Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
The Santiam High volleyball squad finished one of the best seasons in school history with an appearance at the Class 2A state tournament in Redmond.
The Wolverines advanced to state via a 3-1 hard-fought home win vs. Clatskanie on Oct. 28. The victory lifted No. 8 Santiam into the Nov. 3 quarterfinals against top-seed Western Christian.
The Wolverines fell 25-14, 25-22 and 22-18 and then dropped a Nov. 4 elimination game against Grant Union of John Day. Western Christian wound up finishing third in the tourney, with Grant Union fourth.
Santiam closed the season with a 17-10 record after advancing to the state tournament‘s final site for the first time since 2002.
Santiam, which finished tied for third in the Tri-River Conference with Blanchet at 9-6, placed four players on the all-conference team. Senior Makayla Dodge was a first-team pick, sophomore Maizy Downey was placed on the second team, junior Averie Peterson was a third-teamer and senior Kasey Solus received honorable mention.
FOOTBALL: Scio fell to host Lakeview 54-0 in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs on Nov. 4. The 12th-seeded Loggers finished their season 7-3. The No. 5 Honkers, 9-1 advance to a quarterfinal matchup this weekend with No. 13 South Umpqua, 7-3.
Scio, which finished third in the PacWest Conference with a 5-2 record, earned 14 slots on the conference all-star teams as selected by league coaches.
Kyle Ennis led the way for the Loggers, earning first-team mentions on the offensive and defensive lines as well as sharing lineman of the year honors with Camilo Medina of league champion Dayton.
Scio’s Gabe Nikitchuk earned a first-team slot at linebacker.
On the second team were QB Bryan Parazoo, RB and linebacker Cody Roofener, Tyson Weitman (offensive line and defensive line), offensive lineman Devin Bergby and defensive back Brandon Vath. Earning honorable mention were Parker Ziebert (OL), Bergby (DL), Jackson Braa (DL) and Parazoo at linebacker.
WINTER: Official practices for the winter high school sports season begin Monday, Nov. 13. The first contest date for basketball, swimming and wrestling is Nov. 19.
