The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, August 28, 2018, Page 10A, Image 10

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2018
WARRENTON WARRIORS
FOOTBALL • VOLLEYBALL • CROSS COUNTRY
WARRIORS HOPE FOR
SUCCESS AT 2A LEVEL
Devin Jackson “is a util-
ity guy who will play some
receiver and linebacker. Kale’o
Kapua will be one of our three
seniors, and Kale’o is a heck of
an athlete. He will play O-line,
D-line and some linebacker.
“I’m excited about our
line,” said the coach. “It’s
young, but they work hard.
“Sam Irwin (sophomore) is
the strongest kid in our school,
just a workhorse. Duane Falls
is a scrapper, huge heart and
loves to compete. Mark War-
ren (junior) is in his third year
on the line. He’s a big kid with
a big frame, 6-2, about 230.
“And Triston Scott is a
sophomore. I’ve got two soph-
omores and two juniors start-
ing on the line. We’ve got good
size with those five.”
The running back position
“will be a little by committee,”
O’Brien said. “Devin Jackson,
Ethan Green and Ahstin Culp
could all see some carries.
Another guy is Austin Little.
He gives us a different dimen-
sion and can do some things.
And Gabe Breitmeyer will
be out there, at receiver and
linebacker.”
The first week of practice,
the Warriors had 35 players on
the field.
“The bulk of our num-
bers are in the junior, sopho-
more and freshmen groups,”
O’Brien said. “It’s exciting. If
we have a couple decent years,
I think there will be more buzz
with the kids. Kids like to be
a part of things that are having
success, right?”
With the numbers and tal-
ent at the grade school level,
Warrenton could soon be dom-
inating whatever sport in what-
ever league they playing in.
“Our third-fourth grade and
fifth-sixth grade coaches are
doing a great job,” O’Brien
said. “Our numbers are healthy.
“There’s really no excuses
this year. Let’s go out, give it
our best effort, and hopefully
when the clock strikes zero,
some of those games will be in
favor of the Warriors.”
Prediction: The War-
riors should certainly be good
enough for a top-three finish in
their new league, which means
a return to the state playoffs.
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
Claire Bussert, No. 4, is back and taking aim at a big
season for Warrenton volleyball.
New league
offers title hopes
for Warrenton
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
A three-match win streak
midway through the league
season had the Warrenton vol-
leyball team sitting with a 5-2
league record, in great shape
for a big stretch run last year.
But that’s where the win-
ning stopped, literally.
The Warriors were swept
in consecutive matches by
Oregon Episcopal, Portland
Christian and Rainier, then
another three-game loss to
OES in the league playoffs.
“We just stopped getting
better,” said Warrenton coach
Staci Miethe. “We had a really
big jump from the first part of
the season to midseason, then
the second half of the season
we just plateaued.
“We competed well,” she
said. “We were the only team
in the league to score over
20 points in a game against
Rainier (and they did it three
times). We did some good
stuff.”
The good news — the War-
riors can say goodbye to the
private school competition.
Clatskanie, Rainier and
Warrenton will join Taft and
Willamina to form the new
Coastal Range League.
Given the strength of the
private schools in so many
sports, that will be a definite
plus for the Warriors.
THE COASTAL
RANGE LEAGUE
The Warriors already know
how good Rainier is. Willam-
ina (11-10 overall) is the only
other school that returns with
a winning record from 2017.
Clatskanie was 3-15 over-
all, and Taft finished 1-17.
So the good news —
there’s less competition. The
bad news — there’s less com-
petition. That won’t help
the RPI rating in the OSAA
rankings.
On the other hand, it
shouldn’t be hard to make the
state playoffs from the new
league.
Warrenton finished sixth in
the old Lewis & Clark League
last season. Four of the teams
that finished ahead of the War-
riors (Portland Christian, Cat-
lin Gabel, OES and Portland
Adventist) are no longer there.
Even first-place Rain-
ier lost its best player (league
MVP Breana Edwards),
along with fellow first-teamer
Mikayla Lorentson.
Miethe said, “When they
announced the new league,
I looked at our roster and
who we had coming back
and thought, ‘we have a real
chance of vying for a league
championship next year.’
“We were competitive
with Taft and Willamina,
and Rainier is definitely in a
rebuilding phase. They lost
their coach (Daniel Mirelez
will replace Mike Edwards),
WARRENTON
VOLLEYBALL
Coach: Staci Miethe, 2nd
year
2017: 8-12 (5-6 league)
Playoffs: Lost league
playoff at OES
All-league loss: Morgan
Blodgett
All-league returner:
Claire Bussert, Sr.
they lost Bree, and without
her, they’re a completely dif-
ferent team.
