And then there were five. As in just five teams in the Oregon West Conference for football.
The Oregon School Activities Association has been rejiggering football leagues at the Class 6A and 5A level in recent years.
Now, the group is tweaking the lower classifications.
Stayton and Cascade will be grouped with Newport, Sweet Home and Woodburn in football this fall, should games move forward. Woodburn is an addition, although the Bulldogs already competed in the Class 4A OWC for other sports. Out are Philomath and Sisters. For football.
The good news is that local teams will get a chance to play more nonleague games and be exposed to more teams. The bad news is that only a four-game league season turns every district contest into a pressure-cooker.
It should be noted that in the past eight seasons a total of 11 schools have been in the OWC for football. In addition to the teams noted above, North Marion, Yamhill-Carlton, Central and Taft also have participated.
During hoops season the OWC expands to seven teams, with Philomath and Sisters rejoining.
Regis, meanwhile, will get reacquainted with some of its old Tri-River Conference opponents in a Class 2A district with Kennedy, Santiam, Culver, Gervais, Jefferson and Toledo. Last year the Rams were in a league with Monroe, Oakland, Creswell, Jefferson and Central Linn.
Just like in 4A the dance partners change away from football as Regis moves back to the Central Valley. In basketball, that means a grouping with Central Linn, East Linn Christian, Jefferson, Lowell, Monroe, Oakland and Oakridge.
Yes, it’s confusing.
Running: A couple of local members of the Stayton Road Runners have passed the test. As part of their training for a half-marathon Casey Dark and Brandon Stoyles completed all 25 club courses in the Stayton-Sublimity area.
Dark and Stoyles are the first to meet the challenge, said club official Mike Bauer.
Most of the routes, Bauer said, are from road runs the club is involved with throughout the year in the Stayton area or from walking/running routes used by the Stayton Road Runners.
Here is a link that will get you to maps of all 25 courses: www.wvi.com/~dnielson/Pages/RunTheRoutes.htm.
Basketball: A late congratulation to KJ Nyquist of Stayton for being named second team all-state for Class 4A. I’ll forever remember the 37 points she hung on Cascade in January. Good show!
Speaking of hoops the Stayton boys earned an “elite eight” plaque for the trophy case. The OSAA decided to give out trophies to those teams participating in tournaments that could not be completed.
The Eagles, under first-year coach Aaron Muhic, already had won two playoff games and were getting set to challenge No. 4 Henley of Klamath Falls in the state quarterfinals when the OSAA halted the tournament.
Honors: Stayton finished 12th in Class 4A in the OSAA Cup, the all-sports competition that includes athletics, academics and sportsmanship. Topping the list in sports was the boys soccer team, which advanced to the state title game before falling 1-0 to Oregon West rival Woodburn.
Academically, the football team finished tied for fourth in Class 4A with Mazama of Klamath Falls with a cumulative 3.18 grade-point average.
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