PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 18, 2019
ALL 2018 EXPLORERS
2018 EXPLORER XLT 4WD
ON SALE!
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*MSRP $42,925, Sale price $34,559 after Skyline Discount $8,366, Plus license, title & documentation fee $413 and applicable taxes. Vin#C29011, Stk#183375. OAC. Art is for illustration only. **MSRP $56,035, Sale price $43,688 after Skyline Discount $6,347, after $2,250 Rebate,
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KEIZERTIMES.COM
Lady Celts earn hard-fought win over West Salem
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary girls basketball
team faced one of the toughest
non-conference schedules in
the state this season.
Even
though
they
only won two of their 10
preseason contests, the tough
competition prepared them
for what they would face in
Mountain Valley Conference
play.
In a game that went down
to the wire, McNary proved
that they were the more battle-
tested squad.
Leah Doutt led the way for
McNary with 17 points on
7-of-8 shooting from the fi eld
as the Celtics pulled off the
upset at West Salem on Friday,
Jan. 11, defeating the Titans
42-39.
Abilgail Hawley was also in
double-fi gures with 10 points.
“(West Salem) is really
tough team that put a lot of
defensive pressure on us, so I
was really proud of how we
stayed composed throughout
the game,” McNary head
coach Elizabeth Doran said.
“Early on in the season we
weren’t winning a lot of
games, but I could tell that we
were getting better and now
it’s coming to fruition.”
The game couldn’t have
started much better for the
Celtics as they began the
opening period on a 7-0 run
thanks to a jumper from Annie
Leigh Besa, followed by a
3-pointer from Hawley.
McNary extended their
lead to 14-4 by the end of the
fi rst quarter after back-to-back
hoops from Doutt and another
bucket from Hawley.
“The key for us was
being able to break the press
and handle their defensive
pressure,” Doutt said. “We
were able to get around their
defenders and take good
shots.”
West Salem, however, came
roaring back in the second
quarter, going on a 14-2 run
to take a 18-16 lead late in the
period.
“We kind of went cold
offensively in the second
quarter,” Doran said.
Mackenzie Proctor made
the only shot for the Celtics
in the second period, burying
a mid-range jumper with less
than a minute left to tie the
game at 18 going into the
break.
After both teams traded
baskets for the majority of the
third quarter, McNary started
to get the slight edge when
they ended the period on a
6-0 run. A runner from Doutt,
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary guard Leah Doutt drives into traffi c to try and draw a foul. The senior point guard had 17 points on the night in the Celtics
42-39 win over West Salem on Jan. 11.
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Abigail Hawley prepares to knock down a foul shot.
paired with four straight points
by Hawley, gave the Celtics a
31-26 advantage with eight
minutes remaining in the
game.
The Titans, though, refused
to say die, trimming their
defi cit down to two points on
multiple occasions in the fi nal
period. But in each instance,
Doutt made sure to keep West
Salem at arm’s length.
The senior point guard
knocked down three buckets
in the fourth quarter, but her
most clutch play came on
defense when her team was
up 37-35 with 1:10 left in the
game.
West Salem had the ball
and was looking to either tie
or take the lead when Doutt
forced a steal at the top of the
key, led the Celtics on the fast
break and gave a beautiful feed
to Kennedy Buss, who fi nished
the easy layup to put McNary
on top 39-35 with under a
minute remaining.
“My teammates did a good
job of getting open and setting
screens for me so I could get
to the basket,” Doutt said. “
A trio of missed free throws
down the stretch allowed the
Titans to cut the lead to one
at 40-39 with 16 seconds left
of the clock. But after West
Salem fouled Leigh Besa with
8.6 seconds remaining, the
sophomore forward calmly
stepped to the charity stripe
and knocked down two shots
to put her team up by three.
“I was a mess in my head,
but I just stepped to the line
and took deep breath and I
told myself that I had this,”
Leigh Besa said.
West Salem tried a
desperation shot at the horn
that was well contested by the
McNary defense.
The shot never had a
chance and didn’t even draw
iron, which sent the Celtics
into celebration mode.
“It was really exciting to
get that win,” Leigh Besa
said. “It showed that we can
compete and go up against
these big teams.”
McNary goes on the road
to take on McKay at 7:15 p.m.
Parker and Bonn reunite at Willamette
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Isaac Parker was the head
coach of the McNary High
School football program from
2012 to 2014 and led the Celt-
ics to the postseason in all three
years of his tenure.
