THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016
AHS PREVIEWS
11A
Astoria hopes to challenge Banks, Scappoose
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
If they played 7-on-7 full-
time, the Astoria Fishermen
would rule the world. Or at least
the Oregon 4A part of it. The
Fish usually dominate the off-
season 7-on-7 stuff, as well as
the “Linemen Challenge,” at
Camp Rilea.
They did again this summer,
and head coach Howard Rub is
hoping that translates to success
this fall.
The Fishermen had another
great offseason, and after play-
ing in their first state playoff
game last year for the first time
since 2010, Astoria is looking
for a return to the tournament,
with one of its most talented,
experienced lineups in years.
The Cowapa
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Fridtjof Fremstad makes a run as the Astoria football team practices Aug. 16 at CMH Field.
Astoria Football Head Coach Howard Rub talks to his
team as the Fishermen players practice at CMH Field ear-
lier this month.
Coach Howard Rub enters
his 17th year at Astoria, one year
behind Sean McNabb’s 18 years
at Scappoose.
The rest of the league fea-
tures a bunch of newcomers.
Banks, Seaside and Valley
Catholic all have new coaches,
while former Fisherman Kye
Johnson is in his second year
as the Tillamook coach. Former
Astoria assistant Cole Linehan
is the head coach for the Braves,
while Ben Buchanan moves to
an assistant coach position.
“You expect Scappoose and
Banks to be in the thick of things,
like normal,” Rub said. “Tilla-
mook will be better in their sec-
ond year under coach Johnson.
“Seaside is in a transition
with a new coach (Chad Smith),
Valley Catholic has a new coach
(Nick Hegwood), and they’re
always intriguing, being a pri-
vate school with no JV team.
You don’t what they’re going to
have, personnel-wise.”
In other words, the Cowapa
could be up for grabs, with no
clear favorite. The league title
“will come down to the end, I
really believe that,” Rub said.
The Fishermen
The Astoria football team takes to the field to prepare for
the fall seasion at CMH Field in Astoria.
Astoria’s Dylan Matteucci completes a catch as the As-
toria football team practices at CMH Field. More photos
online at www.dailyastorian.com
Astoria lost a pair “C-Dub’s”
off the first-team all-league
offense, running back Car-
ter Wallace and center Clay
Williams.
The Fishermen also lost
some first-team defenders —
linebackers Wyatt Dietrich and
Clay Englund, and defensive
back Ryker Helmersen.
Still, Astoria can win with
defense in ’16. Rub liked what
he saw in a recent full-contact
scrimmage.
ASTORIA
FOOTBALL
Coach: Howard Rub, 17th
year
2015: 6-4 (3-2 Cowapa)
State Playoffs: Lost at
North Bend, 12-37
All-League Losses: Carter
Wallace, Clay Williams
All-League Returners:
Fridtjof Fremstad, Sr. (QB),
Kyle Strange, Sr. (DB),
Samboy Tuimato, Sr. (LB).
“Defensively we looked real
solid,” he said. “Tyler Lyngstad
looked legit as an inside ‘backer.
He was an all-league D-end last
year. He’s a real solid defensive
player.”
With the graduation of Diet-
rich and Englund, “that’s partly
why Tyler had to move to the
middle. He and Samboy Tuim-
ato look great, and Cole Olson
(Sr.) is new to the mix.”
And of course the Fisher-
men offense, as always, likes to
throw a little bit of everything at
opposing defenses.
Rub has dusted off some of
the old Astoria playbooks for the
2016 season.
“With our speed, we hope to
spread things out and try to use
that to our advantage,” he said.
“It will look more like it did from
’06 to ’11, when we had guys like
Poyer, Davis and Harber.
“Fritz Fremstad (Sr.) has
been our starter the last two
years, and he’s like having
another running back in the
backfield. And it’s good to see
Olaf (Englund) do really well.
He’s going to make good deci-
sions when he’s asked to be
back there.
“Trey (Hageman) has done
a good job all summer. He’s a
smart kid. And we even have a
fourth quarterback in K.J. John-
son (Jr).”
The Fishermen run deep in
skill position players, such as
seniors Cade O’Brien, Ryan
Palek, Kyle Strange and Tuimato.
Along the line, “we have
good competition at center and
right tackle,” Rub said. “At right
guard, Matthew Mather (Sr.)
is really stepping up and look-
ing good. Keldon Littell (Sr.) is
back at left guard. Our left tackle
is a new student, Isaac Villa (Sr.,
from Florida).”
