PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 4, 2019
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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