October 18, 2012

McKenzie Defeats Mohawk, 3-0

The Eagles finally found themselves facing a more relaxed week in which they had just one volleyball match scheduled (plus a JV tournament on Sat.). McKenzie traveled to Mohawk on Thursday, Oct. 11, for the Mt. West League match and the Eagles won handily in 3 sets, 25-13, 25-15, and 25-22. More importantly, the match allowed Head Coach Dan Brenner the opportunity to play his entire bench. The win keeps McKenzie (8-1) a half game back of the League leading Lowell Red Devils (9-1). A little R & R couldn’t have come at a better time for the Eagles as they travel to Crow on Tues., Oct. 16 and then host Lowell on Thurs., Oct. 18 to wrap up their Mt. West League 2012 schedule. With a chance to defend their League Championship on the line, McKenzie has a great opportunity to also begin their final drive toward the pending OSAA State Championships.

At Mohawk, Senior Peace Shepherd continued to exhibit her well rounded game skills as she led her team’s attack with 9 kills and 8 digs. Sydney King also continued to shine as she put up 19 assists. And Samantha Winningham continued her perfection at the service line as she contributed 12 ace. The Eagles welcomed back Buggy Hiddleston from the injured reserve list and Hiddleston responded with 6 kills and 6 aces. Other Eagle players Delphine Clark, Clea Coach, and Winningham each contributed 4 digs.

Loss to Cougars, Doesn’t Leave Eagles Much to Crow About

Photo By Corey Culp

McKenzie’s plans to repeat their 2011 Mt. West League Championship took a wrong turn on Crow Road as the Cougars scored first and never looked back while handing the Eagles a road loss, 58-34. Crow scored twice in the first quarter while preventing the Eagles from entering the end zone to take a 12-0 lead. Each team tallied 16 pts. in the second quarter for a 28-16 lead for Crow. Crow never looked back as they resumed aggressive play following the half time break and with the win, kept themselves in the hunt for the League Championship and more importantly set themselves up for a very good chance at one of the three League representatives to the OSAA State Football Championship rounds. Conversely, the Eagles (2-1) now find themselves looking up at Lowell (4-0), Crow (3-1), Triangle Lake (3-1), and tied with Siletz Valley (2-2). McKenzie has a tiebreaker advantage over Siletz Valley, but Triangle Lake and Crow each hold the advantage over the Eagles. Now McKenzie will probably have to at least win two of the three games left on their remaining schedule to hope to secure a post season playoff game. And hope for some help as well. Next up is at Mohawk, (Fri., Oct. 19), followed by Yoncalla (Fri., Oct. 26) at home, and the final travel date at Lowell on Fri., Nov. 2.

At Crow, Senior Quarterback Victor Vidal returned to the lineup to complete 10 of 27 pass attempts for 249 yds and 4 TDs. However, the time off may have affected Vidals timing as he also threw 3 interceptions and fumbled once for a loss. Bailey Adams was the main recipient of Vidal s passing attack as he hauled in 2 passes for a total of 88 yds. Josh Ness caught 3 Vidal passes for 76 yds., Caleb Scrivner grabbed 2 passes for 46 yds., and Blake Anderson caught 3 passes for 39 yds. While the Eagle air assault seemed to work, Crow’s defense kept the McKenzie ground game bottled up. Senior Ness rushed for 36 yds. on 4 carries to account for just over half of McKenzie’s team total of just 70 yds. With Crow’s offense revved up, the Eagles found themselves on the defensive field a good part of the night and Ness responded with 15 solo tackles along with 20 assists for 35 total tackles on the evening. Casey Mitchell had 8 solos tackles to go with 25 assists for a total of 33 total tackles.

Photo By Corey Culp