By James Day
The Silverton High boys basketball team is picking up right where the football team left off. As in undefeated in Mid-Willamette Conference play and recipient of a lofty state ranking.
The football Foxes finished undefeated in league play and advanced to the OSAA Class 5A semifinals before losing to eventual state champion Sherwood. The Silverton boys hoops squad is following suit, with a 10-0 record after Friday’s 60-44 win on the road against Woodburn. The Foxes are 16-4 overall and ranked No. 3 in the OSAA RPI rankings behind Jefferson of Portland and Churchill of Eugene. Silverton has a three-game lead on Crescent Valley, West Albany and Corvallis with four league games left.
“I wouldn’t say I am surprised,” said Foxes coach Darren Shryock. “Happy for sure. I knew we would have some serious challenges in league but thought we would have a chance to be where we are.”
Silverton played a daunting nonconference schedule, losing three times against Class 6A powers Jesuit, Central Catholic, and West Salem, who are ranked No. 2, No. 4 and No. 7, respectively, in Class 6A.
“The tough preseason games were helpful in that we knew we could play with some of the best teams in the state,” said Shryock. “I was afraid it would hurt our confidence to come up short in some of those games, but we have recovered and are playing well.”
Shryock gave a lot of the credit for the team’s success to unheralded post players Trevor Bledsoe, Joe Schaefer and Zach Gould.
“We have three of the best guards in the league with Zach Gengler, Toby Roth and Preston Kirk, but I didn’t know how much we would get from our post players,” Shryock said. “The fact that we are getting 19 points and 15 rebounds a game from basically two post positions has been great.”
Six of the Foxes’ players also participated on the Silverton football squad. Bledsoe, Kirk and Gould all contributed to the school’s football success, as well as Cole Chandler, Matthew Willis and Jonas Dahl.
The Silverton girls basketball team, meanwhile, is 8-11 overall and 4-6 in the Mid-Willamette.
*Silverton senior Joseph Reedy was the top finisher for the Foxes at the Mid-Willamette district swimming championships. Reedy took second in the 100 back at 57.59. Silverton finished seventh in the team race for both boys and girls.
*The Silverton High competition cheer team finished 10th in the Class 5A small division at the OSAA championships Saturday in Portland. The squad earlier won its class at the Sheldon Invitational and took third in its other two regular-season competitions. Participating for the Foxes were Maggie Klecker, Alta LaBare, Jessica Hernandez, Annie Appleton, Ashley Woodford, Briana Mendenhall, Ibet Lopez, Cara Craig, Gianna Moreno and Veronica Benavidez. The team was coached by Courtney Sargent and assistants Enez Bradford and Alissa Workman.
*The Kennedy girls team finished 10-4 in Tri-River Conference play, tied for third with Santiam.
*Four members of the Silverton Mat Club placed at the Oregon Wrestling Association state championships Feb. 2-3 at Newberg High School. Fourth-grader Owen Magill took second at 125 pounds, seventh-grader Andrew Parrish was second at 220 pounds, seventh-grader Jake Dorfler took second at 175 pounds and fifth-grader Matthew Guenther was sixth at 75 pounds.
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