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Out with the old scoreboard at Ashland By Greg Stiles So what do you do when the football stadium scoreboard lights go on the fritz, the maintenance department can�t fix the thing without new parts and you find out the parts are no longer made? If you�re Ashland High athletic director/football coach Jim Nagel, you realize it�s time to ante up for a new scoreboard, which will be in place soon. But the whole thing has been an adventure that�s lasted several months. First, it was a few light bulbs refusing to function because the fuses were virtually beyond repair. The clock simply failed at times during games. "I asked the company if we could get some replacement parts," Nagel says. "I gave them the model number and the fellow said, �What was that model number again?� His book didn�t show any model number." The control panel uses a rotary dial for down and distance. "He said he had seen pictures of such scoreboards," Nagel says. "But he had never actually seen one." What Nagel eventually discovered was that the scoreboard that had dutifully told the story of hundreds of games was of World War-era II vintage � four generations of scoreboards old. "He didn�t know where we could get replacement parts," Nagel recalls, "because they don�t make or store them anymore." The new Lamplighter board could be in place as early as this week. Utility work is in place, the footings are to be poured this week and, when weather permits, the board goes up. Pepsi is donating the lion�s share of the $30,000-project. And a new message board should keep fans well informed. "There�s a laptop computer to run the message center," Nagel says. "But instead of three pieces of equipment to operate the old scoreboard, there will be one piece � a fourth of the size." The old board�s fate is to be determined. "It�s in storage now, " Nagel says. "But we�ll either auction it off or make it available to a high school that wants it.," SOUTHERN OREGON CONFERENCE boys and girls basketball teams were well represented on the Oregon Dairy Farmers academic all-state teams this past winter. Five boys teams, led by winner Klamath Union (3.69 grade-point average), were in the top 10. Grant Pass was third (3.67), Roseburg (3.56) and South Medford (3.56) tied for fifth and Ashland (3.48) was ninth. In girls, South Medford (3.85) was second, North Medford (3.78) sixth and Klamath Union (3.73) eighth. In swimming, South Medford�s boys (3.50) were seventh. Among Class 3A boys swim teams, Phoenix (3.73) was tops, Henley (3.45) fourth, North Valley (3.44) fifth and Hidden Valley (3.30) eighth. North Valley (3.25) was fifth among Class 3A wrestling teams. THE NORTH MEDFORD head football coach position, vacated last week by Rod Rumrey, was posted within the district Monday. After 10 days, it will be posted throughout Oregon, Washington and Northern California. There are two other head coaching vacancies to be filled by the Medford School District prior to next fall. South Medford baseball coach Pete Whisler is headed to Klamath Falls to restart the Oregon Tech program after this spring. Bryan Gregg has resigned as North Medford�s cross country coach as well. THE OSAA�S CLASSIFICATION and redistricting committee goes through its next-to-last round of public testimony Monday when it meets in Bend. There is one more meeting, April 16, then the panel begins winnowing down the requests as it prepares its December recommendation to the executive board. Early on, there was a move to regroup Class 4A schools into eight districts, instead of the current nine. But that cause was quickly abandoned. The major changes will likely come in the Class 2A ranks as smaller 3A schools drop down because of shrinking enrollment and growing 1A schools move up. That means the Southern Cascade League, of which Cascade Christian and St. Mary�s are members, will have a different look when the changes take place in the fall of 2002. Bandon, Reedsport and perhaps Myrtle Point will likely be dropping out of the 3A Far West League � presumably into the 2A Big Fir League. The ripple effect could push Glendale, perhaps even Riddle, from the Big Fir into the SCL. And Lakeview of the 3A Skyline Conference dangles precariously close to the present 2A cutoff of 326 students. Mike Wallmark, the OSAA�s liaison to the committee, notes that once the committee determines cutoff numbers for each classification, then it can consider individual school requests. "I don�t see a lot of growth at the bottom of the 3A schools," Wallmark says. "What I see is schools sliding down to 2A or schools at the upper end moving into 4A. You rarely see a new 3A school, mostly you see new 4A or 1A schools." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.