the Chiles Center, where it
KEIZERNIMES/Derek Wiley
Jordan Orr earned a pin at 90 pounds for Claggett Creek
against Whiteaker.
ATHLETE
of the Week
KEIZERNIMES/Derek Wiley
Whiteaker wrestler Jeremiah Ratliff won his match at 160 pounds to seal the win over rival
Claggett Creek at McNary High School on Nhursday, Feb. 22.
said. “They always run back to
the middle. That’s huge. That
shows a lot of hard work and
belief in the fact that hustle and
pressure wins matches You can
have a couple of trick moves
and that works most of the
time but the kid with good sol-
id technique who can pressure
his or her opponents is going
to win more often than not.”
Claggett fi nished the dual
strong, winning four of the fi -
nal six matches as Aron Mon-
toya (150), Jakob Munson
(175), Luis Cortez (195) and
Layne Runyan (220) all won
by fall.
The Panthers also picked
up at win at 117, where Reilly
Bandfi eld earned a pin.
“Overall, these kids com-
peted and worked hard,” said
CCMS head coach Aaron Carr.
“Whiteaker got us today. Hav-
ing those two forfeits early cost
us.”
Aldo Villalvazo (275) fi n-
ished the dual with another pin
for the Wolverines.
Whiteaker, which had 57
wrestlers, including 10 girls,
both school records, fi nished
the season 8-2.
“We really turned it on the
last half of the season,” Hafer
said. “We kind of got our feet
under us the fi rst half of the
season and we were fortunate
to have the schedule we did
before we hit the tough part of
our schedule. It really worked
out well.”
Claggett had 42 kids partici-
pate in wretling this season and
fi nished 6-3-1.
“Numbers are growing so
that’s great for McNary,” Carr
said. “The more kids we can
send into the program, the bet-
ter they’re going to be.”
hasn’t been since 2004.
The Celtics opened the 6A
boys state playoffs on Wednes-
day, Feb.28 against Sherwood.
With a win, McNary would
host either Tualatin or Shel-
don on Saturday in the second
round.
“We know once we get to
playoffs there’s no room for er-
ror,” Kirch said. “You slip up a
little bit, you miss some shots
and that can be it. I think our
kids are mature enough to un-
derstand that and again we’ve
just got to keep getting better
and keep practicing and take
one practice at a time and then
one game at a time.
“First goal was tonight and
we’re going to enjoy it like
crazy but we’ve got to get
to the round of 16 and then
we’ll have the opportunity to
go to Portland and then we’ll
just keep going one at a time.
There’s more work to do but
this is pretty sweet tonight.”
DENIED,
continued from Page B1
Gillette added that the dis-
trict’s arguments about safety
of students, loss of instruc-
tional time and additional ex-
penses were “such that I might
be persuaded by one or more
of them.”
But it wasn’t his role to de-
cide the case on its merits. It
presented by
Lucas Garvey
Senior at McNary High School
McNary senior Lucas Garvey scored 20 points,
which included going 5-for-8 from the 3-point arc
as the Celtics defeated McMinnville on Wednesday,
Feb. 21 to win the Greater Valley Conference
championship.
is OSAA’s task to make the
decision.
“My only task is to assure
that the choice that OSAA
made is one among many that
it has a right to make,” Gillette
wrote. “Here, its choice is pre-
cisely that.”
Gillette added that the same
concerns from Salem-Keizer
could be shared by the three
other districts that could’ve
been placed with Bend, and all
three districts are farther from
Bend than Salem is.
“All three face roads at least
as treacherous—and longer—
than those faced by Salem,”
Gillette wrote. “All three face
at least an equal if not a great
loss of class time than does
Salem. And all three will face
added transportation costs.
Choosing among the four
groups of schools was a thank-
less task, but it was a choice
that OSAA could not refuse
to make.”