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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Knappa wins Clash of Loggers, again
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — There’s a new favor-
ite in the world of Oregon 2A boys
basketball: The Knappa Loggers.
The case for No. 1 is pretty strong
right now for the mighty Loggers:
• Unbeaten (13-0) against 2A and
3A competition (Knappa’s only two
losses are to Class 4A Astoria and
Seaside);
• Two convincing wins over the
defending 2A state champions from
Vernonia, including a 53-33 scorch-
ing Thursday night at Knappa;
• And most of all, Knappa is cur-
rently 10-0 atop the Northwest
League standings, with a 1 1/2-game
lead over Columbia Christian in the
toughest conference at the 2A level.
Not to mention Knappa’s aver-
age margin of victory in their 10
league games. Knappa is scoring 68.0
points per contest, to 37.0 for their
opponents.
The Loggers of Knappa certainly
looked the part of No. 1 Thursday
night at home.
“This was really our first big
test, based on how things are in the
league standings,” said Knappa coach
Chris Spencer. “We still have four
Falls City tops
Jewell boys
The Daily Astorian
FALLS CITY — Sophomore
Austin Burgess poured in 25
points to lead Falls City to a 45-30
win over Jewell Thursday night,
in a Casco League boys basket-
ball game.
Carson Littlepage had 10
points and Ben Stahly pulled
down 11 rebounds for Jewell.
Krissy Barendse-Goodman/For the Daily Astorian
Knappa’s Timber Engblom drives to the hoop between two Vernonia
defenders in Thursday’s basketball game.
tough games against Life Christian
and Columbia Christian, so the main
thing is to just keep getting better.
There’s no panic and no quit in our
kids right now.
“We’re learning to adapt, and we
can play a lot of different ways — we
can play big, we can play smaller …
the younger guys are gaining a lot of
experience, and we’re 10 deep. There
aren’t a lot of teams that have 10 guys
who can play.”
Slow start
After their usual slow start (four
turnovers in their first five posses-
sions), Knappa turned up the heat on
Vernonia in the second quarter, and
made its first big run of the night.
Trailing 16-9, Dale Takalo scored
on a drive to the hoop to spark a 12-0
run, resulting in a 21-16 Knappa lead,
and the home Loggers would not trail
again.
Vernonia’s Brett Elliott hit a pair
of 3-pointers midway through the first
half, but the senior took a hard fall
and hit his head when he was under-
cut on a rebound with 1:06 left in the
first half.
Elliott later returned, but did not
score again.
Both teams started slow in the sec-
ond half, with the first points coming
at the 4:52 mark.
Holding a slim 26-23 lead, Knap-
pa’s Timber Engblom scored on a
running jumper; and the turning point
came with 2:43 remaining, when Ver-
nonia’s Clay Sullivan was called for a
technical foul. Takalo made both free
throws for a 30-23 lead.
And it was Colton Weirup who
sparked Big Rally No. 2 for Knappa
moments later.
The junior guard knocked three
straight 3-pointers, helping turn a
30-25 lead into a 47-25 advantage.
“I knew we went through a big
stretch there, but I didn’t know it was
that big,” Spencer said. “The big play
was Timber’s big play at the end of
the third quarter. Losing his shoe, hit-
SEASIDE SQUAD
FOLLOWS ‘TRADITION’
Seniors take
charge for the
undefeated Gulls
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Boys Basketball — Astoria at Banks,
6 p.m.; Seaside at Tillamook, 6 p.m.;
Catlin Gabel at Warrenton, 8 p.m.; Jew-
ell at Valor Christian, 6 p.m.; Ilwaco at
North Beach, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Astoria at Banks,
7:45 p.m.; Seaside at Tillamook, 7:45
p.m.; Catlin Gabel at Warrenton, 6 p.m.;
Jewell at SW Christian, 3 p.m.; Ilwaco at
North Beach, 5:45 p.m.
Wrestling — Astoria/Banks at Sea-
side, 5:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Boys Basketball — Delphian at
Knappa, 4 p.m.
Wrestling — Ilwaco Beach Brawl, 10
a.m.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Knappa 53, Vernonia 33
VER (33): Clay Sullivan 8, Brett Elliott
8, Clark 7, Adams 4, McCallum 4, K.Sul-
livan 2.
KNA (53): Colton Weirup 18, Engblom
14, D.Takalo 13, E.Takalo 6, Rubus 2,
Goodman.
Vernonia
13 7 5 8—33
Knappa
9 17 16 11—53
Field goals: Vernonia 10-38; Knappa
19-42. 3-Point goals: Vernonia 3-16
(Elliott 2, Adams); Knappa 8-19 (Weirup
5, E.Takalo 2, D.Takalo). Free throws:
Vernonia 10-13; Knappa 7-13. Fouls:
Vernonia 20, Knappa 17. Technicals:
Vernonia, C.Sullivan. Turnovers: Verno-
nia 20, Knappa 16.
