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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2020)
MARCH 20, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE C1 KEIZERTIMES.COM Spring season suspended for prep sports By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes The entire sports world, including the OSAA, came to a standstill last week. On Friday, March 13, the OSAA announced they were suspending interscholastic practices and contests for sports and activities for all member schools until at least March 31. This decision came after the OSAA canceled all re- maining winter state cham- pionships the week prior. “As this unprecedented public health emergency continues to evolve, we be- lieve that the responsibility to our member schools and communities regarding the health and safety of partic- ipants remains our highest priority,” said Peter Weber, OSAA Executive Director. Baseball, softball, boys track and fi eld, girls track and fi eld, boys golf, girls golf, boys tennis and girls ten- nis are all sanctioned sports through the OSAA. Club sports, like lacrosse, will also be put on hold. During a 48-hour period, the OSAA went from play- ing their state champion- ships with fans in the stands to canceling the fi nal week surprised if community use of the season for all winter was limited or denied. If the suspension is lifted sports teams still competing and suspending all spring on April 1, Gragg says that he will follow the sports activi- recommen- ties. dation from Needless to “ ...we believe the OSAA on stay, it was a how to pro- stressful time that the ceed. for athletic responsibility “If or directors all when the sea- around the to our member son contin- state. schools and ues, we will “I’ve never probably be exper ienced communities getting more anything like regarding guidance as it,” McNary to what that athletic di- the health looks like. rector Scott Whether or Gragg said. and safety of not those “We would participants games that come up with were can- a plan, and remains our then some- highest priority.” celed will be rescheduled, thing would change.” — Peter Weber, that will be up to the “But it’s OSAA Executive Director OSAA. We our role as will follow all leaders to make sure that we are a of their guidance,” Gragg calming, peaceful presence said. “There will probably be some acclimation period during this time.” During the suspension, all where practices can continue organized activities will be and then contests will start.” However, there is a very prohibited from the McNary campus. The district will be real possibility that high monitoring fi eld usage and Please see OSAA, Page C4 Gragg said he wouldn’t be File McNary outfi elder Alexa Cepeda is one of the top senior softball players in the state. But there is a chance that she, and many other McNary seniors, won’t be able to fi nish their fi nal season of high school sports. Coburn leaving behind a lasting legacy at Whiteaker File The McNary football teams celebrates their second straight Mountain Valley Conference title after being South Salem on Nov. 1, 2019. After playing a shortened league schedule the last two seasons, McNary will face every team in the conference starting in 2020. MVC switching to six-game conference schedule in 2020 By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes The days of a four-game Mountain Valley Conference football schedule are now over. Starting in 2020, the MVC will move to a six- game league schedule, mean- ing every team will play each other once during the regu- lar season. Each team in the confer- ence will play three non- league contests to begin the season. “We benefi t from play- ing a full league schedule because those teams look like us. We are all a similar group. Our chances to win the league again are just as good based on the guys that we have returning to make another run,” McNary ath- letic director Scott Gragg said. “I do like that we now have a chance to play all of our schools.” Before the Mountain Val- ley Conference was formed in 2018, the Salem-Keizer schools (McNary, Sprague, South Salem, McKay, North Salem, West Salem) played in a league with McMinnville, Forest Grove and West Alba- ny. Prior to the start of the 2018 football season, there were many changes across the state, with the intent of trying to boost participation and lessen mismatches with- in conference play. The OSAA introduced special districts for each league and allowed teams to play down a level in football only. McKay decided to ex- ercise this option and play 5A football. North Salem, on the other hand, elect- ed to drop down to 5A in all sports, meaning that the MVC football league fea- tured the remainder of the Salem-Keizer schools, as well as the Mountain schools — Bend, Summit and Moun- tain View. However, with the new format, some unintended consequences came to frui- tion. “In an attempt to elim- inate some mismatches, we ended up creating mis- matches in other ways, and the teams that were typically mismatches were no longer in our conference,” Gragg said. Although they dropped down a level, McKay and North Salem still didn’t fare well playing 5A football — North Salem has gone 2-7 in each of the last two seasons, while McKay has only got- ten three wins over that time frame. For the last two years, the Metro League and the Port- land Interscholastic League were the only two 6A con- ferences that played a full league schedule, which made scheduling more non-league games diffi cult for teams like McNary and Sprague. Statewide scheduling takes place every two years and requires each team to designate themselves as ei- ther tough, average-plus, average, average-minus and weak. This helps programs schedule teams that they are more evenly matched with and assumes that teams can either play up a level or down a level. Please see MVC, Page C5 By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes It’s hard to fi nd someone more passionate about his career than Scott Coburn. The 63-year old has been a teacher and coach in the state of Oregon for 42 years — and for the last 27 years, he has poured himself into the kids of Whiteaker Mid- dle School. With his different roles as a P.E. teacher, volleyball and track coach and district middle school athletic direc- tor, Coburn is often the fi rst one at the school during the week and the last to leave. But at the end of the school year, Coburn plans to hang up the whistle. If he hadn’t been men- tally prepared for the day to come, Coburn acknowl- edged that the decision to retire would have been a lot harder to make. “I love what I do. I love the teaching and I love the coaching. If I didn’t mental- ly prepare myself, I think it would be very, very diffi cult to leave,” Coburn said. Coburn began his stu- dent-teaching at McMin- nville in 1978 and was an assistant coach for the 1979 state champion boys basket- ball team. He also got the opportunity to coach Char- lie Sitton, who was a star at Oregon State and eventual- ly was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1984. Coburn then got his fi rst full-time teaching job at Siletz High School in 1980. He was the boys basketball coach for four seasons and even took on the volley- ball program for one year in 1982. “It was a great starting ex- perience. I learned a lot and we got better. It was a lot of fun,” Coburn said. He then was transferred over to Waldport where he taught at the middle school and coached prep basket- ball from 1983-89. But after spending a decade on the coast, Coburn and his wife, Laurie, decided that they wanted to move back to the valley — both grew up in Dayton. Coburn then began teach- ing at Kennedy High School in Mount Angel in 1989. Before the start of the school year, he thought he would just be coaching boys basket- ball. But school offi cials also asked him if he would take on the role of head volleyball coach as well. Coburn is a self-described “basketball guy” but he re- luctantly agreed to accept the volleyball gig as long as he was able to go learn from Terry McLaughlin — Mc- Laughlin was a legendary coach at Chemeketa Com- munity College. “Terry really helped me through that fi rst year. The girls even went to practice at Chemeketa a couple of times. He was a great men- tor to me and that’s how I learned the footwork and the fundamentals and every- thing so that’s why I just kept on doing it,” Coburn said. Both of Kennedy’s vol- leyball and boys basketball teams experienced tremen- dous success under Coburn. The volleyball program won back-to-back league cham- pionships and made a state Please see COBURN, Page C6 Submitted Whiteaker volleyball coach Scott Coburn gives instructions to his team during a timeout. Coburn will be retiring after spending the last 27 years at Whiteaker.