Villa is 6-foot, 237 pounds,
while another hard-to-miss
player on the field is No. 78,
“Big Ben” Carpenter, a 6-6,
375-pound sophomore.
Coach Cain takes charge of Astoria boys soccer
\By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria boys soccer pro-
gram went the first 24 years of
its existence with just three head
coaches — Max Bigby, Jerry
Boisvert and Bill Patterson.
Now, all of a sudden, the
Fishermen are on their third
coach in three years.
It’s hard to build with con-
stant coaching changes, but at
least the Fishermen continue to
go with familiarity.
Tim Fastabend coached Asto-
ria last season, and now it’s Lee
Cain who has taken over, as Fas-
tabend has moved over to coach
the Astoria varsity girls’ team.
A teacher at Astoria High
School, Cain is a familiar name
in Lower Columbia Youth Soc-
cer circles.
“Over the years I’ve worked
with these families,” he said. “I
know a lot of them pretty well,
either as players or students.
“I’m real excited to be com-
ing in here,” he added. “We have
a talented core group. Techni-
ASTORIA BOYS
SOCCER
Coach: Lee Cain, 1st year
2015: 4-9 (4-4 Cowapa)
Playoffs: Lost Regional
Play-in at Ontario, 1-5
All-League Loss: Rory
Loughran
All-League Returners:
Rafael Alcantar, Sr.; Jorge
Herrejon, Sr.; Luis Herre-
jon, Sr.
a challenging league,” he said.
“Seaside has a super-fast team,
they’re very physical, and that’s
how we have to plan for them.
They’re an extremely aggres-
sive, fast team.
“I don’t know much about
Scappoose, but they have a long
tradition of being a challenging
team.”
Two of Astoria’s four wins
last year came over the Indians,
who were the only team to beat
Seaside in league play.
The Fishermen
cally, very talented. They’ve
been a pleasure to work with.”
And of course everyone is
hoping that transfers into wins.
The Fishermen finished with
just four victories in 2015 —
unofficially the all-time low for
the program.
The Cowapa
While Cain spent last sea-
son as the girls’ junior varsity
coach, he knows enough about
boys soccer in the Cowapa to
know that “we’ve always got
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“We don’t have a lot of size,
and that’s the thing we have
to work around,” Cain said.
“Hopefully we can make up for
that in the technical abilities, and
then building their physicality
and speed.
“There’s some speed there,”
Cain said. “Kyle Birge (senior
goalkeeper) is looking real fit,
and has a great attitude. He will
be a co-captain with Cole Bee-
son, a junior with a strong mid-
field presence.
“Luis and Jorge (Herrejon,
both seniors) are looking real
good,” he added. “They pass
well and intuitively know where
everyone is going to be.”
Rafael Alcantar and Efrain
Gutierrez are other seniors listed
on the varsity roster, along with
juniors Trevor Byrd, Cody Early,
Tyler Gagnon, Jose Gonzalez,
Juan Jimenez Maya, Michael
Kee and Gustavo Velasquez.
Junior Jacob Hurd may also
see time in goal.
Sophomores who may see
time on the varsity field include
Aldo Cruz, Ivan DeLaCruz,
Jonathan Jimenez, Christian
Medina-Perez, Taylor Palmberg
and Porter Whitsett.
There’s also an “incom-
ing group of freshmen that will
provide a real good core,” Cain
said. “The next three or four
years we’re going to have some
pretty good teams.”
Those players include David
Bermudez, Tony Bermudez,
Dalton Byrd, Riley Cameron,
Brooks Fromwiller, Michael Pos-
tlewait, Marco Howser, Shrey
Sharma and Colby Thygeson.
!
O
G AN
M
R
E
FISH
KLEMP FAMILY DENTISTRY
Dr. Dennis Klemp, DMD, FAGD
1006 West Marine Dr. Astoria, OR
(503) 468-0116
klempfamilydentistry.com
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Brothers Luis (left) and Jorge Herrejon will be a tough duo
to defend this year for the Astoria boys soccer team.
A S T ORIA Y OUT H
A T H L ET I C S
would like to thank
M C DONA L DS, FUL T A NOS P IZZA ,
VA N DUSEN BEVERA G ES,
C L A T SOP DIST RIBUT ING
& the Astoria community for their continued
support of youth athletics.
AY A is a no n-pro fit a thle tic bo o ste r c lub c o m m itte d to
suppo rting a nd pro m o ting yo uth spo rts, k -12 in Asto ria ,
thro ug h vo lunte e r se rvic e a nd fina nc ia l a ssista nc e .
“ G row ing C om m unity through Y outh Athletic s ”