South Salem Asserts Dominance, West Salem and Mountain View Scratch Out Victories In a Friday Night full of early conference season tests, South Salem asserted their dominance as the favorite for the Mountain Valley Conference, West Salem won a crucial test against McNary, and Mountain View survived a scare from Summit. In the most watched game of the night, South Salem torched Sprague in the Battle for South Salem, beating the Olys in a 27 point smackdown and reasserting themselves as the team to beat in the Mountain Valley Conference. The win also slingshot the Saxons to #2 in the state rankings, only sitting behind Lake Oswego from the Three Rivers League. South Salem's next test will be on the road against West Salem January 18th. In the second most anticipated game, West Salem battled McNary in a test to see which team would fall in line behind the Saxons in the Mountain Valley Conference. The Titans edged out the Celtics 58-56, taking the first battle between the two schools, and moving up to 13th in the state rankings. West Salem has a date with South Salem this upcoming Friday, with the winner becoming the conference leader and favorite to win the Mountain Valley Conference. Lastly, in a surprise game, Mountain View survived a scare from the Summit Storm, winning 70-66 and avoiding a massive upset. This game will be one looked at closely by the rest of the conference, who are trying to move Mountain View out of the way in the conference sprint to catch South Salem. Mountain View plays West Salem on Tuesday, which will be a test for both teams in the conference race. Portland State commit Senior Jaden Nielsen - South Salem Saxons in the picture below.
