SEPTEMBER 28, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A13
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KEIZERTIMES.COM
LIFE
OF
W iley
Celtics rout West Salem
in Mountain Valley opener
Next up: Summit
Celtics need
something
to celebrate
It’s homecoming week at McNary.
Monday was the coronation assembly,
Wednesday the powder puff game, Friday
the varsity football game and crowning of
the queen and king and then Saturday a
dance.
It all couldn’t come at a better time.
Mostly, the Celtics need something to
celebrate.
Playing in Tumwater, Wash., McNary
dropped to 0-4 last Friday, falling 56-13 in
another game that was never really com-
petitive. The T-Birds led 43-6 at halftime.
The Celtics have played as diffi cult a
schedule as anyone in the state and host
South Medford, last season’s 6A state run-
ner-up, for homecoming, in their fi nal
non-conference game. After graduating 19
seniors, the Panthers (3-1) aren’t nearly as
talented as a year ago, squeaking by Mc-
Minnville 21-12 at home last week.
So will the homecoming celebration
include the Celtics fi rst win of the season?
Here are my picks:
West Salem at Beaverton
The Titans and Beavers have similar re-
sumes. Both are 2-2 and have not been able
to compete against the elite teams in the
state with West Salem getting blown out by
Lake Oswego and Sheldon and Beaverton
losing by 35 points to Clackamas. The last
time these two squads met, Beaverton won
41-28 in the second round of the 2016
state playoffs. West Salem gets revenge.
Prediction: Titans 45, Beavers 34
Bend at South Salem
Moving up to 6A, the Lava Bears have
been one of the biggest surprises, starting
the season 3-1, with their most impressive
win coming at North Medford, 29-28, in
the third week of the season. But the last
time Bend came to Salem, it lost by 29
points to West Salem. The Saxons are rid-
ing high off a 21-20 win over rival Sprague.
Can South Salem carry over the momen-
tum or is it due for a let down?
Prediction: Saxons 27, Lava Bears 24
Tigard at Sprague
The Olympians diffi cult schedule con-
tinues against undefeated Tigard, No. 4 in
the power rankings and in OSAAtoday’s
coaches poll. The Tiger defense has allowed
just 57 points this season, the third lowest
of any 6A team in the state, while Sprague’s
offense has lacked its usual fi repower of
previous teams.
Prediction: Tigers 44, Olympians 14
North Salem at McKay
The good news is either the Royal Scots
or Vikings will celebrate their fi rst victory
of the season at the end of this one. Both
have been close, with McKay falling to
South Albany by four, and North Salem
losing to Corvallis by seven. The Vikings
won last year and are the more experienced
group.
Prediction: Vikings 30, Royal Scots 28
South Medford at McNary
For the fi rst time since opening the sea-
son on Aug. 31, the Celtics return home,
where they are 2-4 over the last two years,
including a 39-35 loss to McMinnville on
homecoming last season. While McNary
hasn’t shown anything over the last two
weeks to appear like a team on the verge
of a breakthrough, South Medford hasn’t
played on the same level as Tualatin and
Tumwater. The Panthers defense allowed
275 yards passing last week to McMin-
nville. If McNary’s offensive line can give
him time, Erik Barker should be able to
take similar advantage. South Medford’s of-
fense also isn’t as dynamic as what the Celt-
ic’s defense has seen this season. The lumps
and bruises McNary has taken the fi rst four
games should help the Celtics down the
stretch and that begins with South Med-
ford.
Prediction: Celtics 28, Panthers 24
Derek Wiley is Associate Editor of the
Keizertimes.
Last week: 4-1, Overall: 15-8
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Francisco Rios, above, and junior Luis Lopez, below, scored the Celtics
fi rst two goals on Tuesday against West Salem.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary (5-1-2) wanted
to show the rest of the new
Mountain Valley Conference
that it was here to fi ght for the
league championship.
After a 5-1 win over West
Salem (2-5-1) on Tuesday, the
Celtics are now ready to prove
they’re one of the top teams in
the state.
McNary will get that shot
Saturday at Summit (7-1).
“We have to give every-
thing that game,” McNary ju-
nior Jack Baez said. “They’re
a top three team in the state
so we need to show them that
we’re up there with them. We
have to come out big.”
The Celtics came out big
against West Salem, scoring
two goals in the fi rst eight
minutes.
Francisco Rios put in the
fi rst. Luis Lopez scored the
second.
