By James Day
Was Nov. 29 a bad day for the Mannion family? One might think so. The Silverton High football team, coached by John Mannion, lost 34-12 to Hermiston in the Class 5A state title game. Later that day Oregon State, quarterbacked by his son Sean Mannion, lost 47-19 to rival the University of Oregon in the annual Civil War game.
John Mannion just laughed when talking about the day in an Our Town interview in his classroom.
“If you had told me five years ago that Sean would wind up the all-time Pac-12 passing leader and that my team would be 12-0 and playing for a state championship I would have said no way!” Mannion said. “It’s been a great ride, kind of a whirlwind.”
Sean Mannion wound up his career with the Beavers with 13,600 passing yards, more than 1,000 yards better than the old mark of 12,327 set by Matt Barkley of USC. Mannion’s 83 touchdown passes are an OSU record. His dad, meanwhile, is finishing a three-year stretch in which the Foxes have gone 33-4, with two trips to the state semifinals and this year’s run to the state title game.
“It was a great season, as good a season as I’ve ever been a part of,” Coach Mannion said. “We won the league title and made a great run through the playoffs. It was a complete effort all the way.”
The Foxes played Hermiston at 1 p.m., and with OSU-Oregon kicking off at 5 p.m. Silverton boosters came up with a plan to whisk the coach to Reser Stadium in time for the Civil War. But Mannion said no.
“I was real flattered,” he said. “We have had such great community support. But I kind of wanted to see the season through to the end and finish it with these guys.”
So Mannion rode the bus back to Silverton with the team and managed to get to Reser for the final eight minutes of the Civil War.
Mannion also said he appreciated the “awesome sendoff out of town. There had to have been close to a thousand people lining the road” as the bus left for the title game. “That meant a lot to me as a coach and I’m real grateful for that.”
Mannion has some big holes to fill for next season, with the departure of seniors such as quarterback Cole Chandler, linemen Cody Gubbels and Camryn Clokey, running back-linebacker Sam Kuschnick and wide receiver Logan Munson.
“This class has raised the bar for the next class,” he said. “Next year the guys will have the bar in front of them and will do the best they can to clear it. That’s the exciting thing about high school football. You always have new guys stepping forward.”
Dance update: The Foxes participated in the Categories Championships on Dec. 6 at Canby High School. There were 71 teams participating, with Silverton tying for third in contemporary dance and finishing sixth in jazz. The squad will hold tryouts Wednesday, Dec. 17 for its state team, which will start practicing on its state routine Friday. Silverton is the defending OSAA Class 5A small champions. The OSAA meet is in March in Portland.
Midnight Fun Run: Lace up your running shoes to walk, run or jog in the Midnight New Year’s Eve Glow Run staged by Seven Brides Brewing. Paarticipants are invited to welcome in the New Year Dec. 31 at the restaurant before the race begins at midnight. There will be 3K, 5K and 7K races. All proceeds go to the Silver Falls Family YMCA to support Youth Programs. Call 503-873-6456 or visit theYonline.org.
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