10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Fishermen pound Valley Catholic Valiants, 28-7
The Daily Astorian
BEAVERTON — The Astoria
Fishermen opened defense of their
Cowapa League title with a win Fri-
day night, a 28-7 second half run-
away victory at Valley Catholic.
The surprise of the night came
with the halftime score, as Valley
Catholic held a 7-0 lead.
But the Valiants lost their best
offensive player to an injury early
in the third quarter, and the Valiants
never recovered.
Astoria’s “bend-but-don’t-break”
defense kept the Fishermen in the
game in the first half, and the Val-
iants had no answer for Astoria’s
Justin Villa in the second half.
A 5-foot-11, 155-pound junior,
Villa returned two second half punts
for touchdowns, helping the Fisher-
men to the easy win. It was Astoria’s
sixth straight league win going back
to last year. Meanwhile, Valley Cath-
olic has never beaten the Fishermen
since joining the Cowapa in 2014.
The Valiants moved the ball well
between the 20’s in the first half, but
couldn’t put the ball in the end zone.
The Astoria offense was equally
ineffective, and the Valiants eventu-
ally took advantage.
Sparked by a halfback pass from
Trey Eberhart to Will French for 25
yards, Valley Catholic scored on a
13-yard pass from Daniel Pruitt to
Jack Grasberger for the only score of
the first half.
But it didn’t take long for the
Fishermen to even the score in the
third quarter.
Aided by a poor punt from the
Valiants — with additional yard-
age on a Valley Catholic penalty —
Astoria started its second drive at the
Valiant 15.
It took three plays before Tyler
Ranta scored on a 4-yard run to tie
the score.
The Valiants lost their big offen-
sive threat on their first drive of the
third quarter, as Eberhart went down
with a foot injury. And Valley Cath-
olic was lost without its halfback, as
the Valiants’ offense was unable to
FOOTBALL
BRIEFS
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
Volleyball — Astoria at Scappoose, 7
p.m.; Seaside at Banks, 7 p.m.; Riverdale
at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; City Christian at
Knappa, 5:30 p.m.
Girls Soccer — Astoria at Tillamook,
7:15 p.m.; Seaside at Valley Catholic, 7
p.m.
Boys Soccer — Tillamook at Astoria,
7:15 p.m.; Valley Catholic at Seaside,
7:15 p.m.
Cross Country — Warrenton Wreck
Race, Fort Stevens, 4:30 p.m.
Big second half
helps Scappoose
Indians defeat
Seaside Gulls
FOOTBALL
Astoria 28, Valley Catholic 7
Astoria
0 0 14 14—28
Valley C.
0 7 0
0—7
Second Quarter
VC: Jack Grasberger 13 pass from Dan-
iel Pruitt (kick good)
Third Quarter
Ast: Villa 50 punt return (Andrew Schau-
ermann kick)
Fourth Quarter
Ast: Villa 65 punt return (Schauermann
kick)
Ast: Tyler Ranta 32 run (Schauermann
kick)
Scappoose 49, Seaside 14
Seaside
0 14 0 0—14
Scappoose
0 14 21 14—49
Second Quarter
Scp: Jimmy Jones 1 run (Benji David-
son kick)
Sea: Payton Westerholm 1 run (Gio
Ramirez kick)
Sea: Alex Teubner 13 run (Ramirez
kick) :23
Scp: Tevin Jeannis 65 run (Davidson
kick) :08
Third Quarter
Scp: 7 run (Davidson kick)
Scp: 22 run (Davidson kick)
Scp: Jones 4 run (Davidson kick)
Fourth Quarter
Scp: Jerad Toman 9 run (Davidson kick)
Scp: Kawika Napaa 10 run (Davidson
kick)
Seaside Statistics
Rushing: Teubner 21-136, Ramirez
4-19, Thompson 4-13, Black 5-12,
Landwehr 2-10, Westerholm 6-(-1), John-
son 1-(-2). Passing: Westerholm 11-17-
137-1. Receiving: Teubner 3-11, Thomp-
son 2-27, Ramirez 2-22, Blanchard 1-37,
Landwehr 1-15, Johnson 1-14, Card 1-11.
Warrenton 41, Nestucca 35
Warrenton
0 35 0 6—41
Nestucca
7 7 14 7—35
Warrenton Statistics
Rushing: Fischer 29-206, Morrow 7-21,
Miller 2-20, Jackson 1-6. Passing: Mor-
row 6-13-137-2. Receiving: Miller 3-56,
Jackson 2-58, Fischer 1-23.
