THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016
SPORTS
7A
Astoria airs it out in win over Valiants
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
It’s about that time of the
season — the midway point
and the beginning of league
play — when we start learning
which teams are the pretenders,
and which are the contenders.
The Astoria Fishermen …
are deinitely contenders.
Astoria reached the halfway
point of the regular season Fri-
day, and scored yet another big
victory over a top 10 team.
The Fishermen rallied from
an early deicit and scored
ive touchdowns over the sec-
ond and third quarters, on their
way to a 33-20 win over Valley
Catholic.
The Valiants came in rated
fourth in the latest OSAA 4A
rankings. Astoria entered the
game ranked 18th — but the
Fishermen and Valiants will
soon be swapping spots, espe-
cially if Astoria continues to
march past the competition.
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Teammates surround Astoria’s Samboy Tuimato after he
scores a touchdown in the second half against Valley
Catholic on Friday at CMH Field.
On the offense
The Fishermen have cor-
rected their defensive problems,
and their offense is racking up
numbers at a record pace.
In fact, it’s looking a little
too easy for the Astoria offense.
Senior quarterback Fridtjof
Fremstad completed his irst
seven passes for 131 yards Fri-
day, while opposing defenses
are having an impossible time
trying to stop the Fishermen.
“We’re clicking really well,”
Fremstad said. “Our linemen
are working just amazing this
year. They’re working hard in
practice.”
And it’s not uncommon to
see ive or six different play-
ers catching the ball for the
Fishermen.
“I just like getting my team-
mates involved,” Fremstad said.
“Every one of my receivers I’ve
had for about eight years now,
and I have conidence in all of
them.
“We’ve been playing
together since we were little
guys like they had out here at
halftime.”
Astoria’s Ryan Palek completes a catch for a touchdown during the first half as Astoria
faces off against Valley Catholic on Friday at CMH Field in Astoria.
‘Air Astoria’ rolled up
another 399 yards in total
offense in Friday’s win, includ-
ing 289 passing. Fremstad in-
ished 13-of-17.
Kyle Strange caught ive
passes for 93 yards, but Frem-
stad’s big target continues to
be Ryan Palek, who had four
receptions for 117 yards.
The 6-foot-5 senior is open
on pretty much every play, or
whenever Fremstad needs him.
“Ryan Palek, he wants the
ball, man,” Fremstad said. “I
give kudos to him. I threw a
couple bad balls tonight, but he
came down with them.”
In Astoria’s three wins the
last three weeks, Palek is aver-
aging 26 yards per reception
(13 catches for 338 yards and
eight touchdowns).
And if Fremstad doesn’t lead
the state in passing, he’s close.
Fremstad’s numbers over the
last three weeks: 45-of-67 for
899 yards (19.9 yards per com-
pletion) and 10 touchdowns,
with just one interception.
Capturing the lead
Meanwhile, Valley Catho-
lic led 6-0 after one quarter, but
the lead disappeared in the sec-
ond period. Tyler Lyngstad had
a 1-yard touchdown run and
Palek caught a 15-yard scoring
toss from Fremstad for a 13-13
halftime tie.
The Fishermen took the
opening kick of the second half
and drove 63 yards in seven
plays, capped by Fremstad’s
1-yard TD plunge.
The Valiants fumbled three
plays later, Astoria recovered
and scored in ive plays on a
Samboy Tuimato 1-yard run,
the irst of his two touchdowns
in the third quarter.
Fremstad’s 63-yard pass to
Strange on Astoria’s third pos-
session of the second half led to
a three-play scoring drive.
Fremstad and Strange both
had interceptions on defense,
while Fremstad made a few
monster hits on Valiant ball
carriers.
The Astoria offense will
continue to put up big numbers,
but it’s the defense that could
Indians jump over Gulls in irst quarter
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Scappoose
quarterback Quinn Searle
ran for a 47-yard touchdown
and threw three TD passes;
Jerad Toman scored on a
2-yard run and Trey Bis-
pham returned a fumble 20
yards for a score.
And that was just the first
quarter Friday night at Sea-
side, where the Indians held
a 41-0 lead after one period,
on their way to a 62-6 win
over the Gulls at Broadway
Field.
The game was under a
running clock in the sec-
ond quarter, before Seaside’s
Alexander Teubner caught
a 10-yard scoring toss from
Garret Kiser to help the
Gulls avoid the shutout.
Colton Vikings score Nestucca Bobcats
win over Loggers
blank the Warriors
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — Colton —
a 3A football team out of
the PacWest Conference —
improved to 4-0 on the sea-
son with a 40-16 win at
Knappa Friday night.
