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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2019)
THE ASTORIAN • OCTOBER 19, 2019 • C1 CONTACT US Gary Henley • Sports Reporter • ghenley@dailyastorian.com SATURDAY FOLLOW US facebook.com/DailyAstorianSports SPORTS EXTRA BIG PLAYS LIFT MOLALLA PAST ASTORIA, 21-12 FRIDAY NIGHT SCORES MOLALLA 21, ASTORIA 12 BANKS 34, SEASIDE 6 WARRENTON 41, NEAH-KAH-NIE 6 KNAPPA 54, GASTON 0 MORE ONLINE Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Astoria’s Ryan Stenblom runs the ball in the fi rst quarter. SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GAME AT DAILYASTORIAN.COM Indians score all 21 points in the fourth quarter By GARY HENLEY The Astorian T he Astoria Fishermen weath- ered the weather Friday night at CMH Field. They could not, however, weather a pair of big plays by the Molalla Indians. Quite possibly the two biggest plays of Molalla’s season helped the Indians turn the tide of a close game into a 21-12 win over the Fishermen. A wet, slick turf and a rainy second half in Astoria’s home on the hill did not seem to favor either team. What favored Molalla was possibly a worn out Fishermen defense. Astoria entered the fourth quarter with a 6-0 lead, before two back-to- back offensive plays by the Indians was all it took to help Molalla score its sec- ond win ever as a member of the Cow- apa League. The Fishermen statistically dom- inated the Indians for nearly three full quarters, but had only six points to show for it. An interception by Astoria’s Tristan Boyle early in the second quarter gave the Fishermen the ball at the Molalla 27-yard line. From there, it took Astoria just two plays to reach the end zone, a pass from Bo Williams to Dylan Junes resulting in a 45-yard score and the fi rst lead of the Astoria players celebrate with Tristan Boyle after he intercepted a pass. Coach Howard Rub huddles with the players after Molalla scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, taking the lead. season for the Fishermen. In a key series for the Molalla defense, Astoria fi nished its last drive of the fi rst half at the Indian 1-yard line on a failed fourth down attempt. The score remained 6-0 through the third quarter. Molalla — which had arguably done nothing on offense through three quar- ters (the Indians had just 29 yards in total offense at halftime) — got tricky in the fourth. With just four fi rst downs enter- ing the fi nal period (and two of those were by penalty), the Indians drew up an option pass on a second down play from their own 13-yard line early in the fourth. And Damian Pingo’s pass hit a wide open Jacob Nix, who took it the remain- ing 60 yards for an 87-yard touchdown. Francisco Ignacio’s point-after kick gave the Indians the lead for good. The Fishermen had to punt after three plays of the ensuing drive, and — perhaps a little stunned and maybe a little tired — Astoria’s defense gave up another touchdown on Molal- la’s very next play from scrimmage, a 61-yard run by quarterback Isaac Thomas-Klementis. Before his biggest carry of the night, Thomas-Klementis had minus-2 yards rushing on 10 carries. Not ready to cash in just yet, the Fishermen forced a Molalla fumble with 4:56 left, and followed with a one-play scoring drive of their own, as Williams connected with Michael Moore for a 31-yard score. But the Indians answered with a few big fi rst down plays on their next series, and capped it with another long TD run by Thomas-Klementis from 40 yards out to give Molalla a nine-point lead. Astoria’s Ryan Stutznegger had 72 yards rushing on 19 attempts, while Williams was 16-of-29 passing for 175 yards. Boyle caught fi ve passes for 71 yards. Molalla had six fi rst downs in the fourth quarter, after just four through the fi rst three quarters. The Fishermen fell to 0-7 with the loss. ATHLETES OF THE WEEK KENZIE RAMSEY Warrenton AIDEN BIXEL Jewell Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian F or the second time this season, Warrenton’s senior placekicker was 9-for-9 on point-after touchdown kicks, and added a 29-yard fi eld goal in a 66-13 win over Vernonia Oct. 11. The previous Warrenton school record for point-af- ter kicks in a game was seven (Wes Balensifer, 1998). Ramsey continues to be a leading candidate for Class 2A all-state placekicker. Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian I n an 84-49 loss to Sherman/Condon on Oct. 11 , the junior running back scored fi ve touchdowns (four in the second half ) and rushed for 361 yards on 24 carries in the six-man football game at Jewell. With 97 yards rushing at halftime, he gained 264 on 13 carries in the second half (20.3 yards per carry), and scored on runs of 39, 37 and 87 yards in the fourth quarter.