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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2018 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Photos by Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian Seaside coach Jeff Roberts addresses his team following Friday’s overtime victory. OVERTIME MAGIC Defensive stop pushes Gulls past Estacada; Seaside faces Gladstone in semifinals By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian S EASIDE — After all that — the 86 com- bined points, the 756 yards in total offense, the back-to-back kickoff returns for touchdowns — after all that, it came down to one defensive stop on a two-point conversion try in overtime. The big defensive play belonged to the Gulls, and so did the win, 44-42 over Estacada. The season comes to a close for the Rangers, while the win sends Seaside on to the semifinals, where the Gulls will face Gladstone (Saturday, 11 a.m., Hillsboro Stadium). Meanwhile, Seaside’s over- time victory brought an end to one crazy night of football at Broadway Field, in the 4A state quarterfinal playoff. Two ties and two lead changes didn’t even begin to tell the story. It was the emo- tional postgame gatherings for each team and the looks on players’ faces that said it all. Cheers at the north end of the field, tears at the south end. And nothing but mutual respect from the two coaches. “We saw these guys earlier this year and had a little taste of what they are,” Estacada coach Andy Mott said of the Gulls, a team the Rangers played for a half hour in a preseason jambo- ree. “They’re a good football team, and we knew they were going to go a long ways.” Likewise, Seaside coach Jeff Roberts said, “Estacada came out and gave us every- thing they had. Hats off to Andy and his club, and those kids. We haven’t been hit like that in a while.” If the state Player of the Year award wasn’t locked up before, it is now. Seaside senior Alexander Teubner rushed for 225 yards and scored five touchdowns, running his sea- son total to 2,041 yards rushing and 40 touchdowns. His last score of the night was a 6-yard pass recep- tion from quarterback Payton Westerholm, on the first pos- session of the overtime. Brayden Johnson caught the two-point conversion pass from Westerholm, and that turned out to be the difference. The Rangers scored on their only overtime possession (a 20-yard pass from Nick Keller to Kaden Settle), but Estaca- da’s try for two was stuffed by the Seaside defense, as Gabriel Martinez took the direct snap from center but was tackled short of the goal line. “We made one more defen- sive play than they did, is what it boils down to,” Roberts said. Westerholm said, “There was 24 points in the first two minutes of the game, so we felt like whichever defense was going to make one stop was going to win the game. And that’s kind of how it played out.” And the Gulls were pre- pared for Estacada’s final two- point conversion try. “We’ve seen that forma- tion,” Roberts said of Estaca- da’s full-house backfield ‘Wildcat’ set. “Rainier runs that, and Andy has a back- ground at Rainier, so we knew we’d see some of it. They usu- ally get two or three yards when they run from that for- mation, and they got two-and- a-half. That’s all we could give up in that situation.” Westerholm said, “When we got our two-point conver- sion to go up eight, we knew that even if they score, we’re going to have to make a stop on their two-point conversion. We were comfortable with that. That’s what we wanted.” Just how closely matched were the two teams? In addition to the two-point differential on the scoreboard, Seaside had 379 yards in total offense, to Estacada’s 377. Seaside’s Payton Westerholm, right, celebrates a big play with Brayden Johnson (3). UP NEXT: 4A STATE SEMIFINAL PLAYOFF • Gladstone Gladiators (8-2) vs Seaside Seagulls (9-1) • Saturday, 11 a.m. Location: Hillsboro Stadium Radio: KSWB 840 AM The main difference was Seaside’s “T-n-T” backfield of Duncan Thompson and Teub- ner. The two combined for 333 rushing yards on just 28 carries (11.9 yards per run). Meanwhile, that’s two down, two to go for Seaside. The Gulls are halfway through their four-game play- off run to a championship. In addition to Seaside, the Final Four includes Marshfield, Banks and Gladstone. Seaside defeated Gladstone on Sept. 14, 70-46. The 2018 season ended on the same field where it began for the Rangers. Estacada’s last trip to Sea- side was Aug. 24, when the Rangers took part in a jambo- ree at Broadway Field. It was a little warmer that day, and a lot less intense. “Sixteen plays the first time we saw them didn’t do it jus- tice,” Roberts said of the jam- boree meeting. “(Keller) is a heck of a player. They’re hard- SCOREBOARD FOOTBALL Seaside 44, Estacada 42 Estacada 14 6 8 8 6—42 Seaside 22 7 0 7 8—44 First quarter Sea: Alexander Teubner 10 run (Ledger Pugh from Brayden John- son) 10:23 Est: Gabriel Martinez 88 kick re- turn (Nick