McKenzie Sports Report – September 4
McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week
The McKenzie Varsity Volleyball team hosts Siletz Valley on Thursday, September 4, with match time set at 6:00 pm. The McKenzie team will travel to Eddyville Charter on Monday, September 8, and that match will start at 6:00 pm. The Eagle’s Cross Country teams travel to Cascade High School near Turner (Salem) on Thursday, September 4, to participate in the Darrel Deedon Invite. The Boys and Girls Varsity 5,000 meters races starts at 4:50 pm. A Boys and Girls 3,000 meters Junior Varsity race precedes and starts at 4:20 pm. The McKenzie Varsity Six-Man Football team travels to Halfway on Friday to play Pine Eagle on Saturday, September 6. Kickoff is slated for 10:00 am.
Ready, Set, Go!
Eagle Fall Athletics Open
Time to start talking digs and kills, tackles and touchdowns, 5Ks and Personal Records. Just as certain as the leaves turning orange and red and the bucks rubbing the velvet off, yep, High School Fall athletics have returned. And all the people say….yea! Well, a goodly number of the people for sure. This 2025 Fall, McKenzie High School starts the academic year on Tuesday, September 2 and the athletic year on Thursday, September 4 with a Mt. West League Varsity Volleyball match. McKenzie alum Rachele Mark returns as the Eagle’s Head Volleyball Coach and will welcome Assistant Coach Tonya Willoughby. The Eagle’s opening opponent, Siletz Valley, is coming off a 4-13 campaign last season and the Warriors lost four of their nine Varsity players to graduation. Siletz Valley finished seventh last year in Mt. West League action. McKenzie finished the past season 2-17; a last place MWL finish and the Eagle’s lone Mt. West League victory came courtesy to a season-ending Siletz Valley forfeit. The Eagles graduated two, Beckah Short and Korona Keas, and Coach Mark is banking on last season’s experience to improve the team’s performance. The opening match versus the Warriors at home with a friendly fan base looks like a good opportunity to kick the kinks out and shake off the jitters. The Eagles will see how well that works when they hit the road for Eddyville the following Monday. Eddyville Charter played a roster of just eight players last year, including one senior and a junior, but those coastal Eagles finished the MWL in fourth place at 11-5 and 12-9 overall.
McKenzie Cross Country Head Coach Corey Culp welcomes back seniors Will Meister and Myra Dion and sophomores Zyla Drake and Claire Weiss. Meister returns from a very successful 2024 season where he finished seventh at the SD4 ‚ 2A/1A District Championship meet and represented McKenzie at the OSAA 2A/1A State Cross Country Championship Meet where he finished 52nd. Drake finished 34th at the SD4 2A/1A District Championship meet and she was followed by Weiss at 48th and Dion at 49th. The Eagles will test their spikes at Cascade High School this coming Thursday against eighteen Varsity teams, Class 1A through 4A.
The opening season football kickoff is always a cherished Fall tradition and this McKenzie Fall season will be just that. To the point, this Fall’s kickoff adds a bit of extra spice to the gridiron recipe. You see, the Eagles travel to Pine Eagle High School at Halfway, Oregon and for those of you who may not be familiar with Oregon geography, Halfway is all the way across the Great State of Oregon. Fact is, Halfway sits an hour East of Baker City just off the Snake River, a few miles South of Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and the Eagle Cap Wilderness. But even more interesting for the benefit of all McKenzie and Halfway folks, this remarkable Eastern Oregon community was hosts to the McKenzie Varsity Football team for the 1969 State B-11 Football Championship game, featuring the home Pine Eagle Spartans and McKenzie. That season-ending game, won by McKenzie 31-25, will always hold dear to Eagle faithful as the first (and currently only) McKenzie State Football Championship. The ’69 Eagles were coached by Head Coach Wade Thomas and Assistant Coaches Ted Shannon and Walter Arima and finished 11-0. The Championship Game at Halfway was the closest margin of victory for McKenzie all season and the Spartans a very game and worthy opponent. You can bet your cork boots and spurs, the ’69 season will come up in conversation over coffee at Halfway this coming weekend. That’s the way Rural Folks think and recall! For Eagle fans that might be traveling that direction, remind those who might not know better or just forgot, the current Spartan football field is not the same field as that of the ’69 season. A baseball complex now occupies that space, just saying, from personal experience.