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BEST LOCAL SPORTS STORIES Raiders Repeat SOU's bid to defend its football title beats out Mustangs, Gutches as 2015's top stories Comment By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Follow @@MTsports MailTribune.com By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Follow @@MTsports Posted Dec. 29, 2015 at 8:53 PM By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Follow @@MTsports Posted Dec. 29, 2015 at 8:53 PM --> Top 10 Stories (First-place votes in parentheses) 1. SOU Football (7);96 2. Medford Mustangs;79 3. Brock Gutches (3);78 4. Prep Football;34 5. Prep... » Read more X Top 10 Stories (First-place votes in parentheses) 1. SOU Football (7);96 2. Medford Mustangs;79 3. Brock Gutches (3);78 4. Prep Football;34 5. Prep Golf;31 6. Kyle Singler;30 7. Medford Linebackers;26 8. Amelia Maguin;23 9. Tyrone Holmes;22 10. Seth Brown;21 » Social News The Southern Oregon University football team kept its hold on the No. 1 spot in the Mail Tribune’s annual list of top stories in 2015. The Raiders stormed to a second straight appearance in the NAIA national championship game. They fell, 31-14, to the same Marian (Ind.) team they defeated a year earlier but drew a lot of attention along the way. Unlike in 2014, when SOU football was a unanimous selection, it had some competition from the No. 2 Medford Mustangs, who made a run at the American Legion World Series title, and No. 3 Brock Gutches, the SOU wrestler from Central Point who claimed his fourth national crown. In voting by our 10-member panel of current sports staffers, other newsroom personnel and former sports writers, SOU received 96 points and seven first-place votes. The Mustangs didn’t have any firsts, but their four second-place votes and three thirds were enough to edge Gutches for second place, 79 points to 78. Gutches corralled the other three top votes. Prep football and prep golf were a distant fourth and fifth to the three leaders. There were 32 stories on the ballot, and 25 of them received votes. SOU football, the Mustangs and Gutches were the only ones on every ballot. Here are the top MT’s 10 sports stories of 2014: 1. SOUTHERN OREGON FOOTBALL: The Raiders, despite having to replace record-breaking quarterback and NAIA player-of-the-year Austin Dodge, made it back to the national championship game for a chance to defend the title they won in 2014. It wasn't to be as Southern Oregon fell to Marian (Ind.) and its dominant defense, 31-14, in a rematch of the previous year's championship game. SOU ended the year with an 11-3 record. Maurice Woodard and Krishawn Hogan each scored two touchdowns for Marian (12-2), and Hogan caught 11 passes for 147 yards. The Raiders averaged 499.9 yards per game in its first 13 games but gained only 208 against Marian — most of it in the fourth quarter. SOU made an impressive run through the playoffs, winning road games against the nation's top two teams — Baker (Kan.) and Morningside (Iowa) — in consecutive weeks. The Raiders were ranked second in the final top 25 poll. Quarterback Tanner Trosin led the Raiders in rushing with 855 yards and 12 touchdowns. He completed 66.3 percent of his passes, hitting 222 of 335 throws for 2,709 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was intercepted seven times. Teran Togia, with 49 catches for 498 yards, and Matt Retzlaff with 43 catches for 686 yards, were the top receivers. Each had four TDs. Julius Rucker, a junior safety, was named to the American Football Coaches' Association NAIA All-America first team. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder from Portland's Westview High, was the sixth Raider defender in history to make the first team. 2. MEDFORD MUSTANGS: After winning the program's 13th state championship and fifth Northwest Regional crown, the Mustangs came within two outs of advancing to the final at the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C. In the semifinals, Medford led 3-2 with one out in the ninth inning against Chapin-Newberry of South Carolina. A two-run rally allowed South Carolina to prevail, ending the season for the Mustangs (45-14). South Carolina (32-1) went on to win the title. The pitching staff had the second best ERA in program history at 2.06, led by Cody Coggins' (11-0) record mark of 0.84. Every player in the lineup hit at least .300 heading into the World Series, led by Micah Brown's .434 average. It was a fitting send-off for general manager Don Schneider, who retired after 28 years with the program. 