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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2019)
PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 4, 2019 1500 BUILT TRADE $ Keizer * FOR THE SALES EVENT ASSIST 3555 River Road N, Keizer (503) 463 - 4853 HOLIDAYS AND 0% IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR TO BUY. www.skylineforddirect.com 2018 ECOSPORT S 4WD OFF MSRP ON ALL 2018 F-150s OR * $ 1000 OFF FINAL DAYS ON ALL 2018 SUVs 13,800 $ x72 ** 2018 F-150 XLT SUPERCAB 4X4 *MSRP $22,581, Sale price $17,696 after Skyline Discount $1,135, after $2,250 Rebate, $1,500 Trade Assist, Plus license, title & documentation fee $413 and applicable taxes. Vin#196826, Stk#183127. Must trade 95 or newer. OAC. Art is for illustration only. **MSRP $44,315, Sale price $30,496 after Skyline Discount $5,269, after $3,750 Rebate, $1, 500 in bonus cash, $1,500 Trade Assist, $1,000 Certificates (while supplies last), $300 EcoBoost Bonus Cash. Plus license, title & documentation fee $413 and applicable taxes. Vin#96859, Stk#182676. Must trade 95 or newer. OAC. 0%x72 =$38,046 to finance after 1000 certs (while supplies last), tier 0-1 Ford Credit OAC. Art is for illustration only. KEIZERTIMES.COM Conference titles for the McNary High Counting down the 10 sports stories of 2018 School football and boys basketball squads highlight a banner sports year in the city of Keizer. Celts win league title after 0-5 start McNary has spent the last four years under head coach Jeff Auvinen focused on getting better, not just every season or even every game, but every play. That work paid off in No- vember with the football pro- gram’s fi rst league champion- ship since 2005 as the Celtics defeated South Salem 40-33 to clinch the Mountain Valley Conference title. McNary made no more progress within a single season than this one. After starting 0-5, the Celtics won all four of their league games — beating Sprague, Bend and West Salem in their fi rst three league games. “We stayed the course and got better,” Auvinen said. “That’s all you can do is play the next play.” McNary appeared like it would roll the Saxons over when the Celtics led 25-6 and recovered an on-side kick with 5:40 remaining in the fi rst half. But South Salem took ad- vantage of a McNary fum- ble and a turnover on downs on the following possession to score 14 straight points. An 8-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Enomoto-Haole to Di- ego Fuimaono and then a 10- yard touchdown run by Enom- oto-Haole with 27 seconds left in the second period helped the Saxons cut the lead to 25-20 at halftime. South Salem took a 26-25 lead midway through the third period when Gabe Johnson re- turned an interception 89 yards File McNary linebacker Junior Walling pumps his fi st in celebration. for a touchdown. “I think we might have came in a little over confi dent,” McNary senior lineman Wyatt Sherwood said. “We tried to keep that out of us this week. It’s going to happen. When they took the lead, I think we real- ized that we needed to step up and fi nish this.” McNary running back Ju- nior Walling made sure that lead didn’t last long as his 13- yard touchdown run late in the third quarter put the Celtics back on top. Walling put the game on ice with his score from one-yard out midway through the fi nal period. He fi nished the game with 210 rushing yards. Celtics quarterback Erik Barker had a big game on the ground as well, running for 124 yards and two scores. He also connected with Noah Bach on a 52-yard touchdown through the air. “We knew we were the bet- ter team and if we just did our jobs and didn’t make stupid plays, we’d come back and win the game,” Barker said. “Our O-line was making big holes all day and Junior was running great and he blocked for me when I would run it." File Celtics running back Noah Bach avoids the reach of a South Salem defensive back. Ebbs places third at fi nal state meet Witt signs with Division 1 School Nadia Witt knew that she would be playing softball in college before the start of her senior season in 2018. After originally commit- ting to Western Oregon Uni- versity, Witt had a change of heart and decided to instead sign with the University of California Riverside — a Di- vision I school that plays in the Big West Conference. “I committed (to Western Oregon) kind of early, and once I got older, I decided that I wanted to change and get out of state, and I wanted to play D-I ball, so I decom- mited,” Witt said. “I went on a visit (to UC Riverside), and I kind of fell in love. The pro- gram has really rebuilt itself, and the campus is nice.” Even though she was excit- ed to start her college career, Witt wanted to fi nish off her high school playing days on a high note. It’s safe to say that her goal was accomplished. Witt, ended the year with a .602 batting average in her fi - nal season with the Lady Celts. She recorded 23 extra base hits, including 11 doubles, six triples and six home runs. She also had 29 RBIs, scored 46 runs, stole 17 bases and was named the Greater Valley Conference player of the year for the second straight season. “Honestly, she’s just an all-around great player. She’s super smart,” McNary head coach Kevin Wise said. “She hits lasers. Her home runs are just rockets — they get out in a hurry.” Witt helped McNary win two league titles in 2015 and 2017 and led the Celtics to the playoffs in all four years of her high school career. File McNary’s Nadia Witt will be playing college softball at UC Riverside in 2019. File McNary’ senior Brayden Ebbs (blue singlet) takes down an opponent at the 2018 OSAA State Wrestling Tournament McNary High School’s Brayden Ebbs heard from all of his coaches that the most honorable thing a wrestler can do at a tournament is place third. At the 2018 state wrestling tournament, Ebbs took that to heart, defeating Oliver Myers of Newberg by a 13-0 major decision on 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 some- thing 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 fo- cused as he’s ever seen him. “I think Brayden did what you hope all your best wres- tlers 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 over- time, i’ve never seen him stay so focused on his technique and his strategy and what he needs to do instead of worry- ing about scoring and worry- ing about being ahead or be- hind. He matured really well this year and did some of his best wresting here. I’m proud of him.” Ebbs earned an 11-2 ma- jor decision and two pins to reach the semifi nals, where he lost to No. 2 seed Josh Grant of Century 6-3. FOR MORE, see Pages A8-A9