A10
FRIDAY
June 14, 2019
SeasideSignal.com
CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT Seaside’s
Brayden Johnson (3) leaps for a
ball in the end zone, in a foggy
state
championship
game
in November (Colin Murphey) .
Gretchen Hoekstre had a record-
setting, state title-winning season
for the Seaside track team (Gary
Henley) .
Seaside guard Payton
Westerholm, left, chases down
a ball in a state tournament
win over North Marion (Jeff Ter
Har) . Seaside’s boys golf team,
following their second place finish
at the state meet (Seaside High
School photo) .
Big year for Seaside sports
By GARY HENLEY
Seaside Signal
I
f someone were to write a
book on Seaside sports for the
just-completed school year, a
working title might be some-
thing like: “Second place is
better than no place: The story of
the 2018-19 Seaside Seagulls.”
It was indeed a year to remem-
ber for Seaside High School
athletics.
One sport played in its first
state championship game since
1994. Another sport made its
fourth trip in four years to the
state title game.
In the spring, a group of ath-
letes teamed up to take on a big
school powerhouse in a battle for
a state title on the links, while one
athlete won two state titles in one
record-setting season.
Just make sure you remember
the names. Because athletes who
were walking the halls of Seaside
High over the last nine months
will someday have their pictures
hanging in the school’s Hall of
Fame.
It began in the fall, as Jeff
Roberts entered his final year as
the Seaside football coach, deter-
mined to make 2018 his best year.
He had help, with senior quar-
terback Payton Westerholm, an
offensive line that had three of
its five starters earn first team all-
state honors, and a running back
who put up numbers that may
never be matched.
The Gulls opened the sea-
son with a redemption win over
the team that ended their 2017
season.
Originally scheduled to play
the Henley Hornets in Eugene,
the game was moved to Seaside,
where the Gulls squashed the
Hornets 55-13.
That was the first of six
straight wins that included vic-
tories over Marist (33-22), Glad-
stone (70-46), Astoria (55-7)
and Valley Catholic (64-8).
Seaside’s road to the league
title took a wrong turn in Week
7, when the Banks Braves came
to Broadway Field and shocked
Seaside with a dramatic 10-7
win over the Gulls.
Seaside fans had plenty of
opportunities to see their team,
which played seven of its first 10
games on their home turf.
Ranked as a No. 3 seed enter-
ing the state playoffs, Seaside
defeated Cascade (50-7) and
Estacada (44-42) in the first two
rounds, then knocked off Glad-
stone (the only team to defeat
Banks) in the semifinals, 23-19.
Then it was on to the state
title contest, Seaside’s first trip
to a championship football game
since Stubby Lyons took the
Gulls to the ‘94 game at Autzen
Stadium.
On a dark and foggy night
Nov. 24, Seaside’s champion-
ship dreams ended in a Hills-
boro haze, as Banks rallied from
a first half deficit to beat the
Gulls in an all-Cowapa League
final, 31-20.
“Our kids rallied, never gave
up, never quit, and still had an
opportunity,” Roberts said after
the game, his final as the Seaside
coach. “But it stings. It stings a
lot.
“We’ve turned this program
around,” he added. “The expec-
tation is for them
to be good people. To do the
right thing, to be men of charac-
ter, men of class, men of com-
mitment, and that leads to the
product on the field. And that’s
what I told them. I’m super
proud of them. It’s the best sea-
son we’ve had in 25 years.”
Running back Alex Teub-
ner was the driving force for the
Gulls, rushing for 2,420 yards
and scoring 44 touchdowns in 12
games.
Roberts will turn the keys
over to assistant coach Aaron
Tanabe next season.
“I’ll have fond memories for-
ever,” he said. “The program’s in
good hands. Aaron is going to do
a fantastic job. We’ll be back.”
It was the first state title for
Banks in 98 years.
Also in the fall, Seaside boys
soccer was ranked 10th before
a season-ending loss in the state
quarterfinals.
Gulls rule the court
For the 2018-19 winter sea-
son, all eyes in Oregon 4A boys
basketball were on the Gulls, in
their drive for a three-peat.
Heavily favored to win their
third straight title, the Gulls cer-
tainly looked like favorites in the
regular season.
After a 3-2 start, Seaside
won 17 in a row, including vic-
tories over big school powers
South Eugene, Bend and Thur-
ston in the Summit Holiday
Tournament.
The only league loss was to
Banks, a 54-53 setback. To break
the tie for first in the league
standings, the Braves and Gulls
met two days later in Tillamook,
where the Gulls defeated Banks
51-42 (but still finished ranked
second behind the Braves).
At the state tournament in For-
est Grove, the winning continued
with victories over North Marion
and Stayton. Seaside’s drive for a
third straight championship was
looking like a sure thing.
In the state championship
game against Banks, the Gulls
led 35-24 with 5:34 left in the
third quarter.
But in a replay of the football
state championship, the Braves
rallied behind Blake Gobel.
Banks tied the game at the end of
the third quarter, gradually built
a nine-point lead in the fourth,
then held off the Gulls in the final
minutes. The final score: Those
darn Braves 62, Seaside 56.
And just like that, the Gulls’
March Madness turned to March
Sadness.
“They’re feeling low,” Sea-
side coach Bill Westerholm said
after the game. “These kids have
come a long ways. Most of our
seniors have either played in
or been on the bench for three
straight championships. So it
hurts ‘em to lose.”
He added, “You can’t finish
first every year. We got beat by
a good Banks team. It’s been a
great ride with these seniors. We
have a good young group com-
ing in, so we’re going to be just
fine.”
The winter season also
included a state playoff appear-
ance for the Seaside girls bas-
ketball team, and in wrestling,
Andrew Gastelum and Luke Nel-
son posted Seaside’s first wins in
the state tournament since 2006.
Nelson eventually finished
fifth at 220 pounds.
Hoekstre highlights
spring season
With many of the same ath-
letes who spent the fall and win-
ter seasons racking up wins,
Seaside baseball had hopes of
battling Banks for another race
to another championship in
another sport.
The Braves made it, but the
Gulls didn’t. Banks won the 4A
state title in baseball with a 3-1
win over Henley, the same team
that defeated Seaside in a first
round game, 12-0.
Instead, Seaside’s success
shifted to golf and track.
The Seaside girls golf team
made a late-season run and qual-
ified their entire team for the
state match in Redmond, where
the Lady Gulls finished ninth in
the team standings.
Meanwhile, the Seaside boys
golf team put themselves in seri-
ous contention for their first state
title since winning back-to-back
championships in 2014 and ‘15.
The only team standing in
the way of coach Jim Poetsch’s
team was (no, not Banks)
Marist, which was coming off
a state championship at the 5A
level in 2017.
The OSAA moved Marist to
Class 4A for the 2018-19 school
year, and the Spartans — com-
peting on their home course
in the state tournament — just
had too much firepower for the
Gulls, who finished second to
Marist for the third time in the
season.
That gave Seaside its third
runner-up showing in its third
different sport (football, bas-
ketball, golf) in the same school
year.
Still, at least one Seaside ath-
lete was standing on the very top
of the awards stand.
Already signed and sealed
to compete in track at Brigham
Young
University,
senior
Gretchen Hoekstre had a memo-
rable final season with the Gulls.
She spent much of the season
ranked as the nation’s top female
shot putter, and Oregon’s best in
the discus.
And Hoekstre came through
in the state meet at Mt. Hood
Community College.
She set a state meet record in
the discus (156 feet, 11 inches),
then won the shot put with her
very first throw of 43-8¾.