PAGE C2, KEIZERTIMES FOOTBALL PREVIEW, AUGUST 31, 2018
Football season is here
LIFE
OF
W iley
The Keizertimes is expanding
its high school sports coverage
this fall and that begins here
with the football preview.
Not only does this section
include McNary but previews
of all fi ve public high schools in
Salem — Sprague, West Salem,
McKay, North Salem and South
Salem.
The 2018 season brings
many changes with the biggest
being realignment.
McNary,
West
Salem,
Sprague and South Salem have
been placed in the new Moun-
tain Valley Conference with
three Bend schools —Bend,
Mountain View and Summit.
Mountain View and Summit
have both had recent success in
5A.
Mountain View fi nished
the 2017 regular season 9-0 to
earn the No. 1 seed in the state
playoffs before falling in the
semifi nals.
Summit won the 5A state
championship in 2015 and en-
tered the state playoffs as the
No. 1 seed in 2016.
But with OSAA’s decision
to have 6A football teams play
a four-game league schedule,
conferences don’t really matter.
McNary plays Bend but neither
Mountain View or Summit.
Sprague and South Salem are
playing as usual but in a non-
league game.
While a team may try to
claim it, there will be no out-
right Mountain Valley Confer-
ence football champion.
West Salem is clearly the
team to beat in the new con-
ference.
With all four members of
its state runner-up 4x100 relay
team, Anthony Gould, Simon
Thompson, Stanley Green and
Jamal Murrin, now seniors on
the football team, West Salem
will have one of the fastest
squads in the state.
Thompson, the Titans new
quarterback, is also the reign-
ing state champion in the 110
hurdles.
West Salem also returns last
season’s Greater Valley Confer-
ence Defensive Player of the
Year Alex Hurlburt as well as
Micah Pugh, an all-league First
Team linebacker.
McNary has two of the top
recruits in the state in juniors
Erik Barker and Junior Walling.
ON THE COVER: Junior Walling, McNary LB/RB
Published by Keizertimes
SA L E M - K E I Z E R HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
M C KAY • M C NARY • NORTH SALEM • SOUTH SALEM • SPRAGUE • WEST SALEM
PREVIEW
Walling, who has an offer
from Oregon State, is rated the
No. 4 prospect in Oregon for
the Class of 2020.
Barker is ninth and the top
quarterback in the state, accord-
ing to 247sports.
While the Celtics have a
smaller senior class than in
years past, there are several solid
pieces there beginning with
lineman Joshua Schmeltzer and
receiver Jacob Jackson.
Dyami Rios, a sophomore
who dominated freshman foot-
ball last season, is another in-
triguing player at linebacker and
possibly running back.
Sprague has fi nished near the
top of the league standings the
past three years but returns just
three starters from last season.
This could be the year Mc-
Nary and South Salem get re-
venge on the Olympians. The
Celtics haven’t defeated Sprague
since 2014.
South Salem also returns a
lot of talent in lineman Ashton
Adams, linebacker Josh Raynak,
quarterback Elijah Enomoto-
Haole and tight ends Diego
Fuimaono and Brock Hale.
North Salem and McKay,
who have consistently fi nished
at the bottom of the league,
hope to get some relief by mov-
ing down a classifi cation to 5A.
But the Vikings and Royal Scots
were placed in a tough league
with the likes of Lebanon,
South Albany, Crescent Valley
and Silverton.
With only three weeks of
offi cial practice to prepare,
coaches already feel rushed. Air
quality concerns forcing many
practices indoors has made it
even harder on teams this year.
But the 2018 season is offi -
cially here, ready or not.
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M C NARY — C3
NORTH SALEM — C11
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SPRAGUE — C7
WEST SALEM — C9
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