September, 27, 2012

Salty McKenzie Sends Siletz Scampering

Visiting Siletz Valley brought a seasoned running back to Finn Rock last Friday evening and Senior Warrior Steven Lindstrom chewed up the yardage at Wade Thomas Field, gaining 251 yards on 41 carries. However, the Eagles, in their first Mt. West League game of the 2012 season, held Lindstrom to just one touchdown on the ground, as they clawed their way back from a 24-20 4th quarter deficit, to thrill the hometown crowd with a 40-24 victory. With the win, the Eagles are tied for 1st in the early season with Crow, Lowell, and Triangle Lake. McKenzie travels to Triangle Lake next Friday, Sept. 28 with the kickoff set at 7:00 pm. Lindstrom may have been grinding out the yards on the ground for Siletz, but the Eagles nearly matched his yardage by going to their air game. Indeed, McKenzie gained just 68 yards on the ground on 19 total carries. Senior Josh Ness led McKenzie with 29 yards on 5 carries. Fellow Senior Eagle Quarterback Victor Vidal continued to keep the opposing defensive backfield on their heels or looking at an Eagle backside as he connected with his receiving corps for 208 yds., completing 12 of 28 passes attempts for 5 touchdowns and just 1 interception. Vidal spread the wealth around and his receivers aptly responded. Caleb Scrivner collected 3 Vidal aerials for 71 yards, including one 55-yard reception and 1 TD. Bailey Adams hauled in 3 catches for 42 yards and 1 TD and Blake Anderson successfully received 4 Vidal passes for a total of 30 yards and 1 score. Anderson also scored the final Eagle touchdown of the game in the come from behind 4th quarter with a thrilling 69-yard interception return that iced the win. Ness caught one McKenzie pass good for 50 yards and a TD. With Siletz leading the game at the half (16-14) and the Eagles trailing in the 4th quarter, the McKenzie defense needed to hold the Warriors out of the end zone. Defense rose to the occasion as both Casey Mitchell and Dorian Dilley spent considerable time in the Siletz backfield sacking the quarterback 3 times each and disrupting any Warrior comeback of their own. Vidal added a couple of interceptions, had 5 solo tackles and 7 assists, for a total of 12 tackles in the game. Ness led his team’s defensive effort with 9 solo tackles, 13 assists for 22 total tackles. Adams had 3 solos and 16 assists (19 total tackles) and Mitchell ended the game with 6 solos, 8 assists for 14 total tackles. The Eagles swarming defense will definitely need to continue disrupting the opposing offense when they lineup opposite of the Lakers this Friday. 23rd ranked Triangle Lake is coming off a 54-6 win at Mapleton last Friday and will be looking to avenge Eagles 46-38 win last year.

Lowell Red Devils Fork League Win Over Eagle Netters

Visiting Mt. West League Defending 2011 Champion McKenzie was handed its first 2012 League defeat at Lowell on Tuesday, Sept. 18. The host Red Devils beat the Eagles in 4 sets winning the first set 25-20 and the second set 25-17. McKenzie rallied to win the 3rd set 25-23, but dropped the final set 25-15. The Eagles Makaila Hiddleston led her team with 10 kills and 9 digs. Samantha Winningham had 5 kills and 9 digs in her day on the court. Corinna Price served 3 aces along with 13 digs, Sydney King added an ace of her own and 11 digs, and Shyla Harlan served the other Eagle ace with 10 digs to her credit. Peace Shepherd rounded out the total team effort with 4 of her Team’s 5 blocks and added 10 digs. Ayshia Seiler led the Eagles in assists with 10.

Eagles Recover, Beat Alsea in 3 Sets

McKenzie rebounded from their defeat at Lowell when the hosted the Alsea Wolverines on Thursday, Sept. 20. The Eagles easily won 25-12, 25-8, and 25-8 to go 2-1 in Mt. West League play. Triangle Lake is undefeated and in 1st place in League play at 4-0. Lowell, 3-1, holds a slim lead over the Eagles with Mapleton and Eddyville tied for 4th at 3-2. McKenzie plays both latter teams this week, traveling to Eddyville on Tues., Sept. 25 and home with Mapleton on Thurs., Sept. 27. Both matches tip off at 6 pm. Senior Peace Shepherd paced her team with 6 kills against the Wolverines while teammates Katey Totten added 10 assists. Totten and Corinna Price served 4 aces apiece respectively.

