THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2015
SPORTS
9A
Freeman
hired as new
Warrior coach
+RHSÀWDNHV
athletic director
post for 2015
The Daily Astorian
Photos by Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
Matt Lebourdais, right, tries to stuff a kill attempt in the Men’s Open Championship Saturday in the Seaside Beach
Volleyball Tournament.
Volleyballers hit Seaside sands
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — With Regatta
activities taking place in the
northern part of the county,
south Clatsop County was
hosting the 34th annual Sea-
side Beach Volleyball Tour-
nament.
The annual gathering took
place on the sands of Seaside
Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
near the Turnaround.
Last year’s tournament
had 143 courts and drew over
1,400 total teams (doubles,
quads and six’s), after a turn-
out of 1,363 teams on 120
courts in 2013.
Divisions ranged from par-
ent-and-child to Masters 55+,
along with Men, Women and
Co-ed Open Divisions that
featured current and retired
Associated of Volleyball Pro-
fessional ranked players.
Local teams always have a
large presence (Astoria’s No-
elle Lund and Danielle Moyer
¿QLVKHGLQWKHWRS6DWXUGD\
(out of 43 teams) in the Wom-
en’s BB doubles division),
while the tournament draws
players from around the state,
WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW DQG
usually a number of compet-
itors from Canada.
The team of Ramsey-Hin-
kley won the Women’s Open
Championship Saturday, fol-
lowed by a victory for Matt
Lebourdais and Jonny Wiskar
in the Men’s Open title match.
ABOVE: The
doubles team of
Matt Lebourdais,
left, and Jonny
Wiskar celebrate
following the
final point in the
Men’s Open title
match. LEFT:
A member of
the Casey-Ca-
sey team tries
to save a ball
in Saturday’s
championship
match.
Vikings top Steelers 14-3 in Hall of Fame game
By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
CANTON, Ohio — Ted-
dy Bridgewater didn’t want
to talk about the completions.
Last the Minnesota quarter-
back checked, getting the ball
where it needs to go is the
main part of his job.
It’s that one miss, however,
that will stick with the reigning
Rookie of the Year.
Bridgewater’s only series
in a 14-3 victory over Pitts-
burgh in the Hall of Fame
game Sunday ended up with
the Vikings getting stuffed on
fourth down after Bridgewater
IDLOHGWRFRPSOHWHDVLPSOHÀLS
to Mike Wallace on third down
that would have given Minne-
VRWD¿UVWDQGJRDO
“It’s one of those deals
where it’s good to stay within
the system,” Bridgewater said.
“If I hit Mike, we avoid fourth
down.”
Maybe Bridgewater is be-
ing picky after going 5 of 6 for
44 yards during his cameo, but
with an extra preseason game
this summer, the Vikings and
their emerging leader have
plenty of time to work on it.
Backup quarterback Mike
Kafka threw a touchdown pass
and running back Joe Banyard
ran for another score long af-
ter Bridgewater exited as the
Vikings improved to 5-0 in
Tom E. Puskar/AP Photo
Former NFL player Jerome Bettis waves a Terrible Towel at
the conclusion of his speech during inductions at the Pro
Football Hall of Fame Saturday in Canton, Ohio.
exhibitions under second-year
coach Mike Zimmer.
“Wish I was 5-0 in the reg-
ular season,” he said, laughing.
Both teams have a month
before things start to count for
real, giving the annual exhibi-
tion opener an even more pe-
destrian feel.
Hall of Famer Jerome Bet-
tis waved a “Terrible Towel”
during pregame introductions,
with the decidedly pro-Pitts-
burgh crowd roaring its ap-
proval, the only moment of
true star power on a night the
bold-faced names still in uni-
form didn’t break a sweat if
they even bothered to suit up
at all.
Minnesota running back
Adrian Peterson’s return from
a lengthy suspension will have
to wait at least one more week,
if not decidedly longer. He
hung out on the sideline while
the backups did the heavy lift-
ing.
Steelers quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger stuck to attire
more appropriate for the gym.
All-Pro running back Le’Veon
Bell and All-Pro wide receiver
Antonio Brown put together a
full dress rehearsal, even going
through warm-ups then spent
four quarters as spectators, the
only exercise the notoriously
hard-working Brown enjoyed
coming while he absentmind-
edly worked the exercise bike.
Bridgewater deftly guided
the Vikings on a 10-play, 51-
\DUG GULYH LQ WKH ¿UVW TXDUWHU
hitting tight end Kyle Rudolph
for a pair of 11-yard gains.
Rather than attempt a short
¿HOG JRDO RQ IRXUWKDQG
from the 10, Zimmer opted
to go for it only to see Jeri-
ck McKinnon stopped for no
gain by nose tackle Steve Mc-
Lendon, one of the handful of
Pittsburgh regulars to actually
WDNHWKH¿HOG
With Roethlisberger given
the night off and usual back-
up Bruce Gradkowski dealing
with a sore arm, the Steelers
gave third-stringer Jones an
extensive look. The leading
passer in Oklahoma history
is trying to convince the team
to keep three quarterbacks on
the roster. While coach Mike
Tomlin said early in camp
Jones was on the “incline”
he was going to reserve judg-
ment until after seeing Jones
face guys in different-color
jerseys.
