11A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018
SEASIDE SEAGULLS
FOOTBALL • VOLLEYBALL
Seagulls: New owners
of the Cowapa League?
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
W
The Daily Astorian
Tori Tomlin returns as one of the Seaside hitters.
Lund takes over
Seaside program
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The positives and nega-
tives of playing volleyball
in the state’s toughest 4A
league. Seaside saw both
sides of the coin in 2017.
On one side, the Gulls
finished 1-9 in league play.
On the other side, 1-9 was
good enough to land a spot
in the regional play-in round
— just one step away from
the Sweet 16.
In the end, the Gulls lost
the play-in match at Sweet
Home and finished 11-14
overall, still a respectable
record in Eric Huntsman’s
only season as head coach.
Huntsman has stepped
down, one season after
replacing wife Angie Hunts-
man, and Demi Lund has
taken the coaching reins.
With
the
coaching
changes, the Gulls “maybe
haven’t felt much security
in recent years, so I just told
them that I plan on sticking
around,” Lund said. “And
they know that success may
not happen instantaneously,
so we’re not building goals
around wins. Right now,
it’s more important that we
build their confidence up.”
THE COWAPA
Last year’s final eight
at the 4A state tournament
included three Cowapa
League teams (Scappoose,
Tillamook, Valley Catholic),
with the Valiants advancing
to the state championship
match.
Valley Catholic has lost
league Player of the Year
Lizzy Osborn and one other
all-league player. But in a
league where two-thirds of
the starters made all-league,
the Valiants still have four
all-leaguers returning.
All six Tillamook start-
ers also made all-league, but
only two return.
Scappoose is no longer
in the league, while Astoria
was the most improved in
2017, advancing all the way
to the Sweet 16 one year
after an 0-10 league record.
The bottom line: The
new-look Cowapa League
has just five teams, and if
the RPI rankings are good
enough at the end of the reg-
ular season, all five could
end up in the state playoffs.
THE GULLS
Lund played collegiately
at Mt. Hood after a high
school career at Roseburg,
and the young coach — she
turned 27 Aug. 28 — has
brought some excitement
into the Seaside program.
SEASIDE
VOLLEYBALL
Coach: Demi Lund, 1st
year
2017: 11-14 (1-9 league)
Playoffs: Lost regional
play-in at Sweet Home,
0-3
All-league loss: Alyssia
Gonzales
All-league returner:
Anna Huddleston, Sr.
The Gulls opened with
two bracket wins in the War-
renton tournament Aug. 25,
and lost a close match in
the championship to Culver
— which played in the 2A
state championship match
last year, and is normally an
automatic lock to win the
Warrenton tournament.
“We were able to see
some of the more apparent
things that we need to work
on,” Lund said.
One factor: Seaside is
long on experience in 2018.
The preseason roster —
which is subject to change,
Lund said — includes four
seniors and five juniors. Two
freshmen are also on the list.
All-leaguer Anna Hud-
dleston tops the list of senior
returners. Huddleston was
an honorable mention setter
last season, and is back with
fellow seniors Maddie Jen-
sen and Tori Tomlin.
The fourth senior is
Morgan Blodgett, a mid-
dle blocker who transferred
from Warrenton along with
her sister, junior outside hit-
ter Elly Blodgett.
Additional varsity expe-
rience includes junior
Andrea Castro, with junior
newcomers Emma Brown,
Emma Meyer and Bella
Samuelson.
Brown and Elly Blodgett
are listed as outside hitters,
as the Gulls look to replace
Jetta Ideue.
Seaside’s two fresh-
men are defensive special-
ist Sandee Adriano and right
side hitter Lilli Taylor.
“We’ve looked really
good,” Lund said. “We’re
strong at the net, with Tori
Tomlin. We’ll be running
a 6-2, with a ‘setter up’
defense, which is something
they’ve never played before.
“Anna Huddleston and
Emma Meyer are my two
setters, then we’ve got the
two sisters from Warrenton,
who will both contribute,”
she said. “Morgan will be a
strong middle blocker, and
Elly is our strongest hitter.
So they will definitely make
a difference.”
ith state champi-
onships in boys
basketball, cross
country and golf over the last
five years, the Seaside Gulls
are looking to add another
banner from another sport to
the school gym. And football
would be a logical place to
start.
Seaside football spent
almost all of the 2017 sea-
son ranked in the top 10, and
entered the state playoffs
ranked fifth before a 43-39 loss
to Henley in the first round.
The Gulls are out to set-
tle a few scores this season,
including their loss to the Hor-
nets. Seaside and Henley kick
off the 2018 season this Fri-
day, the Game of the Week on
opening night at the 4A level.
The Seaside players?
“They’re hungry,” said
head coach Jeff Roberts. “We
made it a point of scheduling
Henley. That (playoff loss)
left a bad taste in our mouth.
Henley beat us, and our hat’s
off to them. But right now,
we’re looking at August 31st.
We’ve had that one circled on
our calendar since we sched-
uled it. We’re excited to play
them again. I appreciate their
willingness to give us another
chance.”
