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.