November 6, 2014

By Cliff Richardson

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

There are no Varsity contests scheduled for this week.

Eagles Serve WVC a 3-0 Loss

McKenzie delivered a season-ending blow to Willamette Valley Christian, upsetting the 10th ranked Warriors in three straight sets, 25-14, 25-16, and 25-17. With the win, the Eagles advanced out of the OSAA First Round playoffs and earned a Second Round match with the OSAA third ranked team from the Big Sky League, Dufur.

McKenzie’s win against the Warriors, held at the Oregon School for the Deaf High School in Salem, did not start out well for the visiting Eagles as they fell behind early in the first set, 0-3, due to “not communicating,” according to McKenzie Head Coach Dan Brenner. McKenzie got it going after the slow start, however, to completely dominate the match.

The Eagles began “picking each other up,” led by the Mt. West League’s Player of the Year, McKenzie senior Katey Totten. Totten had another standout evening on the court as she offensively led her team with 10 kills out of 14 attempts, an outstanding 71.4% success mark. Totten also led her teammates with 6 service aces, 11 assists, and tied with Buggy Hiddleston with 3 blocks. Interestingly, McKenzie did not have a block in the first set. Totten also put up 8 digs defensively. As a team, McKenzie was superb at the serving line, very accurate and aggressive according to their Head Coach.

“We corrected our serving from the Triangle Lake match,” Coach Brenner stated. Indeed they did as the Eagles were 94.4% successful from the service line and the Eagles had 19 team aces.

Aly Heins led her Eagle teammates defensively with 15 digs and also had 1 assist. Tamera Satchell put down 7 kills, 4 aces, and 1 assist while adding 12 digs. Hiddleston, with her 3 blocks, had 6 kills, 4 aces, and 10 assists, while defensively adding 8 digs. Kailyn Ringler’s evening produced 7 kills, an ace, and 3 digs. Hayley Jackson added 6 digs, 1kill, and 1 assist, Miyanna Hayes finished with 4 aces, 2 digs, and 4 assists, and Taylor Quirk had 2 digs. Hayes was named the Eagle Player of the Match by her Coaches for her “serving well and adding 4 assists while switching to a new position.”

McKenzie Caps Season With Win At Alsea, 66-38

Eagle Head Football Coach Neil Barrett’s team wrapped up their 2014 season with a win on the road against the Alsea Wolverines. The game, pitting the two last place teams in their respective Mt. West League Divisions, had no post season opportunities attached to it and simply allowed the teams a game for experience. And that’s just what both teams need going into next year’s schedule. McKenzie finished with a 1-5 East Division record and a 2-7 overall record, with both wins coming courtesy of the Alsea Wolverines. Alsea’s lone win for the year came from a forfeit from Falls City/Kings Valley Charter.

The Eagle’s sophomore quarterback, Chanse Hamlow passed for 8 completions out of 17 attempts, good for 96 yds. Hamlow also threw 3 interceptions in the game. Hamlow’s most effective offensive weapon, however, came not through the air, but on the ground as the Eagle quarterback rushed for 283 yds. on 26 carries. Hamlow scored 6 touchdowns in the game. Eric Huffman rushed for an additional 100 yds. on 18 carries and scored 1 TD. Blue Bloomer had 7 carries for 25 yds. and 1 TD, Jason McCarrick scored a TD on a 17 yd. carry, Angel Botello carried 3 times for 3 net yds., Jeffrey Bayer had 3 yds. on 1 carry as did Trevor Evans. Huffman led his team with 5 pass receptions and 70 yds., followed by Bloomer, who had 1 completion for 19 yds. and Alex Nastasiuk, who also had 1 pass reception for 7 yds. Overall, McKenzie accumulated 530 total offensive yds., 434 yds. on the ground.

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Huffman who had an outstanding evening at the office with 13 total tackles, 10 solo, 1 blocked punt, and the senior forced 2 Wolverine fumbles. Bloomer also had 13 total tackles, 7 solo, McCarrick had 11 total tackles, 5 solo, Nastasiuk contributed 9 total tackles, 6 solo, and the senior also had 2 fumble recoveries. Angel Botello had 7 total tackles, 2 solo, and Jeffrey Bayer added 6 total tackles, 4 solo. With 1 tackle apiece, were the Eagle’s Drew Hamlow, Scott Willis, Trevor Evans, and James Rimmer. Evans also had 1 fumble recovery.

Mt. West League Football

McKenzie finished the 2014 football season ranked 34th out of 39 teams in the final OSAA State 1A rankings. Alsea held down the last spot, ranked 39. Lowell (8-1), the OSAA State’s number 1 ranked team, defeated the other Mt. West League Division winner, Triangle Lake, 94-36, and the Red Devils will host Condon/ Wheeler (4-6, 22nd ranked) on Friday, November 7 in a First Round State playoff game.