3. BROCK GUTCHES: The Southern Oregon University senior wrestler capped one of the greatest careers in NAIA history by winning his fourth national championship. The 174-pounder helped the Raiders to their fifth runner-up finish in seven years. Gutches, a former Crater High standout, became the seventh wrestler in NAIA history and the first since 2001 to win four crowns. He started the tournament with three pins, then cruised to an 8-0 major decision of fourth-ranked Travis McIntosh of Campbellsville in the final and was named most outstanding wrestler. He finished the season with a record of 31-2, and 22 of those wins were by fall. Over four years he went 17-0 at the national tournament with 10 pins. His career record with the Raiders was 103-9. 4. PREP FOOTBALL: Ashland and Crater extended the excitement of fall to the final weeks, each making the Class 5A semifinals to set up the possibility of an all-Rogue Valley state championship game. But only Ashland managed to advance to the final. The Grizzlies penned a stunning semifinal win over Wilsonville. They trailed the state's highest scoring team 14-0 just four minutes into the contest, then scored 56 straight points in a 63-35 triumph. A week later in the championship game, fifth-seeded Ashland led Summit 28-24 midway through the third quarter, but the Storm scored 21 straight points for a 45-28 victory. The Grizzlies were 10-3. Second-seeded Crater could empathize, having been blitzed by No. 6 Summit a week earlier in the semis. The high-powered Comets were 11-0 entering the contest and riding a wave of momentum. The two teams traded first-quarter touchdowns before Summit went off, scoring five more touchdowns before halftime en route to a 41-7 win. 5. PREP GOLF: Several outstanding performances marked the 2015 state championships, with Jeremy Wu of St. Mary's setting the all-time Oregon scoring record; Danielle Giles becoming Crater's first individual champion when she shared the Class 5A title; and Cascade Christian bringing home the boys 3A/2A/1A crown. Wu, a junior, shot a 9-under 63 in the first round at Quail Valley Golf Club en route to winning state by eight shots, helping the Crusaders to second place. Giles, a junior, birdied the last hole for her second straight 70 to tie record-four-time winner Madison Odiorne of Summit at Trysting Tree Golf Club. Cascade Christian won its first state title, ending St. Mary's streak of four straight with a resounding, 28-shot advantage. Senior Jake Quast and junior Max Davis placed second and third, respectively. Giles signed with Oregon and Wu with Valparaiso. 6. KYLE SINGLER: The Medford product's NBA career took a dramatic turn when he was traded from the Detroit Pistons, among the league's worst teams, to the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of its best, in an eleventh-hour deal that included Utah and several other players and draft picks. Singler started 150 of 218 career games for the Pistons. With Kevin Durant sitting because of an injured foot, Singler started his first game with the Thunder, going for six points, two rebounds and an assist. He started 18 of the Thunder's final 26 games. Eager to stay with a title contender, Singler, a restricted free agent at season's end, re-upped with Oklahoma City in July. He signed a $25 million, multi-year contract — four years guaranteed with a fifth-year option held by the Thunder. Through the first 31 games of 2015-16, Singler has played in 23, averaging 10.7 minutes, 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds. 7. MEDFORD LINEBACKERS: After 54 years of supporting high school football, the Medford Linebackers Club closed its doors. The Linebackers’ fundraising and fall luncheons were an integral part of the prep football community. However, attendance at the weekly luncheons dropped significantly. The group was formed in 1961, when there was one major high school and football ruled. The landscape changed in 1986 when a second public high school opened, and private schools St. Mary's and Cascade Christian became part of the luncheons. Booster clubs at the schools whittled the need for Linebackers. Business leaders formed Linebackers to raise funds to build the west grandstand at Spiegelberg Stadium. Other projects included the original seating in 1966 of what is now the North Medford High basketball gym, the lighting of Bowerman Field in the early 1980s, all-weather tracks at Hedrick and McLoughlin middle schools in 1999 and artificial turf and track resurfacing at Spiegelberg Stadium in 2004. 