It doesn’t stop there for the
Gulls, who travel to Eugene in
Week 2 to face Marist. They
host Gladstone Sept. 14.
“We wanted to make the
schedule as difficult as we
could,” Roberts said. Mission
accomplished.
Photos by Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s Payton Westerholm is the class of Cowapa League quarterbacks.
SEASIDE
FOOTBALL
Coach: Jeff Roberts, 2nd
year (6th overall)
2017: 6-3 (4-1 Cowapa)
Playoffs: Lost to Henley in
first round, 39-43
All-league losses: Michael
Bailey, Dawson Blanchard,
Cameron King, Garrett
Kiser, Parker Moore, Skyler
Yoshino.
All-league returners:
Travis Fenton, Sr., Isaias
Jantes, Sr., Brayden John-
son, Jr., Gio Ramirez, Sr.,
Alex Teubner, Sr., Duncan
Thompson, Sr., Paxson
VanNortwick, Sr., Payton
Westerholm, Sr.
THE COWAPA
With first-place Scappoose
out of the picture (the Indi-
ans have moved to the 5A
level), every team in the Cow-
apa League is free to move up
one spot in the standings. For
the Gulls, that means second
to first.
Seaside’s only league loss
of 2017 came to the Indians
in week 1. That was followed
by convincing wins over Asto-
ria (40-0), Valley Catholic (62-
0) and Tillamook (54-23), and
ended with a 19-14 win over
Banks at Broadway Field.
This year’s game vs. Banks
(Oct. 12) will be the biggest
league meeting of the season,
and in a big scheduling break
for the Gulls, the Braves will
come to Seaside for the second
year in a row.
“Banks will be hungry to
get us,” Roberts said. “I’m just
thankful that we get them at
our place again. I don’t know
that our schedule could have
worked out any better for
our home games. The Clat-
sop Clash and Banks are both
here, so that worked out in our
favor.”
The absence of Scappoose
“certainly changes the dynam-
ics of the league,” he said. “For
a lot of years, teams were play-
ing for second place. That’s
not the case any more. The
Cowapa can still be one of the
most difficult leagues, from
top to bottom, but I’d be lying
if I didn’t think we were a con-
tender for one of those guaran-
teed playoff spots.”
THE GULLS
The reason Seaside will be
in contention: Eight all-league
returners should have the Gulls
winning right away in 2018.
Included are two all-league
One of three Offensive Players of the Year in the Cowa-
pa League last season, Alexander Teubner is Seaside’s
breakaway running back looking for an even bigger sea-
son in 2018.
offensive lineman, and the
return of possibly the league’s
best quarterback/running back
tandem. For an offense that
runs the Wing-T, that could
take Seaside a long way.
Alexander Teubner — one
of three Offensive Players of
the Year in the Cowapa last
season — will take handoffs
from all-league quarterback
Payton Westerholm, and fol-
low the blocks of Travis Fen-
ton and Isaias Jantes.
“We’re excited to have a
bunch of guys back,” Roberts
said. “We finished the regu-
lar season ranked No. 5 in the
state, and a lot of those kids are
back. We have some skill play-
ers and we return three offen-
sive linemen, so that’s good.
Defensively we’re in good
shape, so I’m excited about
that. The kids worked their
tails off in the weight room all
summer.”
And there are players on the
roster who know what it’s like
to win state championships.
“I attribute a lot of our suc-
cess last year to the basketball
program, what Bill (Wester-
holm) has done, and that cul-
ture of winning,” Roberts said.
“When these kids were sopho-
mores, they got beat up pretty
good on the football field.
“They’ve grown and
matured a lot. They’re back in
a system they’re comfortable
with and excited about. This
is a group that’s been running
this offense since they were in
the fourth and fifth grade.”
And, “we’re going to stay
pretty true to what we do, but
you’ll see some things with
Alexander and Brayden John-
son, and with our stable of
running backs and Payton,
we have an opportunity to do
some different things.
“One of our strengths is
team speed, and I don’t want
to have to rely on Alexander
to carry the ball 25 times a
game. We have a lot of other
weapons.”
And if he has to, Wester-
holm can air it out.
“He threw for more yards
last year than they gained in all
of 2015,” Roberts said.
Of the linemen, “one of the
kids who has really emerged
as a leader is (center) Travis
Fenton. He has really dedi-
cated himself to being a leader
in the program. All the guys
on the offensive line … those
are the guys who are going to
win it for us. Left tackle Der-
rick Bennett, left guard Dylan
Meyer, Jantes at right guard,
and Paxson VanNortwick at
right tackle.”
THE COACH
“I’ve made it public now
that this is it for me,” said Rob-
erts, the high school’s principal
who will step down as foot-
ball coach after this season.
“Aaron (Tanabe) will take over
next year. This will give me
an opportunity to go out with
these kids. I’ve known them
for a long time, and when the
opportunity presented itself, I
felt like I owed it to them to
finish with them.”
Prediction: Gulls will send
Roberts out with a league
championship, and hopefully a
whole lot more.
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