Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
The OSAA has finished assembling new districts for football, and the 2022 campaign will feature a huge change for Santiam High.
Faced with a number of schools challenged by declining football roster numbers the OSAA has restructured Class 2A into a group that will play football with 9 players on a side rather than the usual 11. The change was announced after an ad-hoc committee charged with working on football issues met six times.
The 14-member committee included Greg Grant, athletic director and football coach at perennial 2A power Heppner as well as former Santiam High coach Vic Lease, who is now at Class 4A Mazama of Klamath Falls.
Santiam will play 9-man this fall in a Tri-River Conference with a lot of familiar foes: Blanchet Catholic, Chemawa, Colton, Culver, Gervais, Regis and Willamina.
Santiam was 6-3 overall and 5-1 in league play last year in a district that also included Salem Academy and Kennedy. Academy and JFK will continue to play 11-man at the Class 3A level.
In all other team sports save football the Wolverines will play in a super-sized 12-school Tri-River that includes all of Santiam’s football foes as well as Salem Academy, Kennedy, Delphian and Western Christian.
Scio, meanwhile, will play in the Class 3A PacWest Conference for all sports. The Loggers will continue to play 11-man football in a league that includes Amity, Dayton, Jefferson, Kennedy, Newport, Salem Academy and Santiam Christian. Kennedy and Academy are moving up from Class 2A and Newport is playing down from Class 4A.
Last season the Loggers’ football district included Dayton, Amity, Philomath, Willamina and Taft. Willamina and Taft will play 2A this season, with Philomath returning to 4A.
Scio’s regular PacWest district foes include Amity, Dayton, Jefferson, Santiam Christian, Sheridan and Taft.
Softball: The fine season turned in by Scio softball continues to produce post-season honors. The Loggers, who advanced to the Class 3A semifinals before falling to eventual runner-up Yamhill-Carlton, placed two athletes on the Class 3A all-state team. Freshman pitcher Myleigh Cooper was a second-team pick, while freshman outfielder Taryn Ramsay made the third team.