Triangle Lake (5-3, 13th ranked), the League’s two seed by virtue of the loss to Lowell, will travel on November 7 to Crane (7-2, 5th ranked), the 3rd seed to State from the Special District 1 League. The Mt. West League’s number three seed to State, Yoncalla, handily defeated the Falls City/Kings Valley Charter team, 58-32, in a League game between the Divisions third place teams. Yoncalla (7-2, 10th ranked) will travel further South, down I-5 to Days Creek (7-1, 7th ranked), for its first round State Playoff game. Siletz Valley (3-5, 20th ranked) dropped its last game to North Douglas, 18-62, and Mapleton (4-4, 31st ranked) defeated the Indians of Mohawk (2-7, 33rd ranked), 40-28.

Dufur Drops McKenzie, 3-1

McKenzie’s run in the State Volleyball Playoffs ran aground at Dufur, last Saturday, November 1. The host Rangers, ranked 3rd in the final OSAA State Volleyball rankings, lost a rare set to the Mt. West League visitors, but won convincingly nonetheless, 25-17, 25-19, 20-25, and 25-17.

With the loss, the Eagle’s 2014 season comes to an end, just one victory away from the OSAA State 1A Volleyball Finals next weekend in Redmond. McKenzie finished the year with a 20-12 overall record.

“Dufur did not dominate us; we were not as focused as we needed to be and had too many errors,” McKenzie Head Coach Dan Brenner lamented. “We served fairly well and hit fairly well. We knew our hitting percentage would be lower because they (Dufur) are a good digging team. They also have a big hitter in Ranger senior Taylor Darden, the Coach’s daughter,” Coach Brenner added. Kelly Darden is the long time Dufur Volleyball Coach and a legend in that part of the State.

Coach Brenner singled out his senior Captain Buggy Hiddleston as the Eagle Player of the Match. “Buggy hit hard, had a tremendous swing, and played unafraid to make a mistake. She hustled all over the place, played her heart out and left it all on the court. This was definitely her best match of the season.” Hiddleston’s stats supported the Eagle Coach’s praise as she produced 12 kills, 1 ace, 3 blocks, 7 digs, and 13 assists on the evening.

Senior Katey Totten, another Eagle Captain, led her team with 14 kills, 7 blocks, and 15 assists. Totten also had 11 digs and 1 ace. Coach Brenner also noted that senior Libero Hayley Jackson “stepped up as a senior on the court” and had perhaps her “best passing day, once she overcame her first three errors in the match.”

Jackson finished the night with 13 digs, 1 kill, and 1 assist. Tamera Satchell had 4 kills, 1 block, and 14 digs against the Rangers, Taylor Quirk added 4 digs and 1 assist, Miyanna Hayes’ stats line for the match was 1 kill, 3 aces, 5 digs, and 1 assist, and Chelsie Smith, coming off the bench, added 2 digs. Kailyn Ringler added 4 kills and 2 digs, and Aly Heins finished with 1 kill, 2 aces, and 8 digs.

Mt. West League Volleyball

McKenzie finished the 2014 regular season with a 20-12 overall record and ranked 15th out of 66 teams in the final OSAA State 1A rankings. Lowell, the Mt. West League’s top seed going into the OSAA State 1A playoffs is the League’s last team standing. The Red Devils (4th ranked), qualified for the OSAA State 1A Finals in Redmond next weekend by defeating visiting Damascus Christian, the Valley 10 League second seed. Lowell won the Second Round match, 3-1, with set scores 22-25, 25-15, 25-15, and 25-18.

The Red Devils open the Finals at 8:00 am., Friday, November 7, matched up against the Camas Valley Hornets (12th ranked), the Skyline League’s number three seed. Camas Valley (19-6) joins fellow Skyline League Champion North Douglas (2nd ranked, 21-4) in the Final Eight. Camas Valley earlier beat the other Mt. West League team in the First Round of the State playoffs, Triangle Lake. The Lakers (13-7) ended their season by losing in three sets, 18-25, 15-25, and 14-25.

OSAA State 1A Volleyball Finals

Lowell (Mt. West League Champion, 4th ranked, 20-3) meets Camas Valley (Skyline number 3 seed, 12th ranked, 19-6) on Court 2, 8:00 am. start, Friday, November 7 at Redmond High School. Hosanna Christian (Mt. Valley League second seed, 7th ranked, 20-3 lines up against the number one team in the State, Country Christian (Casco League Champion, 22-6). That match also starts at 8:00 am. on Court 1.

Trinity Lutheran (Mt. Valley Champion, 6th ranked, 23-2) match up versus Dufur (Big Sky League Champion, 3rd ranked, 26-3) with that match starting at 10:00 am. on Court 1. Also, at 10:00 am., on Court 2, Crane (High Desert League number two seed, 8th ranked, 17-6) meets North Douglas (Skyline Champion, 2nd ranked, 21-4).

The Championship Semi-Finals commence later on Friday at 6:30 pm. The Consolation Semi-Finals (8:00 am.), Consolation Final/3rd-5th place match (noon) and Championship Finals (6:00 pm.) take place on Saturday, November 8.

McKenzie River Reflections