Bits & Pieces—mid January 2023
A local football star commits to a college, an offer for South Salem baseball, and 2023 Beacons Awards
Another edition of brief stories involving sports in the Salem-Keizer area. Read on.
DAVIS COMMITS TO PSU
North Salem’s highly decorated running back—Josiah Davis—has decided on where he will play college football. Davis announced Wednesday afternoon that he will play at Portland State University.
Davis was named a first team 6A all-state running back by OregonLive and ScorebookLive. He missed several games due to injury, but still rushed for 800 yards and nine touchdowns on the conference season. North finished the year 8-5 and lost to Westview in the inaugural Columbia Cup title game. Davis had to sit out the last game due to injury. He ended the year with over 1200 yards and 16 total TDs.
Josiah’s commitment to PSU follows a similar announcement several weeks ago by South Salem receiver Zach Wustigg—who was first team all-state as both a wideout and a defensive back. The two all-staters join former West Salem quarterback Brooks Ferguson on the Vikings roster.
FIELD OFFERED TO SOUTH SALEM BASEBALL
If you read Tuesday’s story on repair timelines for South Salem’s vandalized baseball diamond at Gilmore Field (read it here), you know that the Saxons are looking for fields locally that might provide them with practice and/or home games.
A search for fields has begun under the direction of South Salem AD Brian Armstrong.
The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are willing to help. Organization CEO Mickey Walker says he is willing to chat about making Volcanoes Stadium available for the Saxons.
“We would love to host South Salem at the stadium,” says Walker.
“And (we) would do it at an extreme discount just to help out.”
No formal contact has been made—yet.
Volcanoes Stadium is the host site for the Oregon prep baseball championship games in June. The title games have been held there since 1998.
SALEM-KEIZER BEACONS AWARDS
The Salem-Keizer Beacons will be holding their annual awards ceremony again in June. To be specific, the event will happen at the Elsinore Theatre on June 17th, starting at 6:00 pm.
A long list of prep athletes and nine adult honorees representing the six Salem-Keizer high schools and the community at large will be honored.
Of note: I am a member of the Beacons board, and will author video scripts for the adult Beacon award winners. Look for stories on several of these Beacons in the weeks to come.
Many great storylines are involved with the 2023 Beacons—from a young man who dominated Oregon prep track and field sprints for two full years, to a couple of state championship coaches—to long time youth sports facilitators who helped shape the landscape of athletic opportunities for young people. All that and more will pop up in features on this website in the months to come.
The Beacons were established to help with athletic participation within the Salem-Keizer District. $2500 payments were made to each of the six high schools at the end of 2022, to help with participation and facilities needs at each location. The schools also have access to funds to help remove financial barriers faced by many student athletes wanting to participate in sports from fall to spring.
You can find more information about the Beacons and their fund-raising efforts by going to the website—linked here.