Ilwaco 21, Toutle Lake 19
Ilwaco
7 0 7 7—21
Toutle Lake
6 0 0 13—19
First Quarter
Ilw: Brandon McMullen 5 run (Jorge
Galvan kick)
TL: Asher VanHoof 10 run (kick failed)
Third Quarter
Ilw: McMullen 4 run (Galvan kick)
Fourth Quarter
TL: Van Hoof 1 run (pass failed)
Ilw: McMullen 9 run (Galvan kick)
TL: Van Hoof 1 run (Riley Kent kick)
Ilwaco Statistics
Rushing: McMullen16-113, Person-
ius 5-17, Cox 1-11, Kaino 1-6, Duke 5-2.
Passing: Personius 7-15-72-0. Receiv-
ing: Kaino 4-48, Jeb Sheldon 1-10, Mc-
Mullen 1-9, Te.Ramsey 1-5.
Naselle 66, Oakville 8
Naselle
14 38 0 14—66
Oakville
0 0 0
8—8
N: Oggie Lopez 57 pass from Cole Dor-
man (run failed)
N: Josh Townsen 52 pass from Dorman
(run good)
N: Jacob Eaton 2 pass from Dorman
(run good)
N: Antonio Nolan 35 int. return (run
good)
N: Townsen 22 pass from Dorman (run
failed)
N: Nolan 5 int. return (run good)
N: Donny Edwards 37 pass from Dor-
man (run good)
N: Fa’aso Tutu’u 31 run (run failed)
N: Tutu’u 35 int. return (run good)
Naselle Comets
score easy win
at Oakville
The Daily Astorian
OAKVILLE, Wash. — Naselle
built a 52-0 halftime lead on its way
to a 66-8 win at Oakville Friday.
Six different players scored
touchdowns for the Comets, who
returned three interceptions for
touchdowns.
move the ball the remainder of the
night.
The Fishermen soon took advan-
tage, and grabbed the lead on a spe-
cial teams’ play, with Villa returning
a punt 50 yards for a touchdown late
in the third quarter.
And Villa put the game away
just minutes later, sprinting 65 yards
down the right sideline for another
punt return early in the fourth
quarter.
Astoria returns to action Friday at
Seaside.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Spectators watch as athletes navigate a water obstacle during the 3-Course Challenge at Camp Rilea
on Saturday. Find more photos from the challenge online at DailyAstorian.com/sports
Over 2,100 runners finish
the 3-Course Challenge
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — “Celebrating the sport of
cross-country” is how Neil Branson always describes
the 3-Course Challenge.
And they do it up big in the annual meet, which
took place Saturday at Camp Rilea.
Seaside High School is the host for the event, one
of the biggest youth cross-country meets on the West
Coast.
This year, the meet featured 2,107 runners finish-
ing, with 77 high schools, 22 middle schools and two
running clubs showing up.
Branson has retired as the Seaside cross-country
coach, but the longtime leader of the Gulls is still in
charge of the 3-Course Challenge.
Being retired from coaching, Branson said, “it’s
easier to put time into this. And of course the volun-
teers are consistently great, and the people at Camp
Rilea amaze me at how hard they work on this thing.”
In addition, “it’s nice to keep my finger in the pie.
I love cross-country and being around the kids. This is
an event that people appreciate, so it’s nice and healthy
to make it happen.”
Teams that traveled the farthest distance to com-
pete this year included Cerritos High School from
Southern California, along with Monta Vista from the
San Francisco Bay Area, and Canadian schools Wal-
nut Grove (from Langley, British Columbia) and West
Point Grey (Vancouver, British Columbia).
As always, the local schools had some success,
both individually and as teams.
The Astoria girls’ team was the top Division 3
team, with all of their finishes combined.
Astoria senior McKenzie Burnett finished eighth
out of 236 finishers in the Easy race; and Ilwaco’s
Eliza Bannister was 11th to help her team place fifth
in the team standings.
Astoria freshman Sophie Long was 12th out of 238
runners on the Hard course.
At the middle school level, Astoria eighth-grader
Lindsay Riutta was seventh out of 113 runners in
the 3,000-meter middle school race; and Warrenton
eighth-grader Gabe Boisvert was 13th out of 123 run-
ners in the boys’ middle school event.
There was also two smaller 3,000-meter challenge
races (with 10 to 15 runners each), both of which were
won by Seaside athletes (Jacie Gregory, girls; Rain
Cannon, boys).
