=
Expand search form

Foxes start fast: Football squad 2-0 under new coach

The Silverton High football team is off to a 2-0 start and enters Mid-Willamette Conference play ranked second in Class 5A in the early OSAA rankings.

The Foxes, who are in their first season under coach Josh Craig, opened with a 23-17 win vs. Sandy and then dominated Redmond 45-6.

Junior quarterback Levi Nielsen sealed the Sandy win with a fourth-quarter scramble for a touchdown while the defense held the Pioneers to 40 yards rushing. A pair of early touchdown runs by Kobe Garcia and one by Hunter Meissner and a blocked punt by Ben Willis helped the Foxes take an early 21-0 lead against Redmond, and Silverton never looked back.

Both wins came at McGinnis Field. Redmond was scheduled to host, but the game was moved to Silverton because of poor air quality east of the Cascades.

Silverton hosts Dallas at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 in a game that should be a good early test of Mid-Willamette Conference power. The Dragons downed the visiting Foxes 20-13 a year ago in a game that ended with Silverton on the Dallas 20. The Dragons, who were one of three Mid-Willamette teams to make the 5A semifinals a year ago, also are 2-0 and have not allowed a point in a 40-0 win against Parkrose and a 54-0 blanking of North Eugene. Dallas is tied with Crescent Valley and defending state champion Lebanon at ninth in the OSAA rankings.

Silverton visits Lebanon next week.

Kennedy, meanwhile, is 0-2 with a pair of losses to 3A teams Clatskanie and Blanchet Catholic, but coach Joe Panuke told Our Town he is pleased with the team’s improvement from week one to week two.

“We are young and inexperienced at the varsity level,” Panuke said. Our defense was much more physical this week with Blanchet. We still need to work on causing more turnovers and getting off the field on third down. Our guys are playing hard, we just need to work on the little things to put us in position to win games.”

The Trojans, who reached the Class 2A semifinals a year ago, host Monroe at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15. Kennedy visits Oakland Sept. 22 before opening Tri-River Conference play Sept. 29 at Central Linn.

Soccer: The Silverton girls team, which made a magical run to the Class 5A finals a year ago, are off to a 1-1 start this season. Fourth-year coach Gary Cameron has four returning starters, including all-state midfielder Maggie Roth. Also returning are Savannah Reilly, Bella Jensen and Katie Sinn. There are eight sophomores and three freshman on the varsity squad.

“Although we don’t have a lot of game experience, we do have a good group of young and athletic players,” Cameron told Our Town. “It will take a little time to get familiar with each other and find our identity.”

Cameron pegged Crescent Valley as the pre-season league favorite with Corvallis and Silverton “hot on their heels.”

Paige Alexander, who scored 33 goals as a freshman, is not with the team because she is playing for the development academy of the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Alexander also was a strong contributor to the Foxes’ girls basketball that also took second at state. Coach Tal Wold told Our Town that he hoped Alexander would be able to join the hoops squad, but he said details have not been worked out.

The Foxes’ boys soccer squad, meanwhile, has played to a pair of draws, 1-1 vs. Churchill and 2-2 against Milwaukie. Derek McElfresh has taken over as the head coach for Kyle Calder, who led Silverton to the round of 16 a year ago. Calder is now coaching at Crescent Valley while he finishes up degree work at Oregon State University.

Oregonian Cup: For the second consecutive year Kennedy High opened the school year with a celebration. At the school’s usual all-school assembly on day one the Oregon School Activities Association presented the school with the Oregonian Cup, the prestigious trophy awarded to the school in each of the OSAA’s six classes that achieves the most in sports and activities, academics and sportsmanship.

Five of Kennedy’s sports team finished in the top four in the state in Class 2A – football, girls cross country, girls basketball, softball and boys track and field – and 11 of the Trojans’ teams finished in the top 10 academically. Baseball and softball both finished No. 1 in their class on the GPA charts, while girls cross country had the highest cumulative GPA, a 3.82.

OSAA classification: It looks like the Mid-Willamette Conference will be expanding to nine teams. The OSAA districting committee has moved Cascade from Class 4A into Class 5A and tentatively into the MWC, which also will be adding North Salem and losing Woodburn. Kennedy still is slotted in the new Class 2A Greater Valley Conference. The committee meets again Sept. 25 in Wilsonville, with the final decision set for next month. The new leagues and classifications take effect in the fall of 2018.

Got a news tip? Email me at [email protected].

Previous Article

Scouting together: Boys and girls explore useful skills, service

Next Article

What I learned . . .

You might be interested in …

Lace’em up: And get out the door

Fun runs on the schedule: Register at racenorthwest.com unless otherwise noted. May 9: Silverton Health Fun Run May 30: Run for the Hills June 6: Silver Falls Challenge, June 27: Pajama Rama pajamarama5k.com Aug. 9: Homer’s Classic Sept. 19: Oktoberfest Road Race By Steve Ritchie As the days get longer, many of us feel a stronger urge to exercise outside. […]

Cross country stars: JFK’s Lopez, Foxes’ Stutzman run to district titles

Kennedy High senior Alejandra Lopez won the Special District 2 girls cross country championship Oct. 25 at Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon. Lopez ran the 5,000 meters in 18:52.3, 17 seconds ahead of runner-up Jessica Neal of Central Linn. The Trojans also received great performances from the rest of the squad and took home the team title, finishing three points […]