A10
FRIDAY
October 25, 2019
Fall Sports
SeasideSignal.com
SEASIDE IMPRESSIVE IN CLATSOP CLASH WIN
By GARY HENLEY
Seaside Signal
T
he Seaside Gulls were
unranked in the latest
coaches poll for class
4A boys soccer.
Following their per-
formance Oct. 15 at Broadway
Field, the Gulls may be demand-
ing a recount.
Because for an unranked team,
the Gulls were looking very much
like a Top 3 squad in a 4-1 win
over Astoria.
The second game of the Clat-
sop Clash soccer doubleheader
didn’t finish until nearly 10 p.m.,
and the Gulls looked wide awake
during their battle with Astoria.
Perhaps a bit fired up since hav-
ing to settle for a 1-0 win in their
last meeting with the Fishermen,
the Gulls were flat-out unstoppa-
ble in the first half, as they took
target practice on the Astoria net.
Just two minutes, 43 seconds
into the game, Seaside’s Dodger
Holmstedt gathered in a long pass
near the top of the penalty area.
Holmstedt then dropped a short
pass to teammate Stephen Snyder,
who fired a shot into the Fisher-
men net for the game’s first goal.
And the rout was on.
The Gulls had five corner kicks
in quick succession, with one shot
on goal (from Alex Campuza-
no-Luna, saved by Astoria keeper
Dylan Altheide-Nielson).
Snyder, meanwhile, was play-
ing at another level on Seaside’s
Senior Night.
The Seaside senior was outrac-
ing everyone to the ball, and in the
11th minute, he sprinted past a pair
of Astoria defenders and scored
his second goal for a 2-nil lead.
The Gulls were just warming up,
FOOTBALL
Banks beats
Seaside in
state title
rematch
Seaside Signal
The Game of the Night in class
4A football Oct. 18 was a rematch
of the 2018 state championship, as
Banks hosted Seaside in a battle of
unbeaten teams in league play.
It was still a close game at half-
time, but the Braves pulled away
in the third quarter, building a 34-0
lead on their way to a 34-6 win
over the Gulls.
Banks led 14-0 at halftime, then
scored 17 unanswered points in
the third period.
Martial Stegemeier scored the
first touchdown of each half for
Banks, including a 45-yard run
to open the scoring in the third
quarter.
Seaside scored its lone touch-
down in the fourth, a 75-yard run
by Kaleb Bartel.
The No. 1-ranked Braves had
10 penalties, but the Gulls had five
turnovers, helping Banks to its
third straight win over Seaside.
Banks improves to 4-0 atop the
Cowapa League standings, while
the Gulls fall to 3-1. Seaside fin-
ishes the regular season Friday at
home vs. Tillamook.
SCOREBOARD
OSAA ACADEMIC ALL-STATE
4A Football (with team GPA)
1. Valley Catholic (3.28)
2. Cascade (3.22)
3. Marshfield (3.19)
4. Mazama (3.18)
4. Stayton (3.18)
6. Newport (3.11)
7. La Grande (3.10)
8. SEASIDE (3.09)
9. Sweet Home (3.05)
10. Crook County (3.04)
4A BOYS SOCCER
1. Philomath (3.68)
2. Hidden Valley (3.60)
3. La Grande (3.58)
4. Valley Catholic (3.52)
5. Marist Catholic (3.44)
6. Cottage Grove (3.40)
6. Sweet Home (3.40)
8. North Valley (3.33)
9. Astoria (3.25)
10. SEASIDE (3.19)
Jeff Ter Har
Seaside’s Stephen Snyder scores one of his three goals in the Oct. 15 Clatsop Clash win over Astoria.
Seaside, Valiants battle to 0-0 draw
Seaside Signal
Are the Valley Catholics Val-
iants the best team in 4A boys
soccer?
After Monday night’s game
at Broadway Field, the No.
1-ranked Valiants may not even
be the best in their own league.
That title is still up for grabs,
following a 0-0 tie between Val-
ley Catholic and Seaside, under
the bright lights of Broadway.
The possible state champion-
ship game preview left the Val-
iants with a 4-0-1 league record,
8-1-2 overall. Seaside is just
behind Valley Catholic at 4-1-1,
8-3-1 overall.
The Valiants have three league
games remaining, to Seaside’s
two. Monday’s game was orig-
inally scheduled for last Thurs-
day, but was postponed.
Valley Catholic entered the
game on a six-game win streak,
having outscored the opposition
25-1 over that stretch. Seaside
had won three in a row, outscor-
ing its last three opponents 15-2.
