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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Astoria
wins on
Lertora’s
goal
The Daily Astorian
RAINIER — Out-sized and
out-muscled, the Astoria girls soc-
cer team responded with a strong,
speedy performance of their own
Thursday at Rainier, scoring a 1-0
nonleague season-opening win
over the Columbians.
Astoria’s Sarah Lertora scored
unassisted from 35 yards out in the
fifth minute of the game, and the
lone goal held up, giving the Lady
Fishermen their second win over
Rainier in two years.
“Rainier has a bunch of big
girls, and we’ve got a lot of small
girls,” said Astoria coach Tim Fas-
tabend. “But our girls held their
own. It was a very physical, very
hot game, and all the girls played
well.”
Astoria’s Claire Albright
sparked a strong defensive effort,
while Lexis Law was strong in goal
for the Lady Fishermen.
“We had good defensive pres-
sure on their shooters, and most
of the saves (Law) made were
straight-forward stops,” Fastabend
said. “Our seniors are going to be
the core of our physical players, but
we’ve also got a lot more speed this
year. Andrea Harris did a good job
at the center-back slot; Hayley Kel-
ley, Taileigh Cole, Libby Whitsett
… they all played well.”
In other nonleague action Thurs-
day, North Marion defeated Sea-
side 5-0. No details were reported.
Astoria hosts St. Helens
Wednesday at CMH Field.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Columbians
sweep Astoria
and Seaside
The Daily Astorian
RAINIER — The Rainier vol-
leyball team played host to a cou-
ple of North Coast squads Thurs-
day night, as the Columbians took
on Astoria and Seaside in a non-
league doubleheader.
Behind a dominant blocking
performance from Lewis & Clark
League Player of the Year Breana
Edwards, the Columbians opened
with a sweep over Seaside, 25-17,
25-22, 25-13; then took down
Astoria in three games, 25-16,
25-15, 25-12.
The losses were the first of the
season for both the Gulls and the
Fishermen.
Edwards had a combined 19
kills with 11 blocks in the two
matches.
Watch Astoria
High football
games online
The Daily Astorian
Astoria football fans will have
access to all varsity football games
this season, via Dane Gouge’s
Astoria Ford website, astoriaford.
com
Follow the link to the Astoria
High football webcast to view the
YouTube telecast.
This is the third consecutive
year Astoria Ford is the title spon-
sor of this program. The Fisher-
men open their season tonight at
North Bend, with kickoff sched-
uled for 6 p.m.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Football — Astoria at North Bend, 6
p.m.; Seaside at Newport, 7 p.m.; War-
renton at Knappa, 7 p.m.; Nestucca at
Ilwaco, 7 p.m.; Wahkiakum at Naselle,
7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Cross Country — Ultimook Invitation-
al, 8:15 a.m.
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
A familiar sight in Thursday’s soccer game — the ball in the net, the Corbett goalie on the ground, and Astoria’s Trevor Byrd turning
upfield to celebrate another goal.
Hat trick for Byrd in
win over Cardinals
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON – Early starts for home
games under the sun at Volunteer Field … the
Astoria boys soccer team should schedule a
few more of those.
As it is, the remainder of their home con-
tests will be late starts under the lights at
CMH Field.
In the meantime, the Fishermen played
the only high school game this fall at Vol-
unteer Field, where Astoria cruised past the
Corbett Cardinals, 6-1, in a nonleague boys
game.
Trevor Byrd was all Astoria needed in
the 2017 season opener. The senior was defi-
nitely much more than the Cards could han-
dle, as Byrd scored three goals — all in the
first half — helping the Fishermen start the
season on a winning note.
Both teams provided some fireworks over
the first four minutes.
Astoria senior Gustavo Velazquez gained
control of a ball near midfield along the right
sideline, and dribbled through a pair of Cor-
bett defenders all the way into the penalty
area, scoring from close range into the lower
right corner of the net.
The Cardinals answered just one minute
later, scoring on a close range shot past Asto-
ria goalie Jake Hurd.
But that’s all the senior keeper would
Astoria’s Christian Medina-Perez, left,
and Gustavo Velazquez, No. 15, team up
on a Corbett player in Thursday’s victory
at Volunteer Field.
allow, as the Fishermen defense shut down
the Cards for the remainder of the first half.
“Other than that one goal, Jake had a good
night,” said Astoria coach Lee Cain. “And
the guys on the back line were solid all night,
and played very well.”
Meanwhile, Byrd went to work in the 20th
minute of the first half.
Seconds after an illegal throw-in by Cor-
bett, Byrd gathered in a ball near midfield and
worked his way in and around the Cardinal
defense for an unassisted, breakaway goal.
