Kennedy High is adding two sports this winter, marking the Trojans as an outlier in these budget constrained times.
Kennedy will add wrestling and swimming to its current roster. Both teams will include boys and girls. A wrestling coach, Dewey Enos, has been hired, while Athletic Director Kevin Moffatt still is searching for a swimming coach.
Moffatt told Our Town that the school made the additions to balance out the 
number of students it can serve in the three sports seasons. Boys and girls basketball were formerly the only winter offerings at Kennedy, with the two sports accommodating 40 athletes. More than 70 athletes are involved in fall sports at the school, and 100 participate in the spring.
“Every study says that kids involved in extra-curricular activities also perform better in school and the studies we have done at our school the past 12 years echo those findings,” Moffatt said. “Plus (swimming and wrestling) are really different from what we have – new and fun.”
Enos, 26, is a Silverton High graduate who has worked as a club coach for Salem Elite and the Silverton Mat Club as well as coaching at Mark Twain Middle School. He told Our Town he has 14 or 15 kids signed up and hopes to get to 20, with the squad likely anchored by Matthew Morrow, Bryce Vandervort and Carlos Saravia.
“Those kids will made some noise in 2A,” said Enos, who added that he is hoping for a top 3 finish at district and perhaps a top 10 at state. “That’s one of my goals.”
“The thing that impressed us so much with Dewey is his enthusiasm and how much he loves wrestling and working with kids,” Moffatt said.
The first OSAA-sanctioned practice for wrestling and swimming is set for Nov. 13, with Nov. 29 the first
contest date.
Football: Silverton has lost two in a row after a 4-0 start, falling 33-13 to Crescent Valley on Sept. 29 and 40-37 to Corvallis on Oct. 6 at the Foxes’ Homecoming game. Impressive individual efforts by opposing playmakers proved the difference in the two games. Talanoa Hufanga came off of suspension for C.V. to score three touchdowns.
Silverton, ranked No. 8 in Class 5A, closes the Mid-Willamette Conference season with an Oct. 13 game at No. 9 South Albany and an Oct. 20 home game against No. 7 Central. Four MWC teams will make the playoffs.
Kennedy, meanwhile, lost 54-14 against St. Paul on Oct. 6 at the St. Paul Rodeo Grounds – and moved up a spot in the Class 2A rankings, another sign of how insanely competitive the Tri-River Conference is. The Trojans are 1-5 overall and yet are ranked ninth and remain a good bet to make the playoffs. St. Paul is ranked No. 1, with Santiam eighth and Central Linn 10th. Defending state champion Regis is 15th. Kennedy, 1-1 in league, closes Tri-River play with home games against Santiam (Oct. 20) and Regis (Oct. 27).
Soccer: The Silverton girls are once again a major player in the Mid-Willamette conference race. The Foxes, runners-up in Class 5A a year ago, opened 1-5 in a difficult non-league schedule in which they scored just three goals. But Silverton has exploded for three victories by a combined score of 14-0 to open league play. Matches down the stretch against Lebanon, Crescent Valley and Corvallis will determine which of the six playoff spots the Foxes will occupy.
Volleyball: Kennedy is in the thick of the battle for the Tri-River title. The Trojans are 6-2 in league, 16-5 overall and ranked No. 5 in Class 2A. Kennedy trails No. 3 St. Paul (8-1) and No. 4 Central Linn (7-2). The Tri-River only receives two automatic qualifying spots in the state playoffs, but the high rankings all but guarantee that the team that finishes third also will get a bid. The regular season winds up Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Silverton, meanwhile, is 7-4 in the Mid-Willamette and ranked No. 14 in Class 5A. The Foxes are a virtual lock to snag one of the six MWC playoff spots and have the opportunity to solidify their standing down the stretch with league-season closing matches against Lebanon (9-2), Crescent Valley (6-5) and league leader Corvallis (10-1).
Cross country: Kennedy’s Kaylin Cantu and Alejandra Lopez are ranked 1-2 at 5,000 meters in the Special District 2 listings. Three other Trojans are in the top 15, which will make Kennedy a formidable contender at the Oct. 27 district meet at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem as well as the Nov. 4 state meet at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Trojans’ boys also are well represented in the district rankings with Nick Riedman fifth and Luke Hall eighth.
Silverton’s Jori Paradis and Haile Stutzman are both ranked third in the girls and boys rankings in the Mid-Willamette. The Foxes’ district meet is Oct. 25 at Willamette Mission State Park.
Youth hoops: The Silverton High boys and girls basketball programs are forming traveling teams of younger players, with tryouts for the Future Foxes boys squads and the Future Lady Foxes girls teams set for November. Teams will be forming from each grade level from fifth to eighth for the girls and third through eighth for boys who will be attending Silverton High.
Girls tryouts will be Wednesday, Nov. 1, 7 – 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5, 3 – 4:30 p.m. Boys will try out Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7 – 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 12, 3 – 4:30 p.m. All tryouts will be at the high school. For information contact [email protected].
Varsity coaches Tal Wold (girls) and Jamie McCarty (boys) will assist with the tryouts and clinics, but each team will have its own head coach.
OSAA redistricting: The redistricting committee of the Oregon School Activities Association has completed its work, with its recommendations now in the hands of the OSAA’s Executive Board and Delegate Assembly.
Barring changes at the Oct. 16 meeting of the two groups, Silverton will remain in the Class 5A Mid-Willamette Conference, but the league will present a different face. Woodburn is set to move to Class 4A, with North Salem, West Albany and Cascade being added to form a 10-team league with holdovers Corvallis, Crescent Valley, Lebanon, Central, South Albany and Dallas.
Kennedy, meanwhile, is tentatively slotted into Class 2A’s new Central Valley League with Chemawa, Colton, Culver, Delphian, Gervais, Santiam, Sheridan and Western Mennonite.
The new leagues take effect in the fall of 2018.
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