10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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WARRENTON WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
Warrenton set, ready to win
Warriors look for
improvement
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Lady Warriors
team ready for
big season
Players search
for a little luck
O
ver the last four years, the War-
renton boys basketball pro-
gram has a record of just four
wins and 60 losses in league play.
The Warriors, however, are about to
put all that behind them.
For the first time since Nate
McBride took over the reins, War-
renton has a team that should be able
to compete night in and night out in
the Lewis & Clark League.
Which is saying something, when
you’re a part of one of the toughest
3A conferences in the state.
“We have six guys back who have
started varsity games, and that’s by
far more than I’ve had in the past,”
said McBride, entering his fifth year
as the Warriors’ coach. “And having
a competitive JV team will be a big
advantage for us.”
The key players are back, they’re
healthy, and the Warriors are ready to
make a run.
WARRENTON GIRLS
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton Lady War-
riors were knocking on the door
to the state playoffs a year ago;
with just a little luck this sea-
son, Robert Hoepfl’s team will
be a part of the “Big Dance”
next March.
With three starters returning
from a team that won 16 games
last season, the Warrenton girls
basketball program is set up for
a big year.
“We should have a pretty
good year,” said Hoepfl, enter-
ing his third season as the War-
renton coach. “You never know
how it’s going to play out, but
we have a group of kids who
work really hard.”
THE LEWIS & CLARK
LEAGUE
THE LEWIS &
CLARK LEAGUE
Warrenton has one more year
against the private schools in the
Lewis & Clark League. By this time
next year, the Warriors could be
talking state playoffs as part of the
new Coastal Range League.
Until then, it’s more games
against Catlin Gabel, De La Salle,
Portland Adventist, etc.
“De La Salle is going to be really
good,” McBride said. “They only
graduated two kids, and they weren’t
starters. They lost the championship
game, and they’ll be top two or three
this year.
“PAA (Portland Adventist) will
be good as usual, and Clatskanie is
going to be really good. They return
most of their guys,” he said. “Rain-
ier has two of the five best players
in the league, but Dawson (Carr) got
hurt in football, and I don’t know if
he will be back.”
Elsewhere, “Portland Christian
returns their three best players, and
Catlin Gabel has a new coach, but
they’ve got a 6-10 kid and another
6-4.
“It will be a better balanced
league, but De La Salle should
be a lot better than everybody
else, then five or six teams in the
middle,” said McBride, whose
father, Gary, coached Warrenton
for years in the same league. “One
of the biggest struggles for us has
been being competitive in league.
The private schools reload pretty
regularly.”
“Our league’s tough —
there’s a lot of talent return-
ing,” Hoepfl said of Warren-
ton’s last year in the Lewis &
Clark League. “Rainier and
De La Salle should both be
pretty tough. Riverdale and
Clatskanie will both be much
improved; and Oregon Epis-
copal and Catlin Gabel always
find a way to be competitive.
PAA (Portland Adventist) is tra-
ditionally the cream of the crop,
but they graduated a lot.”
The Daily Astorian
Dalton Knight, No. 1, is healthy after missing the football season with
an injury, and ready to lead the Warrenton boys basketball team.
WARRENTON BOYS
Coach: Nate McBride, 5th year
2016-17: 5-18 (1-15 league)
All-league loss: Christian Holt
THE WARRIORS
Warrenton lost four seniors off
last year’s roster, but the Warriors
still have plenty of varsity expe-
rience returning. And they’re still
young.
Warrenton has just two seniors
on the roster (Logan Fischer, Ryan
Fowler), with more talent coming up
through the ranks.
The Warriors have three return-
ing juniors (Kaleo Kapua, Dalton
Knight, A.J. Schenbeck), and three
sophomores (Devin Jackson, Austin
Little, Jacob Morrow) who all saw
varsity action as freshmen last year.
Knight suffered a broken wrist in
a football jamboree in August, and
missed the entire season. He’s back
and healthy.
The Warriors have added a junior,
Ayden Stephens, who played as a
freshman.
“Ayden is about 6-2, and he’s by
far the most physically-gifted player
I’ve coached since I’ve been here,”
McBride said. “He’s a big, athletic
kid. Logan (Fischer) is not particu-
larly tall, but he’s a physical player;
Kaleo is 6-2, Devin is 6-1 … our
strength will be in those four guys
being big around the basket.”
Fowler “will probably start at
point guard,” he said. “Jake Morrow
has the potential to be a starter. This
is by far the most talented group I’ve
had, physically and basketball-wise.”
Adding depth will be junior
Trey Qualls and sophomore Gabe
Breitmeyer.
“The running up and down that
our league tends to do won’t be so
overwhelming for us now,” McBride
said. “Our depth will be considerably
better.”
Huge turnout has Warriors thinking big
Warrenton on
the right path
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
If the Warrenton wrestling
program has hopes for a big
season (which they do), the
Warriors are on the right path.
A big turnout includes
seven returning district plac-
ers and a solid freshman class
on the boys’ side, with a list
of 11 wrestlers for the girls.
“We’re looking to finish
in the top half of our league,”
said Warrenton coach Corey
Conant, “and to get as much
of our lineup through to the
state tournament as possible.
