OCTOBER 5, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1
KEIZERTIMES.COM
LIFE
OF
Whalen twins pace Celtics
W iley
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Ethan and Brennan Wha-
len, twin brothers, spent the
summer competing in region-
al and national track meets in
Bend, Los Angeles and Reno,
Nev.
That experience is now
paying off in their sophomore
high school cross country sea-
son.
Running for McNary, the
Whalen brothers have shat-
tered their best times as fresh-
men.
Ethan, who entered the
season with a PR of 18:37,
fi nished the Meriwether Na-
tional Cross Country Classic
in Hillsboro in 17:50 on Sept.
21.
“I just stayed in shape and
got better,” Ethan said. “I came
back stronger than last year.”
Finishing just eight sec-
onds behind Ethan was Bren-
nan, whose freshman PR was
18:59.
“That was my goal for
the season, said Brennan of
breaking 18 minutes. “I’m still
working hard. I’m making a
new one.”
Both Brennan and Ethan,
who started cross country as
sixth graders at Whiteaker
McNary sophomores Brennan and Ethan Whalen have both run under 18 minutes for the Celtic cross country team.
Please see WHALEN, Page B2
The battle of
the winless
A league championship won’t be on the
line when Sprague visits McNary tonight.
In 6A, where teams play only four confer-
ence games, league championships don’t re-
ally exist anymore.
No, the Celtics and Olympians will com-
pete for much more.
Pride.
Playing two of the toughest schedules in
the state, McNary and Sprague are both 0-5.
The Celtics have been outscored 251-80, the
Olympians 200 to 103.
“We are trying to get better every week
and I’m sure they are, too,” McNary head
coach Jeff Auvinen said. “I think it will be a
battle. I think it will be a war with both teams
pretty hungry. They do a great job over there
as coaches and they’ll be as hungry as we are.”
Which team will get the monkey off their
back? Whose nightmare will continue?
My picks:
McKay at Corvallis
The Royal Scots (0-5) are the other win-
less Salem-Keizer team and their prospects
don’t look good after falling at home to
North Salem 52-31 last Friday. Looking at
their fi nal four games, Corvallis (2-3) may be
their best shot. The Spartans are coming off a
20-point loss to Silverton and 45-point loss
at Crescent Valley. But in between, Corvallis
did knock off Dallas.
Prediction: Spartans 30, Royal Scots 20
West Albany at North Salem
The Vikings (1-4) are celebrating their
fi rst win of the season at McKay but now
host undefeated West Albany (5-0), which
unlike North Salem and McKay has thrived
moving down to 5A. West Albany and North
Salem have only one common opponent—
Crescent Valley. The Bulldogs won 20-7. The
Vikings lost 34-0. North Salem won last sea-
son’s matchup 22-21. West Albany gets re-
venge.
Prediction: Bulldogs 34, Vikings 17
South Salem at West Salem
The Titans (2-3) open Mountain Valley
Conference play after losing back-to-back
games to Sheldon and Beaverton. The Saxons
(2-3) couldn’t carry over the momentum of
defeating rival Sprague, falling to Bend 34-
24 last week. While the two teams share the
same record, West Salem has played the much
tougher schedule. The Titans, projected to
be one of the top teams in the state, have
got off to a disappointing start, but should
have enough fi re power on offense to get past
South Salem at home.
Prediction: Titans 50, Saxons 28
Sprague at McNary
A win here would obviously be huge for
both teams, and a loss just as devastating.
Opening the season with fi ve straight losses
to the likes of West Linn, Tualatin, Tigard and
Central Catholic is one thing but to fall to
another 0-5 team down the road in the same
school district is another. Sprague (0-5) al-
ready has a bad loss, falling to South Salem
21-20 in a game it led 20-0 entering the
fourth quarter. But the Olympians at least
showed they are capable of beating a team,
even if for just three quarters.
McNary (0-5) has hardly been competi-
tive and its 55-27 loss to North Medford to
open the season is looking even worse after
the Black Tornado have lost three games in a
row, including two to Mountain Valley Con-
ference teams Bend and Mountain View.
While the Celtics schedule has been a
bit tougher, McNary’s defense has struggled
to stop the run, giving up more than 500
yards to North Medford and Tumwater. And
Sprague has the running back in Chris Sharp
(694 yards and nine touchdowns this season)
to take advantage.
A much more experienced Olympian
squad came to Keizer and dominated Mc-
Nary 62-6 last season. The Celtics haven’t
forgotten. While Sprague enters this matchup
hungry for its fi rst win, McNary is starving,
for both the taste of victory and sweet re-
venge.
Prediction: Celtics 30, Olympians 27
Derek Wiley is the Associate Editor of the
Keizertimes.
Last week: 2-3, Overall: 17-11
Lady Celts end dry spell
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
SALEM—After getting into
the playoffs based on its power
ranking the past two seasons, Mc-
Nary wants to earn its spot this
year with a top four fi nish in the
conference.
The Lady Celts went a long
way to getting there Tuesday, de-
feating South Salem 2-1.
“We knew that this was a
pivotal conference matchup and
there was a lot on the line,” Mc-
Nary head coach AJ Nash said.
The Lady Celts came to South
Salem on a seven-game losing
streak, scoring just one goal in
September.
“We’ve been playing good
ball,” Nash said. “We’ve been in
the games up until the fi nal whis-
tle on all of them. Even though
it was a rough spell, morale was
good.”
McNary had also played its
toughest schedule in years, which
got the Lady Celts ready for
league play.
“Coming into the night, this
is as prepared as I’ve ever felt,”
Nash said. “Even though they
were losses, we played the teams
Please see END, Page B3
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary’s girls soccer team celebrates with Audrey Williams after the sophomore scored to give the Lady Celts
a 2-0 lead in the fi rst half at South Salem.
Auvinen sees fi ght in latest loss
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Nigel Harris returns a kickoff against South Medford on Friday,
September 28.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
After another disappoint-
ing fi rst half of football, Mc-
Nary head coach Jeff Auvin-
en saw something in his team
that gave him “a glimmer of
hope.”
Trailing by three touch-
downs, McNary senior Ja-
cob Jackson intercepted
South Medford quarterback
Giovanni Bottero on the
third play of the second half.
Erik Barker then connect-
ed with Griffi n Oliveira to
get the Celtics on the score-
board and McNary’s defense
stood tall, stopping the Pan-
thers on fourth-and-1.
But McNary’s offense
couldn’t get anything else
going and South Medford
added two more touch-
downs, including a 60-yard
punt return, to defeat the
Celtics 35-7 on homecom-
ing.
“I saw some fi ght tonight
that I hadn’t seen for a while,
since that West Linn game,”
Auvinen said.
“The interception, going
down and scoring and then
the fourth down stop. That
was exciting football right
there. That’s the kind of foot-
ball we’re used to. That was
fun football, that little stretch.
If we play that way all of the
time, we just have to get after
it and fl y around, trust each
other and play together, play
hard, play tough. That was a
glimmer of hope.”
Please see HOPE, Page B3