8. AMELIA MAGUIN: The Southern Oregon University senior capped a dominant season by winning the NAIA national championship in the 400-meter hurdles by a big margin. She broke her own school record for the fourth time last spring with a time of 58.96 seconds and beat runner-up Taylor Neehham of Southwestern (Kan.) by 1.92 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the event in six years. Maguin had been runner-up at nationals the previous two years. Her title was the first by an SOU athlete on the track in 21 years. She was the fourth three-time outdoor track and field All-American woman in school history. She was the Cascade Conference women's track athlete of the year. At the conference meet, she won three events, was second in two others and finished her career with five conference crowns. 9. TYRONE HOLMES: The former Eagle Point multisport standout terrorized offenses as a defensive end for the Montana Grizzlies. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior led the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in sacks, was a first-team All-American and is one of three finalists for the national defensive player of the year award. Holmes' 18 sacks were four more than anyone else in FCS and one shy of the Montana school record. He also had 21.5 tackles for loss and 87 tackles in helping the Grizzlies advance to the second round of the playoffs. He climbed into second place on Montana's all-time sack-leaders list with 34.5 for his career. He's also second in career tackles for loss with 49.5. 10. SETH BROWN: The former North Medford baseball player parlayed an outstanding season at Lewis-Clark State College into a dream come true when he was taken in the major league draft and signed with the Oakland Athletics. The A's picked him in the 19th round, No. 578 overall. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Brown helped lead Lewis-Clark State to its 17th national championship as an all-tournament pick for the Warriors (46-12). He was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs in the 10-7, comeback win over Saint Thomas in the title game. The left-handed power hitter led the NAIA with 23 home runs and ranked second in RBIs (82) and runs scored (78) as a junior first baseman/right fielder. He batted .386 this past spring and was named a second-team NAIA All-American. OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES Prep track: Titles were won by North' Medford's Tyren Wolfe (100) and Halley Folsom (300 hurdles), South Medford's Kaizer Gillispie (200), Crater's Walter Vail (3,000), Phoenix's Emma Amundsen (3,000) and the Phoenix girls' 4x400 relay. Danny Miles: The Oregon Tech basketball coach earned the John Wooden Keys to Life Award. Prep cross country: Marissa Dobry won the 3A/2A/1A state title, leading St. Mary's to the team title, and Crater's Walter Vail claimed the 5A crown. Jeremy Guthrie: The Kansas City pitcher visited Ashland to launch a facility fundraising effort, then went 8-8 for the Royals. His contract was not renewed. Aaron Santi: The Talent Middle School principal was one of eight officials selected to join the NFL. South Medford girls basketball: The Panthers were ranked No. 1 but suffered consecutive losses at state. Two players, Julissa Tago and Jasmin Falls, signed Division I letters. Bill Enyart: The former star football player died at age 67. The Medford product set most Oregon State rushing records, was first-team All-American and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Rogue Run: It became a qualifier for the Boston Marathon and was won by Jacksonville's Sarah Ziegler and Andrew Mullen of Oak Park, Ill. Pear Blossom Run: Marci Klimek Gage set the course record in winning the 10-mile race for the fifth consecutive year. Professional boxing: It returned to Medford after nearly 30 years, with undefeated Mike Wilson headlining. Eric Thompson: He ended his Southern Oregon University basketball career as the all-time leading scorer and 3-point shooter. Southern Oregon University: The school added two sports, men's soccer and women's wrestling. Jason Allred: He qualified for the U.S. Open for the third time in his career but missed the cut, then placed 50th on the Web.com Tour to earn exemption in 2016. Dylan Wu: The Northwestern freshman qualified for the NCAA golf championships and the U.S. Amateur. By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Follow @@MTsports MailTribune.com By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Follow @@MTsports Posted Dec. 29, 2015 at 8:53 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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