12A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Seaside boys second at state meet The Daily Astorian EUGENE — The Seaside boys’ cross country team came up short in their bid for a second-straight state championship — but the Gulls fin- ished a strong second, and the day still belonged to the Cowapa League Saturday, at the OSAA state meet in Eugene. The Tillamook girls and the Val- ley Catholic boys were the team champions in the Class 4A portion of the meet, held at Lane Community College. And after finishing second to Sea- side in the Cowapa League district meet the previous week, the Valley Catholic boys managed to slip past the Gulls in the team standings at state. The Valiants’ top five runners fin- ished in the top 26 overall, enough for Valley Catholic to finish with 58 team points, to Seaside’s 79. Phoenix was a distant third, with 121. Individually, senior Michael Brown of North Bend took first place, covering the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 13 seconds. Seaside senior Bradley Rzewnicki — the defending individual champion — placed fourth in 16:22. Seaside teammate Jackson Januik was 14th (16:57), followed by Hunter Thompson (15th, 17:08). Rafi Sibony was 31st (17:26) and Colton Car- ter was Seaside’s fifth runner (45th, 17:53). After placing fourth in the district meet, Astoria’s lone entrant — senior Lucas Caruana — finished fifth over- all in 16:41. Caruana got out to a quick start with the lead pack, which included John Kavulich from Scappoose and Rzewnicki. He held on to fifth position after the first mile, pushed the middle mile and attacked the hills, breaking away from the second pack and running alone for most of the third mile. Caruana finished with a 5,000 per- sonal best by 19 seconds, while the Cowapa League had four runners among the top 10 finishers. Celie Mans of Siuslaw was the girls’ individual champion (18:55), while Tillamook’s top five runners finished in the top 36, as the Lady Mooks finished with 71 points, ahead of La Grande (76). Matt Rawlings/For the Daily Astorian Seaside’s Bradley Rzewnicki, center, runs with athletes in the lead pack Saturday, including Robby Vos of Phoenix, left, and John Kavu- lich of Scappoose. All three would finish in the top five, with Astoria’s Lucas Caruana (not pictured), at the 4A state cross country meet. FISHERMEN UNSTOPPABLE Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Fridtjof Fremstad runs down the field as the Fishermen faced off against Gladstone in the first round of playoffs on Friday at CMH Field in Astoria. Astoria won 48-14 and hosts Cottage Grove Friday in a state quarterfinal at CMH Field. Astoria cruises to state quarterfinals By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian From 1-4 league seasons in 2013 and ’14, to the state quarterfinals in 2016 … Astoria football has indeed come a long way in a short period of time. And now the Fighting Fisher- men on the verge of something much bigger. Astoria kicked off the 2016 post-season Friday night with an impressive 48-14 win over Gladstone at CMH Field, in a first-round game of the Class 4A state playoffs. And now the No. 3-seed Fishermen — predicted by some around the state to win their first state title since 2008 — are just three wins away from their magic goal. With Cascade’s 40-21 win over Mazama Friday, the Fishermen are now the high- est-seeded team in their half of the bracket. Astoria will host Cottage Grove Friday in a state quarterfinal at CMH Field. Astoria racked up 476 yards in total offense against Gladstone, and with the exception of a big play by the Gladiators and a late turnover on special teams, the Fishermen defense was a force, allowing just nine first downs. Meanwhile, Astoria had 307 yards offense in the first half alone, and finished with 22 first downs. See ASTORIA, Page 11A St. Paul wins wild one over Knappa By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian The Knappa Loggers came up 7 seconds, 8 points and 9 yards short Saturday afternoon, in a Class 2A state playoff. A late defensive stand by St. Paul helped the Buckaroos hold on for a 32-24 win over the No. 8 seed Loggers. It was the closest game — by far — in the first round of the Class 2A football playoffs. Knappa finishes the season 5-5 overall, while St. Paul (6-3) will play at Regis later this week. Saturday’s contest was played at CMH Field in Astoria, where the Loggers were undefeated and look- ing to recapture some of the momen- tum they had in 2014, when Knappa advanced to the state semifinals. The Loggers won back-to-back playoff games at CMH that year, defeating Culver and Oakland. And Knappa looked right at home to start Saturday’s game. Knappa took the opening kick- off and drove 85 yards in just seven plays, with Andrew Goozee high- lighting the drive with a 45-yard run, then capping the march with a 2-yard