THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2015 SPORTS 7A Fishermen grounded by penalties, North Bend defense By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian NORTH BEND — For a few brief moments in the third quarter, the Astoria Fishermen had visions of an- other big second half come- back against the North Bend Bulldogs. But that comeback was quickl\ squashed — ¿rst b\ Senalt\ Àags and then b\ the Bulldogs, who scored a measure of revenge Friday night with a 37-12 win over the Fishermen in a ¿rst round game of the Class 4A state playoffs at Vic Adams Field. In Week 2 of the regular season, the Fishermen ral- lied from a 10-point, fourth quarter deficit to beat the Bulldogs 22-20 on their home field. In Friday’s playoff, how- ever, Astoria was Àagged a whopping 19 times for 161 yards in penalties, and a tough Bulldog defense never let the Fishermen offense get off the ground. Astoria was held to just 40 yards rushing on 22 attempts. Meanwhile, two North Bend players who missed the previous game combined to score all ¿ve touchdowns for the Bulldogs. Running back Trey Woods had two rushing touchdowns and was on the receiving end of a third; and running back Luke Lucero caught a pair of touchdown tosses from cous- in Brody Lucero. Ian Bream kicked a 36- yard ¿eld goal to round out the scoring for North Bend, which advances to the quar- ter¿nals and will host the No. 15 seed North Marion Hus- kies, who upset unbeaten Sis- ters, 21-14. The Bulldogs played a ball control offense in Friday’s win, racking up 29 ¿rst downs 19 in the ¿rst half to Asto- ria’s nine total ¿rst downs. Woods capped North Bend’s second possession of the game with the ¿rst of his 1-yard TD runs, but the Fish- ermen struck back quickly, as quarterback Ryker Helmers- en found Clay Englund in the secondary, and Englund took it 64 yards for a score to com- plete a three-play drive. Photos by Lou Sennick/The World Trey Woods gets upended on the reception Friday night by Brendan Coberly of Astoria during their 4A playoff game. North Bend’s Dakota Moore blocked the point-af- ter, the first of two blocked kicks by the Bulldog senior. That’s as close as Asto- ria would get the rest of the night. North Bend answered with a 70-yard drive, capped by another 1-yard run from Woods; and Brody Luce- ro had big completions to Woods and Drae Stark on the Bulldogs’ next drive, which ended with a Brody Luce- ro-to-Luke Lucero 23-yard touchdown. Woods caught a 16-yard TD toss from Brody Lucero with 2:05 left in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs held a 27-6 halftime lead. The Fishermen came out with high energy and a little trickery to start the second half. Jacob Olson took a hand- off from Carter Wallace and ran 22 yards out of the Wild- cat formation on the ¿rst play from scrimmage; Helmersen connected with Chris Wil- liams for a 44-yard pass play; and Englund ¿nished the drive on the next play with a 1-yard TD run. After forcing a North Bend punt, Astoria drove to the Bulldog 35, before Helm- ersen was sacked on fourth down. Bream’s ¿eld goal made it 30-12 late in the third quar- ter, and the Lucero-to-Lucero cousin connection hooked up for another touchdown in the fourth. Wallace was Astoria’s leading rusher 10 for 37, while Helmersen complet- ed 13-of-20 passes for 231 yards. With a trio of Bulldogs in pursuit, Astoria’s Kyle Strange brings down the pass and gets to the one-yard line before being pushed out of bounds. The play led to the Fishermen scoring their second touchdown of the 4A playoff game Friday night in North Bend. Napavine scores football Naselle wins District IV playoff win over Ilwaco trophy, will play at state By PATRICK WEBB For EO Media Group NAPAVINE, Wash. — Il- waco gave it their best shot. Napavine ended the Fish- ermen’s season Friday night with a power performance in the ¿rst round of the WIAA state playoffs. The Tigers won 55-77, ad- vancing to play North Beach this week. “Our kids played as well as we could play,” said Ilwa- co football Head Coach Kevin McNulty. “But they are a bet- ter football team than we are. Bigger, faster, stronger.” Napavine had 16 play- ers on its 34-man roster who were 6-0 tall or more; Ilwa- co had six. The Tigers made that size count with 465 yards of offense and eight touch- downs. The home team put two on the board in the ¿rst quarter and had another in the second before Ilwaco scored. Junior quarterback Jack Odneal Àoat- ed a pass into the end zone to ¿nd senior Brandon Sparks. Jorge Galvan added the extra point, the ¿rst of the sopho- more’s three successful kicks. With the score at 35-7, time was running out in the ¿rst half when Odneal passed to James Schenk. The senior run- ning back weighs 165 pounds and he used every ounce to power his way across the goal line despite being smothered by defenders. The pace of the points slowed in the second half, but Napavine added three more touchdowns. Fishermen se- nior Jack Kaino ran in from short range to reduce the de¿- cit and Odeal kept the ball and ran into pay dirt as time was expiring to reduce the margin, although the 2-point attempt failed. “Our kids played very hard and kept in the entire game. I’m very proud of them,” said McNulty, his league’s coach of the year. “They did every- thing that we as a coaching