By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
JUNCTION CITY, Ore.– Newport put the fire to the feet of Stayton Saturday afternoon to make the Eagles finish the job against them in the Junction City Les Schwab December Classic Championship Game.
Stayton led 44-30 early in the fourth quarter, seemly as if they were in control of the game. That’s was, until the Cubs put one last press on them to see if they can get back into the game.
That press worked. It created turnovers and got the stops they needed to slowly get back into the game.
By the 2:11 mark of the game, Stayton led 48-42 and momentum was swinging in favor of Newport.
“There’s a lot of pressure and a lot going, sometimes you need a timeout to go ‘hey take a deep breath, we’re going to be ok. Execute and execute what we do and what we practice and the guys did the rest, they did a great job. ” Eagles Head Coach Kevin Stanley said.
From the start, Stanley and his coaching staff has Stayton buying in to what their selling. The “ACE” mindset. Attitude, Communication and Effort. And the squad has bought into it as they entered Saturday’s game 3-0 on the year.
“They’ve been truly about that. If we continue to buy into that, good things are going to happen for the rest of the year,” Stanley said.
Stayton buckled back down up six, and in the final minute of the game, added some extra cushion to their lead as they polished off the 52-45 victory to remained undefeated at 4-0 while Newport falls to 3-1 on the year.
“We had to stay composed and that’s what we did and we came out with a ‘W’,” said Tanner Starbuck. “We got great coaches with acoach Stanley leading the way, he’s a great coach and he leads everyday with great energy and it’s a great building block for us.”
Ean Dillingham led the Eagles with 19 points. Ruben Reyes and Starbuck each scored eight points in the victory. Ethan Bruns led the Cubs with 16 points. Aaidyn Bokuro and Rory Barber each scored ten for Newport.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
