By James Day
All over Silverton and Mount Angel area high school athletes are shedding their summer lethargy and getting ready for the fall season of football, cross country, volleyball and soccer.
Teams ran conditioning camps this week, with regular practices set to start Monday. The first contest date for Oregon School Activities Association events is Thursday, Aug. 30. The following night will be the first Friday night of football for most schools.
At Silverton High, football coach John Mannion and his Foxes still are riding the buzz of an 8-3 campaign in his second season. Silverton finished tied for second in the tough Mid-Willamette Conference and defeated Eagle Point in a Class 5A play-in game before falling to Ashland in the first round of the 5A playoffs.
The high point of the season was a stirring 27-23 win Oct. 13 against eventual league champion Corvallis, and the Silverton community responded all season, filling the McGinnis Field stands on many occasions.
“We received a lot of good encouragement and we’re happy with the support we got,” said Mannion. “The players are enthusiastic and have a lot of good energy. We’ve got to keep that going. The kids have been working hard. We had 50 kids a day working out in the summer lifting weights. We have a tough schedule, but we’re excited.”
The Foxes open Aug. 31 at Springfield. They host Bend on Sept. 7 and open Mid-Willamette Conference play Sept. 14 at Dallas. Postseason action begins Nov. 2, with the Class 5A state championship set for Dec. 1.
Kennedy, meanwhile, which has been knocking on the state championship door for the past three years, enters the 2012 season in a bit of a different environment. Recent nemesis Scio, which defeated the Trojans in the 2009 Class 2A state title game and knocked Kennedy out in the 2010 semifinals, has been moved up to Class 3A and will play in the PacWest this season. The Loggers were replaced in the Tri-River Conference with Waldport.
Kennedy, which traditionally plays one of the toughest nonleague schedules in the state, opens the season Aug. 31 at home against Class 3A Horizon Christian. All three of the Trojans’ other nonconference games, against Willamina, Dayton and Rainier, also are against Class 3A teams. The playoffs begin Nov. 9, and the Class 2A championship game is Dec. 1.