WARRENTON
—
Travis Freeman is the
new varsity football
coach, and Robert Hoepfl
has been hired as athlet-
ic director, as Warrenton
High School athletics
moves forward into an-
other school year.
)UHHPDQ DQG +RHSÀ
replace Ian O’Brien, who
departed Warrenton to be-
come athletic director at
Lakeridge High School.
O’Brien was both var-
sity football coach and
A.D. at Warrenton, leav-
ing principal Rod Heyen
with a couple key spots to
¿OO
“There’s kind of a
snowball effect and a chain
reaction,” Heyen said. “It’s
been a real challenging
summer for hiring, but
we’re real excited about
some of the hires we’ve
made.”
Freeman,
a
sev-
enth-grade social studies
teacher at Astoria Middle
School, played football
at Whitworth College in
Spokane, Wash., after
graduating from Royal
High School in Royal City,
Wash.
He becomes just the
third Warrenton football
coach in the last 41 years.
John Mattila won 15
league championships and
had a career record of 252
wins, 129 losses from 1974
to 2011, and O’Brien was
15-14 in his three years,
2012-14.
Freeman served as
an assistant coach under
O’Brien, while Heyen said
two of Freeman’s assis-
tants will be Mike Larsen
and Jake Mullins, who
Travis Freeman
were both assistants last
season.
“We’re real excited —
Travis has been a great in-
ÀXHQFHRQRXUNLGV´+H\-
HQ VDLG ³7KLV LV KLV ¿UVW
head coaching gig, but he
has good football pedigree.
He’s been around the game
and played a little bit.”
0HDQZKLOH
+RHSÀ
was new to the Warren-
ton district last year, “and
is real excited about the
position,” Heyen said of
+RHSÀ ZKR LV FXUUHQWO\
in Pennsylvania. “He was
an assistant coach in sev-
eral sports last year, so he
has a taste of a little bit of
everything. He has a good
background, and he’s great
with kids.”
+RHSÀ WHDFKHV 86
history and global studies
at Warrenton High School,
and last year served as an
assistant coach in football,
girls basketball and base-
ball.
He attended Junction
City High School, where
he played football, bas-
ketball and baseball. He
caught two touchdown
passes in a 20-0 state play-
off win over Astoria in
2004.
+RHSÀUHFHLYHGDEDFK-
elor’s degree in history
from Northwest Christian
College in Eugene, where
he played basketball for
the Beacons.
John Lindsay/AP File
New York Giants halfback Frank Gifford cocks his pass-
ing arm as he stands in front of photo mural of the Polo
Grounds at the offices of the New York Giants in New
York’s Coliseum in 1962.
On football field, in the booth,
Frank Gifford was a winner
terpiece of a Giants offense that
ZHQWWR¿YH1)/WLWOHJDPHVLQ
the 1950s and ‘60s.
NEW YORK — An NFL
Beginning in 1971, he
championship with the New worked for ABC’s “Monday
York Giants. An Emmy award 1LJKW )RRWEDOO´ DW ¿UVW DV D
as television’s “outstanding play-by-play announcer and
sports personality.” Induction in then an analyst, winning his
Emmy in 1976-77.
the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Frank’s talent and charis-
Frank Gifford, as well
known for being a buffer for fel- PD RQ WKH ¿HOG DQG RQ WKH DLU
low announcers Don Meredith were important elements in the
and Howard Cosell on “Mon- growth and popularity of the
day Night Football” as for his modern NFL,” Commissioner
versatility as a player, died Sun- Roger Goodell said.
Later in life, Gifford stayed
day. He was 84.
In a statement released by in the spotlight through his mar-
NBC News, his family said Gif- riage to Kathie Lee Gifford, who
ford died suddenly at his Con- famously called him a “human
necticut home of natural causes. love machine” and “lamb-chop”
His wife, Kathie Lee Gifford, is to her millions of viewers.
“He was a great friend to ev-
a host for NBC’s “Today.”
“We rejoice in the extraor- eryone in the league, a special
dinary life he was privileged to adviser to NFL commissioners,
live, and we feel grateful and and served NFL fans with enor-
blessed to have been loved by mous distinction for so many
such an amazing human being,” decades,” Goodell added.
Gifford hosted “Wide World
his family said in the statement.
“We ask that our privacy be re- of Sports,” covered several
VSHFWHGDWWKLVGLI¿FXOWWLPHDQG Olympics — his call of Franz
we thank you for your prayers.” Klammer’s downhill gold med-
A running back, defensive al run in 1976 is considered a
back, wide receiver and spe- broadcasting masterpiece —
cial teams player in his career, and announced 588 consecutive
Gifford was the NFL’s MVP in NFL games for ABC, not even
1956, when the Giants won the taking time off after the death
title. He went to the Pro Bowl at of his mother shortly before a
three positions and was the cen- broadcast in 1986.
By BARRY WILNER
AP Pro Football Writer