Hawks getting ready for rare meeting: McKeowns flying high

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Brothers Chris (left) and Nick McKeown have made a big impact for the Oregon Hawks in 2009. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@svnmail.com)

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Nick and Chris McKeown are in the middle of the action, be it before, during or after Oregon football games.

Nick, a senior fullback/strong safety, and Chris, a junior running back/linebacker, live just a few booming punts away from Oregon High School.

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Duffy and Diann McKeown’s home has become the place for Hawks to roost for a few hours before games – a place to rehash the just-completed school week, talk turkey about that night’s opponent and generally stay out of trouble – most of the time.

At a gathering earlier this season, one of the McKeown’s teammates, Patrick Shaulis, was swinging away at Gatorade bottles with a softball bat.

One of Shaulis’s follow-throughs caught teammate Quinn Fagan in the jaw, resulting in a trip to the emergency room instead of the football field that night.

“Shaulis probably hit four bottles,” Nick said, “and Quinn, I don’t know – he just got too close. Usually it’s a fun, safe place to go before games.”

Nick is one of just four returning starters from an Oregon team that finished 12-1 a year ago and came within a whisker of playing for a Class 3A state championship. He was a major contributor, with 1,184 rushing yards while playing second fiddle to all-stater Nick Snyder in the Oregon backfield.

McKeown, at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, is small by fullback standards and gets by with a little help from his friends. He has 173 carries for 740 yards this season.

“As long as the line gives me a hole, it’s basically me against people my size instead of a lineman,” Nick said. “I’ll take that anytime.”

Chris McKeown is a first-year starter for the Hawks at linebacker, and is second on the team, behind fellow linebacker Josh Wiggins, in tackles with 75. Considering what he went through a year ago, he’s grateful to be playing at all.

In a fresh-soph game a year ago against Burlington Central, Chris suffered a broken right leg. He had a titanium rod that extends from just below the knee to just above the ankle. Before the season, he had a screw removed the rod because it was dangerously close to protruding through his skin.

“Usually when it gets colder, it hurts a little bit more,” Chris said, “but I really don’t think about it too much.”

After games, the McKeowns retreat to their house, along with the majority of their teammates, to watch a tape of the game and chow on pizza from a local joint, Alfano’s. It usually takes three ‘football’ pizzas, along with other goodies prepared by other football parents, to feed the brood.

Oregon coach John Bothe knows all about postgames at the McKeowns and heartily approves.

“The kids have a ball,” Bothe said. “They get the video on, watch it and give each other heck about that. I think that’s helped us grow together as a team. The kids go over there, bond a little bit and they love it.”

Off the football field, the McKeowns share similar qualities. They are both honor roll students, they both chop firewood to earn extra money and they both like to hunt. Each has a 10-point buck mounted in their rooms. Nick concedes that his younger brother is likely the better hunter.

“He does it a lot more than I do,” Nick said. “I’m not as patient.”

Chris bagged a 9-point buck a year ago with a bow and arrow. He went bow hunting on Sunday, two days after a win over Rockford Christian in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. He didn’t kill anything, except for some time.

“It’s just fun to get out in the wild, to get away from everything,” Chris said.

Hunting, however, is taking a backseat to football for the time being. The McKeowns and the Hawks have their sights set on Newman and a second-round contest on Saturday. They obviously want to win, but whatever happens, the season’s been a success.

“So far this season’s gone better than I thought it was going to go, honestly,” Nick said. “We made it to the postseason and we’re playing in November. That’s all we could hope for.”


 

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