But then McNary relaxed
and the Titans took advantage
as Andres Labate fi red a shot
into the net to get West Salem
within 2-1 early in the second
half.
Picking up the pace, Baez
tapped in a goal to extend the
Celtics lead to 3-1 with 29
minutes remaining.
“It was a really nice assist,”
Baez said. “I just got lucky I
was in the right place at the
right time.”
Midway through the sec-
ond half, Baez added a second
goal to give McNary a 4-1
lead.
“We got too composed, too
cocky,” Baez said. “We had to
pick it up. We had to come
to a realization that this game
isn’t over, 2-0 is always the
most dangerous score in soc-
cer so we just had to continue
to pick it up in the second
half. It was good we didn’t let
our heads down our anything
like that. We raised the tempo
instead of lowering it down.
That’s another thing that is
special about this team. We
overcome a lot of things.”
Alex Salazar put in the fi nal
goal of the night with 13 min-
utes left to play.
“There’s just something
special about this team this
year,” Baez said. “We just con-
nect way better this year and
I’m confi dent going into this
league. I feel like we’re a top
team, hopefully we continue
to show it. We just have to
continue with our hard work.”
Goal keeper Alejandro Vil-
larreal had fi ve saves, playing
for the injured Sebastian Lo-
pez, who McNary head coach
Miguel Camarena expects
back soon.
“He’s getting there but we
want to be smart,” Camarena
said. “It’s a huge asset to have
two goal keepers.”
Saturday’s game at Summit
begins at noon.
“It’s going to be a tough
one but if our kids play their
game, we should be good,”
Camarena said. “They’re a
pretty good technical team
with a lot of possession so our
goal is going to be to try to
take the ball away from them
and create opportunities.”
Defense leads Whiteaker over Walker
Whiteaker’s varsity football
team moved to 2-0 with a
14-6 victory over Walker on
Wednesday, Sept. 19.
Head Coach Tom Larimer
credited the defense for the
win.
“We really were not very
good on offense,” said Lar-
imer, “But our defense owned
the day.”
Whiteaker’s defense is led
by coordinator Luke Atwood,
an all state quarterback at
McNary, one of the top D-III
quarterbacks in the country
at Willamette, coached with
Tom Smythe for 13 years, in-
cluding 10 years at McNary,
and played professionally for
seven years.
“I can’t describe how for-
tunate Keizer is to have him
back coaching in our com-
munity again,” Larimer said.
Atwood’s defense smoth-
ered Walker the entire game.
Braiden Copeland led
the way with 10 tackles and
an interception, while Kyler
Donahue, Jackson Alt, Hunt-
er Ruberto, and Dominic
Hughes each had fi ve tackles.
Damon Thornton snuffed
out Walker’s last gasp effort
when he intercepted a pass in
the fi nal minute of the game.
“Kyler, Ty (Borde), and
Damon really just shut down
Walker’s passing game. They
were stuck on those receivers
all day,” said Larimer.
Whiteaker’s offense strug-
gled, but did enough to win.
The Wolverines put 14
points on the board in the
second quarter, and that was
all the defense needed.
Copeland opened the
scoring with a short touch-
down run and connected
with Jacob Hurst from 10
yards out just before half for
what turned out to be the
winning score.
Copeland led the team
with 79 yards rushing on 11
carries, running primarily
behind Will Green, Cristian
Garcia, Hughes and Hurst.
The game was follo wed by
a free post game BBQ for the
players and fans.
“We have incredible spon-
sors,” said Larimer. “They
provide anything and ev-
erything we need to build a
positive experience for these
kids. We served nearly 200
free meals after the game. I
saw lots of smiling faces and
happy families.”
Claggett wins big
Claggett Creek blew out
Leslie 52-14 in its season
opener on Sept. 19.
Jabol Balos rushed for
two touchdowns and threw
a touchdown pass to Osmid
Cano Espinoza.
Julian Orta ran for a touch-
down and took a kickoff back
for another score.
John Carlos Vasquez ran
a blocked punt back for a
touchdown.
“Our defense played really
well the whole game,” Pan-
thers head coach Aaron Carr
said.
“It was a good start to the
season.”
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
ABOVE: Whiteaker’s defense gang tackles a Walker ball carrier on Wednesday, Sept.
19. BELOW: Osmid Cano Espinoza catches a touchdown pass against Leslie.