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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2021)
SN Siuslaw News Sports & Lifestyle SPORTS CALENDAR (Siuslaw and Mapleton) All events subject to change August 26 • SHS Volleyball - Jamboree at Sweet Home High — 4 p.m. • MHS Volleyball vs. CS Lewis Academy — 3 p.m. • MHS Volleyball vs. Pacific — 6 p.m. • SHS Soccer at Newport/ Eddyville Charter — 4 p.m. August 27 • MHS Football - Jamboree at Crow — TBD August 28 • SHS Volleyball Tournament at Newport High — TBD MHS Volleyball • CS Lewis Invitational — 12:50 p.m. August 31 • SHS Volleyball vs. Phoenix at Sutherlin High — 5:30 p.m. • SHS Volleyball at Sutherlin — 7 p.m. • MHS Volleyball vs. Eddyville Charter — 6 p.m. September 1 THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 25, 2021 | $1.00 Siuslaw football suspended as COVID-19 detected On Aug. 22, the Siu- slaw School District noti- fied the district’s students, staff and families that one or more people on the Siuslaw High School foot- ball team have tested pos- itive for COVID-19. The school district is working closely with Lane County Public Health to respond to this news to protect the “The general isolation of all athletes is recommended until directed by Lane County Public Health officials” health of the community. According to Siuslaw Superintendent Andy Grzeskowiak, each situ- ation calls for different protocols. In this case, the district will fol- low the following steps: 1. The coaching staff has made electronic no- tification to all athletes and their families re- lated to the exposure. 2. Any athlete that be- gins to show any prima- ry signs of COVID-19 infection (fever of 100.4 or greater, chills, new or worsening cough, short- ness of breath or diffi- culty breathing) should seek medical attention. 3. All football activities are suspended until fur- ther notice; and due to See COVID page 2B Sailing into a new school year with Mapleton sports Athletic Director gives update on new hires for football By Zeahna Young/Siuslaw News This summer, Mapleton Athletic Director Carrie Dean has been quite busy at the helm of the Sailors’ sports program. As Dean has been preparing for the new school year, she has had to make some very important new hires for the football program after 20-year veteran Coach Jeff Greene’s retirement at the end of last season. “All of the coaches from last year pretty much retired at the same time,” said Dean. “We have two alumni coming to coach our football team this year: Tyler Krueger, who graduated in 2012, and Tucker Ford, who graduated in 2015. … Tyler and Tucker are both excited about coaching and starting a new era for football with Jeff Greene being gone after 20 years.” Mapleton High School is starting six-man football this year. “We’ve got seven kids out right now; hope- fully we’ll get one or two more, but we have enough to start the season,” Dean added. With two new coaches and a major change to the style of play in moving from eight-man to six-man football, there has been a great deal to consider, but fortunately, Kruger is not entirely new to the school or the game. “Tyler actually coached the last year we had middle school football, and he coached a cou- ple of years for us,” said Dean. “The last year we had middle school football, it was six-man football. So, he has a bit of experience at least with six-man.” Making the change from eight-man to six- man football at the high school level is per- haps one of the biggest changes made to Ma- pleton’s sports program in quite some time, and, except for Krueger’s year coaching mid- dle school in that style, it is new to everyone involved. “It will be interesting, and I’ve told them, we’re all learning,” said Dean. “We’ve never done this before [at the high school level]. Last year’s Mapleton High School football team played a short season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year has a fuller season, as well as a switch to six-man foot- ball. Tyler has one year under his belt, and some of the kids who are playing played on his team. So, it’s not like it’s a totally brand-new thing. But there are rules that we’re not used to.” For one, the quarterback can’t run with the ball, a pretty major adjustment for coaches who have traditionally planned plays where they could utilize that position to bring the ball up the field if necessary. Additionally, to secure a first down, players must gain 15 yards rather than just 10. “There are some changes that we have to adjust to,” Dean said. “But I think it’ll be fun. And at least we have football!” The switch to