JV: Knappa 53, Vernonia 32
Falls City 45, Jewell 30
JWL (30): Carson Littlepage 10, R.
Kane 4, N.Kane 4, Godwin 3, Meehan
3, Lilley 2, Hinson 2, Stahly 2.
FC (45): Austin Burgess 25, Labrado
8, Young 4, Curry 3, Simmons 3, Oberg
1, Varney 1.
Jewell
6 8 10 6—30
Falls City
13 10 12 10—45
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Vernonia 36, Knappa 29
VER (36): Vivianna Bustamante 21,
Everett 4, Barklow 4, M.Ely 4, Wolf 2,
Harral 1.
KNA (29): Kaitlyn Landwehr 10, Weav-
er 7, Miller 4, Vanderburg 3, Vandergriff
3, Inman 2, Strain.
Vernonia
13 7 8 8—36
Knappa
7 4 7 11—29
Field goals: Vernonia 15-43; Knappa
10-56. 3-Point goals: Vernonia 3-13
(Bustamante 3); Knappa 1-14 (Vander-
griff). Free throws: Vernonia 3-9; Knap-
pa 8-17. Fouls: Vernonia 17, Knappa 11.
Turnovers: Vernonia 29, Knappa 14.
JV: Knappa 37, Vernonia 14
Jewell 39, Falls City 38
JWL (39): Gabi Morales 11, Littlepage
10, Kaczenski 6, Guillen 4, Hollenbach
4, Wammack 2, Norman 2, Olvera.
FC (38): Amara Houghtaling 21, Tad-
lock 10, Burgess 5, Lamers 2.
Jewell
2 4 16 9 10—39
Falls City
8 7 2 12 9—38
S
EASIDE —The Seaside
Gulls are becoming the
Golden State Warriors of
the Cowapa League.
With one exception. The War-
riors lose every now and then. The
Gulls do not. The Gulls stand at
13-0 and 3-0 within the league.
They are ranked No. 1 in three
polls.
Granted, Seaside has played far
fewer games than the Warriors —
but the Gulls win any number of
ways, and they can launch 3-point-
ers better than just about anybody
— Class 5A and 6A included — in
the state.
Seaside — the runner-up in
last year’s state championship
(another feeling the Golden State
Warriors can relate to) — is one of
only two unbeaten teams in Ore-
gon high school basketball. Day-
ton is 18-0 at the Class 3A level.
And assuming that Tillamook
does not score a miracle win
tonight, Seaside will be 4-0 in
league play.
Currently playing the part of
Steph Curry is Jackson Januik —
at least it was his turn Tuesday,
as the senior guard connected on
a couple of long-range, NBA-size
3-pointers on his way to a 19-point
night in the latest win against Val-
ley Catholic.
A Seaside High School grad-
uate himself, head coach Bill
Westerholm knows the tradition
and process of becoming a Gull.
“I remember as a kid, looking
up to the kids at the high school. I
had the opportunity to have some
success when I was here, and it’s
nice to be able to get these (cur-
rent) kids involved. What we do at
Cedar Ridge (an annual off-season
camp), we get all the kids together,
and the younger kids get to know
the older kids.
“These guys we have now
were the ones who were looking
up to the Andrew Potter’s and that
group, and right now, all the youth
who were sitting behind our bench
tonight, they’re watching their
idols now.”
Trophies
And when they start young, a
successful program seems to fol-
low. That means wins. Lots and
lots of wins.
Summers are normally filled
with team photos of young Sea-
side players holding up trophies.
In addition to Westerholm,
some of those responsible for
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s Hunter Thompson dribbles down the court during a
game against Valley Catholic on Tuesday in Seaside.
the building of Seaside basket-
ball include Frank Januik, Byren
Thompson and Gene Quilhaugh.
“Frank Januik and Byren
Thompson coach them from kin-
dergarten through the seventh
grade; and Gene Quilhaugh —
who has a lot of knowledge about
basketball — had both groups
through their seventh- and eighth-
grade years,” Westerholm said.
“They’ve won a lot of summer
games. These kids have won a lot
of games at the youth level, and
now they’ve won a lot of games at
the sophomore and senior levels.
“We’re still trying to keep that
tradition,” he said. “We know what
the ingredients are — the coaches
we’ve had at the youth level. We’re
trying to continue that history in
our youth programs right now.”
Playing together
It’s an advantage that private
schools don’t have. Whereas pri-
vate schools can “recruit,” their
players often don’t know or play
together until they reach the high
school level.
Seaside players, for the most
part, have been teammates from
the moment they pick up a
basketball
Jackson Januik, the reigning
4A state Player of the Year, says,
“That’s the great thing about play-
ing for Seaside. I’ve played with
this group my entire life, and
we know each perfectly. Play-
ing against a bigger team like
Valley Catholic, when I drive, I
know Hunter’s going to be cut-
ting, because he’s been doing it for
years. And Payton, Attikin, Chase
we work together extremely well.”
