A10
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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DailyAstorianSports
HOMETOWN
REPORT
WARRENTON’S LONG,
STRANGE ROAD TO THE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Boise State
Seaside’s Alex Teubner, who had
an outstanding senior season
with the Gulls in 2018, hopes to
carry the ball for Boise State in
the near future.
Teubner
on way to
Boise State
The Astorian
Seaside senior Alex Teubner
has accepted a walk-on oppor-
tunity to play football for the
Boise State Broncos.
Teubner was the Cowapa
League’s Offensive Player of
the Year last season, and was
one of four Seaside players on
the fi rst team all-state offense
after rushing for 2,420 yards
and scoring 44 touchdowns in
the 2018 season.
Astoria athletic director
Howard Rub announced that
fi ve Astoria seniors will com-
pete at the college level in
2019-20.
The list includes Ian Hunt,
who will play basketball and
compete in track at Evergreen
State College in Olympia,
Washington.
Josiah Hirsch plans to play
football at Occidental College
in Los Angeles, while team-
mate Henry Samuelson will
play football at George Fox
University.
Seniors Kes Sandstrom and
Nara Van De Grift plan to com-
pete in track at Linfi eld College.
Seaside’s
Smith
earns
award
The Astorian
More than 360 coaches
were honored May 18 at the
2019 Oregon Athletic Coaches
Association (OACA) awards
banquet.
And the list of honor-
ees included Seaside’s Nikita
“Nick” Smith, in his fi fth year as
an assistant coach for the Sea-
side boys basketball team.
Smith and six others were
given special awards in the cat-
egory of “Assistant Coaches of
the Year.”
Seaside head coach Bill
Westerholm, who has taken the
Gulls to the last four state cham-
pionship games, posted to the
Seaside basketball Facebook
page, “Behind every program
that has success you will fi nd
quality assistants. Our program
is lucky to have three (Smith,
Jim Poetsch, Charles Neal).”
The six other assistants hon-
ored by the OACA were Tyler
Davis (Phoenix), Tommy Haaga
(Wilsonville), Terry Newsom
(Sunset), Tom Shaw (Hosanna
Christian), Marty Stallard
(Marshfi eld) and Patrick Tuia
(Westview).
Gary Henley/The Astorian
Warrenton players shake hands with members of the Knappa Loggers, following Knappa’s win over the Warriors in the 2019 season
opener at Warrenton, where the Warriors have only played four times this month.
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
he road to any championship game
usually has some strange twists and
turns along the way, with key turn-
ing points and adversities to overcome.
Of course, there are occasional pro-
grams like the Knappa Loggers, who
had to make very few turns on their
way to state titles in 2015 and 2018.
The Loggers just jumped on the inter-
state and cruised to championships with
records of 27-0 and 24-0, respectively.
Clatsop County’s latest contestant
in a state championship baseball game
(the ninth in the last 13 years), the
2019 Warrenton Warriors took the back
roads to reach their destination.
Qualifying for their fi rst champi-
onship game in 21 years, the Warriors
took a unique route to reach Volcanoes
Stadium.
When Astoria, Warrenton and
Knappa went into the May 28 semifi -
nals at three different levels — 4A, 3A
and 2A — the one team probably least
expected to advance was Warrenton.
With a combined 10 championship
game appearances since 2006, it would
have been no surprise to see both the
Fishermen and Loggers win and make
return trips to Keizer.
But Astoria and Knappa came up
short in their bids to play at Volcanoes
Stadium, while the Warriors scored
their second straight victory over a
top-three team to qualify for their fi rst
championship game since 1998.
It’s usually a key victory or a big
upset that qualifi es as the so-called
T
EDITOR’S NOTE
Friday’s state championship game
fi nished up after The Astorian went to
press. Go online to DailyAstorian.com
for the results, which will be printed in
Tuesday’s newspaper.
“turning point.” While the 2019 War-
riors had a few of each, it was two
losses that served as a turning point.