Braeden Eltagonde and
Kaleb Miller each had rush-
ing touchdowns for the Log-
gers, while Eltagonde and
Luke Goozee both ran for
2-point conversions.
Other than that, the Log-
gers hurt themselves with
turnovers and failed fourth-
down conversions.
“We didn’t take care of
the ball,” said Knappa coach
Aaron Barendse. The Log-
gers “had too many dropped
passes and didn’t tackle well.
It’s a game we’ll put behind
us and go into league more
focused.”
The Loggers inish their
nonleague schedule with
a 1-3 record, but will head
into league play as the high-
est-ranked Northwest League
team in the current OSAA
ratings.
No team in the ive-team
NWL has a winning record.
Knappa will open the league
season Friday at Gaston.
“We’ll be at full strength
for the irst time since Week
1,” Barendse said. “Hope-
fully we can go to Gaston
and turn this thing around.”
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
struggles continue for the War-
renton football team, which suf-
fered its third shutout defeat in
four games Friday night.
Nestucca scored its irst vic-
tory of the season with a 22-0
win at John Mattila Field, where
the Warriors continued their six-
game nonleague schedule before
league play begins Oct. 14.
Warrenton visits Corbett Fri-
day, followed by an Oct. 7 game
at home vs. Blanchet Catholic.
Naselle crushes Evergreen
The Daily Astorian
NASELLE, Wash. —
Naselle
scored
three
touchdowns and converted
all three two-point conver-
sions to build a 24-0 lead
after one quarter Friday, in
a 46-8 win over Evergreen
Lutheran.
Eric Lund and D.J. Wirk-
kala scored two touchdowns
apiece and Parker Dalton
caught a 40-yard scoring toss
from Cole Dorman to high-
light the Comets’ night.
TUESDAY
Volleyball — Scappoose at As-
toria, 7 p.m.; Banks at Seaside, 7
p.m.; Warrenton at Portland Chris-
tian, 5:30 p.m.; Columbia Christian
at Knappa, 6 p.m.
Girls Soccer — Tillamook at
Astoria, 6 p.m.; Valley Catholic at
Seaside, 7:30 p.m.
Boys Soccer — Astoria at Tilla-
mook, 7:30 p.m.; Seaside at Valley
Catholic, 7:30 p.m.
FOOTBALL
Astoria 33, Valley Catholic 20
V.Catholic
6 7 7 0—20
Astoria
0 13 20 0—33
First Quarter
VC: Aidan Welsh 14 run (run
failed) 5:28
Second Quarter
Ast: Tyler Lyngstad 1 run (kick
blocked) 11:57
Ast: Ryan Palek 15 pass from
Fridtjof Fremstad (Andrew Schau-
ermann kick) 7:41
VC: Kevin Eckrosh 8 pass from
Alex Tranquill (Tranquill kick)
Third Quarter
Ast: Fremstad 1 run (Schauer-
mann kick) 9:11
Ast: Samboy Tuimato 1 run
(Schauermann kick) 5:55
VC: Daniel Hardy 9 pass from
Welsh (Welsh kick) 1:28
Ast: Tuimato 7 run (Schauer-
mann kick) :28
Team Statistics
VC
AHS
Total offense 283
399
First downs
14
14
Rushes-yards 25-112 32-110
Comp-Att-Int 16-30-2 13-17-0
Passing yards 171
289
Sacked-yards 2-13
4-29
Penalties 10-66
9-68
Fumbles-lost 1-1
1-1
Valley Catholic Statistics
Rushing: Welsh 13-48, Eckrosh
8-48, Tranquill 3-11, Eberhart 1-5.
Passing: Welsh 8-17-89-2, Tran-
quill 8-13-82-0. Receiving: Hardy
6-67, Bevins 3-36, Robbins 3-11,
Eckrosh 2-17, Haggerty 1-21, Wil-
born 1-19.
Astoria Statistics
MORE ONLINE
More photos of Friday’s game available online at
DailyAstorian.com/sports
be leading the Fishermen to a
league title.
“We’re playing as a team,
and we’re hitting hard,” Frem-
stad said. “Like coach Rub
tells us, we’ve got to start off
strong and just hit hard from
the get-go. And that’s what puts
us on top of teams here. We’ve
got a bunch of relentless seniors
and juniors on this team who
aren’t afraid.”
Looking ahead, the Fish-
ermen will be huge favorites
in their next two games vs.
Seaside and Tillamook, and
a league championship will
likely be on the line in their
inal two games against Banks
and Scappoose.
First things irst, said
Fremstad.
“Our focus is Seaside for
Homecoming,” he said. “We
have to please the home crowd
here. Seaside has a lot of young
guys, but we’re not going to
underestimate them. We’re
going to work hard and have a
good week.”
