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Rapid Reaction: Cascade Stays Alive in OWC Title Race, Drops Philomath on the Road
It was nice to be back in Philomath, even without the band and the normally ruckus crowd. It was also nice to see the Wild West Conference hasn’t lost its way. Here are some takeaways, first for Cascade: There was one main question still facing Cascade coming into tonight: Can the Cougars win a slow […]
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Rapid Reaction: Wart-less Warriors Hold Off Western, Could Be 3A Front-Runners
Back in the day, Amity, Dayton, and Western Christian (Western Mennonite at that time) had a “tobacco road”-style triangular rivalry in the old West Valley League. Seeing these teams duke it out in a non-jamboree setting for the first time in a long time should be the headline, but there is much, much more to […]
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Rapid Reaction: Yamhill-Carlton Takes Next Step, Hands Dayton Biggest Loss to 3A Opponent Since at-least 2012
Driving into Carlton there’s a banner hanging on the side of a power pole which reads, “Small town, big achievements.” It struck me through the middle of the fourth quarter as the Tigers began to separate: this was no little achievement. This was program defining. Here’s some takeaways. First, YC: Since Heather Seely-Roberts took over […]
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Rapid Reaction: Portland Adventist Holds On to Beat Westside, Looks Like a Coos Bay Team
A true tale of two halves. Here are our takeaways: PAA can play. Short and simple. They’re intelligent, don’t take unnecessary risks, and handle pressure very well. The Cougars are senior heavy, and it shows. PAA owned the boards in the first half. Length wasn’t heavily favoring the Cougars, nor was size, but they attacked […]
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4A “Playoff” rankings bring immediate controversy: Where’s Hidden Valley? An Explanation:
A Thursday piece on OSAA Today from Jerry Ulmer detailed an effort at the 4A level to have something close to a “championship” game during culmination week for football. Essentially, the plan took elements from the college football playoff system, the old BCS system, and media polls, rolled them into one, and settled on how […]
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Rapid Reaction: Marist Beats Cascade, but Questions Loom.
First, we need to revise our final score tweet. Marist, or at least this version of Marist, did not look the part. Coming into the year, we said if Marist ran the table they would stand alone as the default champion of 4A football. However, this Marist team isn’t what we expected. The Marist we […]
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Philomath starts a true 2-0 for first time since 2013, Dayton 0-2 for second time in last three seasons. Rapid Reaction:
The headline from tonight isn’t representative of the story itself. Dayton made strides in the past week, but it wasn’t enough. Philomath had a lot of chatter around them after week one, but this de facto top 10 audition in all likelihood wasn’t enough to get them in. Clunky, a little disorganized, and a little […]
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4A Football Preview
2020 would’ve produced one of the best title chases in recent memory, but we’ll have to take what we can get. What do we get? We have a criss-crossing of the state by the apparent powers that *could* end up giving us a de facto champion. Here’s what we see: Sky-Em League/SD4 Why start with […]
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2A Football Preview
This preview is going to be different than the others for one simple reason: 2A football is an abject mess. The predictability of 2A is nearly zero outside a handful of teams. We’re going to talk about our top-ten exclusively simply because they’re the brightest stars in a sky of confusion and uncertainty. Honorable Mention […]
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3A Football Preview
A returning king, a rising prince, and a couple redemption stories: 3A has all the antagonists, conflicts, and storylines to fill a best-selling novel, but in just one month we’ll have to settle for a short story. Here’s what we see: SD1 North There are two questions in this league: What does Rainier look like […]
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Opinion: OSAA Exec. Board Meets, Asks for Patience, but Receives None.
Groundhog Day came for Oregon high school sports, and the verdict was nine more days of waiting. No, football isn’t dead, but it’s very much on life-support. The OSAA executive board today made it incredibly clear they’re waiting for the clock to officially hit triple zeros before calling the game over. This is admirable and […]
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Boys Basketball Preview: Northwest Corner
Cowapa League For the first time in the better part of a decade, the road to the 4A title no longer runs through the Cowapa. No longer is the preeminent team, or ‘teams’ as has been the case for the better part of the last decade, part of the Cowapa. The center of the 4A […]
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Boys Basketball Preview: North Valley
Tri-Valley Conference One senior-heavy team exits, one senior-heavy team enters. There’s some certainty of who will end up at the top of the TVC, but below that it could get tricky. Here’s what we have: Gladstone is going to be a trendy pick to win it all and for good reason. Jeremy DeVoe, Jude Ashpole, […]
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Boys Basketball Preview: South Valley
Oregon West Conference – Those that have been with us since the start would know last season we sort of got addicted to covering the OWC. This was not necessarily because of the talent or the coaching, though both are abundant in this conference, but because every single game held the weight of a play-in […]
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Girls Basketball Preview: South Valley
Oregon West Conference Philomath Warriors 2019-2020 Record: 24-1 2019-2020 League Finish: 1st 2019-2020 Final Rank: #1 Only a global pandemic kept the Philomath Warriors from winning the state title last season. Player of the Year Sage Kramer and Coach of the Year Ben Silva were 23-0 against 4A opponents last season and will return to […]
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Girls Basketball Preview: South Coast
Sky Em League Cottage Grove Lions 2019-2020 Record: 19-6 2019-2020 League Finish: 1st 2019-2020 Playoff Seed: #8 Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, Cottage Grove was getting ready to face off with likely champion Philomath in the state quarterfinals. Sporting a 17-5 record against 4A opponents, Cottage Grove had their best season since they won the […]
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Boys Basketball Preview: South Coast
Sky Em League – It’s no contest: the Sky Em is by far the most talented in all of 4A and is likely the deepest from top to bottom in all of 2A-4A. The depth of coaching, talent, and historical trend lines point to possibly four of the six teams finding themselves in the playoffs,. […]
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Girls Basketball Preview: Far South
Skyline Conference Hidden Valley Mustangs 2019-2020 Record: 23-2 2019-2020 League Finish: 1st 2019-2020 Final Rank: #3 Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Hidden Valley was destined to make some noise in Forest Grove. Going 23-2 with their only in-state loss to #1 Philomath, this Mustang side was hoping to get revenge against Philomath in the State […]
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Boys Basketball Preview: Far South
Skyline Conference The Skyline has potential to be the most competitive conference top to bottom in all of 4A. After Klamath Union, who is widely seen as the frontrunner for the league crown and a potential state championship contender, it gets very messy. There are arguments to be had for multiple candidates for that second […]
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Girls Basketball Preview: Far East
Blue Mountain Conference – Union Bobcats 2019-2020 Record: 25-5 2019-2020 League Finish: 1st 2019-2020 Playoff Seed: #2 Coming off of their first 25 win season since 2013-2014, Union will again contend for a state title. Returning for the Bobcats is their catalyst and First Team All-State guard, Callie Glenn. In 2019-2020, the sophomore averaged 16.3 […]