He adds, “We played a lot of the
6A schools in the summer tourna-
ments, like Westview and South-
ridge. Those were good games for
us. Those games pushed us to be
better, and have more success in
high school.”
And now that they’re No. 1?
“We know we have a target on
our back, and we’ve talked about
that target at the beginning of the
year,” coach Westerholm said.
“We know that every team that
plays us is going to bring their best
game. They want to beat the No. 1
team, the team that played in the
state championship last year. And
we want that challenge.”
No. 1
Assuming there’s no upsets on
the horizon, the Gulls will likely
take that No. 1 ranking into the
state playoffs, and on to Hillsboro.
But even if they don’t hold
down the No. 1 seed, “What’s
important is how we’re playing
at the end of the year,” Wester-
holm said. “(The No. 1 ranking)
is a nice little feather in the cap,
and these kids deserve it. But it’s
not the most important thing right
now. The important thing is that
we continue to work as a team,
and get better with each practice.
“With our senior leadership —
Jackson Januik, Hunter Thomp-
son, Attikin Babb and Otto Hoek-
stre — you couldn’t ask for four
better senior leaders.”
Upcoming games include
matchups Tuesday against Banks
at home and Feb. 3 against Scap-
poose. They’ll finish their sea-
son with away games at Astoria,
Valley Catholic and Banks. Their
final home game is Feb. 14 against
Tillamook.
ting the shot and drawing the foul for
a three-point play.”
Who else but a player named
‘Timber’ would make the big play in
a game between the Loggers and the
Loggers?
“Timber Engblom (14 points)
was awesome tonight,” Spencer said.
“Just an amazing game.
“We got off to a tough start, and
that’s starting to become a concern,”
he said. “(Vernonia) came out in a
1-3-1 zone, and we knew what to do
against it — it just took us a while to
adapt, figure things out and find the
holes.”
Knappa was outsized (“we seem to
have that problem with everybody,”
Spencer said), but “we battled tough
inside. It was good to see Colton do
what he did, and have the game that
he had (a game-high 18 points). Then
Eli hit some huge shots.”
The future of the NWL certainly
belongs to Knappa.
During a key stretch of the sec-
ond half, “We had two freshmen, a
sophomore and two juniors on the
floor,” said Spencer, who was also
giving credit to his assistant coaches,
Jed Miethe and Chuck Haglund. “We
wouldn’t be where we are without
those guys.”
Lady Jays win
overtime thriller
The Daily Astorian
FALLS CITY — An offensive
rebound basket by Alyscia Littlep-
age with eight seconds left in over-
time gave the Jewell girls basket-
ball team a 39-38 Casco League
win at Falls City Thursday night.
Gabi Morales had 11 points
and 13 rebounds to lead the Lady
Jays, who led for much of the sec-
ond half, despite being outscored
15-6 in the first half.
Jewell’s 16-2 run in the third
quarter had the Jays in front 22-17
heading into the fourth period.
“It was a fun game,” said Jew-
ell coach Mark Fick. “The kids
played hard. Gabi Morales hit
quite a few shots in the fourth
quarter and overtime.
“We held a lead for a good
part of the fourth quarter, but (the
Mountaineers) came back and tied
it, and it was back and forth in the
overtime.”
Littlepage and Hayley Nor-
man each had five steals for Jew-
ell, while sophomore Amara
Houghtaling scored 21 points to
lead Falls City.
Jewell now has two straight
league wins. The Jays posted their
first league win of the season the
night before, 58-18 over Living-
stone Adventist.
Morales had 18 points and five
steals; Littlepage added 10 points,
four steals and four assists; and
Norman finished with four steals
and three blocks.
Vernonia girls
edge Knappa
The Daily Astorian
KNAPPA — The Vernonia
Loggers struggled with turnovers,
while the Knappa Loggers had
problems shooting the ball Thurs-
day night at Knappa, in a crucial
Northwest League girls basketball
game.
But someone had to win. It
turned out to be Vernonia, which
overcame 17 first half turnovers in
a 36-29 win over Knappa.
Knappa was within 8-6 mid-
way through the first quarter, but
their downfall was Vernonia’s
Vivianna Bustamante.
The senior guard scored the
first 11 points for her team, and
finished with a game-high 21 (16
in the first half).
Knappa’s pressure defense
came up with 12 steals and forced
29 turnovers, but the home Log-
gers continued to struggle from
the field in the second half, in
which Knappa was 6-for-34 from
the field (10-for-56 for the game).
Kaitlyn Landwehr led Knappa
with 10 points (nine in the first
half), while freshman Made-
lynn Weaver finished with seven
points and five rebounds. Aiko
Miller added four points and four
steals.