A New Dawn in Beaverton

I packed my SB-800 strobes and remote Pocket Wizards to shoot a game at Beaverton High School last week. When I walked into the Beaverton gym, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Beaverton opened its doors to students in 1902. It is the oldest school in the Beaverton School District...the oldest in the Metro League. It has been through several remodels over the years; the facilities are a mixture of historic and modern. Despite its age, the gym did not lay claim to having the worst lighting in the district...ironically, the District's newest school, Southridge, holds that honor. Beaverton has a low ceiling, and I have had some luck bouncing my strobes off the ceiling to add just enough light to capture the action, but not so much as to give the photos a heavy flash look. That was to be the plan de jour. However, when I walked into the gym with its newly installed lighting, I first instinctively reached for my sunglasses, then I put aside my strobes and enjoyed shooting under the best lighting in the Metro League.

Metro League rival, Jesuit High School, also installed new lighting this year, greatly improving its dungeon-like gym lighting. So come on Southridge, shine some light on that back-to-back state championship girls basketball team.

Pre-season Games Don't Count - Or Do They?

Pre-season is all about preparation. It's about getting your game together. It's an opportunity to experiment before "it counts." The Battle Ground, Washington Tigers ventured across the Columbia River to challenge the Southridge Skyhawks of Beaverton, Oregon in a pre-season match-up in early January only to loose 63-52. It's now week two for the 4A Greater St. Helens League leader as Battle Ground is off to a 4-0 start. Overall however, the Tigers are 9-5. Taking some risks by scheduling a few non-league teams from Oregon and Washington, Battle Ground took their lumps. Currently the Tigers sit on top of the league table. Non-league games don't count in the quest for a state title when all the wins and losses are totaled up, yet experience adds up in a big way. Daring to take risks and challenging tough teams is what does count in the long run. Time will tell to see if Battle Ground's willingness to take on strong competition in pre-season will help them come playoff time.

The Davids Pin the Goliaths

It wasn't supposed to have been a real close match. After all, number seven ranked Westview was a pre-season pick to battle powerhouse Southridge for the top of the Metro League table. Beaverton was beginning a "rebuilding" year. Beaver coach Tony Salts was quoted in the Beaverton Valley Times 2007 wrestling preview stating, "We're looking forward to a pretty good season."

The Beavers' hope for a pretty good season got off to a pretty good start by upsetting Westview 38-34 in a contest that came down to the final match where Beaverton's 285 pound anchor Richie Riggs pinned Westview's Eric Perry. The match started off in Westview's favor as they quickly jumped out to a 28-0 lead. But the Beaverton middle weights scrapped their way back into the match and the heavy weights closed the deal. As the referee's hand slammed to the mat signifying Riggs' pin, the Beavers erupted in celebration. Unfortunately, coach Salts was not able to be at the match to share his team's joy as he had to miss his first match in 15 years to be with his seriously ill daughter. His team wished he could have been with them to celebrate, but they understood what was most important that day.

Skyview Clips Hawks' Wings

How do you beat a team that smothers you in defense? You smother them right back!

Skyview High School girls basketball team of Vancouver, Washington shocked second-ranked Southridge High School of Beaverton, Oregon by defeating the Skyhawks on their own court 55-52 in OT during a non-conference game for both schools. Southridge has been known for their tumultuous full-court pressure defense that has melted opponents and has been a critical aspect to winning their recent two straight OSAA State Championship titles. When Skyview came out with a similar pressure defense, it neutralized the Skyhawk offense enough for Skyview to stay within a few points of the Hawks the entire game. A last second layup at the buzzer by Skyview's Catherine Cloakey after a missed desperation shot by Dayle Powell sent the contest into overtime, where Skyview capitalized on a couple breaks and got a five point lead nearing the end of OT. Southridge was forced to foul in an attempt to try and catch up, but solid freethrow shooting allowed Skyview to claim the upset. This was a game where defense outshined the offense and was the key to bringing one of Oregon's top-ranked teams down for a rough landing.

The 2006 Schwab

The eleventh annual running of the Les Schwab Invitational High School Basketball Tournament served up a king's buffet of basketball talent and excitement to packed crowds in the Liberty High School gym in Hillsboro, Oregon during the final week of December. The tournament field included some of the top talent in the nation as Oregon has been blessed with two of the best players in the nation with Kyle Singler of South Medford and Kevin Love of Lake Oswego who were billed as top draws for the tournament. With visiting teams from Oak Hill out of Virginia, Wheeler High from Georgia and Mountain View of Arizona joining the field of 16 teams, the Schwab was a showcase of for some of high school basketball's elite.

Oak Hill won their fourth Les Schwab title as they defeted South Medford 99-90 in a nationally televised game on ESPN-U. The game featured amazing performances from Oak Hills' Brandon Jennings and Nolan Smith and South Medford's Kyle Singler and Michael Harthun. Oak Hill took control of the game early, but South Medford clawed it's way back in the fourth quarter to make a run at the nation's number one ranked team, only to succumb after failing to close the gap tighter than five points. One other feature game included a match-up between Singler and Love when South Medford staked it's claim to a number one ranking in Oregon by defeating Lake Oswego 71-63 before a sold-out crowd in the semi-finals.

The Schwab is a special gift to basketball aficionados in Oregon. Each year fans have been treated to great play, exciting games and a chance to see rising stars play in the prime of their youth.

