By James Day
The Cascade High football team has won its second Oregon West Conference title in three years. The Cougars took down North Marion 31-13 on Oct. 24 to finish the league season 5-0 under third-year Coach Steve Turner.
“Before the season started, we knew we had some talented young players in the junior and soph classes that matched up with a small but strong senior class,” Turner told Our Town. “We had some injuries early that allowed us to play guys to create great depth at all of our positions. We really are a true team.”
Cascade is 7-1 overall and ranked No. 4 by the OSAA in Class 4A. The lone loss was to No. 5 Scappoose. The Cougars will take that No. 4 ranking into the playoffs where they will have a bye in the play-in round and a home game in the first round.
Stayton High School, meanwhile, which finished 2-3 in the Oregon West and 3-5 overall, travels to Oregon West rival Philomath (6-2, 4-1) for a play-in game on Oct. 31, after Our Town’s deadline.
Regis football also is undefeated in league play this year. The Rams are 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Tri-River Conference heading into the Oct. 31 showdown at Central Linn (4-3, 2-1). Regis opened with losses to top-ranked Knappa and Class 3A Dayton before reeling off five consecutive wins. The Rams are in their first season under Coach Kyle McGrath, who was an assistant last year when Regis advanced to the Class 2A state title game before losing 12-7 to Grant Union.
“I think that the kids who were a part of the championship run last year gained a lot of experience and knowledge on what it takes to make a run like that,” McGrath, 23, told Our Town. “They now know it takes a tremendous amount of preparation and dedication. Also, I think that losing that last game left a bad taste in their mouths, and they want revenge on any one who stands in their way.”
McGrath played high school football at Stayton and is finishing up his bachelor’s at Oregon State after transferring from the College of the Siskiyous.
Cross country: The Cascade girls team has qualified for the state meet for the seventh consecutive year. The Cougars finished second to Philomath in the Oregon West district meet Oct. 25 at the Paul Mariman course at Philomath High.
Senior AJ Spangler was the top finisher for Cascade, taking fourth in 22:06.22. Also competing for the Cougars were sophomore Lizzie Mack (8th, 22:58.32), sophomore Celina Ciampi-Hicks (13th, 23:37.10), freshman Kalulu N’Gaida (15th, 24:24.04), sophomore Emma Lee Moul (18th, 25:05.59) and senior Melyssa Leday (20th, 25:27.47).
“Our girls ran really well and handled the wet course as well as possible,” Cascade Coach Dan Petersen told Our Town. “They are tough kids, and I’m very happy for them.”
The Cascade boys finished fifth, led by junior Sam Garee, who finished 15th in 19:15.25.
Stayton, meanwhile, finished third in both the boys and girls races. Senior Kourtney Hernandez took sixth in the girls race in 22:41.84, and sophomore Jacob Classen was fourth in the boys in 18:00.96.
The state meet is Saturday at Lane Community College in Eugene.
In the District 3 meet Oct. 23 at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem, Regis took fifth in the girls competition and seventh in the boys. Top finishers for the Rams were senior Taylor Hill (11th, 18:01.0) and senior Erica Stuckart (18th, 23:31.6).
Soccer: Stayton is one win away from a possible fifth consecutive Oregon West boys soccer title. The Eagles are 11-1 overall and 8-1 in league heading into the Oct. 28 game after Our Town’s presstime at 6-3 Philomath. Stayton, which is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A by the OSAA, is tied with No. 4 North Marion for the league lead after splitting matches with the Huskies. North Marion finishes at Cascade (2-5-2).
John Enriquez has 20 goals for Stayton, including 18 in league play. Other top performers for the Eagles are defender Christian Baltazar, midfielder Antonio Ceballos, goalkeeper Christian Gonzales and midfielder Ivan Navarro, whom Coach Chris Shields called the “best overall player on the field for us.”
Looking ahead to the playoffs Shields told Our Town “we should be fine as long we are consistent, which has been our biggest enemy this season. I feel we have a ton of talent but are not always focused and tend to make the same mistake over and over again.”
Volleyball: Cascade rocketed through the Oregon West season with a perfect 10-0 record for the second consecutive season.
The Cougars finished four matches ahead of runner-up Philomath and will play a home match Saturday against a team to be determined, with the winner heading to the Class 4A state tournament Nov. 7-8 at Lane Community College.
Cascade advanced to the title match last season before falling to Crook County.
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