BAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 22, 2019
KEIZERTIMES.COM
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Ivan Vallejo (blue singlet) tries to bring his opponent
to the mat in the fi rst round of the 145-pound bracket.
Matthew Mehlhoff takes Mountain View’s Keyshawn Mooers to
the mat in the second round of his 152-pound bout.
Gilbert Barra (black and white headgear) goes into attack
mode in his 138-pound match.
Celts wrestlers battle at district meet
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary wrestling
team had 24 kids compete
in the Mountain Valley Con-
ference District Meet last
weekend (Friday, Feb. 15 and
Sat. Feb. 16) at Sprague High
School.
Even though the Celtics
placed seventh as a team with
97 points, they were able to
get two wrestlers to the state
meet at Memorial Coliseum
in Portland.
Grady Burrows (113 lbs.)
and Gilbert Parra (138 lbs.)
each qualifi ed for state by
placing third in their respec-
tive divisions.
Burrows, who is a sopho-
more, started the meet off by
receiving a bye to advance
to the quarterfi nals, where
he defeated South Salem’s
Hunter Downs-Getchell via
fall in the second round.
But much to his dismay,
Burrows was pinned in the
fi rst round of his semifi nal
bout, taking him out of con-
tention for the district title.
Instead of getting down
on himself, Burrows rallied
back to dominate his next
two bouts, winning his con-
solation semifi nals match and
third-place match by major
decision.
“That semifi nal match lit
a fuse under me after I lost,”
Burrows said. “I knew that I
needed to win this out so I
could go to state.”
This will be the second
straight year Burrows will be
heading to the state meet.
Winning the third-place
match was especially sweet
for Burrows, considering that
he had lost to his opponent
— McKay’s Connor Everetts
— earlier in the year.
“Grady did one of my fa-
vorite things there is to do
in this sport. He beat a guy
that beat him earlier in the
season,” McNary head coach
Jason Ebbs said. “He put to-
gether a really good match.”
Parra also won his opening
match via fall, and then got a
6-2 victory in the quarterfi -
nals to advance.
Parra then took on
Sprague’s Luke Merzenich in
the semifi nals and gave the
eventual district runner-up
everything he could handle,
but ended up losing a 12-9
decision.
“Gilbert really did an ex-
cellent job for himself in that
match. I didn’t know if he
would be able to keep the
score that close,” Ebbs said.
“He has really changed his
game that last few weeks and
changed the expectations
for himself. He wrestled ex-
tremely well.”
Parra faced tough oppo-
nents in his fi nal two bouts,
but the junior stepped up to
the challenge and won both
matches via decision, earning
his fi rst ever trip to the state
meet.
“It was a real dream come
true,” Parra said about his
qualifi cation. “At the begin-
ning of the year, I didn’t think
I was going to be able to go.
I’m really proud and excited
to go to the state tournament.
It’s honestly one of the hap-
piest moments of my life.”
Both Burrows and Parra
will be low seeds at the state
meet — which takes place
Friday Feb. 22 and Saturday,
Feb. 23. But Ebbs, is greatly
encouraging his guys to aim
high.
“We got to shoot for the
sky,” Ebbs said. “The second
you hand out too much re-
spect for your opponent, you
have already fi gured out that
you’re going to lose. We want
to have high goals.”
McNary also had three
other wrestlers make the po-
dium over the weekend.
Cameron Parks (138 lbs.)
Garrett Wampler (182 lbs.)
and Aldo Villalvazo (220 lbs.)
all fi nished in fi fth place for
McNary in their respective
weight classes.
Parks started off in the
consolation bracket and won
his fi rst three matches with
ease (two falls and a forfeit).
Even though he lost in the
consolation semifi nals, Parks
came back to win the fi fth-
place match over Titus Nagle
from Summit with a thrilling
8-7 decision.
Wampler, on the the oth-
er hand, had an easy route to
the semifi nals in the champi-
onship bracket. After receiv-
ing a bye in the fi rst round,
the 182-pounder got a fi rst
round fall in his quarterfi nal
match.
Wampler lost his next two
bouts, but the senior was able
to bounce back by pinning
Sprague’s Owen Scott in the
fi fth-place match.
Villalvazo reached the
quarterfi nals by receiving a
bye in the opening round of
the championship bracket.
After losing a tough 6-3 deci-
sion to Jacob Lehnherr from
Bend, Villalvazo won his next
three consolation matches
to make it to the fi fth-place
bout where he would face off
against Lehnherr once again.
