By James Day
The Silverton High boys basketball team concluded a sterling 2012-13 season March 9 by taking home its second third-place state trophy in four years.
The Foxes, who finished 23-5, downed Mountain View 66-54 in the third-place game at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene to match its finish of 2010. Both years Silverton lost to Jefferson of Portland in the semifinals, and both years Jefferson went on to win the championship game. The Foxes also took sixth in the 2012 tournament after losing to eventual champion Corvallis in the quarterfinals.
“It has been a special run for these kids the past four years,” said Silverton Coach Darren Shryock. “Certainly unprecedented for Silverton High School.”
Silverton opened the 2013 state tournament March 6 with a 55-47 win against Milwaukie before losing 67-58 to Jefferson in the March 8 semis. Jefferson jumped out to a 33-13 lead in the second quarter and still led by 18 at 42-24 halfway through the third period. But the Foxes engineered an inspiring rally, pulling within 60-54 with 1:07 left on a free throw by senior guard Zach Gengler. Jefferson, however, hit 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch to close out Silverton.
“The game against Jefferson was different than any we had played this year,” Shryock. “We had some uncharacteristic turnovers at the start that resulted in dunks at the other end. Those events got us on our heels and it really took us the entire first half to recover. We were able to compete and make a run in the second half, but it was too late against a very athletic team.”
Gengler scored 71 points in the three tournament games and was a unanimous selection to the all-tournament squad. Gengler made 30 of 39 free throws and added 24 rebounds, 13 steals and 11 assists. Senior post Trevor Bledsoe added 20 points and a team-high 25 rebounds.
Gengler turned in perhaps the best performance of his career March 1 in the Foxes’ 79-64 state playoff win against Sherwood which advanced the Foxes to the state tournament. Gengler poured in a school-record 44 points in his final home game. When he left the floor with 56.6 seconds left after a length-of-the-court run to a two-handed dunk the Sherwood fans also participated in a thunderous standing ovation.
Gengler was named Mid-Willamette Conference player of the year after leading the Foxes to a 14-0 league mark, the first perfect boys basketball league season in school history. Silverton senior guard Toby Roth was named to the first team, and Bledsoe made the second team. Seniors Joe Schaefer and Preston Kirk received honorable mention.
“Zach is the best player to ever play at Silverton,” said Shryock. “He finishes his career with over 2,000 points. He joins a very small list in the state of Oregon. He is going to be a tremendous college player. The skills that made him so good in high school will translate to the next level. He is an outstanding scorer and has the skills to be a lock down defender as well. His influence on the Foxes program will be felt for generations to come. Everyone wants to be the next Zach Gengler, and that is a good thing.”
In other sports news: Silverton’s junior forward Megan Ratliff was named second-team all-Mid-Willamette Conference. Two Foxes received honorable mention, junior Lilly Paradis and freshman Alia Parsons.The Foxes finished 10-15 overall and 5-9 in the Mid-Willamette. Silverton won a Class 5A play-in game against Eagle Point but fell in the first round of the state playoffs against Springfield.
Jill Walker is the new volleyball coach at Silverton. Walker played high school volleyball at Lebanon and coached at Regis and Scio. She was an assistant at Regis when the Rams finished second in the 2000 OSAA Class 2A tournament.
*The OSAA reclassification process continued with a meeting Feb. 18 in Wilsonville. The committee, which is worked to establish league alignments that will start with the 2014-15 school year, has reached consensus on staying with the current six-classification system. The current draft proposal for Class 5A includes Silverton in a seven-team Mid-Willamette Conference. The league would lose West Albany to the Class 6A Central Valley Conference, which also would include the six Salem public schools plus Forest Grove, McMinnville and Newberg. Kennedy would remain in the Class 2A Tri-River Conference, but the league would expand to nine schools, with the addition of Sheridan and Monroe and the loss of Waldport. The committee meets again March 18. The OSAA’s executive committee is scheduled to sign off on the final proposal in October.
