By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– The Cascade School District holds a special place for Renee Cantrell. Growing up in the Cascade School District, going to Cascade High School until her junior year when she transferred to West Salem when the school opened up in the early 2000’s and graduated from there.
So excitement was there when she first took over the program she once played for all those years ago back going into the Covid-shortened season in 2020/2021
But then. Tragedy struck.
Right around the time the season was about to begin, Cantrell was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer, which forced her to step away from coaching as she battled the disease. Something that she came out victorious over, and she eventually returned to the sidelines.
First at Silverton as Head Varsity Coach, coaching the Foes for two years before returning to Cascade this past Fall as Head JV Boys Soccer Coach and filled in the final few games of the season at the Varsity level before returning to the Girls Soccer Team going into this season.
“I’m so excited to get back at Cascade…to get back here after the Covid-year and going through my Breast Cancer and everything and having to leave the first time to go take care of myself,” said Cantrell. “We got some OPFC (Oregon Premier Football Club) club players, Keizer Club (Mid-Valley Soccer) Players and CFC (Capitol FC) club players
Cantrell takes over for Robert Leon, who helped build the program into a six-win squad the last two years while battling in a tough Oregon West Conference that features North Marion, Newport and Philomath who are always battling for playoff positioning on an annual basis. And Cantrell is hoping that the base that they’re returning, with Halle Hammer,Gracie Fisher, Alayna Salvo, Addison Eaton and Parker Randall to name a few of the returners, and a strong freshman class to help Cascade take that next step this year.
“We’ve been going since three weeks left in school. We’ve been going since June, going two-to-three days a week. I’ve watched video from them last year and watched them in person last year, and we’ve been working on all the weaknesses that I’ve seen on video. We’ve been fixing those weaknesses, so come real practices, try-outs, and everything. They’re ready to go,” said Cantrell. “We’re going to be able to contend with whoever we’re going to go up against this year. We’re going to be a strong team. They want it and they already want it, we’ve already talked about what we need to do and where we’ll need to go and who we’ll need to mark up against the other teams that are returning as well.”
