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.