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A TOUGH DECISION
Stanfi eld football coach
Davie Salas steps down
instead of getting vaccinated
A10
ON THE SLATE
Tuesday, Oct. 19
Prep volleyball
Stanfi eld at Heppner, 5 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Enterprise,
5 p.m.
Union at Pilot Rock, 6 p.m.
Pendleton at Hood River Valley,
6:30 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Hermiston at Walla Walla, 4 p.m.
Pendleton at The Dalles, 4:30 p.m.
La Grande at McLoughlin, 5 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
The Dalles at Pendleton, 4:30 p.m.
College volleyball
College of Idaho at Eastern Oregon,
7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 20
Prep boys soccer
McLoughlin at La Grande, 5 p.m.
Prep cross-country
McLoughlin at Pioneer Run,
Milton-Freewater, TBD
College volleyball
Blue Mountain at Yakima Valley,
6 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Spokane at Blue Mountain, 4:15 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Spokane at Blue Mountain, 2 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 21
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Stanfi eld football coach Davie Salas talks to his team on April 9, 2021, during a home game against Grant Union. Salas stepped down after a game
Thursday, Oct. 14, because he did not want to get the mandated COVID-19 vaccine. He also relinquished his Irrigon boys basketball head coaching job.
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
Lasting memories
STANFIELD — Davie Salas hung up his
whistle after his Stanfi eld Tigers beat Umatilla
26-6 on the football fi eld on Thursday, Oct. 14.
It’s not something he said he wanted to do,
but Oregon’s vaccine mandate, requiring teach-
ers, staff and coaches to be fully vaccinated, was
something he was not comfortable doing.
“I didn’t want to get the shot,” Salas said.
“They had to do what they needed to. I had to
do what I thought was best for me.”
Salas’ decision also forced his hand to step
down as the Irrigon boys basketball coach.
“I never wanted this to be about me,” said
Salas, who made his decision public on Face-
book over the weekend. “But I wanted every-
one to know what was going on. It was a tough
decision to make. I didn’t want to do something
I didn’t want to do. I have a lot of football and
basketball left in me. I didn’t want to leave, but
I respect that they (the schools) are in a tough
place.”
The outpouring of support for Salas was
touching. Former players reached out, telling
him he had made a diff erence in their lives.
Parents thanked him for the hard work he put
in the programs and with their boys.
Salas said he would cherish the memories.
“I want to thank every player who ever
played for me, every parent that allowed me to
coach their child,” he wrote in his Facebook
post. “I gave you all everything I had up until
last night. I’ll take with me all the wonderful
memories of nine seasons at Stanfi eld and six at
Irrigon. Thank you for all the love and support.
Forever a Tiger and a Knight.”
Salas spent nine years with the Stanfi eld foot-
ball program, the past seven as the head coach.
He fi nished this season with 13 players, but
he was able to wring every last bit of talent
from those players. The Tigers are 2-4 with two
games remaining.
Dan Sharp, Brad Rodgers and a couple of
others will see the program through to the end
of the season.
“It has been a couple of long months,” Salas
said. “My coaching staff is young. It has been
a long season and I have done my best to hold
us together. We have a good team ahead of us.”
When Salas took over the Tigers in 2015, he
led them to the state semifi nals where they lost
to Kennedy 34-20. Stanfi eld fi nished the season
10-2.
“Heppner beat us handily that year (60-6),
and we beat them the next year for the league
title,” Salas said. “Prior to that, we beat them at
our place in 2012 when I was the JV coach. We
had some great games.”
In 2016, he led the Tigers to the state cham-
pionship game for the fi rst time in 59 years.
They lost 53-14 to Regis and fi nished with an
11-2 record, which included a 14-0 win over
Heppner.
Among the talent on that 2016 team were
Dylan Grogan, Thyler Munkus, Noe Sanchez
and Enoel Angel.
Salas had a record of 34-27 from 2015 to
present.
His time with the Irrigon boys basketball
teams was not as lengthy, but just as enjoyable.
“Honestly, I enjoyed them both,” he said.
“They have their diff erences. Reminders of
kids who grew up like me. I wanted to be a role
model for these young men. It’s good to have a
fresh start with each season, and two places that
believed in me. If some day I could fi nd myself
back on a coaching staff , I would enjoy that.”
Salas replaced Mitch Thompson at Irrigon at
the start of the 2016-17 season. The Knights won
the Eastern Oregon League title, lost in the fi rst
round of the state playoff s to Salem Academy,
and fi nished the season 15-9.
The following season, the Knights won the
EOL title, placed sixth at the 3A state tourna-
ment and won the sportsmanship title at state.
They had a 22-6 record.
“I loved it,” Salas said. “We played Umatilla
for the district title and beat them (53-48).”
The following few seasons have not been as
successful, but Salas’ faith in his team never
wavered. In fi ve seasons, he had a record of
47-56.
“I was able to accomplish great things with
both teams,” he said. “I feel I gave them every-
thing I had. Trying to teach those young men to
navigate through life, and being held account-
able.”
Salas graduated from Umatilla High School
in 2001, where he played football and basket-
ball. He said he never thought about coaching
his alma mater.
“I never want to coach the kids of people I
know,” he said. “I don’t like that.”
Salas has had a few players who have gone
on to play in college. The latest is football player
Mario Sanchez, who is playing at Linfield
College.
