Former Philomath High standout Kaden Muir put on a football uniform for the final time last weekend in Baker City at the 72nd annual Oregon Shrine East-West All-Star Football Game and represented his school well with an interception and fumble recovery to help the West squad to a 26-21 victory.
“It’s a blessing being able to play one last time before being done,” Muir said. “It was a great feeling to have that opportunity, especially with that group of guys. It was fun.”
The Shrine Game, which is played at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium, features athletes that played for 1A through 5A schools. Teammates on the West squad included Cascade’s Teagen Allen and Karsten Sande, Marist Catholic’s Dennis Jackson Jr. and James Harvey, and Junction City’s Tylen Franks.
“I knew some of them that were in our league at least but I didn’t really get to know them until I started hanging out with them,” Muir said about the conference connection.
As for the pair from Cascade, one of Philomath’s biggest rivals, Muir said, “It wasn’t too bad once they’re on your own team. It was a little different playing with them.”
Muir and Franks were a force at linebacker.
Trailing 7-6 late in the first quarter, Muir came up with an interception at the 36-yard line on a tipped ball off the East squad’s receiver. He returned it 30 yards down to the 6.
“Just a present right there for me,” Muir said. “I got down to around the 5-yard line and couldn’t get through a couple of people.”
Two plays later, the West scored on an 8-yard pass from Kade Long to Brayden Bigsby — both former Banks teammates — for a 12-7 lead. The West never trailed the rest of the night.
Muir also had a fumble recovery with 10:31 remaining in the fourth quarter. On the play, Junction City’s Franks forced the fumble with a hit on the running back and Muir was in position to cover it up. The turnover gave the West a short field at the 33-yard line and the team got down to the 12-yard line at one point but the drive sputtered and the East ended up taking over possession on downs.
The Shrine Game dates back to 1952 and since its inception has raised over $5 million in support of the Shriners Children’s Portland.
Game day activities — breakfast, parade, lunch and auction — reportedly drew fewer attendees this year because of smoky conditions from nearby wildfires and accompanying road closures but the organization was still able to raise thousands of dollars.
During halftime of the game, a steer was auctioned off for $20,250. A couple of footballs signed by the two teams were also auctioned off.
“We got there the Sunday before and then we practiced — we had two-a-days most of the week,” Muir said. “We stayed up at EOU (Eastern Oregon University) in the dorms there.”
The game is played each summer about 10 months after the players suit up for the final time with their respective teams.
“Almost no one was in shape,” Muir said. “But we didn’t do a lot of running … it was a lot of just getting to know the plays and getting to know your teammates.”
The game can be watched online at the organization’s Facebook page.
Local youth baseball team 4th at state
Philomath Hull-Oakes Lumber placed fourth in the Junior Baseball Organization’s Minor American state tournament July 19-21 at Newport.
“I was very proud of where these boys ended up and the growth from where they began,” Farrimond said. “They bought into the system I implemented and worked really hard to improve their game. They also played very well together as a team.”
Philomath opened the double-elimination tournament with a 19-13 win over Sherwood to advance to the quarterfinals. There, the squad dropped a 15-11 game to Nelson, a team out of Happy Valley. Philomath regrouped to defeat Oregon City, 19-9, before bowing out of the tournament with a 9-7 loss to South Albany.
Newport went on to win the tournament with Nelson finishing second and South Albany third. Philomath was presented with the tournament’s team sportsmanship award.
“There was lots of positive talk amongst each other in the dugout where they were encouraging each other,” Farrimond said. “I think this is a big reason why we earned the team sportsmanship trophy from the state tournament.”
Players included Noah Nystrom, Beau Boyer, Madden Clendenin, Ryan Hendrix, Parker Gipson, Kayson Crowe, Aidan Davis, Landon Davis, Hudson Hall, Payton Rowland, Brody Farrimond, Jase Oleman and Jaxon Krantz. The team, organized through the Philomath Youth Activities Club, was coached by Jason Farrimond, Nathan Nysrom, Branden Hall and Ed Davis.
Hull-Oakes Lumber finished 7-5 for fourth place this season in league play but had a strong showing in the district tournament. There, the squad opened with a loss to Newport and then won back-to-back elimination games over West Albany, 13-6, and South Albany, 13-12. The team lost to Newport in the district finale but had already qualified for state as one of the top two teams.
The team also participated in tournaments at West Albany and Sherwood and scrimmaged against a Corvallis all-star team.
“This team played a total of 27 games which to me is a good summer for 9-10 year-olds,” Farrimond said. “I had a player development approach to this team. I didn’t know what to expect because I have very minimal experience with this age group.”
Farrimond said he’s been coaching high school-level baseball in some capacity for the past 25 years so the age group served as a wake-up call.
“Each player played multiple positions in both the infield and outfield,” he said. “I think that all 13 players had an opportunity to pitch at some point throughout the season.”
Other JBO state champions this year included Central Linn (Minor National), Oregon City (Minor Federal), Central Linn (Junior National), Newberg (Junior American), McMinnville (Junior Federal), Mount Angel (Senior National), Gladstone (Senior American) and Estacada (Senior Federal).
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
