PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 18, 2019
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Walling’s four TD’s lead McNary to rout
a 3rd-and-19 bubble screen
By MATT RAWLINGS
to Carson Vankempen, who
Of the Keizertimes
In desperate need of a vic- scored from 22 yards out to
tory after an 0-5 start, Mc- give the Olympians the early
Nary’s Junior Walling put advantage.
But thanks to a 48-yard
together an all-around dom-
inant performance to lead kick return from Alex Tavera
the Celtics to victory in their to the Olympians 37-yard line,
Mountain Valley Conference the Celtics were able to take
advantage moments later.
opener.
Facing a 3rd-and-12, Mc-
The senior running back
rushed for 101 yards and three Nary quarterback Erik Barker
touchdowns on just eight eluded the rush to fi nd Wall-
ing in the fl at
carries,
and
on a broken
added a re-
play. Walling
ceiving score
broke a tack-
as well, leading
le and then
the Celtics to
cruised to end
their fi rst win,
zone for a 29-
a 51-18 rout
yard score, put-
of Sprague on
ting McNary
Thursday, Oct.
on top 7-6.
10.
The Celt-
Walling also
ics
offense
led the Celt-
got great fi eld
ics on defense
position once
with 11 tack-
again on their
les.
opening pos-
“This was
session of the
huge. We knew
second quar-
we
needed
— Junior Walling ter
thanks
this one and
McNary running back
to a partially
I couldn’t be
blocked punt
more
happy
by the Mc-
for this team.
Nary special
Our
O-line
was a huge factor. They balled teams.
On the second play of the
out and had an amazing day,”
Walling said. “Those fi rst few drive, running back Nico San-
games made us tougher. We doval took a shovel pass 14
had to form an identity and yards down to the goal line.
learn who we were as a team. Barker punctuated the drive
But that’s what has happened with an easy score from a yard
out on a quarterback draw.
and we’re ready to go now.”
Things were not going in “We have been waiting for a
McNary’s favor to begin the performance like this all sea-
contest. After the Celtics went son. And our hard work has
three-and-out on their fi rst fi nally paid off. This is the
possession, Sprague converted best feeling in the world right
“This was
huge. We
knew we
needed this
one and I
couldn’t be
more happy
for this team.”
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary running back Junior Walling scampers down the sideline for his fi rst of four touchdowns in the Celtics 51-18 win over
Sprague on Friday, Oct. 11.
now,” Barker said.
McNary got the chance to
have their third straight posses-
sion start in Sprague territory
when the Celtics recovered
a fumble on the Olympians
42-yard line. And for the third
straight drive, the Celtics cap-
italized as Walling scored from
20 yards out to put his team
up 21-6.
“It was good to see the
execution and it was good to
see the offense clicking and
the defense playing hard and
keeping things under control,”
McNary head coach Jeff Au-
vinen said.
Sprague responded to start
the third quarter with a 20-
yard touchdown pass from
Elias Polanski to Zach Dod-
son-Greene, but the Olympi-
ans couldn’t convert the two-
point try, which still made it a
two-score game at 21-12.
But on the ensuing Mc-
Nary drive, Sandoval found
the end zone from 36 yards
out, dragging multiple de-
fenders with across the goal
line, which gave the McNary
sideline a huge boost of ener-
gy.
After Sprague went three-
and-out, Walling put the game
on ice on his following touch.
Facing 3rd-and-seven at
midfi eld, Walling took the
handoff and looked like he
was stacked up at the line of
scrimmage. But his 6-foot-
2, 230-pound frame was
too much for Sprague to
bring down as Walling broke
through the pile and strolled
Please see CELTS Page A10
Celts dominate McKay for fi rst conference win
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
LEFT: McNary Isabella Walker fi res a shot that fi nds the back of the net. Walker scored two of the Celtics eight goals on the afternoon. RIGHT: Ashlyn Lyda prepares to throw the ball in play.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary girls soccer
team only scored one goal
in their fi rst three Mountain
Valley Conference games.
But on Thursday, Oct. 10, the
Celtics erupted for their best
offensive performance of the
season.
Sydney Alfano and Isabel-
la Walker scored two goals
apiece and Haley Hughes
added a goal and an assist as
McNary demolished McKay
for their fi rst league win of
the season, defeating the Roy-
al Scots 8-0.
While he was happy with
the win, one of the biggest
takeaways for McNary head
coach A.J. Nash was that he
got to give some of the team’s
more inexperienced players
some signifi cant playing time.
“Any win is good, but I
was glad that we were able to
play some girls who don’t see
the fi eld that much and get
them some good experience
at the varsity level,” Nash said.
“Those girls have worked re-
ally hard and have earned it.
And there were times that the
goal-scoring came from those
players.”
The second unit missed
out on some opportunities in
the fi rst 25 minutes of the fi rst
half, but Hughes, a senior for-
ward, fi nally broke the seal in
the 26th minute with a nifty
goal that just snuck below the
crossbar.
“Haley scoring that goal
near the end of the fi rst half
took a lot of the pressure off.
She stepped up and showed a
lot of leadership,” Nash said.
The score remained 1-0 at
halftime, but the Celtics went
on an goal-scoring onslaught
to start the second half, scor-
ing six times in a 22-minute
stretch.
McNary’s fi rst goal of the
half came three minutes in
when Hughes set up Walker
with a high cross-fi eld pass
over the goalie’s head. Walk-
er easily put away the point-
blank goal with a header.
“Haley really put me in
good position for that goal.
I was just there at the right
time,” Walker said.
Less than 90 seconds later,
Walker put away her second
goal after stealing the ball
away on a McKay goal kick
and hitting a rocket into the
back of the net from 30 yards
out.
Emma Stephen got in on
the action in the 55th min-
ute. The junior defender hit
Ashlyn Lyda with a pass off a
corner kick. Lyda, got the ball
back to Stephen, who took
advantage of the space she
was given and put a shot into
the top corner of the post to
make the score 4-0.
Alfano would wind up
scoring a back-to-back goals
moments later to extend Mc-
Nary’s lead to 6-0.
Samantha Alfano and Re-
gann Donahue each added
goals down the stretch to
round out the scoring for
McNary.
The Celtics were also stel-
lar defensively in this one, get-
ting their second shutout of
the season, allowing just three
shots-on-goal.
“We made sure we had
good spacing and we were
playing to feet really well,
which helped us keep posses-
sion of the ball,” Hughes said.
With three games remain-
ing, McNary still is in a posi-
tion to fi nish in fourth place
in the MVC, which would
give them a berth in the play-
offs, but the Celtics will likely
have to win out to keep their
postseason dreams alive.
“We are now in a jockey
for fourth place. Every game
we have is winnable, but we
have to show up for the next
three games. If we remain fo-
cused, it’s defi nitely within
our grasp,” Nash said.
McNary’s next game will
be at home against Sprague
on Friday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m.