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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2019)
PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 25, 2019 KEIZERTIMES.COM McNary takes down West Salem on the mat By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes Even though the McNary wrestling squad is among the youngest in the Mountain Valley Conference, the Celtics have shown over the course of the season that they have a lot of potential. And they proved it once in their fi rst home dual of the year. The Celtics won their fi rst MVC meet of the season on Wednesday, Jan. 16, defeat- ing West Salem in convincing fashion by a score of 50-22. Even though it was an im- pressive victory, McNary head coach Jason Ebbs doesn’t want his kids to lose sight of what their focus is. “This was a very nice, competitive dual for us and I thought our kids looked good,” Ebbs said. “But were not going up and putting notches in our hat quite yet. We still need to focus on improvement.” “We’ve still got a long ways to go, but if we take advantage of the time we have over the next four weeks, we’re going to win more matches.” After West Salem forfeit- ed the 182-pound match, Garrett Wampler started the night off for the Celtics in the 195-pound bout. Even though he was wrestling up a division, Wampler dominated his oppo- nent and earned a pin late in the fi rst round. “I just went in there know- ing that I could get in control right off the bat,” Wampler said. Anthony Garcia-Reyes continued to build the mo- mentum for McNary in the following match. The junior 220-pounder took a big lead on the scoreboard after getting a big three-point takedown early in the second round, then eventually forced a fall late in the third round. With two straight pins, as well as a pair of forfeits, the Celtics 24-0 lead set the tone for the rest of the match. “Winning early and getting the ball rolling is huge,” Ebbs said. “It’s a product of the hours and hours those kids put in at practice against each other.” In the 113-pound match, McNary’s Grady Burrows ap- peared to be in deep trouble when he was sent to the mat late in the fi rst round. But the sophomore was able to keep his shoulder blades just off the ground by the time the buzz- er sounded, avoiding the early fall. When the third round of the match began, West Salem’s Lance McClung came at Bur- rows and tried a leg throw, but Burrows saw it coming from a mile away. “I knew that West (Salem) likes to throw in legs, so that’s what I was kind of anticipating him to do,” Burrows said. Burrows combated the move, maneuvered his body and sent McClung to the fl oor, earning the fall 21 seconds into the fi nal round. After the victory, Burrows pointed over to McNary assis- tant coach Sam Martin — who coached at West Salem last sea- son. “It was my way to tell Coach Martin that win was for him,” Burrows said. Ryan Bamford (170 lbs.) earned the third and fi nal pin for the Celtics in this one. McNary’s Daniel Hernan- dez (126 lbs.) won via 5-3 de- cision and Matthew Mehlhoff (152 lbs.) was victorious in his match with a technical fall while leading 25-10. McNary will host their next match tonight against North Salem at 7 p.m. KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings TOP: McNary’s Anthony Garcia-Reyes (blue) executes a leg grab in the 220-pound match. BOTTOM LEFT: Matthew Mehlhoff battles for position in the 152-pound bout. BOTTOM RIGHT: Ivan Vallejo puts his opponent on the mat. Celtics defeat McKay in blowout fashion By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes The McNary boys basketball team is no stranger to winning games in convincing fashion. Coming into their contest with McKay, eight of the Celt- ics nine victories had come by double-digits. However, it had been a few years since McNary had won a game by such a large margin. Nate Meithof led the way with a game-high of 17 points and Boston Smith added 11 points as the Celtics were in complete control from start to fi nish in their 75-37 victory over the Royal Scots on Friday, Jan. 18. Devyn Schurr and Griffi n Oliveria each chipped in with 10 points apiece for McNary. The 38-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Celtics since 2016. “Our concentration was consistent right from the get- go,” McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. “We shared the ball well and I though our defense looked really good in the fi rst half.” Kirch decided to throw a unique defensive look at McK- ay right out the gate, putting his team in a 2-1-2 zone. It proved to be devastating- ly effective as the Royal Scots turned the ball over six times in the fi rst four minutes, allowing McNary to grab the early 8-0 lead. “We were playing with our arms up and we were just ac- we also have some football guys that know how to read eyes and make interceptions.” Once McNary extended the lead to 36-4, McKay’s frustra- tion became visibly apparent. After Smith was fouled hard going up for a shot, both he and McKay guard Tre Ceja ap- peared to have words with each other after the play. Ceja shoved Smith and then proceeded to shove Oliveira — who was try- ing to deescalate the situation. Ceja got hit with two tech- nical fouls and was ejected from the game. Meithof knocked down all four technical foul shots to give McNary their largest lead of the fi rst half at 40-4. McKay started to show some life in the third quarter, but back-to-back triples from Ol- iveira and Riley Flores kept the Celtics with a more than com- fortable advantage at 58-23. With the massive lead, Kirch got the chance to give some of his young guys their chance to shine in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Eli Petilo knocked down a pair of treys from the top of the key and freshman Tyler Copeland hit three of his four foul shots in the fi nal period. With each make, the Mc- Nary sideline erupted in cele- bration for their teammates. “The part that I appreciated the most was that the older guys who play a lot were super excit- ed when the younger guys got in there,” Kirch said. “I was real proud of that.” McNary plays host to Moun- tain View on Saturday at 5 p.m. KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary guard Griffi n Oliveira prepares to make a move off the dribble. tive on defense the whole time,” Meithof said. “We want to be jumping around everywhere. That’s what causes our steals.” Meithof had a pair of take- aways in the opening quarter, including one that led to a fast- break, tomahawk jam for the sophomore guard. It was the fi rst time that Meithof ever threw one down in a high school game. “I saw that I was wide open for this so I knew I was going to bang it,” Meithof said. The Celtics continued to dictate things on the defensive side for the remainder of the quarter, leading to easy baskets on the other end. A transition 3-pointer from Oliveira and back-to-back layups by Meithof and Noah Hudkins put McNary on top 21-0 at the end of the fi rst pe- riod. The Celtics increased their lead to 27-0 in the second quarter and kept McKay off the scoreboard for the fi rst 13 min- utes of the contest. “One of the strengths we have as a team is our length. We’re pretty athletic,” Kirch said. “It’s really hard for guys to get around Nate up top and KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings Devyn Schurr (#4) gets into a defensive stance at the top of the Celtics 2-1-2 zone.