Astoria scores milestone win at Seaside
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — It was one small
step for the Astoria girls soccer pro-
gram, and one giant leap for the Lady
Fishermen.
For the first time since 2013, Asto-
ria posted a Cowapa League win over
a team other than Tillamook, as the
Lady Fishermen scored a goal in each
half for a 2-0 victory over Seaside
Saturday night at Broadway Field.
It was Astoria’s first win in the
Clatsop Clash girls soccer series since
a 1-0 victory in 2008. And the Lady
Fish had not won a 2-0 game over
their rivals since 2002.
In Saturday’s contest, early shots
on goal by Astoria’s Taileigh Cole and
Abby Albright were halted by Seaside
keeper Sidney Owsley, before the
Fishermen scored at the 28:00 mark.
Astoria freshman Hayley Kelley
intercepted a goal kick by Owsley,
took a few steps forward and scored
from 15 yards out for a 1-0 lead.
A pass moments later from Sarah
Lertora to Elizabeth Whitsett almost
netted a second goal for Astoria, but
Owsley made the save.
Owsley saved three more attempts
over the first 16 minutes of the second
half, while Seaside shots on goal by
Katie Zagata were off the mark.
SCAPPOOSE — It’s not often
that the Seaside Gulls come into a
game ranked higher than the Scap-
poose Indians, but that was the
case Friday night in Scappoose in
a Cowapa League football opener.
And for one half, the Gulls
looked like the higher-ranked
team, leading 14-7 in the final min-
ute of the second quarter.
But a 65-yard touchdown run
by the Indians’ Tevin Jeannis in the
closing seconds of the first half tied
the game, and was the first of six
unanswered touchdowns by Scap-
poose in a 49-14 win over Seaside.
Payton Westerholm and Alex
Teubner had second quarter TD
runs for the Gulls, while Teubner
finished with 136 yards rushing
on 21 attempts, running his season
total to 630 yards in four games,
with eight touchdowns.
Seaside will look to bounce
back Friday at home against Asto-
ria, 7 p.m.
Warrenton
Warriors defeat
Nestucca, end
losing streak
CLOVERDALE — Warren-
ton’s 12-game losing streak finally
came to an end Friday as the War-
riors posted a 41-35 nonleague
football win at Nestucca.
The Warriors built a 35-7 lead,
then watched as the Bobcats ral-
lied to tie the game at 35-35 in
the fourth quarter before War-
renton scored the game-winning
touchdown.
Logan Fischer’s TD with 3:58
remaining was the final six points
and clinched Warrenton’s first vic-
tory since 2015.
“We made it more stressful than
we needed to, but good for our kids
to get one,” said Warrenton coach
Ian O’Brien. “The kids battled to
get our first win in a couple years.”
Fischer was the Warriors’ work-
horse, rumbling for 206 yards and
four touchdowns on 29 carries.
Fischer also returned an inter-
ception 30 yards for a score, and
teammate Devin Jackson returned
an interception 40 yards for a
touchdown, both in a 35-point
second quarter for the Warriors.
Quarterback Jake Morrow added
a touchdown run, and completed
6-of-13 passes for 137 yards.
Ilwaco Fishermen
hang on for win
over Toutle Lake
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Chloe Bartel, left, wearing number 5, and Sarah Lertora, right, wearing
number 10, struggle for control of the ball during Saturday’s soccer
match between Seaside and Astoria.
MORE SPORTS
Clatsop Clash: Astoria, Seaside boys
soccer teams battle to 2-2 draw
Page 4A
Astoria had the clincher in the
72nd minute, as Cole took a pass up
the middle and outraced the Seaside
defense to score past Owsley for the
2-nil lead.
Seaside defender Bryre Babbitt
was effective in stopping other Fish-
ermen attacks, while Astoria keeper
Lexi Law got the shutout in goal,
making five saves.
Junior Varsity: Astoria 1, Sea-
side 0.
TOUTLE, Wash. — Ilwaco
snapped a two-game losing skid
with a 21-19 win at Toutle Lake
Friday in a nonleague football
game.
Brandon McMullen scored
three touchdowns for the Fisher-
men, the last with 7:27 left in the
fourth quarter that gave Ilwaco a
21-12 lead.
Jorge Galvan made all three
point-after touchdown kicks for
the Fishermen, while Toutle Lake
failed the conversions after its first
two scores.
McMullen finished with 113
yards rushing on 16 attempts, while
Alex Kaino caught four passes for
48 yards.
— The Daily Astorian