And that set the tone for three more Asto-
ria goals over the next 14 minutes.
All three were of the “slam dunk” variety
— breakaway, close range goals — two for
Byrd, one from Cole Beeson.
“That’s what we’re working on,” Cain
said. “Trevor and Cole were both solid, and
Gustavo worked very hard.”
Early in the 25th minute, Beeson took a
short pass from Byrd on a break, and scored
into an open net.
Nine minutes later, Velazquez assisted
Byrd for a 4-0 lead; and with just over three
minutes left in the first half, Byrd took
another pass from Beeson, made his way up
the center of the field and beat the keeper for
his third goal.
The Fishermen toned it down in the sec-
ond half, taking just one shot on goal through
27 minutes. And it happened to be a good
shot, as Aldo Cruz worked his way in from
the left sideline and scored from very close
range, after the beating the Corbett keeper
and scoring unassisted.
Corbett had six corner kick opportunities
and seven shots on goal in the second half,
with Hurd making four saves to keep the
Cards scoreless over the final 40 minutes.
In other nonleague action Thursday, Sea-
side defeated North Marion, 2-1. No details
were reported.
Russell Wilson makes Seahawks leaders in NFC West
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — One
look at the quarterback situations in
the NFC West tells you just about
everything you need to know about
the hierarchy in the division.
While Arizona, Los Angeles and
San Francisco all face major ques-
tions at the position, the Seattle Sea-
hawks have Russell Wilson.
Even though they still have a sus-
pect offensive line and questions in
the running game, the combination of
Wilson and a fearsome defense makes
Seattle the favorites for a fourth divi-
sion title in the past five years.
Wilson has had to shoulder a big-
ger load of the offense of late, no lon-
ger able to take a back seat to Mar-
shawn Lynch and the running game.
He threw for a career-high 4,219
yards last season — more than 1,000
yards above what he did as a rookie
— despite being pressure on more
than one-third of his dropbacks,
according to Football Outsiders. Only
Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor faced more
pressure among regular starters last
season.
The biggest challenger to Seat-
tle will be the Cardinals, who hope
to bounce back from a 7-8-1 season
and get back into playoff contention.
Arizona hopes 37-year-old Carson
Palmer can turn back the clock and
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Rus-
sell Wilson (3) looks for a receiver
against the Los Angeles Chargers.
help the Cardinals make a last run in
a closing window of opportunity.
Palmer threw 11 fewer touchdown
passes last season than he did in a
career year in 2015, and had five more
interceptions. He improved late in the
season after being given Wednesdays
off from practice to keep his aging
arm fresh, and that move could pay
dividends again.
While Palmer has proven capable
of leading a team to success, the situ-
ations in Los Angeles and San Fran-
cisco are more precarious.
The early returns on Jared Goff
weren’t good as the No. 1 overall
pick last year couldn’t even beat out
Case Keenum for the starting job, He
then showed why he began his career
as a backup when Goff finally got his
chance late in the season. The Rams
hired an offensive mastermind as
coach and hope Sean McVay’s pres-
ence will help Goff develop into a
legitimate NFL passer .
The 49ers also hired a top offen-
sive coordinator to run the show,
Kyle Shanahan. He reunited with
Brian Hoyer , who played in Cleve-
land when Shanahan was offensive
coordinator, but few believe the jour-
neyman is more than a bridge to the
arrival of a franchise quarterback,
possibly as soon as next offseason.
POROUS PROTECTION: The
offensive line was a major problem
last season for Seattle and could be
again after starting left tackle George
Fant went down with a season-ending
knee injury in the preseason.
Eddie Lacy was brought in to
boost the running game , but must
prove he can stay in shape, or a
healthy Thomas Rawls could take his
carries.
The defense should be back at its
elite level with safety Earl Thomas
healthy after missing the final six
games with a broken leg, and Richard
Sherman healed from a nagging knee
injury. Linebacker Bobby Wagner is
among the NFL’s best.
Davis’ late TD
rallies Seahawks
past Raiders
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Seat-
tle quarterback Austin Davis
threw a 16-yard touchdown
pass to Kenny Lawler with 1:10
remaining in the fourth quarter,
and Seattle beat the Oakland
Raiders 17-13 in a preseason
game Thursday night.
Seattle finished 4-0 in the
preseason; the Raiders went
winless for only the third time
in franchise history.
As expected, the game
was basically a matchup of
backups.
Seattle sat out 18 starters,
including Pro Bowl defensive
ends Michael Bennett and Cliff
Avril, Wilson, and cornerback
Richard Sherman.
Wide receiver Jermaine
Kearse was also notably absent
in what may have been his final
game with the Seahawks after
rumors earlier this week Seat-
tle is attempting to trade the
veteran.