staff asked of them.” SCOREBOARD FOOTBALL NORTH BEND 37, ASTORIA 12 Astoria 6 0 6 0—12 N.Bend 7 20 3 7—37 First Quarter NB: Trey Woods 1 run (Ian Bream kick) 4:29 AST: Clay Englund 64 pass from Ryker Helmersen (kick blocked) 3:27 Second Quarter NB: Woods 1 run (Bream kick) 11:23 NB: Luke Lucero 23 pass from Brody Lucero (Bream kick) 7:20 NB: Woods 16 pass from B.Luce- ro (kick failed) 2:05 Third Quarter AST: Englund 1 run (kick blocked) 10:52 NB: Bream 36 FG, 2:14 Fourth Quarter NB: L.Lucero 13 pass from B.Lucero (Gabby Hobson kick) 5:01 Astoria Statistics Rushing: Wallace 10-37, Ol- son 1-22, Englund 5-8, Williams 1-1, Helmersen 5-(-28). Passing: Helmersen 13-20-231-1. Receiv- ing: Englund 4-89, Strange 4-71, Palek 4-58, Olson 1-13. NAPAVINE 55, ILWACO 27 Ilwaco 0 14 7 6—27 Napavine 14 21 14 6—55 First Quarter NAP: Cole Van Wyck 2 run (Aus- tin Filley kick) 6:20 NAP: Sam Fagerness 10 run (Fil- ley kick) 3:27 Second Quarter NAP: Wyatt Stanley 10 run (Filley kick) 10:50 ILW: Brandon Sparks 14 pass from Jack Odneal (Galvan kick) 6:00 NAP: Mac Fagerness 56 pass from Stanley (Filley kick) 5:47 NAP: M.Fagerness 25 pass from Stanley (Filley kick) 1:30 ILW: James Schenk 10 pass from Odneal (Galvan kick) :18 Third Quarter NAP: Van Wyck 20 run (Filley kick) 10:28 ILW: J.Kaino 4 run (Galvan kick) 4:03 NAP: S.Fagerness 1 run (Filley kick) 2:58 Fourth Quarter NAP: Van Wyck 20 run (kick failed) 11:06 ILW: Odneal 5 run (pass failed) 1:23 Ilwaco Statistics Rushing: Odneal 10-57, J.Ka- ino 22-49, Bell 11-42, Schenk 2-5, A.Kaino 1-(-1). Passing: Odneal 15-23-134-0. Receiving: R.Thompson 6-74, Schenk 5-42, Bell 1-10, Sparks 1-10, J.Kaino 1-3. Scores Class 4A State Playoffs Philomath 7, Junction City 0 Cascade 42, La Grande 27 Mazama 44, Crook County 7 Banks 34, Baker 0 Scappoose 35, Gladstone 14 Marshfield 13, Molalla 7 North Bend 37, Astoria 12 North Marion 21, Sisters 14 Class 3A State Playoffs Scio 46, Nyssa 20 Salem Academy 35, Rainier 6 Cascade Christian 77, Colton 12 Vale 54, Lakeview 7 Blanchet C. 24, Clatskanie 12 Coquille 48, Taft 25 Harrisburg 37, Dayton 34 Santiam Chr. 46, Pleasant Hill 0 Class 2A State Playoffs Central Linn 42, Nestucca 14 Stanfield 56, Vernonia 26 Burns 63, Toledo 21 Kennedy 53, Irrigon 12 Regis 49, Myrtle Point 6 Imbler 60, Lost River 35 Reedsport 14, Weston-McEwen 0 Heppner 55, Monroe 14 Volleyball team surges to Yakima By PATRICK WEBB For EO Media Group TUMWATER, Wash. — Naselle High School’s vol- leyball team is heading to the state championship. The Comets will return to the Yakima Sun Dome Friday after winning the District IV trophy. They defeated Three Rivers Christian School of Longview, Wash., 25-16, 25-16, 17-25, 25-13 after winning a semi-¿nal game against Columbia Adventist 25-13, 25-15, 27-25. Last year, NHS quali¿ed for state but was defeated in two three-set games. One op- ponent, Almira Coulee Har- tline, was runner up to 1B champions Pomeroy. At Black Hills High School Saturday night, Naselle coaches and players were motivated to win the ¿rst matchup to advance to state and the second to take the District honors, which have eluded the Comets for years. The celebrations were muted somewhat because junior Tayler Ford, one of Naselle’s six starters, injured her ankle and required a hos- pital visit. Coach Kim Eaton covered Ford’s duties with senior Emma Fauver, junior Raja Estes and freshman Taylor Gudmundsen. “They each did a great job when it was needed.” Patrick Webb/EO Media Group Naselle volleyball is No. 1. The Comets celebrate with the District IV trophy Saturday. Front row, left to right, are Ky- ryn Jacot, Taylor Gudmundsen, Amelia Tutu’u, Raja Es- tes, Ashley Muessig, Taylor Eaton, Kendra Leeland, Ellie Chapman and Haley Footh. At back are, left to right, Kelly Langston, Emma Fauver, Lily Harman and Hailey Weston. The coach commended ju- nior Kyryn Jacot for her serv- ing, defense and serve-re- ceive, which translated into ¿ve digs, three kills and ¿ve aces in the second win. “Haley Footh did a great job on defense in the second game and Hailey Weston did a great job coming in off the bench to serve,” Coach Eaton added. Footh, a senior, had 10 digs in the second game, with three kills, adding to her cou- ple of aces in the ¿rst; junior Amelia Tutu’u made ¿ve kills in the ¿rst win and six in the second. The coach commended co-captain Kendra Leeland after the ¿rst victory for her individual play and leader- ship, directing the action. In the ¿rst game, she made 12 kills and served four aces. In the championship game, she was in similar form with 12 kills, eight digs and three aces. Co-captain Taylor Eaton had 28 assists in the cham- pionship game, making three kills, nine digs and serving two aces. She made 20 as- sists in the first contest. The coach said Leeland, Taylor Eaton and Ellie Chap- man have raised the bar for Naselle volleyball. “It’s a team effort, but these three have worked their butts off. They are leaving their legacy for the younger ones to see what it takes to be successful.” Chapman made 11 kills and four digs in the cham- pionship game to add to the seven kills and three aces she made against the Adventist team. She is excited about the return to Yakima. “We are going to be a lot more ready,” the junior said. “Last year, we didn’t know what to expect.”