Cascade High is sitting on top of the Class 4A boys basketball world. The No. 2 Cougars raced through the playoffs without letting a foe get within 10 points and captured the title March 12 with a 42-30 win against top-ranked Junction City in Coos Bay.
It was the first boys hoops title for the program since the 1974 team coached by Wayne Gilman downed Rainier 56-50 in the AA final at McArthur Court in Eugene.
“We knew that if we played how we were capable of playing, we would be pretty tough to stop,” coach Calvin Molan told Our Town. “We had talked all year about peaking at the end of the season, and I think our guys were playing great basketball by the time the quarterfinal match-up versus Stayton came around.”
Ah, Stayton. Yes, a semifinal spot in the state tournament was going to go to the winner of a game between the two long-time rivals. Cascade claimed both regular season matchups but both were hard-fought pulse-pounders, with the Cougars winning 39-35 and 73-65 in two games with obvious stylistic differences.
The third time was not as close, with Cascade taking a 66-41 victory that Molan thought was critical for what followed.
“It is very tough to beat a good team three times in a row,” Molan said. “Our guys were incredibly locked-in during the lead up to that Stayton game, and we felt like that win set the tone for the rest of the tournament.”
Kellen Sande scored 20 points, Samuel Horne added 18 and was 4 for 4 on 3-pointers. Defensively the Cougars shut down Oregon West Conference player of the year Jacob Axmaker (five points on 2 of 12 shooting).
In the semifinals the Cougars took out No. 11 Banks, 57-46, reversing the outcome of last year’s semifinals. Sande had 22 points and five assists, while Ty Best finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds while hitting ten of 15 shots from the floor.
Cascade cranked up the defense even higher in the title game, holding No. 1 Junction City to just 30 points and a big fat zero in the 2nd quarter.
“Our defense really stepped up and made it tough on them to play how they wanted, and I think that’s what won us the game,” Molan said. “JC had 18 turnovers, which is pretty uncharacteristic of them this season, and I think a lot of that was just due to the defensive effort our guys gave for the entire game.”
The Cougars, who led the tournament in scoring defense, allowing just 39 points per game, collected 13 steals against Junction City, led by Spencer Horne (4) and Isaac Schnepp (3).
Cascade’s Sande (52 points) and Best (38) were named first-team all-tournament. Spencer Horne led the tournament with eight steals. Dominic Ball hit 11 of 16 shots and tied for the lead in blocks with four. Ball’s father, Steve, coached the Cougars to a runner-up finish in the 2013 4A tournament in Corvallis.
Stayton, meanwhile, rallied from the quarterfinal loss to Cascade by taking down No. 3 Marshfield, 67-55, in an elimination game before falling to Oregon West rival Philomath, 49-33, in the game for 4th place. Garrett Callsen (47 points and a tournament-high 29 rebounds) and Axmaker (37 points and 7 3-pointers) were named second-team all-tournament.
In earlier all-OWC voting, Sande, Best and Ball joined Axmaker on the first team, with Stayton’s Callsen and Gabe Wigginton on the second team. Spencer Horne, Samuel Horne and Schnepp of the Cougars received honorable mention.
In the 4A girls tournament No. 2 Cascade lost both of its games, falling 69-60 in the quarterfinals and then bowing out of the tournament with a 50-39 elimination game loss to Baker. Ariel Tobiasson of the Cougars scored 35 points in the two games and was named second team all-tournament. The Stayton girls, meanwhile, finished one game short of state, losing at Mazama 57-33 in the round of 16.
In earlier all-OWC voting Cascade’s Tobiasson and Kenna Coleman were named to the first team, along with
Miley Mitchell of Stayton. Stayton’s Tori Nyquist and Karlee Tyler were named to the second team, while Kaylee Tyler of the Eagles and Meah Carley and Abby Jeppsen of Cascade received honorable mention.
The Regis boys, meanwhile, took 4th in the Class 2A tournament in Pendleton in an event in which the Rams also took home the sportsmanship award.
Regis, under Central Valley Conference coach of the year Jason Koehnke, fell to eventual runner-up Salem Academy 59-49 in the quarterfinals but rallied to down Heppner 67-49 in the elimination game and Bonanza 56-49 in the game for 4th place.
Regis freshman guard Isaiah Koehnke led the tournament in scoring with 55 points and hit 11 of his 23 3-pointers for the Rams, the No. 6 seed. Koehnke was named to the all-tournament first team. Nick Woods added 41 points and Grant Goesch had 30 rebounds and 9 assists.
In earlier all-CVC voting Koehnke was a unanimous first-team pick, with Goesch and Woods on the second team and Tanner Manning landing a spot on the all-defensive squad.
The Regis girls squad, which finished 13-12 overall and 8-6 in the CVC, placed Whitley Stepp and Ava Silbernagel on the second team, with Stepp also being placed on the all-defensive team.
Dance/Drill: The Stayton Highlights continue to bring home the hardware. The Eagles’ dance and drill squad took 2nd in Class 4A at the OSAA championships in Oregon City.
The Highlights scored 17.22 points, trailing only Valley Catholic, which totaled 18.03 to take the title. Valley Catholic was the lone squad among the 54 teams to break the 18-point mark.
These were the first dance/drill championships since 2019. COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 competitions.
Stayton now has placed 1st or 2nd for 20 consecutive years in which trophies have been awarded, with top honors going to the Highlights in 14 of those years. This also was the first season for Stayton under new coach Roni Heagy, who took over for legendary coach Robin Meier, who was at the helm for all 14 of those titles. Heagy competed for the Highlights from 2016-19, taking home a first and three seconds.
In the past seven years either the Highlights or Valley Catholic has won the class, with V.C. leading 4-3 during that stretch.
Correction: In my March 1 story on the record-setting haul of the annual Stayton Boosters Club auction one winner was left out. Randy Forrette, the auction chair and longtime booster, also received one of the Eagle Excellence awards at the Feb. 12 event at The Oregon Garden. Sources tell me that Forrette left his name off the list of honorees that he forwarded to Our Town. The sources also tell me that more than $635,000 has been raised at auctions since Forrette has come on board and that he has been a key figure in the huge upgrades of high school athletic facilities. Good show, Randy!
Follow me on Twitter.com @jameshday.
