10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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SPORTS
IN BRIEF
R.A. Long girls
down Astoria
The Daily Astorian
R.A. Long’s Khloe Snair
scored 19 points and sophomore
teammate Eastyn Reeves added 18
Monday night, to help the Lum-
berjills score a 55-44 win over vis-
iting Astoria in a nonleague girls
basketball game.
The Lady Fishermen played
evenly with R.A. Long for the
first, third and fourth quarters, but
a 12-3 run by the Lumberjills in
the second quarter proved to be
the difference.
R.A. Long also finished 16-of-
24 at the free-throw line, to Asto-
ria’s 6-of-8.
Brooklynn Hankwitz led the
Lady Fish with 11 points, while
Alexis Wallace and Julie Nor-
ris scored 10 apiece for Asto-
ria, which returns to action today
(4:30 p.m.) at home vs. Estacada.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls Basketball — Estacada at Asto-
ria, 4:30 p.m.; Cascade at Seaside, 7:45
p.m.; Warrenton at Portland Christian,
7:45 p.m.; City Christian at Knappa, 6
p.m.; Jewell at Oregon School for the
Deaf, 5:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Estacada at As-
toria, 6:15 p.m.; Cascade at Seaside, 6
p.m.; Warrenton at Portland Christian, 6
p.m.; City Christian at Knappa, 8 p.m.;
Jewell at Oregon School for the Deaf,
7:15 p.m.; Ilwaco at Ocosta, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Wrestling — Astoria, Seaside at Tilla-
mook, 5:30 p.m.
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Jackson Arnsdorf shoots for the basket in the first half during a game against R.A. Long on Monday in Astoria.
FISHERMEN HOLD OFF
LUMBERJACKS’ RALLY
BOYS BASKETBALL
Astoria 66, R.A. Long 64
RAL (64): Coby Rothwell 27, Mawae
11, Childers 8, Rybnikar 7, Wallace 5,
Lewis-Clark 4, Kotera 2.
AST (66): Jasyn Gohl 20, Palek 11,
Englund 10, Arnsdorf 10, Johnson 8,
Wallace 7, Burchfield, Olson.
RA Long
16 7 15 26—64
Astoria
14 14 14 24—66
Field goals: RA Long 22-46; Astoria
26-40. 3-Point goals: RA Long 7-16
(Rothwell 3, Childers 2, Wallace, Ryb-
nikar); Astoria 5-7 (Gohl 2, Johnson 2,
Wallace). Free throws: RA Long 13-17;
Astoria 9-14. Fouls: RA Long 18, Astoria
13. Turnovers: RA Long 13, Astoria 13.
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
T
he R.A. Lumberjacks went down swing-
ing Monday night at the Brick House.
Swinging and making 3-point shots.
Trailing by 12 points with a little over two
minutes left in regulation, the ‘Jacks definitely
made it interesting — and made the Astoria
Fishermen work for their 66-64 win.
Astoria took its final lead in the opening
seconds of the second quarter, and threatened
more than once to blow the game open, in the
contest that was originally scheduled to be
played Dec. 9.
R.A. Long kept it close until midway
through the second half, when Astoria’s
Tristan Wallace and Karsten Johnson both hit
3-pointers in a 12-3 run that had the Fisher-
men in front, 51-41 with 6:02 left.
Three consecutive scores from Jasyn Gohl,
Ole Englund and Ryan Palek gave Astoria its
largest lead at 59-46, but the Lumberjacks
would not — and did not — go quietly.
Led by 6-foot-3 senior guard Coby Roth-
well, R.A. Long rallied with four 3-pointers in
the final two minutes.
Rothwell made three 3s in the final period,
in which he had 13 points in the quarter (and
GIRLS BASKETBALL
R.A. Long 55, Astoria 44
AST (44): Brooklynn Hankwitz 11, Wal-
lace 10, Norris 10, O’Brien 6, DeMander
3, Gimre 2, Hemsley 2.
RAL (55): Khloe Snair 19, Reeves 18,
Maryott 7, Kirzy 5, Allen 4, Arruda 2.
Astoria
15 3 15 11—44
RA Long
16 12 17 10—55
Quinn downplays
personal stake in
Seahawks’ rematch
Astoria’s Ryan Palek shoots against R.A.
Long on Monday in Astoria. Palek had 11
points, and the Fishermen won 66-64.
27 for the game), while sophomore teammate
Jacob Childers made a pair of 3-pointers in the
final 28 seconds.
His second came with just three seconds
left, and the Fishermen were able to inbound
the ball and run out the remaining seconds.
“They’re physical, they’re big and they’ve
got some good athletes,” Astoria coach Kevin
Goin said of R.A. Long. “And they’re kind of
in the same boat as we are, with a couple of
their good players out with injuries or the flu.
“But I was pleased with how we played,”
he said. “We shot very well (13-for-14 from
the field in the second half) and we moved the
ball a lot better than we have been. We had
four in doubles (figures), one with 8 and one
with7, so we’re getting balanced scoring.
“Tristan, K.J. and Jasyn all hit some big
shots, we shot well in the fourth quarter and
we made our free throws in the second half
(including 8-for-9 in a five-minute stretch of
the fourth period). And that was big, because
(the Lumberjacks) got hot. Seven 3s in the
second half.”
