NOVEMBER 15, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary eighth-graders complete perfect season
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Cameron Ferrando (33) breaks away from a Lake Oswego tackler after making an interception. The Celtics forced six
turnovers in their 28-6 win.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It’s one thing to fi nish the
season undefeated, but it’s a
whole other thing to do it in
dominating fashion.
But that’s exactly what the
McNary Youth Football var-
sity eighth-grade team did to
Lake Oswego on the after-
noon of Saturday, Nov. 9 at
Tigard High School.
The Celtics controlled
the game from start to fi nish,
beating Lake Oswego 28-6
to clinch the AFC bracket of
the Tualatin Valley Football
League with a 10-0 record.
“I couldn’t be more proud
of all these kids. They earned
it. Each player worked their
butt off and they just put the
pieces together all season
long,” Celtics head coach
Dan Burrus said.
The McNary offense was
a little bit sloppy to come
out the gate as they commit-
ted multiple penalties that
stalled their fi rst two drives
and couldn’t take advantage
of a pair of early turnovers
by Lake Oswego. But the
Celtics were able to tighten
things up as the second quar-
ter began.
The Celtics defense got
a huge fourth down stop
in Lake Oswego territo-
ry when defensive lineman
Nick Henry came away with
a sack to give McNary the
ball back.
Facing a third-and-10,
Celtics quarterback Jesse
Dyer hit Gage Smedema
perfectly in stride down the
sideline for the touchdown
to get McNary on the board.
McNary forced the Lak-
ers third fumble of the game
on the following posses-
sion, which was recovered
by Cougar Bailey and taken
down to the Lake Oswego
12-yard line.
Four plays later, McNary
running back Pierce Walker
punched it in from a yard
out to give his team the 14-0
lead.
“We try to take pride in
focus and attitude. We just
told the the boys to calm
down and get their heads
back in the game,” Burrus
said.
Lake Oswego responded
with a 72-yard touchdown
run on the following play
from scrimmage to get with-
in one score. But McNary
wasn’t fazed in the slightest.
An 18-yard scramble by
Dyer had 15 yards tacked
on to it after a late hit from
a Lake Oswego defender,
which took the ball down to
the Lakers 22-yard line.
Once they got the ball
Please see CELTS, Page B2
Celtics ousted by Sherwood in fi rst round
By MATT RAWLINGS
quarter.
Of the Keizertimes
Guerra ran for another
After rattling off four touchdown later in the peri-
straight victories on their way od to increase the Sherwood
to a Mountain Valley Con- lead to two scores.
McNary was on the verge
ference title, the McNary
football squad came back to of responding on their fol-
Earth against Sherwood on lowing possession, thanks
to two long completions to
Friday, Nov. 8.
The Bowmen scored 21 Noah Lelack, getting the
points in the third quarter Celtics in the red zone.
But on fourth-and-one
and easily took down Mc-
Nary in the fi rst round of the from inside the fi ve-yard line,
OSAA Playoffs, defeating the the Sherwood defense came
up with a huge stop, stuffi ng
Celtics 49-7.
The 42-point defeat was Walling right at the line-of-
McNary’s worst loss of the scrimmage.
The Celtics offense got
season
“That second half was a another chance inside the
red zone just
little bit hard
moments later
to take. They
when Sher-
got after us “ That second
wood fumbled
and we didn’t half was a little
the ball inside
respond
on
the 20. But
either side of bit hard to
once
again,
the ball very
take. They got
M c N a r y
well,” McNary
couldn’t take
head
coach after us and we
advantage.
Jeff Auvinen
didn’t respond
“We were
said.
moving
the
W h i l e on either side
ball, but we
the
Celtics
just couldn’t
showed signs of the ball very
get it in the
of competi- well.”
end
zone,”
tiveness early,
they struggled
— Jeff Auvinen, Auvinen said.
Auvinen,
to capitalize
McNary head coach
however, was
on opportu-
much
more
nistic
situa-
encouraged with how the
tions in the fi rst half.
On the opening drive, McNary defense played in
McNary quarterback Erik the second quarter.
“I thought kids were mak-
Barker looked to be getting
into a rhythm after a pair of ing plays and owning their
fi rst down completions to gaps in that second quarter,”
Layton Thurlow and Junior he said.
McNary held the Bow-
Walling.
The Celtics got the ball men to a three-and-out mid-
past midfi eld thanks to a per- way through the quarter. But
sonal foul on Sherwood. But later in the period, Guerra
while trying to keep the en- struck for his third touch-
suing play alive, Barker was down of the game, fi nding
stripped of the football and the end zone from 39 yards
the Bowmen took over on out to put Sherwood on top
their own 45-yard line.
21-0 with 49 seconds left in
From there, it only took the half.
The Celtics, however,
Sherwood four plays to get
into the end zone. A 15-yard were able to show their quick
score from Jamison Guer- strike capability right before
ra put the Bowmen on top halftime.
7-0 midway through the fi rst
McNary took over on
their own 38-yard line after a
solid kick return from Ethan
Martin. On the fi rst play of
the drive, Barker threw a
perfect pass to Walling on a
wheel rout for a 41-yard gain.
The two connected for an-
other fi rst down on the fol-
lowing play.
Barker then hit Alex Tave-
ra on a quick out for a 11-
yard fi rst down to put the
ball at the seven. The senior
signal-caller fi nished off the
impressive series by fi nding
Walling on a screen pass for
the touchdown with less than
10 seconds remaining in the
second quarter.
But any preconceived mo-
mentum that McNary had
going into the locker room
was dissipated in the second
half.
The Celtics had no an-
swer to Sherwood’s daunting
wing-T attack as the Bow-
men scored on all three of
their possessions in the third
quarter. McNary’s offense, on
the other hand, had a diffi cult
time moving the sticks.
Sherwood fi nished the
game with 416 rushing yards
on 52 carries.
“We thought we were get-
ting a handle on things after
stubbing our toe a couple
times in the fi rst half. But the
second half, it was not pret-
ty. (Sherwood) could pretty
much just do whatever they
wanted to. It looked like we
were not handling blocks
very well,” Auvinen said.
Similar to last season, it’s
safe to say that the 2019 foot-
ball season was a roller coast-
er for the Celtics.
But for the second straight
year, despite having a 4-6 re-
cord, McNary was crowned
the MVC champs, which al-
lowed them to walk off the
fi eld with pride on Friday
night.
“Whether they were se-
niors, juniors or sophomores,
we had a lot of kids rise up
this season,” Auvinen said.
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary quarterback Erik Barker steps up in the pocket to get away from pressure. Barker threw for 230 yards in the Celtics 49-7
loss to Sherwood on Friday, Nov. 8.