9A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2018
SEASIDE SEAGULLS
BASKETBALL
Seaside boys seek a 3-peat
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE BOYS
Coach: Bill Westerholm, 21st
year
2017-18: 22-5 (7-3 Cowapa)
Playoffs: Defeated Valley
Catholic in 4A state champi-
onship.
All-league losses: None
All-league returners: Ryan
Hague, Jr., Chase Januik, Sr.,
Duncan Thompson, Sr., Pay-
ton Westerholm, Sr.
S
easide athletes have
been making a lot of
history over the last
four years, in many sports.
The Gulls are on the verge
of making some huge history
this winter. If Seaside can win
its third straight boys basket-
ball state championship (and
the Gulls are heavy favor-
ites), they will be the first 4A
team to do so (West Linn won
four straight 6A titles, from
2013-16).
Seaside has been to the
state championship game in
each of the last three years,
won the last two, and their
four all-league players are all
back.
With their lineup of all-
state players, led by their state
Coach of the Year, the Gulls
will be everyone’s favorite
this season.
The coaches agree, since
Seaside was the only team in
the state to be a unanimous
No. 1-ranked team in the pre-
season coaches poll.
The target on their backs
“will be there,” said Sea-
side coach Bill Westerholm.
“Everybody knows we’re
unanimous in the coaches poll,
and rightfully so. We have
everybody coming back.”
Or, as Chase Januik put it
after last year’s state cham-
pionship game: “We’re going
to be better than ever next
year. We’ll be looking for a
three-peat.”
THE COWAPA
While it’s no secret that
the Gulls are the best team at
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Left to right: Chase Januik, coach Bill Westerholm, Payton Westerholm.
the 4A level, the Cowapa is
clearly the best league.
A Cowapa League team
has been in each of the last
four state championship
games (2015 champion Scap-
poose is no longer a part of the
league). Last year’s state title
game was expected to be Sea-
side and Banks, and when the
Braves didn’t make it, Valley
Catholic took their place in
the championship game, won
by the Gulls, 48-44.
In fact, the toughest part
of any season for Seaside is
the league schedule, in which
three different teams (Banks,
Scappoose and Tillamook)
managed to beat the Gulls last
year.
Scappoose has moved to
Class 5A, Banks lost three
all-league players (including
league MVP Dalton Renne),
and the Valiants lost two
all-leaguers.
“Banks is going to be
very good,” Westerholm said.
“(Jacob) Slifka is the same
type of player that Renne was.
He will be a junior, and will
have a great opportunity.
“Valley Catholic beat Scap-
poose by 45 (Wednesday),” he
said. “Coach (Joel) Sobotka
will try to speed things up and
put points on the board, and
press more. And he’s got some
players who can do that.”
Astoria is “going to be
senior-dominated this year,”
he said. “If Ryan Stenblom
gets his knee back in shape
completely, he will give them
some strength at point guard.
“Josh (Olson) and Ian
(Hunt) have improved tre-
mendously on the offensive
end and they’ve got some
height, so they’re going to
give teams problems. You can
never look by anybody in our
league.”
A new ‘old’ look for Seaside girls
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE GIRLS
Coach: Mike Hawes, 3rd year
2017-18: 8-17 (4-6 league)
Playoffs: Defeated Scap-
poose, lost to Astoria in league
playoffs.
All-league losses: Bryre Bab-
bitt, Jetta Ideue
All-league returners: None
The first year of the post-
Maddi Utti era was a tough one
for Seaside girls basketball.
The Lady Gulls went from
a 20-5 overall record and a
third-place finish at state in
2016-17, to 8-17 overall and
fourth place in the league
standings last year.
With the graduation of two
all-league players, it won’t be
any easier in 2018-19.
Seaside opened its season
Wednesday with an overtime
loss at Stayton — still not a
bad beginning for the Gulls.
“I did not know what to
expect, just because we’re so
new,” Seaside coach Mike
Hawes said. “We had a chance
to win a ball game on the road
against a pretty good vet-
eran club. We told the girls
that we’re a work in progress.
We need to be a really good
team in January. We were still
learning basic plays last
night.”
THE COWAPA
“You always start with
Banks,” Hawes said. “(Aspen)
Slifka’s a senior, and they have
other good players coming
back. They know what they’re
doing.”
Elsewhere, “Astoria should
be right up there, in terms of
talent, size and experience.
And of course Valley is always
tough. So you can start with the
usual suspects. We were down
last year and shouldn’t be
mentioned in the same breath
with those three, but hopefully
Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
Annaka Garhofer is back and looking to score points for
the Seaside girls this season.
we can sneak in there and steal
some wins.”
