By James Day
Silverton High’s football team is off to a 3-0 start and is ranked No. 2 in the state heading into Friday’s Mid-Willamette Conference game at Crescent Valley.
Sam Kuschnick has been a workhorse in the backfield, with 66 carries for 509 yards and six touchdowns. The 6-1, 205-pound senior is averaging 7.7 yards per carry. He has shown great strength and ability to carry the pile with him and break tackles. He broke through three tacklers and erupted for a 75-yard touchdown in the Sept. 5 opener vs. Wilson of Portland and did the same in a 23-yard score Sept. 12 in Eugene vs. Marist.
Kuschnick is proving to be the every-down battering ram running back in the mold of predecessors Chris Garcia and Max Wilson.
“He’s really determined and he’s really setting the tone for the running game with his effort,” Foxes coach John Mannion told Our Town after practice Tuesday. “They (Garcia, Wilson and Kuschnick) all are similar runners. Our offense is based on the run, even though we have the quarterback.”
The quarterback, senior Cole Chandler, has been efficient, hitting 34 of his 56 passes for 423 yards and six touchdowns, including four to returning all-state receiver senior Logan Munson.
“He’s having a great season,” Mannion said of Chandler. “We’ve been able to have a good balance between the run and the pass, and Cole has been making a lot of plays with his feet. He’s a big part of our start.”
The defense has been stout, yielding all 19 points it has allowed in the fourth quarter of games that already were well in hand.
“They (the defense) really take a lot of pride in what they do,” Mannion said. “They are hitting and playing hard. They know there are big challenges ahead, but they’ve done a good job of picking us up this year.”
Cross country: The Kennedy boys took fourth in their division at the Sept. 20 Three Course Challenge hosted by Seaside High at Camp Rilea. Junior Adrian Parra (21:11) took second in the Division 5 moderate race, sophomore Noe Jines (22:40) was sixth in the D-5 difficult race and junior Kyle Kinyon (19:31) was eighth in the D-5 easy course race. Trojans senior Lauren Stokley won the D-5 moderate course race in 25:53 and freshman Kaylin Cantu (25:52) took first in the D-5 difficult course race.
The Silverton girls, meanwhile, finished fifth and the Silverton boys eighth in the Sept. 13 Ash Creek Invitational hosted by Western Oregon University. Maddie Fuhrman was the top Foxes finisher (eighth, 19:22.78), while Robbie LeParc, Sam Roth and Hosea Catterall finished 33rd, 35th and 36th, respectively, for the boys.
Kennedy football: New coach Joe Panuke is off to a red-hot start. The Trojans are 3-0 and have outscored their opponents 135-31. Two of the wins, a season-opening 36-18 victory against Monroe, and a 42-6 win vs. Waldport on Sept. 19, came on the road. Kennedy hosted Creswell on Friday after Our Town’s presstime and will finish the nonconference season Oct. 3 with a home game vs. Riverside of Boardman.
Kennedy volleyball: The Trojans have taken the early lead in the Tri-River Conference. Kennedy is 10-2 overall, 5-0 in league and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A by the OSAA. The Trojans are one game ahead of St. Paul and Perrydale and already have beaten both the Buckaroos and the Pirates. Kennedy defeated East Linn Christian 3-1 on Tuesday night, rallying from a 27-25 loss in the first game to take the next three 25-12, 25-15 and 25-16 to stay unbeaten in conference play.
Sean Mannion: The OSU quarterback has moved into first place all-time in passing yardage for the Beavers and is No. 3 in Pac-12 history behind Carson Palmer and Matt Barkley of USC. Mannion passed for 275 yards in the 28-7 win Sept. 20 vs. San Diego State. He has 11,339, passing NFL veteran Derek Anderson (11,249). Palmer had 11,818 and Barkley is at 12,274. With nine games left (including Saturday’s game at USC after Our Town’s presstime) and 936 yards needed to take over the No. 1 spot, Mannion, the son of Foxes coach John Mannion, looks like a lock to get the record.
Oregon Marathon/Half-Marathon: Norman Mininger, a 29-year-old Colorado Springs resident, won the Sept. 13 marathon run at Oktoberfest. Mininger was clocked in 2:46:52. Janet Hendricks, 45, of Bend, won the women’s competition by nearly eight minutes, finishing in 3:18:58. Heather Bashor, 39, of Silverton, was seventh in 3:38:48. The men’s half-marathon winner was Jason Griffiths, 33, of Portland in 1:08:13. The top local finisher was John Kuenzi, 42, of Silverton in 1:36:13. Colleen Little, 31, of Lake Oswego, won the women’s race in 1:22:05. Marcy Shadrin, 31, of Mount Angel, was the top local runner in 1:50:29. Next year’s races are set for Sept. 19 during Oktoberfest’s 50th anniversary.
Coaching openings: Kennedy has openings for a JV boys basketball coach and a JV girls basketball coach. Interested parties can contact athletic director Kevin Moffatt at 503-845-2703. Mount Angel Middle School is looking for a 7th/8th grade girls basketball coach. Questions can be directed to Principal Jennifer McCallum at 503-845-6137. Information on all of the positions can be found at www.mtangel.k12.or.us
Follow me on Twitter.com @jameshday.
Got a news tip? Email me at [email protected]