“We have spent the last
few years learning a lot, and
this is the first year that we
can set our sights on the state
tournament as a realistic goal
for a large part of our team.”
The Warriors are pinning
big hopes on five seniors:
Beau Reynolds (third at dis-
tricts, state qualifier); fourth-
place district placers Tim
Warren and Caden Hans;
and fifth-place finishers
Morgan Buoy and Brandon
Williamson.
Juniors Giovanni Mar-
tinez, Nolan Mathews and
Kaden Gilbert (a transfer
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from Astoria) will also pro-
vide leadership and experi-
ence to the lineup, Conant
said.
“Gilbert wrestled in our
middle school program and
uses an unorthodox style of
wrestling that’s entertaining
to watch,” he said. “He had a
lot of success at the 4A level,
and we will look to continue
it in our program.”
Gilbert was Astoria’s
only state qualifier last sea-
son, placing second at 182
pounds in the District 1/4A
tournament.
Sophomore Armin Rodri-
guez (fourth at districts) nar-
rowly missed going to state
and also returns, looking to
improve on last year’s finish.
Meanwhile, Oregon high
school girls wrestling is tran-
sitioning to a sanctioned
OSAA sport.
“It’s an exciting time for
the sport, and our female
wrestlers are the vanguard
of a new wave or wrestlers,”
Conant said. “Our girls’ team
is bigger than ever and will
return several standouts,
looking to leave their mark at
state.”
The list includes senior
Alma Bolanos, junior Noel
O’Bryan and sophomores
Isabella Carr, Jade Freniere
and Dominique Verley, all
THE LADY
WARRIORS
Warrenton wasn’t the big-
gest team around last season,
but it didn’t make a difference.
Warrenton’s game was built on
speed and launching 3-pointers
— which they did better than
any team in the Lewis & Clark
League last season.
The team graduated three
seniors, Katelynn Blodgett,
Krista Morrill and Landree
Miethe.
“Losing those three was
tough, but we have some kids
behind them who are ready to
step up,” Hoepfl said. Included
are “five kids who played big
roles for us last year, who will
all be big contributors this
year.”
And a look down the War-
renton roster shows that the
Warriors could now be one of
Coach: Robert Hoepfl, 3rd
year
2016-17: 16-9 (10-6 league)
Playoffs: Defeated De La Sal-
le, lost to Portland Christian in
league playoffs.
All-league loss: Landree Mi-
ethe
All-league returner: Tyla Lit-
tle, Sr.
the biggest teams in the league.
Junior Fernanda Alvarez is a
6-foot post, “really athletic, and
had a great finish to her season
last year,” Hoepfl said. “Down
the stretch she had multiple
double-doubles, and she’s only
gotten better.”
Elsewhere, “Claire Bussert
(Jr.) and Tyla Little (Sr.) have
been starters since I’ve been
coach,” he said. “They’ve both
started since their freshmen
years, so those two are really
important to what we’re doing.
“Tyla was second-team all-
league, averaged 15 points a
game; and Claire was kind of
an unsung hero, just a great key
to everything, and a great floor
general.”
Sagi Diego played big min-
utes last year, “and she will
have a bigger role as a junior,”
said the coach. “She’s an excel-
lent defender. Some of the best
instincts I’ve seen.”
Rachel Dyer is one of just
two seniors, along with Little,
and is a good shooter off the
bench.
“The next group of kids,
Maria Heyen (Jr.) and Morgan
Blodgett (Jr.) both had good JV
years,” Hoepfl said. “They will
be juniors this year, and play
big roles for us at the varsity
level. Maria is a great talker,
5-11, and another post option
for us. Morgan is another ath-
letic wing.”
Rounding out the varsity
will be junior point guard Adri-
anna DeJesus, and sophomores
Elissa Blodgett, Jadah Doney,
Melia Kapua and McKenzie
Ramsey.
Julie Foster and Vanessa
Talancon are two first-year
seniors.
“Claire, Tyla and Fernanda
are the big three for us,” Hoepfl
said. “This is year three for Tyla
and Claire both starting in the
backcourt, and not a lot of peo-
ple get that kind of continuity at
the high school level.”
THE WARRIORS
Boys
103: Lucas Thompson
126: Armin Rodriguez, Austin
Culp
132: Nolan Mathews, Ryder
Sharp
138: Brandon Williamson, Nico-
las Pior,
145: Michael Verley
152: Giovanni Martinez, Isaiah
Vollmer
160: Thomas Atwood, Richard
Snider, Gabe Lagana
170: Tim Warren, Caden Hans,
Justin Stephens
182: Morgan Buoy, Caleb
Sprengeler, Leo Thompson
195: Donald McBride
returning and looking to
build on the success of last
year’s team that traveled to
state.
220: Tristan Scott, Samuel Irwin
275: Beau Reynolds, Patrick Mc-
Cargish
Girls
(Weights TBA)
Hanna Bentley
Alma Bolanos
Isabella Carr
Ruby Dyer
Jade Freniere
Madison Kadera
Isabella Kramer
Noel O’Bryan
Libby Rehnert
Anna Schenbeck
Miranda Scott
Dominique Verley
“We have several home
meets lined up this year, and
we hope to put on a show for
our crowd,” Conant said.
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