“I’m extremely proud of him,” Salas said.
“Hopefully he will take the lessons I taught
him and go on to be a great man, husband and
father.”
Prep football
Irrigon at Heppner, 7 p.m.
Prep volleyball
Baker at McLoughlin, 6:30 p.m.
Ridgeview a Pendleton, 6:30 p.m.
Prep cross-country
Hermiston at MCC Championships,
Hanford, noon
Heppner, Nixyaawii, Pilot Rock, River-
side, Stanfi eld/Echo, Weston-McEwen
at Gold Rush Run, John Day, TBD
Prep girls soccer
Riverside at Irrigon, 4 p.m.
Crook County at Pendleton, 4:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Southridge, 7 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Pendleton at Crook County, 4:30 p.m.
Riverside at Irrigon, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 22
Prep football
Pendleton at Ridgeview, 7 p.m.
Pasco at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
McLoughlin at Weston-McEwen,
7 p.m.
Pilot Rock at Sherman, 7 p.m.
Riverside at Stanfi eld, 7 p.m.
Ione/Arlington at Cove, 7 p.m.
Grant Union at Umatilla, 7 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Stanfi eld/Echo at Four Rivers, 4 p.m.
Umatilla at Nyssa, 2 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
Umatilla at Nyssa, noon
College volleyball
Warner Pacifi c at Eastern Oregon,
7 p.m.
College men’s soccer
Carroll College at Eastern Oregon,
4 p.m.
College women’s soccer
Carroll College at Eastern Oregon,
6:30 p.m.
Williams’ enthusiasm gives BMCC volleyball team a spark
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — This season
has not been all sunshine and roses
for the Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College volleyball team, but
coach Ceanna Larson can count
on Kenzie Williams to bring the
energy every day.
“She is such a team player,”
Larson said. “Even the night she
got injured, she was in the training
offi ce, got assessed, got a boot on
and she was back as a bench player.
You’ve got to love her enthusiasm.
It’s great to have a player like that.”
Williams, a 2020 graduate of La
Grande High School, has always
had a spark to her game, and she’s
not shy about sharing that with her
teammates.
“It comes from my parents,”
Williams said. “I do my best and
give my best every day. I try to
bring that to practice and to the
team. We have a lot of talent and
we work hard. It’s important to me,
especially since they nominated me
as a team captain. I try to take that
positive vibe to practice every day.”
The Timberwolves are off to a
5-13 start to the season, and have
just started the second half of
Northwest Athletic Conference
East play. They have shown they
can play with the best teams in the
East, pushing No. 3 Columbia Basin
College to fi ve sets Friday, Oct. 15,
before losing.
“Last year was very hard,”
Williams said. “It was hard having
no one in the gym but us. It made us
better players. We are prepared for
whatever comes.”
BMCC had to play a few matches
without Williams after she came
down on a Treasure Valley player’s
foot during their Sept. 24 match and
injured her ankle.
“You could see her leadership,
especially through her injury,”
Larson said. “When she was on the
bench, she led the team with that
enthusiasm.”
The Timberwolves actually
lucked out in having Williams on
their roster.
“I wasn’t really planning on
trying to pursue any college sports,”
she said. “I watched one of the Blue
Mountain games after my (senior)
season. I knew one of the assis-
tant coaches. She said she had told
Ceanna about me. I had a tryout the
next week. Just a dumb luck thing.
If not, I don’t know what I would be
doing now.”
A hidden gem
Williams, a 5-foot-8 setter, was a
standout player in high school. She
was a right side hitter and setter for
the Tigers, and Larson liked her
versatility.
“There are kids who are some-
times overlooked because of where
they are at,” Larson said. “In all
sports, you could see she has such
a competitive streak. She under-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Blue Mountain Community College’s Kenzie Williams sets the ball Wednes-
day, Oct. 13, 2021, while playing at home against Walla Walla Community
College. Williams, a 2020 graduate of La Grande High School, is a player
the Timberwolves count on to bring enthusiasm and leadership.
stands the whole of the game. She
understands the roles of her team-
mates and how important they
are. She comes from a family of
coaches, and I think those players
understand the game more.”
Larson has played everything
from soccer to volleyball to basket-
ball and track. She played soccer
up until the eighth grade when she
tore her ACL.
The Tigers went to the 4A state
volleyball tournament her junior
year, but they went 0-2.
“I’ve always been involved in
sports,” she said. “I love to compete
and I’m very competitive.”
Williams gets her athletic abil-
ity from her parents. Her mom,
Cindy, played volleyball at East-
ern Oregon University, and is the
junior varsity volleyball coach at
La Grande. Her dad, Clint, played
football at EOU.
“They have always been
supportive with everything I do,”
Williams said. “I appreciated them
very much. My mom has only
missed one game since I’ve played
— even at Blue Mountain. “It was
this year, because she had a match
the same day.”
Williams is working toward her
veterinary technician certifi cation
at Blue Mountain. She said she
would love to go back to the Animal
Health Center in La Grande.
“I actually started working at
the vet clinic in La Grande three
or four summers ago,” she said. “I
was part of the kennel staff , feed-
ing the animals, walking them, and
then I started helping the current
technicians with some things. I just
wanted to keep pursuing it. I love
working there. The owner told me
he would love me to come back.”