Gohl led Astoria with 20 points, followed
by Palek with 11, and Jackson Arnsdorf and
Englund with 10 apiece.
The Fishermen return to action tonight at
home vs. Estacada.
“We’re still without a couple guys (Fridt-
jof Fremstad and Kyle Strange), but I’ve been
impressed with how other kids are stepping
up,” Goin said.
Associated Press
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.
— Falcons coach Dan Quinn is
determined to make sure he’s not
the story in Saturday’s NFC divi-
sional-round playoff game against
Seattle, his former team.
Quinn spoke briefly on Mon-
day about his personal connection
to Seattle and then offered a polite
request.
“Hopefully for everyone listen-
ing that will be the last question
we hear about it this week,” Quinn
said.
Quinn, the Seahawks’ former
defensive coordinator, took Atlanta
to the NFC South title and a wild-
card round bye in his second sea-
son as coach.
He made his first return to Seat-
tle on Oct. 16, when the Seahawks
rallied for a 26-24 win. A trip to
the NFC championship game will
be on the line Saturday, and Quinn
said that overshadows any personal
motivations in the rematch against
Seattle and his former boss, Pete
Carroll.
“I so never wanted the spotlight
to be about me,” Quinn said. “I
want it to be about our team and the
way they compete and the tough-
ness they have.”
He acknowledged that he’s glad
he already has his first game against
his former team out of the way.
UP NEXT: SEAHAWKS
• Seattle Seahawks (10-5-1)
at Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
• Saturday, 1:35 p.m. TV: FOX
Column: Thank you, Clemson and Alabama
By PAUL NEWBERRY
Associated Press
T
AMPA, Fla. — Thank you,
Clemson. College football
needed this.
Thank you, Alabama.
A fallen champion, but thor-
oughly magnificent.
In a sequel that proved to be even
more of a blockbuster than the orig-
inal, Deshaun Watson and the Tigers
went to the 59th minute and 59th
second of the national champion-
ship game to finally topple one of the
greatest dynasties in the history of
sports Monday night.
When Watson rolled out to his
right and zipped a 2-yard touchdown
pass to Hunter Renfrow with a single
second left on the clock, the Crim-
son Tide’s bid for a fifth national title
in eight years was snuffed out by a
35-31 defeat .
That was a welcome development
for everyone outside of Tuscaloosa.
The sport desperately needed some-
one to stare down Nick Saban’s jug-
gernaut. It’s always good to spread
things around a bit.
Watson was the one who did the
staring, and all it took was another
superhuman effort. The NFL-bound
quarterback, who already gradu-
ated from college in three short years
, calmly guided the Tigers to three
fourth-quarter touchdowns against the
AP Photo/John Bazemore
Clemson’s Hunter Renfrow catches the national championship win-
ning touchdown pass from QB Deshaun Watson with one second left.
biggest, baddest defense in the land.
It was stunning to watch.
Just imagine what it was like to
live it.
“I want to be legendary,” said Wat-
son, who was thinking all along about
Vince Young’s performance in that
off-the-charts Rose Bowl 11 years
ago.
Mission accomplished.
But hand it to Alabama: No great
champion goes down meekly, and the
Crimson Tide fought and struggled
and clawed right to the very end.
“I will remember this team as a
group of winners,” said Nick Saban,
who was denied his sixth national
title as a coach, which would’ve tied
him with Bear Bryant for the most
championships in the poll era.
Alabama went into the fourth
quarter with a 24-14 lead.
Saban’s record with a dou-
ble-digit lead in the final period was
97-0 during his decade of dominance
at Alabama, but this game was just
getting started.
When it was done, he was 97-1.
Watson threw a 4-yard touchdown
pass to Mike Williams in the opening
minute of the fourth to cut the defi-
cit to 24-21. Then the quarterback
guided his team from nearly one end
of the field to the other on an 88-yard
drive that put the Tigers ahead for
the first time all night, capped off by
Wayne Gallman’s 1-yard run.
Then it was Alabama, with
18-year-old freshman Jalen Hurts
running the offense, going 68 yards
in a mere six plays to reclaim the
lead with just over 2 minute remain-
ing. The young quarterback covered
the last 30 yards himself, breaking
free up the middle and cruising into
the end zone for what looked to be a
championship-clinching score.
But Watson had one more crack
at it.
He used every last second to
deliver the Tigers their first national
title in 35 years, helped along by sev-
eral catches that somehow clung to
his receivers’ fingertips.
“It was calm,” said Watson, who
finished 36 of 56 for 420 yards —
even more than he had in last year’s
45-40 loss to Alabama in the title
game. “No one over there panicked.
I walked up to my offensive line, my
receivers, and I said, ‘Let’s be great.”’
That they were.
So was Alabama.
“It was an unbelievable, unprec-
edented run,” Clemson coach Dabo
Swinney said of his alma mater,
where he won a national title as a
player in 1992. “I’ve never seen any-
thing like it. But they lost the wrong
game.”
Really, there were no losers.
For that, we say to both teams:
Thank you.