Two Thrillers and One Definitive Statement

The 2006 OSAA Football Championships held at Autzen Stadium on the campus of the University of Oregon during the second weekend of December included the top three divisions of the new six-division format for high school athletics in Oregon. While the league re-alignment continues to be a topic stirring debates, there was no arguing that it helped produce some great competition in the new 4A and 5A levels. Each of the 4A and 5A championship games went into overtime and concluded in thrilling fashion.

Siuslaw and Sisters settled their 4A championship game in a single overtime period as Siuslaw was able to score on a Kody Thrall touchdown and successfully stopped the league's leading rusher, Sister's Cory McCaffrey, on a fourth down play to win the school's first title in 25 years by a score of 21-14. Corvallis and West Albany took three overtime periods to settle their score, as Corvallis kicker Wade Penner made good on a second chance to win the game with a 29 yard field goal after missing a 37 yard attempt in the first overtime period, giving the Spartans a 17-14 edge over their local rival.

At the 6A level, the Jesuit Crusaders blew out league rival Southridge 56-7 to start a debate as to whether this year's team is Oregon's best high school football team of all time. As fans and journalists compare the '06 Crusaders to great Oregon teams of the past, all that interested coach Ken Potter and his team was proving to themselves that they had what it took to play "the perfect game." Meeting with his team in the endzone during their traditional post-game chat, coach Potter thanked his team for their dedication and effort throughout the season, for he believed that their quest for the Holy Grail was complete...He stated that the Crusaders had played that perfect game they were seaking.








More OSAA Football Championship photos.

Santa Claus is Coming...To Tigard

With it being three weeks before St. Nicholas makes his pilgrimage across the world to deliver joy and hope to young and old, his shiny red sleigh is at the North Pole Sleigh Shop getting tuned up and ready for the big event. So when Santa needed transportation to attend the 7th Annual Tigard Christmas Tree Lighting in Liberty Park, the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue District stepped up and substituted Santa's red sleigh with a shiny red firetruck.

In between holiday music sung by the Mitch Charter School Choir, Santa and Mrs. Claus greeted the enthusiastic crowd and led the countdown for the tree lighting. As the count hit three...two...one...zero, the star inexplainably failed to light. Being the resourceful person he is, Santa quickly jumped into the bucket of the Tualatin Valley firetruck's extension ladder. The firefighters raised him towards the Christmas Star where Santa applied some Christmas magic to get the star lit to the joy of the onlookers.

After the ceremony, Santa and Mrs. Claus were hosts to children and their parents, providing cookies, hot chocolate and lemonade as they listened to Christmas wishes at the Tigard Fitness Center. It was a fun event to cover for the Tigard-Tualatin Times.

OSAA 1A Eight-man Football Semi-Final

After weeks of pouring down rain in Oregon, the skies cleared last weekend to present a beautiful Saturday afternoon for the OSAA 1A Eight-man Football Semi-Finals held at McCulloch Stadium on the campus of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. But unfortunately, the number four ranked team from Dufur, Oregon rained on the parade of the second-ranked, unbeaten team from St. Paul. Dufur literally ran away with the game in the second half, scoring 32 unanswered points to top the Buckaroos 52-20 and earning the right to play in the title game against Perrydale the following weekend at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Crusader Crunch

Rumor has it, there are still some Lincoln Cardinal players wandering around Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon dazed, confused and wondering what happened to them after the Jesuit Crusaders thumped them in the final minutes to steal the 2005 OSAA 4A State Championship. Lincoln has a lot of company, as Jesuit has picked up where they left off with the Cardinals and rolled through the 2006 season manhandling every team that has stepped on the field with them. The undefeated Crusaders have put numbers on the scoreboard that the school's basketball team would envy by scoring over 60 points in three of their games and over 50 points in three other. Their margin of victory for the season has averaged over 38 points. Challengers walk off the playing field at the end of the game asking that same question..."What hit us?"

Oregon 5A and 6A Soccer Championships

If I'm not playing soccer, I'm likely shooting soccer; I have thousands of soccer images on file. Knowing the game, makes it more fun to shoot the game. It doesn't have to be a "big game," I enjoy shooting any soccer game, but the "big games" can bring out more passion and emotion...and nothing brings that out like high school state championships.

At the 6A level, Jesuit's boys team found itself in a very familiar setting as they made their 12th final appearance against McMinnville, a team who had never made it to a championship final. It was the classic tale of David toppling Goliath as the quick, skillful and industrious Grizzlies shocked Jesuit by winning 2-1 in an overtime penalty shootout. The match was extremely fast paced and physical which, along with the tensions of a shootout, built up to an explosion of joy for McMinnville when that last PK settled in the back of the net. For the 6A girls, Tualatin won its second championship in as many years as it dominated a pesky Oregon City side, winning 3-0 in a match that turned out to be a bit of a yawner.

For me, the match of the day was the 5A boys final pitting an underdog side from Hillsboro High against a heavily favored Bend team. Early in the match Hillsboro surprisingly jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but only to go down to 10 men two minutes later when one of its players was ejected for a dangerous tackle. Forced to play over three-quarters of the match a man down, Hillsboro not only beat the odds, they beat Bend by an amazing margin of 5-2. The passion and emotion that Hillsboro used to overcome a favored side while being a man short burst out in an ardent post-game celebration with its faithful fans.