By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SILVERTON, Ore.– The McKay Boys Soccer team will be a relatively young team this season.
From last year’s 5A State Quarterfinal squad, they graduated four starters and only have four starters from that squad returning. It’ll be almost a retooling season for sure for the Scots, but the McKay Standard of being the aggressor is still there. It was evident in their two scrimmages Thursday at Silverton.
Outside of those four starters, they’ll have four freshmen starting and looking to fill those voids left by those who graduated last season. All the while, they’re preparing for their first season back up in 6A since the 2021-2022 season.
But for McKay Head Coach Juan Llamas, he’s been waiting for this moment. The last two seasons they’ve played several 6A teams, the Jesuit’s, the Grant’s, the Franklin’s. Competing hard and preparing themselves not just for their hard Mid-Willamette Conference at the time, but also preparing them for those tough teams when the time comes for them to move back up to 6A.
“I’ve always been ready to come back to 6A, I’ve always missed playing the Salem schools. So I’m super excited to be able to come back up,” said Llamas. “We don’t shy away from anybody. I knew that this year was going to be a rebuilding year, we lost a good amount of seniors last year, but I’m super happy with the freshmen and sophomores that are really stepping it up.”
Llamas will be looking towards the seniors like Juan Abundis, Isael Silva and Luis Aguilar Gaspar to help lead the team entering this new chapter of McKay Soccer.
“They’re leaders, I think they’ll be a good combination with the rest of the players,” said Llamas.
With them at the jamboree is crosstown and Central Valley Conference rival North Salem. The Vikings graduated 13 seniors from last year’s 6A State Playoff team and are in a similar boat as the Scots in being a younger team at the start of the season.
North Salem defeated Silverton 2-0 and tied with Ridgeview 0-0 at the jamboree, bridging what they built over the Summer months into the Regular Season that’s ahead of them.
Moises Mendoza Medina spoke towards the senior group he has this year that he’s expecting to step up as leaders. Those include Cruz Romero returning in goal, Edgar Mendoza returning in the midfield and will be a crucial leader for North Salem and Oliver Chavez as those Senior leadership voices. Mendoza Medina also pointed towards sophomore Jaime Galindo, who scored against the Foxes and junior Luis Ramirez as some other kids to keep an eye out for coming out of the jamboree.
The jamboree served as a good stepping stone for those young players though. Experience is a valuable thing to have and get and that’s what the team got as they’ll prepare for their first game of the season in the coming days.
“Some of the younger guys, or first year Varsity guys haven’t experienced what it is to play at a full stadium or to play a McKay, to play a McNary or to play a South Salem, to play Lakeridge. And that just comes with experience. No matter how good you are, once you are in that environment, things change,” said Mendoza Medina. “So just making sure they control their nerves and play calm and collected. When this group is calm and collected, they’re going to do some damage.”
Silverton entered the jamboree kind of banged up with some early season bumps and bruises, but it could be a blessing in disguise for the Foxes as they were able to see their depth in action against North Salem and McKay during their two scrimmages on Thursday.
“Everyone of our guys this year can step in and I’ll be fully confident in. We don’t really have this drop off between Starters and the end of the bench. I think everyone has some talent, so that’s exciting,” said Silverton Head Coach Marty Limbird. “I’m pretty excited about this group if they can keep their mindset in the right place as in moving forward and working together and working hard, then we can do some damage this year. We got some weapons.”
Silverton opens the season September 1 at McMinnville. North Salem opens the season September 1 at home against Grants Pass and McKay will open the season on the road at Benson on September 3.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
