PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Celtics sprint past South Medford
SPORTS
McNary wideout Gunner Smedema had 107 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the Celtics 35-13 victory
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
In their opening game of the 2021
season, McNary controlled the contest
from start to fi nish.
McNary
quarterback
Tyler
Copeland went 14-of-18 for 211 yards
and three touchdowns in his fi rst start
under center, and Dakota Dunagan
ran for 125 yards and two scores on 14
carries as the Celtics blew past South
Medford, winning by a fi nal score of
35-13 on Friday, Sept. 3.
According to McNary head coach
Jeff Auvinen, the key to the Celtics
success was dictating the game in the
trenches. McNary maintained a bal-
anced off ensive attack with 211 passing
yards and 239 rushing yards, while the
defense stopped the run for most of
the night and forced South Medford to
become one-dimensional.
“We really controlled the line-of-
scrimmage. When you do that, you
have a good chance of being really suc-
cessful. It was nice for us to be as phys-
ical as we were," Auvinen said.
“I got to shout out the O-line. They
really showed up. I have never been
more impressed with them,” Copeland
added. “They gave me a chance to read
the fi eld and do what I had to do.”
Despite being his fi rst varsity start
at quarterback, it didn't take long for
Copeland to get comfortable.
On McNary's fi rst play from scrim-
mage, Copeland hit Gunner Smedema
with a hitch pass and the senior wide-
out weaved through the South Medford
defense to go 75 yards for the score,
giving the Celtics the early 7-0 lead.
“Once I caught it I saw Logan Ready
got a great block to seal the outside,
and then all I saw was one defender
coming. I gave a hard stick to the left,
and I was free,” said Smedema, who
fi nished the night with four catches for
107 yards and two touchdowns, as well
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
as an interception on defense.
Copeland connected with Smedema
once again for a 13-yard score early in
the second quarter to extend McNary's
lead to 14-0.
Copeland continued to fi nd his
rhythm throughout the fi rst half, taking
advantage of South Medford's Cover 3
zone defense by hitting his receivers
with quick passes, and letting them
operate in space — Copeland com-
pleted eight of his fi rst 10 passes for
132 yards, with only one of his com-
pletions traveling more than fi ve yards
downfi eld.
“I had to knock the rust off . It's been
a couple years since I played QB, so