By James Day
The Regis High football team is on the verge of its first state championship since Ronald Reagan was president. The Rams scored a 21-14 win Nov. 23 against Heppner and played Grant Union on Nov. 30, after Our Town’s presstime, for the state Class 2A title.
Regis’ last trip to the state finals came in 2003. The last state championship was in 1987, when the Rams took the Class A title with a 14-13 win against Salem Academy at Civic Stadium (now Jeld-Wen Field).
“It wasn’t pretty, but we came out on top because our guys never gave up on either side of the ball,” Regis coach Tom Beckett told Our Town after the Heppner game. Beckett took over after two games last season and he has the Rams 12-1 heading into the finals.
Regis trailed 14-7 in the fourth quarter but rallied for two touchdowns in the final five minutes. First Jeremiah Grieser scored on a 5-yard run to make it 14-13. Then, Regis recovered an onside kick and scored again with 2:28 left on a fourth-down 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Victor Rodriguez to Matt Wiltsey. The Rams sealed it moments later on an interception by Colby Moll.
“At the start of the season I knew we had the right players,” said Beckett, who said he was confident vs. Heppner because of “the way the seniors lead the team in practices and in games. Setting the example of how to lead and act when a state championship is what you’ve wanted all your life.”
Regis had advanced to the semifinals with a 44-19 home win Nov. 15 against Oakland in which Grieser rushed for 323 yards and three touchdowns of 69 yards or more.
Cascade, meanwhile, finished its season 7-4 after a 35-7 loss Nov. 8 to North Bend in the Class 4A state playoffs. Earlier, the Cougars had avenged their triple-overtime 2012 semifinals loss to Baker with a 37-14 win against the host Bulldogs.
Volleyball: Cascade turned in a sterling season, finishing with a 24-2 record after falling 25-15, 25-17 and 25-12 to Crook County in the Class 4A championship match Nov. 9 at Lane Community College in Eugene. Hailey Nelson had 11 kills and five digs, and Maria Bartlett had 21 assists and five digs in the title match for the Oregon West Conference champion Cougars, who had beaten Philomath and Sisters by 3-0 scores to advance to the finals. The second-place finish is the best in school history. The Cougars took third in 2009.
Regis, meanwhile, came within one match of advancing to the Class 2A tournament, falling to eventual runner-up Reedsport in the round of 16.
Soccer: The Stayton boys team won its fourth consecutive Oregon West title, but the Eagles fell to league rival Philomath 1-0 in the Class 4A quarterfinals. Stayton finished 12-3-1 overall. The Cascade girls, meanwhile, defeated Cottage Grove 3-1 in a 4A play-in game before falling 7-1 to Scappoose in the first round.
Cross country: Cascade finished eighth as a team in the Class 4A state championships Nov. 2 at Lane Community College. Kristen Lachapelle led the Cougars by finishing 28th in 20:31. Cascade’s John Roth, meanwhile, finished 16th in the boys race in 16:56.
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