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Arnold Palmer, a goling king
with common touch, dies at 87
Arnold Palmer charged across the golf course and into
America’s living rooms with a go-for-broke style that made
a country-club sport popular for the everyman. At ease with
presidents and the public, he was on a irst-name basis with
both.
He never lost that personal touch. That’s what made him the
King.
Palmer died Sunday in Pittsburgh at 87. Alastair Johnston,
the CEO of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, said Palmer was admit-
ted to the UPMC Hospital on Thurs-
day for cardiovascular work and weak-
ened over the last few days. Palmer was
diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997,
which was caught early.
“Arnold transcended the game of
golf,” Jack Nicklaus said. “He was more
than a golfer or even great golfer. He was
an icon. He was a legend.”
President Barack Obama tweeted:
“Here’s to The King who was as extraor-
dinary on the links as he was generous to
Arnold
others. Thanks for the memories, Arnold.”
Palmer
Palmer’s place in golf history went
well beyond his seven major championships and 62 PGA Tour
wins. His good looks, devilish grin and hard-charging style of
play made the elite sport appealing to all. He arrived about the
time television moved into most households.
“If it wasn’t for Arnold, golf wouldn’t be as popular as it is
now,” Tiger Woods said in 2004 when Palmer played in his last
Masters. “He’s the one who basically brought it to the forefront
on TV.”
’A lot of pain’ — Marlins cope
with Fernandez’s death
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
Astoria’s Kyle Strange attempts avoiding a Valley Catholic
tackle on a play Friday at CMH Field.
Rushing: Tuimato 12-40, Ranta
3-29, Lyngstad 4-23, Olson 3-13,
Fremstad 10-5. Passing: Frem-
stad 13-17-289-0. Receiving:
Strange 5-93, Palek 4-117, Tuimato
3-32, Matteucci 1-47.
Scappooose 62, Seaside 6
Scappoose
41 14 0 7—62
Seaside
0 6 0
0—6
First Quarter
Scp: Michael Gift 49 pass from
Quinn Searle (Jerad Toman run)
Scp: Nate Rieman 33 pass from
Searle (Benji Davidson kick)
Scp: Toman 2 run (kick blocked)
Scp: Gift 8 pass from Searle (Da-
vidson kick)
Scp: Searle 47 run (Davidson
kick)
Scp: Trey Bispham 20 fumble re-
turn (kick failed)
Second Quarter
Scp: Colton Bush 2 run (David-
son kick)
Scp: Toman 37 run (Davidson
kick)
Sea: Alexander Teubner 10 pass
from Garret Kiser (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
Scp: Carson Witt 9 run (Davidson
kick)
Ilwaco 26, Toutle Lake 14
Toutle Lake
7 0 7 0—14
Ilwaco
0 20 6 0—26
First Quarter
TL: Zak Lukas 7 run (Riley Kent
kick)
Second Quarter
Ilw: Brandon McMullen 6 run
(kick failed)
Ilw: Alex Kaino 20 pass from Jack
Odneal (McMullen from Odneal)
Ilw: Brandon Duke 7 run (conver-
sion failed)
Third Quarter
Ilw: Odneal 1 run (conversion
failed)
TL:
Logan
Grabenhorst
15 pass from Lincoln Kessler
(Kent kick)
Ilwaco Statistics
Rushing: Duke 23-97, McMullen
22-78, Odneal 10-17. Passing:
Odneal 8-19-77-2. Receiving: Mc-
Mullen 3-17, Kaino 2-26, Bannister
2-21, Sheldon 1-13.
MIAMI — Jose Fernandez made his major league debut
against the New York Mets in 2013 and was scheduled to face
them again Monday night.
Instead, Miami mourns and the Marlins must push on
without their ace, who was killed in a boating accident early
Sunday.
“Deep in our hearts there is a lot of pain,” third baseman
Martin Prado said. “Somehow we’ve got to overcome that.”
Fernandez and two other men died when their 32-foot ves-
sel slammed into a jetty off Miami Beach, authorities said.
The capsized boat was found shortly after 3 a.m., and the news
sent shock waves throughout Major League Baseball.
The Marlins’ game Sunday against Atlanta was canceled,
but there were pregame tributes and moments of silence for
him throughout both leagues. Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz
asked the Tampa Bay Rays to cancel a pregame tribute they
scheduled in his honor before his inal game in their ballpark
Sunday.
“I don’t have the words to describe the pain I feel,” Ortiz
said. “Jose was one of the special cases. The story behind him
and his family and the way everything happened. You know
how remarkable his career was going. But the most important
thing was his kindness and the kind of person he was. It’s hard,
man.”