By James Day
The Silverton High Football team faces an uphill battle to repeat as Mid-Willamette Conference champions. The Foxes, who went undefeated in last year’s conference race, lost 13-0 at West Albany on Sept. 27. Silverton is 3-1 in league play, tied with Crescent Valley, heading into Thursday’s game at Woodburn, which occurred after Our Town’s presstime. West Albany is 4-0 and in the driver’s seat because the Bulldogs already have beaten both the Foxes and Crescent Valley.
The Foxes were limited to 142 yards by an inspired Bulldogs defense, which harassed Silverton quarterback Cole Chandler, dropping him for losses nine times. Fox running back Max Wilson played sparingly after suffering a shoulder injury and finished with 22 yards on eight carries.
“There is a lot of football left in this team,” Silverton Coach John Mannion told Our Town. “It’s what you do when you get knocked down that counts. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We’re going to get back to business and do what we do.”
The Foxes took care of business Oct. 4 with an emphatic 49-0 win against Lebanon to improve to 5-1 overall. Silverton has outscored its opponents 219-40 this season.
Kennedy, meanwhile, improved to 2-1 in Tri-River play and 3-3 overall with a 14-7 win Oct. 4 at Central Linn. The Trojans, who lost to Central Linn 6-0 in last year’s OSAA Class 2A quarterfinals, are 1.5 games behind 4-0 Regis, and given that the Rams won 33-25 in the conference opener, Kennedy faces the same challenge as Silverton. JFK was off last week and visits Culver Oct. 18
Cross country: Kennedy junior Lauren Stokley continues to run like she’s the athlete to beat at district champion-ships. She won the Jefferson Invitational on Sept. 24, the Southwest Christian Invitational on Sept. 27 and took fourth at the Oct. 3 Regis Invitational. Stokley’s 20:26.1 time at the Regis meet was a personal best by 32 seconds and puts her No. 8 in the state in Class 3A-2A-1A.
Trojans boys runner Dalton Susee, meanwhile, also turned in a PR at the Regis meet, running a 16:49.4.
Silverton’s Maddie Fuhrman (20:20.6) and Jonathan Sisley (16:58.8), meanwhile, both took first place in a Mid-Willamette meet involving the Foxes, West Albany and Woodburn. Robbie LeParc took second for Silverton in the boys’ race.
OSAA: The Oregon School Activities Association redistricting committee has made its final recommendations for the required reclassification that takes effect in September of 2014. Silverton remains in the Class 5A Mid-Willamette, but the league loses West Albany to Class 6A and picks up Central from the Class 4A Oregon West.
Big changes are in store for Kennedy and the Tri-River. The league adds East Linn Christian, Perrydale, St. Paul and Western Mennonite, while losing Toledo, Waldport and Culver. The OSAA’s executive board and delegate assembly will consider the new alignments Oct. 28.
College football: Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, the son of Foxes Coach John Mannion, leads the nation in passing yardage (2,018 yards) and touch-down passes (21). The 4-1 Beavers visited Washington State on Oct. 12 after Our Town’s presstime.
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