When I ran into Foxes football coach Dan Lever at the on-campus celebration for Silverton’s Class 5A girls basketball championship he told me that he was putting together “the mother of all schedules.” Well, maybe those weren’t his exact words, but the concept works.
Lever and his athletic director, Andy Jones, had more wiggle room to work with this season. Because the OSAA has ripped apart the Mid-Willamette Conference for football, the Foxes all of a sudden have openings for four nonleague contests. Two years ago Silverton played eight league games and one non-league game in California. Last year in a 10-team MWC the Foxes played nine league games and then went into the playoffs without lining up against anyone else in 5A, or 6A for that matter.
The new Class 5A Special District 2 for football includes the Foxes, old MWC foes Central, McKay and Woodburn plus Canby and Wilsonville, who were taken out of the old Special District 1/Northwest League when Aloha and Glencoe chose to play down from 6A. And the OSAA wanted to limit ten-team leagues. At least I think that’s the way it works. No matter.
The result is that Lever and Jones could tinker around to their heart’s content. And the end result of the tinkering is a doozy of a schedule.
The Foxes open at home Aug. 30 against Summit of Bend, a semifinalist a year ago and 5A champions in 2015 and 2022. Then, the Foxes go to Beaverton on Sept. 6 to face Class 6A power Mountainside, a program that was started in 2017 by John Mannion, who led the Foxes to one final and two more final fours in his seven years coaching in Silverton. Then, on Sept. 13 Silverton hosts Lake Oswego. Yes, THAT Lake Oswego, the one coached by Oregon legend Steve Coury, with seven trips to the large-school finals and two titles (2011 and 2018). Without putting too much pressure on the two teams, this looks like the most high-wattage matchup at McGinnis Field since… well, you tell me when there has been a better one.
In week 4 on Sept. 20 the Foxes go to West Albany.
In my view the loss of West Albany is the biggest negative about the new league structure. The Foxes and Bulldogs have been banging on each other with intense ferocity and pride for the last dozen years or so. Silverton holds a 7-5 edge overall and has a 3-2 lead in the playoffs.
When the OSAA flipped the switch on the new leagues Lever told me that he and Brian Mehl, the longtime West coach, were committed to keeping the rivalry going.
After four delicious weeks of nonleague play the Foxes start play in the new district with an Oct. 4 home game vs. McKay. Then, it’s a Thursday, Oct. 10 game at Central, the Foxes’ lone Thursday night encounter.
On Oct. 18 Wilsonville comes to McGinnis. This is another one to mark on your calendar. In many ways the Wildcats are the gold standard in Class 5A, with three OSAA Cup all-sports titles since 2018 (Wilsonville was runner-up in 2023). The Wildcats are the defending 5A champions and were second in 2016, 2018 and 2022, all under coach Adam Guenther. Wilsonville downed the Foxes 39-26 at Randall Stadium in the 2022 quarterfinals.
Silverton closes the league and regular season with an Oct. 25 game at Canby (Lever’s alma mater) and Nov. 1 at Woodburn.
The Foxes were 9-0 through the MWC season a year ago, winning games by an average of 45-14, never scoring less than 35 and only allowing more than 20 twice. Silverton dispatched Hood River Valley 44-7 in the first round and drilled West Albany 41-14 in the quarters before being dominated 42-19 by Mountain View of Bend in the semis.
My sense is that Lever, who brings back a solid corps of players on both sides of the ball, would, inwardly at least, not be too unhappy with a 7-2 record or maybe a 6-3 heading into this year’s playoffs. The tough schedule will result in a team that is tested and battle-hardened. Injuries are always a crap shoot, but my sense is that by about Nov. 1 Foxes fans will be looking ahead to another deep playoff run.
