Bits and Pieces-January tenth
Teagan Quitoriano’s first NFL season is over, Prep basketball, College football wrap up
Teagan finishes season one in the NFL
It was a year of playing and learning in the National Football League for one of Salem’s native sons. Former Sprague High School and Oregon State tight end Teagan Quitoriano finished his season with the Houston Texans at Indianapolis Sunday.
The final game was Quitoriano’s most productive of the year. He caught three passes for 83 yards, including a 52-yard reception, in Houston’s 32-31 comeback win over the Colts. BONUS: see NFL video of one of his catches vs. Colts here
On the season, Teagan played in nine games, starting six of them for the Texans. He had seven total receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
Houston finished the year with a record of 3-13-1, second worst in the NFL. Team management fired head coach Lovie Smith. The Texans will have the #2 overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.
Prep basketball-Central Valley Conference
BOYS
West Salem 70, South Salem 58
Host South Salem raced out to an 11-2 lead early, but West Salem rallied to cut the margin to 14-12 at the end of one, then slowly built a 22-point lead in the second half over the young Saxons—before coasting in for their second victory of the CVC season.
Jackson Leach scored 23 points, and Tommy Slack pumped-in 22 to pace the Titans (2-0, 7-6) to the road win. Freshman Teagan Scott tallied 27 points for South Salem (0-1, 3-10)
South visits Sprague on Thursday, while West Salem has a conference bye.
Sprague 69, North Salem 41
Liam Spencer scored 20 points, Braxton Long had 11, and Jake Horn added seven for the visiting Olympians, who evened their conference record to 1-1 with a decisive 69-41 victory at North Salem.
“Credit to Sprague, they were ready to compete,” said North coach Bryan Huber, “we were not.”
Maverick Huynh and Omar Ramirez each had seven points for the Vikings in a losing effort, while Antonio Alvarez chipped in with six points.
The Olys (7-7 overall) led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter, and 35-22 at half time. North Salem lost its second straight conference game to fall to 0-2 and 8-6 on the season. Sprague evened its season mark to 7-7 with the victory.
Oregon City 62, McNary 25
McNary scored a season-low 25 points at home Monday in a non-league encounter against Oregon City. The 37-point margin was the Celts’ worst loss of the season. The Celts fell to 9-4, while the visiting Pioneers improved to 5-4 on the year.
McNary (1-0 in conference play) returns to CVC action Thursday with a home game vs. North Salem.
GIRLS
West Salem 49, South Salem 44
The Lady Titans (2-0, 9-5) remain unbeaten in conference action after gutting out a close victory over the rival Saxons at West Salem High.
West led the game 23-22 at the half.
South (0-1, 4-9) returns to action on Thursday, at home against Sprague. West has a bye.
Sprague 47, North Salem 30
The Lady Olys (1-1, 10-4) bounced back from a tough loss to McNary last Thursday to coast past the visiting Vikings (0-2, 3-10).
Sprague will visit South Salem on Thursday, while North entertains McNary.
Note: McNary girls have the bye for this contest, and will play a non-league game Tuesday at Newberg.
Final AP College Football Rankings
Following Georgia’s 65-7 thumping of TCU in the National Championship game on Monday, the Associated Press released its final football poll for the 2022 season.
The rankings were good news for both Oregon and Oregon State fans. The Beavers were rated #17 in the final poll, their best showing since 2012, when they were rated 20th after a 9-4 season under the direction of Mike Riley. They were 10-3 this year, and trounced Florida 30-3 in the Las Vegas Bowl.
The final ranking is the best for a Beaver team since 2000, when the Dennis Erickson-coached squad beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, and were ranked fourth, finishing with an 11-1 record. OSU fans will recall that the quarterback for that 2000 team was Jonathan Smith—the current head coach for the Beavs.
Oregon was ranked fifteenth in the last poll of the season. It was their best showing since being ranked fifth in the final AP poll in 2019, after finishing 12-2 under the direction of head coach Mario Cristobal. This year, the Ducks wrapped up the year with a 10-3 record, and edged North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl under the direction of first year coach Dan Lanning.
A total of six teams from the Pac-12 were ranked in the final AP survey. Washington finished eighth, Utah tenth, USC twelfth, and UCLA 21st, in addition to the Beavers and Ducks.
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