McKenzie Sports Report

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

The McKenzie Varsity Volleyball team hosts Alsea, Tuesday, August 30. Match time is 6:00 pm in the New Gymnasium.

The Eagle Varsity Volleyball team travels to Siletz Valley on Thursday, September 1 for a 6:00 pm match. The McKenzie Varsity Football team also travels to Siletz Valley, Thursday, September 1; with kickoff set for 7:00 pm.

McKenzie Varsity Volleyball travels to Crow on Tuesday, September 6 with match time set for 6:00 pm.

Spikes, Digs and Friday Night Lights

Eagle Fall Athletics Return

Fall season is sneaking in, fully intent on reintroducing a whole new perspective to life in the McKenzie Valley. Maybe you hadn’t noticed yet, no fault of your own. Summer hasn’t decided to cool its heals yet, stubbornly hanging hot, dry days on River folks still. If you’re just now getting around to working on your tan you’ve still got options, lobster red or the tanning salon downtown. The latter might be the better deal in the long run.

A few trail hikes should still be considered and the high country huckleberries are coloring up. Both might fit in real nicely with a black bear spotting. Have you tried fishing for a cutthroat trout with a red huckleberry? And that woodshed, well, you’ve still got a bit of time! Garden activities aside, now’s when one should be looking for your favorite athletic fan wear.

Full disclosure, not talking Beavers, Ducks this forum. Eagles, that’s what I’m talking about. As in McKenzie Eagles. Gridiron and Friday night-lights. Polished hardwood, diggin’ and spikin’. And loping over hill and dale with a breeze, hopefully, at your back. To put it more directly, the McKenzie Fall Sports campaign is in full swing and Eagle Coaches and athletes are actively working out the fundamentals and putting the first polish on, in anticipation of that first contest of the year.

McKenzie Varsity Volleyball takes the stage first, the Eagle ladies hosting the visiting Alsea Wolverines on Tuesday, August 30. That match will already be in the books by the time this article is published, but the opportunity to drive over to Siletz Valley the following Thursday, September 1, for the second match of the season will still be there for those so willing.

The Eagle ladies will be encouraged and directed by first year Head Coach Rachel Marks and Assistant Coach Nicole Marks. For those folks who’ve been around for a bit, those two ladies might sound familiar. Both coaches are McKenzie grads and volleyball alumni.

Back out where the dandelions have been clipped down low, the Eagle football team has been working out the kinks as well. The grandstands won’t be in place until later, maybe even following the season end, (Texas is a big State and evidently it still takes a long time to ship out across), but that hasn’t put a damper on the enthusiasm spilling out on the Eagle gridiron. McKenzie embarks on the first OSAA fully sanctioned six-man season since the sixties. The previous couple of seasons were experimental, so to speak, and OSAA didn’t furnish opportunity for a State Championship playoff format. The two Special Districts, representing the State’s six-man teams put together an unofficial playoff and it worked just fine, nonetheless. This season the six-man game will be for the record.

McKenzie Football will also be under the direction of a new Head Coach. Neil Barrett, MHS District Asst. Principal might just ring the bell in the coaching memory banks. Barrett served the McKenzie District in the capacities of eight-man football Head Coach, Head Baseball Coach, Athletic Director and Assistant Basketball Coach in years past. Assisting his first year as a football coach (to the Eagles and six-man, but not conventional football) is Josh Henley, McKenzie District PE/Health teacher and Head Basketball Coach.

Back to those folks traveling west to Siletz Valley next Thursday, here’s a two-fer bonus package you might not be able to pass up. The Eagle Varsity Football team will be flying around just outside the Warrior gymnasium as they also open up their 2022 campaign at Siletz Valley (7:00 pm salt-air kickoff).

With the fall season, we also see the emergence of the harriers. These slim and fleet-footed beings can be seen, if you’re quick enough, usually rounding the next bend or topping the far hill. In the upper McKenzie Valley, these beings gather under the tutelage of long time McKenzie Head Cross Country Coach Corey Culp. Culp has a couple of weeks yet to fine tune these runners for their first meet of the new Fall season which will commence down in Oakland on September 14. Cross Country and golf always come up with all the cool names for their meets and this one in Oakland, is no exception, aptly named for the prevalent Oregon White oak trees in Douglas County. The Acorn Gully Chase.

Now who wouldn’t be proud to sponsor a race with a name like that? The Oakland Oakers did it right!!