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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 13, 2019
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Bump, set and spike in Seaside
By HAILEY HOFFMAN
The Astorian
V
olleyball teams of
two, four and six
duked it out at the
30th annual Seaside Beach
Volleyball Tournament over
the weekend. With nearly
200 volleyball courts set up,
hundreds of people of all
ages traveled from around
the country to compete.
MORE ONLINE
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
See more photos
and a video at
DailyAstorian.com
ABOVE: Katie McCutcheon reaches out to spike the ball. RIGHT:
Katie Spieler dives to bump the ball into the air for teammate
Delaney Knudsen to hit over the net in the center court.
Paul Lotman watches the ball hit the sand after a hard spike by Brigg Busenhart.
Seahawks rookie Blair draws
attention in his first NFL game
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. —
When safety Marquise
Blair was drafted in the sec-
ond round by the Seattle
Seahawks, he brought with
him to the NFL the reputa-
tion as a big hitter.
That’s what happens
when you’re ejected twice
from college games for
targeting.
So it shouldn’t come as
a surprise that one of the
most notable moments from
Seattle’s preseason opener
centered on Blair and rid-
ing that fine line between
what’s a legal hit and what
will draw a flag in the NFL.
“I’ve been working on it
since I left Utah, I’ve been
working on moving my
shoulder,” Blair said. “I’m
going full speed out there,
it’s whatever they see.”
In drafting Blair, the Sea-
hawks are hoping they’ve
found the next version of
Kam Chancellor — a big
safety with the strength and
size to be a force against
the run but the skills to
also defend the pass. And
it didn’t take long into his
first NFL preseason game to
see the thumping he could
add to the secondary.
It was the fourth quarter
and Denver’s Drew Lock
attempted to hit Nick Wil-
liams downfield. Blair came
across and rocked Williams
as the ball arrived, soon fol-
lowed by a flag. It was a hit
AP Photo/Stephen Brashear
Marquise Blair hits Denver Broncos wide receiver Nick
Williams, drawing a penalty flag for unnecessary roughness.
that drew oohs, but also a
review to see if Blair was
subject to ejection.
Blair appeared to avoid
making helmet contact but
his mistake was making
the hit with his right shoul-
der, instead of his left. Seat-
tle coach Pete Carroll said
the teaching point in that
instance was for Blair to
have tried making the hit
with his left shoulder so
his head was further away
from the contact with the
receiver.
“The cool thing was that
he was there. He made a
great break on the football,
his timing was excellent,
his toughness was demon-
strated. Now there is a lit-
tle technique issue to make
sure that doesn’t happen
again,” Carroll said.
Not surprisingly, doing
drills to replicate that play
was one all of the Sea-
hawks’ defensive backs
were doing on Sunday.
“That flag is all about
inches,” Seattle safety Brad-
ley McDougald said. “If he
goes two inches lower then
it’s a clean, legal play. We
can’t let that flag or the ref-
erees diminish how we play
the game. We just have to
practice, drill those things
at practice, getting the right
strike range, the right target
area and stay there and rep
it enough that it becomes
second nature.”
Blair was “scrambling”
as Carroll described it in the
preseason opener. He was
flagged for the hit on Wil-
liams and made the incor-
rect read on a pass play
going after the quarterback
when he should have stayed
on the receiver releasing
off the line. He also made
See Seahawks, Page A7
Knappa beanbag tournament Sunday
The Astorian
Knappa’s annual bean-
bag tournament fundraiser
is scheduled for Sunday,
Aug. 18, at Knappa High
School.
Pre-registration cost is
$30 per team by Thurs-
day, or $40 after Thursday.
Day of tournament registra-
tion is from 2 to 2:45 p.m.
at Teevin Field. The tour-
nament begins at 3 p.m. All
proceeds benefit Knappa
High School baseball.
For
more
informa-
tion, contact Akiko Miller
at
503-298-8429
or
amiller97103@hotmail.
com.
The tournament is dou-
ble elimination, with prizes
for first and second place.
Kristin Fraser serves the ball as teammate Sophie Yeomans gets ready.