SN
Siuslaw News
Sports &
Lifestyle
SPORTS
CALENDAR
Siuslaw and Mapleton
All events subject to change
August 28
• 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
• SHS Soccer vs. Creswell —
6:30 p.m.
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 28, 2021 | $1.00
Florence’s Rods N Rhodies
Car Show Ready to Roll
Top hot rods,
Communitywide
Garage Sale return to
Florence Sept. 10-12
Florence is revving-up for both the
annual Rods N Rhodies Invitational Car
Show and Benefit and the Communi-
ty-wide Garage Sale. This year’s edition
takes place primarily in and around His-
toric Old Town Florence on Friday and
Saturday, Sept. 10 and 11. The Commu-
nity-wide Garage Sale continues through
Sunday, Sept. 12.
“At Rods N Rhodies, you know you’ll
see some of the West Coast’s
most gorgeous, amazing,
awe-inspiring hot rods all
around town,” said or-
ganizer Gary Cargill.
“Up to 125 of the west
coast’s best high-end
hot rods, rat rods, and
custom cruisers from
1976 and earlier will be
in town. Some are worth
up to a quarter-million dol-
lars.”
Though known primarily for the an-
nual September event, Rods N Rhodies
became its own local volunteer-led non-
profit in 2018 with a renewed vision to
provide automotive assistance to locals in
need. This year’s event will be a benefit for
their mission and goals.
“It’s a high-octane weekend at a spec-
tacular time of year here in Florence,”
said Florence Area Chamber of Com-
merce President/CEO Bettina Hannigan.
“We can’t know for sure right now what
the COVID-19 regulations are going to
be, but we expect all visitors and locals to
Classic cars shine in Historic Old Town Florence during the annual Rods N
Rhodies weekend, coming up on Sept. 10 and 11.
See CARS page 2B
September 2
• MHS Volleyball at McKenzie
— 6 p.m.
September 3
• MHS Football vs. Jewell —
7 p.m.
Tide Tables
Entrance Siuslaw River
High Tide
Low Tide
August 28
5:32 a.m. / 4.8
11:23 a.m. / 1.7
5:34 p.m. / 5.8
August 29
6:33 a.m. / 4.4
12:30 a.m. / 1.0
6:15 p.m. / 5.6
12:03 p.m. / 2.3
August 30
7:49 a.m. / 4.1
1:31 a.m. / 1.0
7:06 p.m. / 5.5
12:55 p.m. / 2.7
August 31
9:16 a.m. / 4.1
2:39 a.m. / 1.0
8:07 p.m. / 5.5
2:07 p.m. / 3.0
September 1
10:33 a.m. / 4.3
3:45 a.m. / 0.8
9:12 p.m. / 5.6
3:26 p.m. / 3.1
Mapleton football makes the move to six-man this season
By Zeahna Young
Siuslaw News
This school year, Maple-
ton’s football program is going
through some sizable changes,
including moving from an eight-
man to six-man style of play, as
well as hiring an entirely new
coaching staff. Luckily for the
Sailors, both new coaches are
alumni themselves, so although
the modifications to the program
are notable, familiar faces to both
the kids and the community will
be helping guide Mapleton foot-
ball into the future.
Mapleton’s new head high
school football coach will be Ty-
ler Beers-Krueger, who graduated
in the Class of 2012 and is start-
ing his fourth year working for
Mapleton School District. Coach
Krueger previously coached mid-
dle school football for Mapleton.
“Last year, they didn’t have
middle school football because
of COVID, but I started coach-
ing middle school years ago,”
Krueger said. “We only had two
actual seasons out of those years;
one was cancelled due to COVID,
and one we didn’t have a season
because of not having enough
kids. That’s when we went from
eight-man to six-man.”
The position Krueger is filling
is a special one, as Mapleton’s
previous head football coach, Jeff
Greene, was at the helm of the
program for 20 years. Krueger
understands the importance,
as he played for Greene himself
when he was at Mapleton.
“I feel like I’m stepping into a
big pair of shoes, definitely, and
it’s going to be a lot to try and live
up to,” said Krueger.
Luckily, Greene has been a
willing mentor to Krueger since
he started coaching.
“I’ve talked with him, and
I’ve also talked with another
old coach from Triangle Lake
at the middle school level,” said
Krueger. “Coach Greene did a
lot more with eight-man football,
and that’s what I played when I
was in school.”
When Krueger first started
coaching middle school, Greene
gave him one of his old play-
books, and he was able to teach
the kids that
“Now I’m having to redo a lit-
tle bit of that and figure out some
of the new rules of six-man,” he
said. “I’m making sure that we
have enough plays and enough
stuff that the kids can compre-
hend and understand easily.”
Another benefit Krueger
brings to the table is the fact that
he has had at least some experi-
ence coaching kids in six-man
football. According to the coach,
it was quite an adjustment in the
beginning.