touchdown run. The next two scores belonged to Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Knappa Loggers’ Kaleb Miller attempts avoiding a tackle as Knappa faces off against St. Paul on Saturday at CMH Field in Astoria. St. Paul, which found the end zone on a pair of long runs (32 yards by Jus- tin Herberger, and a 49-yard sprint by Fernando Dela Cerda). Knappa quarterback Kaleb Miller tossed a 27-yard strike to Braeden Eltagonde for the tying touchdown with 5:28 left in the first half, but a late turnover led to a Buckaroo touch- down just before halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, St. Paul extended the lead to 32-16, MORE PHOTOS ONLINE Check out DailyAstorian.com when Holden Smith tossed a 10-yard TD pass to Campbell Smith with 7:45 left in the fourth, capping a 13-play, 79-yard drive. The Loggers answered with a 72-yard march of their own. Keyed by a 24-yard scramble by Miller on a fourth down play, Miller hit Ethan Rubus from 12 yards out for a touchdown with 4:24 remaining. Knappa’s defense forced a three- and-out for St. Paul, and the Loggers set up for one final drive, starting at their own 20 with 3:03 left. Miller — Knappa’s senior transfer from Pleasant Hill — was 7-for-7 on the drive, which included a 28-yard pass to Mitch Geisler on a first- and-27, following a holding penalty. But on a pass from Miller to Goo- zee to the 9-yard line, Miller was hit after the throw and forced from the game with a leg injury. Freshman Eli Takalo took over, and the St. Paul defense managed to force three straight incompletions in the final 29 seconds, and the Loggers turned the ball over on downs with seven seconds left. Miller completed his last nine passes, and finished 18-of-30 for 196 yards, with completions to eight dif- ferent receivers. Timber Engblom caught five for 44 yards, and Mason Hoover had four catches on the final drive, for 38 yards. Goozee rushed for 131 yards on 26 carries, while Dela Cerda finished with 181 yards on 24 attempts for St. Paul. SCOREBOARD FOOTBALL Astoria 48, Gladstone 14 Gladstone 0 7 0 7—14 Astoria 7 21 13 7—48 First Quarter Ast: Fridtjof Fremstad 35 run (Andrew Schauermann kick) 1:30 Second Quarter Ast: Fremstad 7 run (Schauermann kick) 9:10 Ast: Ryan Palek 72 pass from Frems- tad (Schauermann kick) 6:54 Gla: Briggs Tatum 60 pass from Hud- son Meyer (Josiah Wachlin kick) 6:39 Ast: Fremstad 9 run (Schauermann kick) :40 Third Quarter Ast: Olaf Englund 58 pass from Frem- stad (Schauermann kick) 9:51 Ast: Fremstad 8 run (kick blocked) 2:26 Fourth Quarter Ast: Fremstad 14 run (Schauermann kick) 9:01 Gla: Quinn Carl 1 run (Wachlin kick) 5:12 Team Statistics GHS AHS Total offense 194 476 First downs 9 22 Rushes-yards 39-117 31-134 Comp-Att-Int 5-11-0 16-21-1 Passing yards 77 342 Penalties 4-40 7-60 Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-1 Gladstone Statistics Rushing: Carl 17-79, Boyd 7-24, Farris 10-17, Meyer 4-(-3), Alvarado 1-0. Pass- ing: Meyer 5-11-77-0. Receiving: Tatom 2-66, Conner 1-8, Boyd 1-8, Hill 1-0. Astoria Statistics Rushing: Fremstad 10-104, Ranta 12-54, Tuimato 4-9, Lyngstad 2-5, Wal- lace 2-(-10), Matteuci 1-(-28). Passing: Fremstad 16-20-342-1, Wallace 0-1-0-0. Receiving: Englund 8-190, Palek 4-109, O’Brien 2-12, Tuimato 1-17, J.Olson 1-14. St. Paul 32, Knappa 24 St. Paul 8 16 0 8—32 Knappa 8 8 0 8—24 First Quarter Kna: Andrew Goozee 6 run (A.Goozee run) 9:28 SP: Justin Herberger 32 run (Adal Iz- quierdo from Holden Smith) 3:22 Second Quarter SP: Fernando Dela Cerda 49 run (Iz- quierdo run) 8:03 Kna: Braeden Eltagonde 27 pass from Kaleb Miller (Miller run) 5:28 SP: Dela Cerda 1 run (Herberger run) :53 Fourth Quarter SP: Campbell Smith 10 pass from H.Smith (Herberger run) 7:45 Kna: Ethan Rubus 12 pass from Miller (A.Goozee run) 4:24 Team Statistics SP KHS Total offense 303 363 First downs 15 20 Rushes-yards 41-260 40-167 Comp-Att-Int 4-9-1 18-30-1 Passing yards 43 196 Penalties 2-10 5-40 Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0 St. Paul Statistics Rushing: Dela Cerda 24-181, Her- berger 11-59, Vargas 1-17, Izquierdo 4-11, C.Smith 1-(-8). Passing: H.Smith 4-9-43-1. Receiving: Vargas 1-15, C.Smith 1-10, Izquierdo 1-9, Herberger 1-9. Knappa Statistics Rushing: A.Goozee 26-131, Miller 9-27, Engblom 1-7, Geisler 4-2. Passing: Miller 18-30-196-1, Takalo 0-3-0-0. Re- ceiving: Engblom 5-44, Hoover 5-38, Geisler 2-36, Eltagonde 2-35, A.Goozee 2-12, Green 1-19, Rubus 1-12. Class 4A Playoffs North Bend 69, La Grande 13 Banks 27, Marshfield 20 Estacada 26, Sisters 6 Ontario 42, Scappoose 21 Astoria 48, Gladstone 14 Cottage Grove 35, North Valley 17 South Umpqua 28, Baker 0 Cascade 40, Mazama 21 Class 2A Playoffs Regis 42, Monroe 20 St. Paul 32, Knappa 24 Grant Union 30, Reedsport 12 Heppner 55, Gold Beach 20 Kennedy 61, Gaston 14 Toledo 54, Union 14 Santiam 35, Lost River 20 Stanfield 49, Central Linn 14