“Clatskanie is better.
Shelby (Blodgett) is strong,
and they have a significantly
good eighth-grade class com-
ing up.
“So I’m thinking, ‘league
championship,’ then all of
a sudden two of our players
move, and another is lost to
surgery.”
Still, “I think we’ll be able
to compete with every team in
our league.”
THE WARRIORS
Warrenton originally had
six varsity returners, but two
players (sisters Elly and Mor-
gan Blodgett) moved to Sea-
side, and senior Sagi Diego
underwent offseason knee
surgery, and is lost for the fall
season.
“We’ll have to be adapt-
able,” coach Miethe said.
“That’s our key word this
year. We’re basically starting
from scratch.”
The Warriors, however,
won’t be without talent.
All-league setter Claire
Bussert returns for her senior
year, and Fernanda Alvarez
will play in her senior season.
“Claire is going to be set-
ting again, but I’m going back
to a 5-1 (alignment) and I’m
going to utilize her as much as
possible. Fernanda has really
buckled down and accepted
her role. She’ll be my main
middle. Then we have Ruby
Dyer and Noelle O’Bryan, a
defensive, back row player.”
Also in the mix will be
junior Melia Kapua, “proba-
bly a Libero, and we’re work-
ing with her on back row
attacks,” Miethe said.
Junior Natalie Oseguera
(5 feet 10 inches tall) joins
the varsity, along with 6-foot
sophomore Annie Heyen,
and Mia McFadden, a 5-9
sophomore.
“We’re tall, just not very
experienced and not super-
quick,” Miethe said. “It’s a
wide open lineup. Avyree
(Miethe, a freshman) com-
peted real well this summer,
and we will utilize her as an
outside hitter. I could be mov-
ing girls back and forth all
season.”
Assisting coach Miethe
will be Jess Slivkoff, Brent
Sullivan, and Kurt Wend-
schuh, a 6-4 former beach vol-
leyball player.
Life happens... That’s why we’re here!
only
COME VISIT US FOR YOUR
SPORTS PHYSICALS
$
I
t’s a new era for Warren-
ton football. New uni-
forms, new helmets, new
team slogans, new league …
about the only thing that’s still
the same is the coach.
For the first time in five
years, the Warriors have the
same coach from the previous
season returning for another, as
Ian O’Brien is back for 2018.
After going 0-9 in 2016 and
1-8 last year (and two straight
0-3 league seasons), the War-
riors were looking for a serious
makeover.
One way to improve: Drop
down a level, with the OSAA’s
permission.
And that’s the road War-
renton has taken, as the for-
mer Class 3A Warriors will
compete in the 2A Northwest
League for at least two years.
“It’s not the position that we
want to be in, having to drop
down a level, but at the end of
the day, I think it’s what’s best
for our program and our com-
munity to play in the North-
west League,” O’Brien said.
“We’ve been in the Lewis
& Clark League with Rain-
ier and Clatskanie, but to be
honest, I think our parents get
more psyched up when we
play Vernonia, Neah-Kah-Nie
or Knappa,” he said. “Because
for the parents who went to
Warrenton, those are the teams
they played when they were in
high school.”
THE NWL
The Warriors have actu-
ally been playing Northwest
League schools for the past 12
years. The only difference —
now they will be league games
instead of nonleague.
But just because the War-
riors are now the big fish
in a small pond, Warrenton
can’t start thinking “league
championship.”
The NWL has belonged to
Knappa for much of the last
10 years. The Loggers have
only had one losing season in
league play since 2005, with
three 4-0 league seasons over
the last four years.
“They’ve owned the
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton’s Jake Morrow will be one of the top quarter-
backs in the 2A Northwest League.
WARRENTON FOOTBALL
Coach: Ian O’Brien, 2nd year (fifth overall)
2017: 0-9 (0-3 league)
All-league losses: Logan Fischer, Caden Hans, Preston Miller.
All-league returners: None
league,” O’Brien said of the
Loggers. “They’ve been the
Northwest League champion
three of the last four years.
They’re always good. Neah-
Kah-Nie will be really tough,
Vernonia has a great running
back, and Portland Chris-
tian always has great athletes.
Nestucca kids are always farm
tough, down there working the
dairy farms.
“We played all those teams
last year, and only beat one
of them (Nestucca),” O’Brien
said. “Let’s see how hard
we’ve really worked compared
to these other schools, some of
whom had their way with us.”