“My first year of coaching six-
man in middle school was defi-
nitely difficult because I hadn’t
been told any of the new rules,
besides that you had to get 15
yards for a first down, and the
quarterback can’t run or keep the
ball; it has to be pitched or hand-
ed off every time once the ball is
hiked,” said Krueger. “I’m having
a lot of help from my assistant,
Tucker Ford. He’s also an alum,
and him and I actually played to-
gether when we were in school.”
Ford came on last school year
as an assistant basketball coach
for the high school, and also
played for Greene, having gradu-
ated in 2015.
“It’s been nice because the kids
know me, so it’s not really a new
face to them, and I feel like that’s
a big thing with a new coach,”
said Ford.
With all of the adjustments
being made to the program, fa-
miliarity with Krueger and Ford
have made the shift much easier
for all involved.
“Transitioning from eight-
man to six-man, there have been
learning experiences for not
just the athletes, but also for us
coaches,” Ford added.
The change to six-man for
Mapleton might have come ear-
lier, but the Sailors had a unique
circumstance in the last year that
caused them to hold off on the
switch at that time.
“We just graduated one of the
more athletic classes Mapleton
has seen in quite a while, and one
of the best athletes Mapleton has
ever seen, in at least decades,”
said Ford. “And it’s not like we
are trying to replace that, because
in reality, we’re trying to replace
the entire system that we had
last year, because changing from
eight-man to six-man is making
us do that. So, it’s been a lot of
learning as we go.
“The reality is, Mapleton
should have transitioned last
year, but because of the level
of player that JJ Neece was, Jeff
Greene did not want to go down
from eight-man to six-man, be-
cause it wasn’t going to be worth
it for the team that we had; they
could compete in eight-man just
as well. If they would have played
six-man, they probably would
have won a state championship,
but it wouldn’t have looked as
good for the players because it
was kind of easy, and just not as
much competition.”
Greene and his players were
dedicated to elevating the level
of play for Neece, who as a result
will be playing football for West-
ern Oregon University this fall.
This doesn’t happen often—be-
cause Mapleton is such a small
school, generally, athletes like
Neece don’t have a chance to
get noticed, which is why it was
so important to everyone in the
football program to try and hold
on to eight-man until that point.
“That’s what I’ve seen my en-
tire life growing up in Mapleton,
at least since high school; you see
a really good athlete, but because
of the fact that they’re not facing
competition, they don’t make it
[to play] beyond high school,”
said Ford.
He said that the teams Maple-
ton played six years ago when
See FOOTBALL page 3B
September 2
11:27 a.m. / 4.6
4:44 a.m. / 0.5
10:12 p.m. / 5.8
4:33 p.m. / 2.9
September 3
12:07 p.m. / 4.9
5:33 a.m. / 0.1
11:04 p.m. / 6.1
5:26 p.m. / 2.6
September 4
6:14 a.m. / -0.2
12:42 p.m. / 5.2
6:11 p.m. / 2.2
11:52 p.m. / 6.4
September 5
6:52 a.m. / -0.5
6:52 p.m. / 1.8
1:13 p.m. / 5.5
Time
Out
By Coach Lloyd
Little
Retired teacher, coach
& game official
With more than 55 years as
an athlete, coach, parent and
spectator, Lloyd Little shares
what he’s learned about sports
from his multiple points of
view.
Aches and Pains
of Sports
The fall sport seasons are un-
der way at Siuslaw and Mapleton
High Schools. The bumps and
bruises of football, the errant
kicks into another player’s body
in soccer, the floor burns and
arm stings of volleyball, and the
occasional branch scrapes from
trails in cross country — each of
these sports has their own pains
of competition. If and when the
coach or parent decides to have
their athletes’ pain checked out by
a doctor, one of the first questions
asked by said doctor is to rate
their pain on a scale of 1 to 10.
When I studied human physiol-
ogy at Pacific University, I learned
that the pain response in the hu-
man body is nearly identical for
all. The human reaction to the
triggering of this pain response
can vary. Two athletes experienc-
ing a similar injury may project
their pain differently. If both are
taken to the doctor, one athlete
may say the pain is at a 2 level and
another may say they are at the 7
or 8 level. Some athletes will proj-
ect their pain beyond 10 to try to
boast how tough they are.
In 1986, I was diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Since
that time, I have often been asked
by friends, family (they stopped
asking years ago) and doctors
what level of pain I am experi-
encing. Until my recent fall and
rotator cuff surgery, I usually put
my pain level at a 7 or 8, with an
occasional 9 during an exacerba-
tion.
The office in the Slocom Cen-
ter for Orthopedics in Eugene
had a more defined pain scale on
their wall. In place of the smiley
faces you may have seen in your
doctors’ office, there were words
and descriptions about pain. I
See LITTLE page 2B