McKenzie Sports Report

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

There are no McKenzie Varsity Sports contests scheduled for this week. The Eagle Fall sports season has concluded.

Mustangs Throw Down Buckaroos

Crane Defeats St. Paul To Claim Crown

The St. Paul Buckaroos made a good run in the 2023 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A Volleyball State Championship held at Ridgeview High School in Redmond, November 3, 4. St. Paul, this Fall Season's Casco League Champion was ranked 6th in the final State Class 1A Volleyball rankings and by virtue of seeding into the State Quarterfinals of the Championship round, faced the daunting prospect of competing against the State's top three teams in a quest to claim the Champion Blue Trophy.

First up, in Quarterfinal play, St. Paul met 3rd ranked Trinity Lutheran, the Mt. Valley League Champion out of Bend. The Buckaroos stopped the Saints from marching on with a 3-0 upset victory. Next up in the chutes, in Championship Semi-final play, were the tenacious Powder Valley Badgers, 2nd ranked in the Class 1A rankings.

The Old Oregon League Champion Badgers reached the Semi-finals by dispatching 7th-ranked Crosshill Christian 3-0. The Buckaroos knew from past experience the Badgers would stubbornly hold their ground and a good battle it was, but when the dust cleared, St. Paul would score their second upset of the Championship with a 3-1 victory.

On the other side of the eight-team Championship bracket, top-ranked Crane was cruising into the Title Match, dispatching Adrian 3-0 and Umpqua Valley Christian, 3-1. That set up the Championship match between the Mustangs and the Buckaroos. St. Paul, to its credit, clamped their hat down tight and gave it a good go. But the Mustangs were rank, first to be sure, and defeated the Casco bunch 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-12, and 26-24). Powder Valley recovered and downed a determined Umpqua Valley Christian 3-2 to claim the State Third place trophy. In the Consolation Championship, Trinity Lutheran upset Joseph, 3-2, and earned the State fourth-place trophy.

In the 2A State Championships held concurrently with the Class 1A at Redmond, Valley Coast Conference foes Oakridge (Champion) and Lowell (2nd seed) tangled in the Quarterfinals. The old saying is “It's hard to beat a team three times in a row,” but that's what Oakridge accomplished to advance. To Lowell's credit, the Red Devils didn't make it easy for the Upriver Warriors.

The match went five sets, Oakridge winning the first, 25-23, but the Red Devils lit a fire and won the next two, 27-25 and 25-19. On the verge of landing in the Consolation brackets, Oakridge rallied with a fourth set win, 25-21, and capped the victory in the deciding fifth set, winning 15-12.

Oakridge lost the next two matches, 3-0, to Portland Christian and Western Christian, respectively. Lowell was victorious in its next Consolation match, defeating Gaston, 3-1, and met Grant Union in the Consolation Championship match, but fell to the Prospectors, 3-1, and earned the Red Devils the State's Sixth place trophy.

Six-Man Football State Championships

The 2023 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A(6) Football State Championship features the State's newest brand of football. Actually, it's an old game resurrected from the fifties, due to declining enrollments in the smallest of the State's schools. First, OSAA found many schools dropping down from eleven-man football to participate in 8 man. Fans at first reluctant to embrace a game that quite frankly has been played throughout rural America and Canada for decades, found to their delight an eight-man football game that was fast, exciting, and high-scoring. Then, school enrollment once again took discouraging drops throughout rural Oregon and it became hard or impossible, believe it or not, for Class 1A schools to even field an eight-man team. Time for OSAA to re-embrace the six-man game, which has been compared to fast-break basketball on a football field. Indeed, it is a unique contest with interesting rules, but most importantly, kids get to participate!

The Special District 2 North League sent four teams this season to the State Championship Round One brackets. SD 2 North League Champion 5th-ranked Eddyville Charter hosted 12th-ranked Harper Charter and won 19-13 last Friday, November 3, at Eddyville. Eddyville now travels to 4th-ranked Joseph on Friday, November 10. The Eagles were the only SD 2 North team to make it out of the First Round, however. Alsea, 7th ranked, lost at home, 38-6, against 10th ranked Echo. Ninth-ranked Triangle Lake traveled across the Cascades to 8th-ranked North Lake and dropped its game to the Cowboys, 49-33. And 11th-ranked Falls City/Kings Valley fell to 6th-ranked South Wasco County up in Maupin country, losing to the Redsides 51-36.

In other State Semi-final action, North Lake will meet top-ranked Prairie City/Burnt River, South Wasco County travels to 3rd ranked Elkton, and Echo travels to second-ranked Powers. What a fun way to see the Great State of Oregon!!

Triangle Lake's Viggo Beck Finishes 13th At State CC

Local Cross Country and Track and Field folks will recognize Triangle Lake senior athlete Viggo Beck, who this Fall represented the Lakers at the 2023 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union Boys 2A/1A Cross Country Championships held at Lane Community College last Saturday, November 4. Beck finished 13th in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:52.7 minutes.

Brady Greenwood of Heppner won the State individual title finishing his race in 16:12.9 minutes. Union High School took top team honors with 44 points, narrowly holding off second place Knappa, which scored 47 points.

In the Girls 3A/2A/1A State 5,000 meters Championship race, Jaya Simmins of Valley Catholic finished first in a time of 18:20.9 minutes. Oregon Episcopal won the team title with 66 points and Siuslaw finished runner up with 95 points.