Keller run) 10:08 Sea: Br.Johnson 65 kick return (Pugh from Br.Johnson) 9:57 Est: Keller 16 run (run fail) 3:16 Sea: Al.Teubner 37 run (run fail) 1:47 Second quarter Sea: Al.Teubner 10 run (Gio Ramirez kick) 2:53 Est: Keller 3 run (run fail) :23 Third quarter Est: Keller 2 run (Keller run) 6:08 Fourth quarter Est: Martinez 15 run (Martinez run) 10:23 Sea: Al.Teubner 4 run (Ramirez kick) 7:42 Overtime Sea: Al.Teubner 6 pass from Westerholm (Br.Johnson from Westerholm) Est: Kaden Settle 20 pass from Keller (run fail) Team statistics Estacada Seaside First downs 18 15 Rushes-yards 51-246 37-366 Passing yards 131 13 Total offense 377 379 Comp-Att-Int 5-10-0 2-4-0 Turnovers 0 1 Penalties 4-40 9-76 Estacada statistics Rushing: Keller 26-108, Marti- nez 16-82, L.Stamm 8-52, Settle 1-4. Passing: Keller 5-9-131-0, D.Stamm 0-1-0-0. Receiving: Settle 2-90, D.Stamm 2-19, Hagel 1-22. Seaside statistics Rushing: Al.Teubner 22-225, Thompson 6-108, Westerholm 4-32, Ramirez 4-29, Johnson 1-(- 28). Passing: Westerholm 2-4-13-0. Receiving: Thompson 1-7, Al.Teub- ner 1-6. State playoff scores 4A quarterfinals Banks 28, Marist Catholic 14 Marshfield 28, Mazama 23 Seaside 44, Estacada 42 (OT) Gladstone 30, La Grande 27 3A quarterfinals Rainier 18, Clatskanie 7 Vale 36, Burns 14 Cascade Christian 57, Scio 8 Amity 58, Nyssa 13 2A quarterfinals Monroe 48, Lakeview 7 Santiam 42, Glide 8 Lost River 21, Neah-Kah-Nie 0 Kennedy 27, Sheridan 6 SOCCER State championships 4A girls Hidden Valley 1, Valley Catholic 0 3A/2A/1A girls OR Episcopal 1, Catlin Gabel 0 4A boys Woodburn 2, North Marion 0 3A/2A/1A boys Catlin Gabel 1, OR Episcopal 0 nosed kids, and they gave us everything we could handle.” The game started out like most Seaside games, with the Gulls driving down the field, unopposed. Seaside’s first two plays were runs of 13 and 41 yards by Thompson, and play No. 4 was a 10-yard touchdown run by Teubner. Ledger Pugh caught the two-point conver- sion pass from Johnson, and the start could not have been easier for the Gulls. But that’s where the contest turned into something similar to an Arena Football League game. Estacada’s Gabriel Marti- nez returned the ensuing kick- off 88 yards for a touchdown, and Keller ran in the tying two- point conversion. Not to be outdone, Johnson fielded the next kickoff for the Gulls, and sprinted through the Rangers’ kick coverage for a 65-yard TD return. Johnson again threw to a wide-open Pugh for two points. Just like that, 24 points in 26 seconds, and a 16-8 lead for the Gulls. After that, the game turned into a scoring battle between Keller and Teubner. Keller rushed for 108 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries, but Teubner was again unstoppable, gaining 225 on 22 attempts (10.2 per run). Still, the Rangers grabbed a 36-29 lead with 10:23 left in regulation on a 23-yard run by Martinez. “When we got down, we all remembered what happened last year against Henley (when the Hornets rallied for a 43-39 win), and we knew we needed to kick it into overdrive,” Westerholm said. The Gulls had a few mis- cues on special teams, but Teubner returned the ensu- ing kickoff to the Estacada 37, setting up a five-play scoring drive capped by (of course) a Teubner TD run. Ironically, the best drive of the night resulted in no points. Starting their final posses- sion of regulation with 7:42 remaining from their own 31-yard line, the Rangers drove 69 yards in 15 plays, with a penalty on Seaside leaving Estacada with a fourth-down play from the Gulls’ 10. The Rangers decided to pass up a 26-yard field goal try, and Keller’s pass into the end zone was broken up. “We thought about (a field goal), but the kids and every- body wanted to go for it,” Mott said. ”We thought we had the right call on and had a chance.” Estacada was “definitely a way different team that what we saw in the jamboree and what we saw on film,” Wester- holm said. “Maybe we took them a little lightly. They’re a really good team with a great quarterback. Every team is bet- ter now, and everyone’s play- ing towards one goal. We have something to play for, too.” The Seaside football pro- gram is entering uncharted ter- ritory, at least over the last 25 years. But for a handful of play- ers on the Seaside roster, it’s just another state champion- ship run. Westerholm, Thompson, Johnson, Dylan Meyer, etc. … athletes who already own state championship rings, and could have a couple more four months from now. “This will be new territory for me and the program,” Rob- erts said, “but not for these kids. These kids know how to win.” Thank you for placing your confidence in me. I am grateful to the voters of District 3 who heard our call for a fresh perspective in Clatsop County government. Thank you to Peter Roscoe for his candidacy. Democracy thrives when we have civil elections with an airing of all views. Again, thank you for your votes and your support. I will work hard to validate your trust in me.