six-man is also timely, as the majority of schools Mapleton’s size, partic- ularly those who are more local and within Mapleton’s normal league, have moved to that style of play in recent years. “There are about 26 teams in the state of Oregon now that are playing six-man,” said Dean. “It’s at the point where they were able to extend our season by two weeks, so we can have a playoff like everybody else. It’s still in the pilot program, but when you have that many teams, you’re going to have to do some- thing. We had 50 teams that were eight-man and now half of them are six-man. I think now in the Mountain West League, there’s only one team that’s left playing eight-man, and that’s Mohawk.” This means the rest of the league is now six-man. “Which is cool, because now instead of having to go meet halfway for a game because the team is six hours away, it’s all our normal league,” Dean said. “It’s still a special district, but we’re playing local compared to what we did if we would have played six-man last year. So, it’s kind of cool that we get to play the teams that we’re used to, and we don’t have to travel far.” More than anything, Dean is happy the kids get to play at all, and just hopes they enjoy themselves and grow as athletes in the process. “As long as they’re having fun and they do the best they can, and we learn and make im- provements, that’s all I’m asking for,” she said. “At least we have a football program; Jeff was really worried if we didn’t have football this year, we’d never have it again.” See FOOTBALL page 2B • SHS Soccer vs. Creswell — 6:30 p.m. Lady Sailors hit the volleyball courts this week Tide Tables August 25 2:18am / 6.9 8:46am / -0.1 3:03pm / 6.8 9:10pm / 1.1 August 26 3:03am / 6.4 9:20am / 0.6 3:35pm / 6.7 9:55pm / 1.1 August 27 3:50am / 5.9 9:53am / 1.3 4:08pm / 6.6 10:43pm / 1.1 August 28 4:42am / 5.3 10:29am / 2.0 4:44pm / 6.4 11:36pm / 1.2 August 29 5:43am / 4.9 11:08am / 2.7 5:25pm / 6.2 B y Z eahna y oung /S iuSlaw n ewS In the past week and a half, Mapleton’s Lady Sailors have been getting their volleyball sea- son going with returning coach Molly Dooley steering the ship. This year, Mapleton has a much larger team, and having lost only three seniors to graduation in June, the team is looking solid. “We started daily doubles last week, so we’ve been doing double practices every other day [since Aug. 16],” said Dooley. “We’ve just been working a lot on con- ditioning, making sure that we’re getting ready after having the summer off and not touching the volleyball in a little while. Of course, it’s not as long as usual because of the weird spring sea- son, but we’ve been spending a lot of time getting back used to it.” According to Dooley, the team is spending a great deal of time focusing on fundamentals in preparation for the season. “We’re really working on get- ting our passes down and con- trolling those, and getting a lot of service work in to make sure that we get those important points,” said the coach. “We’ve been working a lot on the basics and getting our conditioning up — a lot of running, a lot of core [work]. We’ve also gotten started practicing our rotations to make sure we have those ready, because we have a game in six days. So, we’re trying to get those nailed down, because it takes a little bit [of time] to get those rotations practiced and into our brains.” The team is scheduled to play its first game on Thursday, Aug. 26. Dooley has been testing the waters with different rotations to find out the best fits for her play- ers. “I’m hoping to have one set by (Aug. 23),” she said. “I’m very ex- cited because we have 11 girls on the team this year, so I can do a lot more with focused and target- ed positions. We’ve been getting into what the middle hitter does, what the outside hitter does, what the libero does.” See GIRLS page 2B Last year, now-senior Summer Flansberg high fives Mapleton’s mascot Salty after a game. Happy August! Th e weather has been great and not as windy, thank goodness. Th e listing I mentioned last week already is pending! For the last 7 days ending the 18th, there were only 9 new residences listed and 4 of those are already pending. Also in that time period there were 15 sold residences. Th ings have slowed a bit from the frenzy before, but prices haven’t started to dip quite yet. I guess we shall see when fall comes around. Enjoy the summer and if you have any real estate needs, I would be glad to help you. 100 Hwy. 101, Florence, OR • 541.997.7777 Lynnette Wikstrom Broker “We’re next to the Bridge.” lynnette@cbcoast.com · Cell: 541.999.0786 COAST REAL ESTATE