By James Day
The Silverton High boys basketball team finished a magical regular season with a 78-41 win Feb. 22 against Lebanon. The victory wrapped up a 14-0 Mid-Willamette Conference regular season for the Foxes. Silverton, which is 20-4 and ranked No. 3 by the OSAA, will host a state playoff game March 1 against an opponent to be determined.
According to coach Darren Shryock this is the first perfect league season in boys basketball in school history.
“We are thrilled to be where we are, but we understand the playoffs is where things get really exciting,” said Shryock. “We talked all year about trying to get into the top eight in the state so we would host a playoff game, and we have achieved that goal.
“It doesn’t get much better than home playoff games at Silverton. We get outstanding support from the school and community. Knock on wood, we are relatively healthy heading into Friday’s game and should play a very good team depending on what happens Tuesday. We feel good to be here but have more work to do. We are looking forward to the postseason challenge.”
In other highlights:
Silverton seniors Quinn Dreher and Izaak Tobin took home second place awards from the OSAA Class 5A state wrestling championships Feb. 23 at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Dreher advanced to the 182-pound final before falling by pin at 4:35 against Gunnar Sigado of Redmond. Tobin wrestled his way to the championship match at 132 pounds before losing 5-2 to Beau Gleed of Hermiston.
Four other Foxes participated, helping Silverton rack up 59 points, good for eighth place in state in the team race. Sophomore Camryn Clokey went 2-2 in his matches at 285 pounds, as did sophomore 126-pounder Cayman Goin. Senior Randy Stocker went 1-2 at 170 pounds and junior David Horsey lost both of his matches at 160.
The Foxes took fourth as a team in the Feb. 16 Mid-Willlamette district meet, trailing Dallas, Lebanon and South Albany. Dreher, Tobin and Clokey won district titles.
Foxes senior Joseph Reedy took sixth in state in the 100 backstroke at the OSAA Class 5A swimming championships Feb. 16 at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. Reedy, who finished second in the Mid-Willamette Conference district meet, broke his own school record with a time of 57.43. Reedy also took 11th in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.00. Reedy took fourth in the 200 tIM at the district meet.
The Silverton dance team took first place in a competition Feb. 16 at Sprague High School in Salem. The squad competes March 2 at Centennial High School in Gresham. The Foxes also have qualified in the Class 5A small division for the OSAA state championships March 13-16 at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Silverton football coach John Mannion will be one of the coaches in the June 22 Les Schwab Bowl all-star football game at Hillsboro Stadium. Mannion led the Foxes to an 11-1 record, an undefeated 7-0 Mid-Willamette championship and a spot on the OSAA Class 5A semifinals.
The Kennedy High girls basketball team came within one game of state playoff competition, falling 56-39 on Feb. 16 to Santiam in the Tri-River Conference playoffs. The Trojans, who finished 10-4 in conference play and 15-11 overall, had defeated Culver 42-21 in the first round to advance to play Santiam.
Former Silverton High player Jason Martin averaged 6.5 points and 2.7 points per game for the George Fox men’s basketball team, which finished 15-11 overall and 10-6 in the Northwest Conference. Martin was third on the team in 3-pointers with 27 and led the Bruins with 17 points in an overtime win Jan. 4 vs. Linfield. Martin played in 23 of George Foxes’ 26 games with two starts. He missed the final three games of the season with an injury.
Silverton High School girls’ basketball team traveled to Eagle Point on Feb. 26 for a play-in game. Results were not available at press time.
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