THE WARRIORS
The Warriors have just three
seniors on the roster. But don’t
call the team “inexperienced.”
“The kids who are juniors,
they have quite a bit of expe-
rience, because they’ve had
to play,” O’Brien said. “With
only three seniors, I need
juniors to be seniors for two
years.”
Warrenton will have to
replace three all-league play-
ers lost to graduation, includ-
ing Logan Fischer, a first-team
running back and linebacker.
Junior Jake Morrow will be
More runners for Warrenton
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
An increase in numbers
will hopefully result in higher
finishes for the Warrenton
cross country teams in 2018.
The Warrenton girls placed
fourth out of six teams in last
year’s district race, while the
Warrenton boys did not score
points.
Warrenton is back with
experience on both sides.
For the boys, seniors Forrest
Bigelow and A.J. Schenbeck
are running, while senior girls
include Cailin Bennett, Kate-
lyn Carelock, Adrianna DeJe-
sus, Madison Kadera, Sahanna
Rodriquez and Pamela Talan-
con-Botello, “all of whom I
will be relying heavily on for
leadership,” said Warrenton
coach Hayley Espelund Rog-
ers. “We have a large group of
young students, too.”
Rogers is expecting more
runners to show up before the
season starts.
The current roster includes
“Nicole
Hopkins,
Bella
Carr, Gabriel Boisvert, For-
rest Cooley, Caden Wein-
mann, Serena Moha, Lucas
Thompson and Julian Whit-
sett for newbies,” Rogers said,
“though some of them ran
track for me so I’m familiar
with their ability.”
Other than the seniors,
returning runners include
Analysa Johnson, Kaisa Lilj-
enwall, Anna Schenbeck, Dar-
ren Garnett and Kale Moss.
“I am expecting a very
competitive girls team, with
many girls close in their time
ability for a 5K, even more so
than last year with the addi-
tions,” Rogers said. “All of
our girls are already running as
well as, if not better than they
were at the beginning of last
season.”
The boys “were short on
numbers last year, but we have
had a pretty big increase in
numbers and these boys are
already showing a competi-
tive spirit which will help them
push each other,” she said.
Warrenton is holding its
annual cross country camp in
503-325-0333
529 SE MARLIN, WARRENTON 503-861-0929
Mon-Fri 7 AM -7 PM Sat & Sun 9 AM -7 PM • Walk-ins Welcome
Accepting most insurance, OHP and Medicare · 20% Cash Discount
Warrenton distance
runner Kaisa Liljenwall
has a sprinter’s speed,
as she showed on the
track last spring.
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
G
O
Hours Open: Mon-Fri 8-6 • Saturday 9-5 • Sunday 10-4
We Service What We Sell
Tony Bogh Owner
503.325.5000
CCB#188326
WARRENTON!
CCB#2404
WADSWE#916L9
55
Years
55 years of
local family ownership
• Commercial
2120 Exchange Street, Suite 111
Astoria, Oregon
Keith Klatt, MD
Mark Tabor, PA-C
Sally Baker, PA-C Kenyon Solecki, PA-C
Bend (Aug. 27-30) and will
host its opening meet at Fort
Stevens (the “Wreck Run”)
Sept. 25.
APPLIANCE
AND HOME
FURNISHINGS
GIVE ‘EM
YOUR BEST
TEAMS!
40
the prime candidate to fill those
shoes, on both sides of the ball.
“When I look at our
offense, you have to look at
who’s going to be behind cen-
ter,” O’Brien said. “That will
be Jake Morrow. Jake’s a heck
of an athlete, a first team all-
state catcher, so he’s familiar
with having to be a leader.”
Whoever is on the field,
look for more yards and more
points in 2018. Warrenton was
only shut out once last year
(41-0, at Knappa), after scor-
ing a grand total of just 44
points in 2016.
“Last year, we were crawl-
ing,” O’Brien said. “We kind
of got away from what coach
(John) Mattila did, tradition-
ally, which was the Power-I
and the pro set.
“Last year was the first year
for a lot of these guys, so they
were also having to learn a new
language. That’s what happens
when you have three coaches
in three years.”
Other key players will
include senior Gio Martinez,
who moved to wideout and
will play some defensive back
and linebacker, O’Brien said.
“He’s a senior who’s played
a lot of football. He will get
some reps at quarterback, too.”
Have a successful
• Industrial
• Residential
Season!
• Certified Cabling for Telephone
and Computer Networks
• Fire Alarm & Security
1715 EXCHANGE ST • ASTORIA • (503) 325-5501 or (360) 749-2820 (WA)