Culver Wins McKenzie RPI Volleyball Tournament

Culver, currently ranked 1st in the OSAA 2A Volleyball rankings, won the first annual McKenzie RPI Volleyball Tournament on Sat., Sept. 22. The Bulldogs, representing the 3A Tri-River Conference, defeated 6 ranked 3A Glide of the 3A Sunset Conference 2-1, defeated 3rd ranked 2A Reedsport 2-1, and 3rd ranked 1A St. Paul of the Casco Conference in the Championship Match 3-1. St. Paul earned their championship berth by defeating 1A Umpqua Valley Christian of the Skyline League 2-0 and 10th ranked 1A Prospect Charter of the Mountain Valley League 2-0. Reedsport finished the day in 3rd place, Glide won 4th place, followed by Prospect Charter at 5th, Mapleton in at 6th, McKenzie finished 7th and Umpqua Valley Christian was 8th.

Tournament Host McKenzie, currently ranked 24th, dropped their first match of the tournament to Reedsport in two sets, 18-25 and 11-25. In the second match, the Eagles lost to Glide in 3 sets, 11-25, 25-20, and 15-17, the last set going into overtime. McKenzie defeated Umpqua Valley Christian in their 3rd match of the day 25-18, 25-18, and 25-19. Against Reedsport, Makaila Hiddleston tallied 7 kills and 3 blocks. Peace Shepherd added 2 more blocks, Sydney King had 7 digs and Shyla Harlan also contributed 6 digs. Ayshia Seiler and Katey Totten had 7 and 5 assists respectively. In the second match versus Glide, Hiddleston had an impressive match as she led her team with 7 kills, 4 aces, 4 blocks, and 7 digs. King added 13 digs of her own, Shepherd had 6 digs and 4 kills, and Totten added 4 assists. The final match of the day with Umpqua Valley Christian had Hiddleston with 10 kills and a block, Totten with 11 assists, 2 blocks, and 5 digs, Samantha Winningham had 8 kills and 4 aces, Seiler added 7 assists, King had 11 digs, Corinna Price served 4 aces, and Shepherd added 5 digs.

Following Mt. West League play on Tuesday and Thursday, the Eagles travel on Sat., Sept. 29 to Mollala to participate in the annual Country Christian Volleyball Tournament. Teams entered include currently 24th ranked 4A Mollala, 3A Colton, 6th ranked 2A Days Creek, 8th ranked 2A Portland Christian, 20th ranked 2A Knappa, 11th ranked 1A Country Christian, 13th ranked 1A City Christian, 23rd ranked 1A Portland Waldorf, 24th ranked McKenzie, and Southwest Christian.

Satchell at Seaside 3 Course Challenge

McKenzie has one Varsity Cross Country athlete competing so far this season, Freshman Ethan Satchell. On Saturday along the Northern Oregon Coast near Seaside, Satchell lined up on the beach along with 459 other runners in a the Easy Course 4,500 meter race. Satchell ran a very respectful 20:23 time to finish in 220 place. McKenzie and Satchell competed in a field that included 104 High School Cross County Teams representing 1A through 6A teams from Oregon, Washington, California and Hawaii. All in all, a total of 1528 runners participated in the Men s High School Divisions and 1081 runners in the Women s races. The Eagles also traveled with several Middle School Runners. Levi Sturgell (8th grade) placed 37th out of 89 runners in the Boys M.S. 3000 meters race. Naomi Satchell (7th gr.) placed 17th in a field of 51 runners in the Girls M.S. 3000 m. race. Other M. S. Eagle runners were Bailey Sugg (7th gr.) in at 37th, Paige Lowry (7th gr.) at 39th, and Brittany Bayer (8th gr.) at 40th.