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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Athletes of the Week ELI TAKALO Knappa CHLOEE HUNT Evergreen College Evergreen State College Krissy Barendse-Goodman/For The Daily Astorian he graduate of Astoria High School is in her junior year at Evergreen T State College in Olympia, Washington. A middle blocker with the Geo- ducks, Hunt earned both offensive and defensive Player of the Week honors he junior quarterback has led the Loggers to a No. 4 ranking through T two games. In his first varsity start Aug. 31 vs. Grant Union, Takalo threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. At Toledo in week 2 (Sept. 7), he for the Cascade Conference following two wins last week. She set an Ever- green school record with 12 total blocks in a four-game upset Sept. 8 over Corban. She also had 13 kills and four blocks in a three-game sweep Sept. 7 over Northwest Christian, and followed with 12 kills in the win over Corban. accounted for eight touchdowns, as he ran for six and threw for two more. He finished with 184 yards rushing on just 18 carries. The leading early candidate for the Northwest League Player of the Year had a 40-yard TD run vs. Grant Union, and scoring runs of 31 and 30 yards against Toledo. Coaches give Knappa two votes for first place Oregon State’s Jefferson makes a splash among Pac-12 RBs WNBA CHAMPS! By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press The Daily Astorian One day after the Seaside foot- ball team picked up two first-place votes in the 4A coaches poll, the Knappa Loggers earned two first- place votes in the 2A coaches poll, released Wednesday. The Loggers are ranked fourth overall, behind Kennedy, Santiam and Monroe. The class 2A coaches poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by overall points: 1. Kennedy (7) 162 2. Santiam (6) 149 3. Monroe (1) 133 4. Knappa (2) 127 5. Coquille 76 6. Lost River (1) 57 7. Neah-Kah-Nie 52 8. Central Linn 49 9. Portland Christian 45 10. Illinois Valley 33 Others receiving votes: Heppner 28, Colton 18, Sheridan 16, Glide 12, Grant Union 12, Jefferson 12. Padres top free- falling Mariners Associated Press SEATTLE — The Padres opened their bullpen gate and slammed the door on the Mari- ners’ chances of a comeback. Four San Diego reliev- ers set a fran- chise record by striking out nine consecutive bat- ters, preserving a two-run lead in the Padres’ 5-4 victory over Seattle on Wednesday. SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE TODAY Volleyball — North Marion at Astoria, 6 p.m.; Corbett at Seaside, 7 p.m.; Clats- kanie at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Portland Christian at Knappa, 6:30 p.m.; C.S. Lewis at Jewell, 6 p.m. Girls soccer — Seaside at St. Helens, 4:30 p.m. Boys soccer — Oregon Episcopal at Seaside, 7:15 p.m. FRIDAY Football — Estacada at Astoria, 7 p.m.; Gladstone at Seaside, 7 p.m.; Taft at Knappa, 7 p.m.; Portland Christian at Warrenton, 7 p.m.; McKenzie at Jewell, 5 p.m.; Chief Leschi at Ilwaco, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Volleyball — Astoria at Dallas tourna- ment, TBA; Warrenton, Knappa at Ver- nonia tournament, TBA Girls soccer — Astoria at Cottage Grove, 1:30 p.m. Boys soccer — Cottage Grove at As- toria, 2 p.m. AP Photos/Nick Wass Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart holds the trophy with her teammates after the clinching win Wednesday. Stewart, Storm surge past the Mystics 98-82 for WNBA title By BENJAMIN STANDIG Associated Press F AIRFAX, Va. — Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart fretted following the regular-season opener after the Seattle Storm lost at home to the Phoenix Mercury. “We thought, ‘Oh, crap, what kind of year is this going to be?’” Bird reminisced. The answer came nearly four months later with a championship. Stewart led the Storm to their third WNBA title Wednes- day night, scoring 30 points in a 98-82 victory over the Washington Mystics in Game 3 of the best-of-five series. Natasha Howard added career- high 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Storm. Seattle won 26 games during the regular season — 11 more than the 2017 campaign — entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, and swept the finals. Stewart was the league MVP and was selected the Finals MVP after averaging 25.6 points in the three games. She scored 17 points in the first half as the Storm raced to a 47-30 lead. “Stewie was just amazing,” Storm coach Dan Hughes said. “She truly was the MVP of this league. She truly was the MVP of these Finals. God blessed me with an opportu- nity to coach her and I will be for- ever grateful.” There’s already a somewhat surprising development early in the Pac-12 season. The top two backs aren’t named Love and Gaskin, but instead Jefferson and Pierce. And they’re from Oregon State. Yes, they’re Beavers. The Pac-12’s 2018 class of running backs is unquestionably led by Stanford’s Bryce Love, a Heisman finalist last year who returned for his senior year. Wash- ington’s Myles Gaskin came back for another season, too. Utah’s Zack Moss is also considered a rusher to watch this fall. But a pair of Beavers — Jermar Jefferson and Artavis Pierce — lead the Pac-12 in average yards in the early going. That’s notable considering Oregon State’s open- ing opponent was Ohio State. Pierce, who ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to the Buckeyes, injured his elbow in the Beavers’ 48-25 victory over Southern Utah last Saturday. A junior, Pierce was widely con- sidered the heir apparent to Ryan Nall, who decided to skip his final season at Oregon State and go pro. Pierce is out for some four weeks, a blow to a team that won just one game last season. But the Beavers may be OK without him for the time being, thanks to Jefferson. The freshman from Harbor City, California, near Los Ange- les, took the game over after Pierce went down and ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns. The only two Beavers in school his- tory with more yards in a game were Bill Enyart, who holds the record with 299 in a game in 1968, and Steven Jackson, with 239 in a game in 2002. “It’s crazy. It’s crazy,” Jeffer- son told reporters afterward. “It’s a big experience.” Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart, back, celebrates and hugs guard Sue Bird. Bird, also a member of a Seat- tle’s championship teams in 2004 and 2010, was certainly apprecia- tive of the title — and the growth of the Storm’s younger players. Seat- tle landed Jewell Loyd and Stew- art, both All-Stars in 2018 with Bird, with the No. 1 overall picks in 2015 and 2016 respectively. “Each (championship) is special in its own way, but this one is prob- ably going to have a different mean- ing for me,” said the 37-year-old point guard who had 10 points and 10 assists. “There is probably no com- parison to be honest. I didn’t know if I’d be playing at this point. Our team went through a rebuild and yes, I decided to stay. Once we got Stewie and Jewel, we knew we’d get to the other side, but how do you know you’re going to get to the other side this fast?” The coach sensed something brewing early in his first year with the franchise. Following the Phoenix loss, Seattle won five in a row. “I think this was our year,” Hughes said. “All year you could just see the escalation.” Andy Cripe/Corvallis Gazette-Times Oregon State’s Jermar Jeffer- son carries the ball against Southern Utah during Satur- day’s game in Corvallis.