THE LADY GULLS
Experience? Not a problem
for Seaside this season.
Hawes heads into the sea-
son with seven seniors on his
12-player varsity roster, with
three juniors, one sophomore
and one freshman with all
kinds of potential.
“We’ll have nice pieces
coming back, with a huge
senior team, although a lot of
them are new,” Hawes said.
“Morgan (Blodgett, transfer
from Warrenton) and Sydney
Van Dusen are new this year.”
Meanwhile, the freshman
is Lilli Taylor. She scored 14
points in the loss at Stayton,
her first high school game.
“I had to throw my frosh
out there, and she did pretty
well,” Hawes said. “She will
make a difference, adding a bit
of a playmaker to the lineup,”
although he’s not ready to call
her “the next Maddi Utti.”
“Let’s just hope she’s ‘Lil-
lie the first’ and makes her own
name,” he said. “It is nice to
have a kid who sees the court
like Maddi did, and has the
skills to finish. That was game
one for her, and we kind of
joked when she came out for a
couple minutes rest, and I said,
‘that might be the last one you
get in four years.’”
Adding varsity experi-
ence are seniors Jessica Angu-
lo-Joli, Annaka Garhofer,
Alyssa Goin, Emy Kiser and
Katie Zagata. Juniors Jadah
Doney and Ruby Douglas, and
sophomore Tristyn McFadden
round out the roster.
THE GULLS
The familiar names are all
back: seniors Chase Januik,
Dylan Meyer, Duncan Thomp-
son and Payton Westerholm,
and juniors Ryan Hague, Beau
Johnson and Brayden Johnson.
All have state championship
rings, and most have two.
“For the most part, we have
our pieces back,” coach Wester-
holm said. “We just have to find
two or three kids to fit some
roles. That will be anyone from
Brayden to Dylan Meyer. Ste-
phen Snyder had a good sum-
mer, and Gavin Rich shoots the
ball really well.
“Ledger Pugh and Samson
Sibony will have opportunities
to play varsity. We have five
returning starters, so its going
to be hard to find playing time,”
he said. “Guys who would start
at a lot of schools are going to
be playing JV and swinging to
varsity.”
The problem will be get-
ting in basketball shape. Half
of the team played football up
until last week, following Sea-
side’s run to the state champi-
onship game.
“It will take us a while to
get our legs underneath us,”
said Westerholm, who will face
one of his toughest preseason
schedules in years.
“Stayton is a top five team,
and we have Marshfield, Marist
and Dayton, which will be in
the running for a 3A state cham-
pionship,” he said. “We’ll play
Ridgeview in a tournament,
and if we win that game we’ll
play Pendleton or Bend, and if
we win those, we would proba-
bly play Thurston (the defend-
ing 5A state champion). Hope-
fully we’ll be .500 by the time
we get to league.”
Prediction: The Gulls
get their three-peat. State
champions.
Saints sweep Jewell teams
OREGON CITY — Jewell basketball opened the season
Wednesday with a doubleheader at North Clackamas, where
the Saints scored a sweep over the Blue Jays, 40-27 in the girls’
game, and 63-21 in the boys’ contest.
Lily Kaczenski scored 16 points for the Jewell girls, while
Lillie Meier and Nedi Morales combined for 11 rebounds.
Warrenton girls win opener
SUTHERLIN — The Warrenton girls basketball team won
their season opener Thursday, a 48-35 decision over South Umpqua
in a first-round game of the Bill Spelgatti Invitational at Sutherlin.
Claire Bussert scored 15 points, Fernanda Alvarez added 12
and Kenzie Ramsey scored 10 for the Warriors, who led just
19-18 after one quarter.
From there, Warrenton outscored the Lancers 29-17. The
Warriors will play Sutherlin today.
— The Daily Astorian
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball — Astoria at
Madras Tournament, TBA; Cas-
cade at Seaside, 7:30 p.m.; War-
renton vs. Sutherlin, at Sutherlin
Tournament, 7:15 p.m.; Toledo at
Knappa, 7:30 p.m.
Boys basketball — OES vs.
Astoria, at Knappa, 5:30 p.m.;
Nestucca at Warrenton, 6 p.m.;
Toledo at Knappa, 9 p.m.; Jewell
at Open Door, 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Girls basketball — Astoria at
Madras Tournament, TBA; Warren-
ton at Sutherlin Tournament, TBA
Boys basketball — Astoria at
Knappa, 8 p.m.; Gaston at War-
renton, 5:30 p.m.
Need rock?
We’ve got
We’ve
got you
you covered.
covered.
503-738-7328
KnifeRiver.com