This time, however, Villal-
vazo was victorious, winning
via 3-1 decision.
Out of the 24 wrestlers
that competed, 22 of them
are set to return for the Celt-
ics next season.
“I felt like we grew a ton
this weekend,” Ebbs said.
“Every one of our wins
comes with guys wrestling
with more confi dence next
year.”
McNary exacts revenge against Sprague
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary boys basket-
ball team has gone through
some ups and downs over the
last couple weeks.
After getting an upset vic-
tory over South Salem Jan.
31, the Celtics suffered their
fi rst two home losses of the
season against West Salem
and Summit.
But on Friday, Feb. 15,
McNary was able to get back
on track.
Boston Smith led the
Celtics with 20 points as Mc-
Nary avenged their loss to
Sprague earlier in the season
and defeated the Olympians
by a score of 60-46.
Nate Meithof was also
in double-fi gures with 16
points.
Going into the game, the
message that McNary head
coach Ryan Kirch sent to his
team wasn’t about strategy
and assignments. Instead, it
was about playing loose and
having fun playing the game.
“We have just really fo-
cused on having fun,” Kirch
said. “Sometimes, you get
so worried about X’s and
O’s and game-planning, you
forget about why you play.
When you fi rst pick up a
basketball when you’re six
years old, you love it because
it’s fun.”
“We have really empha-
sized that in our guys and
they’re just having a great
time playing for one another
right now.”
Sprague took advantage of
a trio of McNary turnovers
in the early going to grab the
10-5 lead midway through
the fi rst quarter. But a base-
line 3-pointer from Meithof
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary guard Nate Meithof prrpares to break down a Sprague defender off the dribble. Meithof had 16 points on the night in the
Celtics 60-46 victory on Friday, Feb. 15.
and a runner off the glass by
Alfredo Villareal knotted the
score at 10-apiece.
Smith ended the quarter
with fi ve quick points on a
old-fashioned
three-point
play as well as a pair of free
throws, but Sprague came
back to tie the game at 15
going into the second period.
Both teams went stone
cold from the fi eld in fol-
lowing quarter, but McNary
was able to get the upper
hand going into halftime as
Meithof and Villareal each
knocked down a pair of foul
shots to put the Celtics on
top 25-22.
When the two squads
came out for the start of the
second half, McNary was the
team that found their offen-
sive groove.
The Celtics went on a
10-2 run in the fi rst three
minutes of the third quarter
thanks to buckets in the paint
from Meithof, Smith and
Griffi n Oliveira, as well as a
3-pointer by Noah Hudkins.
“We talked at halftime
about slowing things down
and not being effected by
(Sprague’s) pressure,” Meithof
said.
Smith would wind up
scoring three more times
before the end of the peri-
od, giving McNary the 42-
28 lead going into the fi nal
eight minutes of the contest.
“We came out and
brought the energy,” Smith
said.
While McNary has a solid
amount of offensive weap-
ons, the common theme in
all of their victories this sea-
son has been their outstand-
ing defensive play.
And the Celtics might of
played their best defense of
the season in this one, hold-
ing Sprague to a season-low
46 points.
“They played great de-
fense. We missed some shots
we normally make, but you
have to tip your hat to them,”
Sprague head coach Jordan
Graneto said.
Over the course of the
season, McNary has giv-
en several squads fi ts with
their 2-1-2 zone. But against
Sprague, the Celtics played
hard man-to-man defense
for the majority of the con-
test.
“It was all about our ef-
fort,” Smith said. “Everyone
worked hard on (defense) to-
night. Nobody was slacking.”
Stopping Sprague’s Kobe
Withers was the main fo-
cus of the McNary defense.
While the junior guard had
32 points in the fi rst meet-
ing between these two teams,
Withers was held to just 12
points in this game.
“Every basket (Withers)
got tonight was earned,”
Kirch said. “We forced other
guys to have to make shots. I
was really proud of our on-
ball defense.”
“We made everything dif-
fi cult for them and by the
end of the night, they got
tired.”
Sprague looked like they
had a chance to get back into
the game in the fi nal peri-
od when they cut the lead
to seven at 45-38. But Mc-
Nary scored the next sev-
en points and took a 52-38
lead after a three-point play
from Meithof and a layup by
Smith.
McNary’s regular season
fi nale will be at home to-
night against South Salem
at 7:15 p.m. The Celtics will
clinch at least a share of a sec-
ond place in the MVC with
the win.