“Our doubleheader loss at home
(May 7) to Rainier really did something
for us,” said Warrenton coach Lennie
Wolfe. In addition to hearing some of
the usual taunts from the Columbians
after the game, the experience sparked
the Warriors into getting better.
Warrenton swept a twinbill from
Catlin Gabel two days later, which was
followed one day after that by a loss at
Monroe.
Three losses in a fi ve-day span gave
the Warriors a lot to work on.
“And (after the loss at Monroe) we
had an 11-day break before we even
played our next game,” Wolfe said.
“That really gave us time to focus
on the things we needed to do to get
better.”
Mission accomplished, apparently,
since after their loss May 11, the War-
riors scored wins over teams that fi n-
ished second, third and 10th in the fi nal
regular-season rankings.
“The kids feel good about their
achievements,” Wolfe said. “And
again, such a big part, they know
they’ve earned it. I know I’m kind of
hammering away at that, but they’ve
earned it.”
And sometimes it isn’t just the fi gu-
rative road to the fi nals that teams must
overcome. Sometimes the literal road
is just as tough.
“To go down and beat Brookings —
not only the length of the trip — but it
was the nature of some of those miles
to get there,” Wolfe said.
Two days before Warrenton made
the trip, the Amity Warriors had to play
a fi rst-round game at Brookings, and
lost 8-1.
Referring to Highway 199, Wolfe
said, “the Amity kids were physically
ill going over that same road (which
dips down into California before reach-
ing Highway 101, then north to Brook-
ings). It’s not an easy trek. What an
incredible home fi eld advantage.
“And we handled it,” he said. “I
never heard a single kid complain
about the length of the trip, or about the
nature of the driving. And then, ‘OK
guys, we’re going to go home, and then
turn around (three days later) and go to
Santiam Christian.”
The Warriors had been to Santiam
Christian earlier in the year — and lost,
8-1 — but “we’re not the same team,”
Wolfe said. “The boys have known it,
and they looked forward to another
chance to play Santiam Christian.”
After collecting just fi ve hits and
striking out 10 times in their loss to the
Eagles back on March 29, the Warriors
had nine hits and scored seven earned
runs off starting pitcher Sean Riley in
the rematch, setting up Warrenton’s
trip to the 2019 state championship.
Area runners fi nish season
The Astorian
A pair of runners with ties to
the North Coast recently ended
their 2019 collegiate seasons.
Kaylee Mitchell, who attended
Astoria High School but gradu-
ated from Sprague High School,
competes as a freshman in track at
Seattle Pacifi c University.
Mitchell qualifi ed for the
3,000-meter steeplechase at the
Division II national championship
meet, May 23-25 in Kingsville,
Texas, but a leg injury forced her
to drop out of the fi nal.
In the GNAC championships,
May 10-11 at Western Oregon
University, Mitchell was seeded
second in the conference in the
steeplechase, and that’s where she
fi nished in the fi nal, placing sec-
ond in 10:39.74, earning eight
team points for SPU.
In the women’s 1,500-meter
fi nal, Mitchell fi nished seventh in
4:32.81, a provisional qualifying
time.
After her return from nation-
als, Mitchell posted, “Wouldn’t
want to end my freshman year
of athletics with anyone else.
And although this weekend went
exactly how I did not want this
weekend to go, I couldn’t be more
grateful for my teammates, my
coaches and everything this year
has taught me.”
Seaside’s Allison Kilday, wrap-
ping up her college career as a
senior at Occidental College in
Los Angeles, fi nished third in the
400-meter hurdles in a time of
62.78 seconds.
Her run helped the Occidental
women’s team fi nish third overall
in the Southern California Inter-
collegiate Athlete Conference
(SCIAC) championship meet,
held April 27-28 in Claremont,
California.
Allison Kilday,
Occidental
College
Kaylee Mitchell,
Seattle
Pacifi c
Kilday also ran in the May
11 Oxy Invitational, and had the
12th-fastest time in the same
event (1:03.11).
Kilday earned All-West region
honors in the 400 hurdles, with
the top fi ve marks in each event in
the SCIAC making the all-region
team.