Kyle Bonn got the chance to
play for Parker when he made
the varsity team in 2013 as a
sophomore. He then earned a
starting spot on the offensive
line in 2014.
“It was about more than just
football, Bonn said about play-
ing for Parker in high school.
“It was about building rela-
tionships and developing char-
acter.”
“The way that (Parker)
coached made us excited to
compete with each other. It
kept football season really ex-
citing and he kept me looking
forward to what was coming
up next.”
But Bonn didn’t get the
chance to have a senior year
with one of his favorite coach-
es. In the beginning of 2015,
Parker left the McNary pro-
gram to take a job as an offen-
sive line and run game coach
for Lewis & Clark College.
However, after spending
the last four season apart, both
Bonn and Parker will have the
opportunity to reunite this fall.
After having a standout sea-
son in his fi nal year at McNary,
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Kyle Bonn (left) played for Isaac Parker (right) during the 2013 and 2014 football seasons at McNary
High School. Bonn, who is a senior offensive lineman at Willamette University, will get to play for
Parker once again after Parker accepted the head coaching job with the Bearcats earlier this month.
Bonn signed with Willamette
University to continue his ed-
ucation, as well as his football
career. He played the last three
seasons for the Bearcats under
Glen Fowles.
But after a 1-8 season in
2018, Fowles and and the uni-
versity parted ways, leaving the
head coaching position vacant.
With Parker’s success at
Lewis & Clark, combined with
his connection to Willamette
— he played for the Bearcats
from 1998 to 2001 and was a
two-year team-captain — it
was an easy decision for athlet-
ic director Rob Passage to offer
Parker the job.
And Parker was more than
happy to accept the offer.
“We are very excited to have
Isaac returning to Willamette
to lead our football program,”
Passage said. “Not only does
he bring outstanding teaching
and coaching experience, he
also adds a tremendous passion
for building community within
the program, the university and
Salem.”
Before his days at McNary,
Parker was an assistant coach/
offensive coordinator at South
Salem High School from 2007
to 2011, so making a return
to the Salem-Keizer area pro-
voked a sense of joy in the new
head coach.
“I’m really excited to be
re-engaged with the (Sa-
lem-Keizer) community. I cre-
ated a lot of connections in my
time coaching here,” Parker
said. “The only school I would
have left Lewis & Clark for is
Willamette.”
Parker isn’t the only one
excited about his return to
coaching in Marion County.
“It’s really great to get him
back for that senior season that
I missed out on in high school,”
Bonn said. “As a team, I’m ex-
cited to see us become, not
only great football players, but
also a great band of brothers.”
Parker has his work cut out
for him as he his taking over
a program that has lost 17 of
their 18 games over the last
two seasons. However, he is
no stranger to helping a losing
program develop a winning
environment.
Lewis & Clark was coming
off a winless season the year be-
fore Parker set foot on campus.
The team also went through
each of the 2015 and 2016
seasons without a victory. But
when Parker was promoted to
offensive coordinator in 2017,
the program started to experi-
ence real change.
In his second game as the
OC, Parker led Lewis & Clark
to a 40-21 victory over Po-
mona-Pitzer. It was the most
points the Pioneers had scored
since 2014 and their fi rst win
since 2013.
Two weeks later, Lewis &
Clark defeated Willamette 24-
21 for the fi rst time since 2000
to claim the Wagon Wheel
traveling trophy.
Even though the Pioneers
still had losing records in 2017
and 2018, Parker played a big
role in the culture shift at Lewis
& Clark and hopes to do the
same thing with his alma mater.
“When I played here, (Wil-
lamette) was considered a pe-
rennial contender. And I don’t
believe that returning to that
mindset is far off,” Parker said.
Part of changing the cul-
ture of a program is having se-
niors buy in to what your are
preaching, which is why having
a guy like Bonn — who will be
competing for a starting job on
the offensive line — is crucial
to help Parker get his message
across to the rest of the team.
“Getting the opportunity
to get that fourth year togeth-
er is fun and exciting,” Parker
said. When you have a culture
change or a new approach to
how you do things in a foot-
ball program, the senior class
can be a hit-or-miss, so having
someone who has been in this
position with me before and
understands the value of his
role is huge.”
“The biggest thing about
Kyle is that he is a high effort
guy, which will take you far no
matter what. He always gave it
his all, which, as a coach, that
is what you need and is one of
our values as a program.