With weather affecting the
playing conditions for Mon-
day’s game, the Gulls had a wind
behind them in the first half,
“and put lots of pressure on the
Valiants,” said Seaside coach
John Chapman.
A large part of the first half
was Valley Catholic clearing
the ball on the multiple Seaside
attacks from all directions.
At the other end, Seaside’s
defense was solid, as was goal-
keeper Patrick Chapman.
“The ball was often hard
to control in the wind and the
rain,” coach Chapman said, and
that would be no different in the
second half, when the elements
favored the Valiants. “Both
teams displayed the finest bat-
tles, matching toe-to-toe.”
The Gulls still had several
near misses, but the scoreboard
stayed blank for the entire 80
minutes.
“Both teams laid it out there,
which was clear in the post-game
emotions,” Chapman said, add-
ing that his team is “focused on
last two games and representing
well in the post season.”
Seaside’s current losses are
to the No. 1 and 2-ranked teams
in class 3A (Oregon Episcopal
and Catlin Gabel), and a 1-0 loss
to Valley Catholic earlier in the
season.
as a hard shot by Ryan Hague with
21:33 remaining slipped through
the hands of Altheide-Nielson for
a 3-0 advantage.
And just minutes later, Sny-
der had the hat trick, scoring his
third goal off a deflected attempt
by Holmstedt.
That would be Seaside’s final
goal of the night, but the Gulls
kept firing laser-beam shots at the
Astoria net. Some were saved by
Altheide-Nielson, some deflected
off the post and others ended up in
the Broadway Field parking lot.
With 21 of the 22 players on the
field spending most of the first half
on Astoria’s defensive side of the
field, the Fishermen crossed mid-
field only four times and did not
have a shot on goal.
The Gulls kept the pres-
sure on into the second half, but
Altheide-Nielson made several
big saves and the Fishermen held
the Gulls scoreless over the final
40 minutes.
Astoria had shots on goal from
Jeremy Owen and Leo Matthews,
which were both saved by Seaside
keeper Patrick Chapman.
The Fishermen scored their
lone goal with 4:28 remaining
in the game, with Javier Cam-
pos Bermudez converting on an
indirect free kick from teammate
Michael Postlewait in front of the
Seaside net.
The Gulls finished the sec-
ond half with five shots on goal.
Westin Carter had Seaside’s final
two shots with under a minute
remaining.
In Clatsop Clash boys soccer
games since 1996, the series is
now tied, 23-23-8.
Seaside hosts Valley Catholic
on Thursday. A win would put the
Gulls into a first-place tie with the
Valiants.
Big second half lifts Astoria over Seaside
Seaside Signal
The incentives to win were
high for both teams Oct. 15, in a
Clatsop Clash girls soccer show-
down at Broadway Field.
The winner would get their first
league victory of the season, and
would climb out of a tie for last
place in the league standings.
After a 0-0 tie in the previous
meeting with Seaside, the Asto-
ria girls managed to score the first
goal in Clatsop Clash play this
season, then tacked on four more
in a second half scoring explosion
on their way to a 5-0 win over the
Gulls.
In Clatsop Clash girls soccer
games since 1999, the five goals
was the most scored since Seaside
defeated Astoria 6-1 in a 2001
contest.
Tied with 0-3-1 records in
league play entering the contest,
the Lady Fishermen picked up
their first league win of the sea-
son, with three games still remain-
ing. Seaside’s young team drops
to 0-4-1.
Even more impressive — Asto-
ria accomplished the win with just
12 players in uniform. And two
injuries had the Lady Fish down
to 11 healthy players for a time.
But Astoria was the more
aggressive team from start to fin-
ish, attacking the Seaside goal
with several shots in the opening
minutes.
Attempts by Meghan O’Meara
and Elle Espelien in the first 11
minutes were saved by Seaside
freshman keeper Abygale Brien,
who made two more saves on
shots by O’Meara in the 22nd and
24th minutes.
But in the 26th minute,
O’Meara scored the first Clatsop
Clash goal of the season, blasting
in a rebound shot for a 1-0 lead.
From there, Espelien was off
the mark on successive attempts,
and Astoria finished the first half
with seven shots on goal to Sea-
side’s one.
The real scoring did not begin
until the second half.
Four minutes, 53 seconds into
the half, O’Meara dribbled a ball
across the top of the penalty area
from left to right, and sent a shot
past a diving Brien into the Sea-
Gary Henley
Abby Nofield tries to keep the ball inbounds.
Jeff Ter Har
Jeff Ter Har
Emerson Landwehr moves the ball
for the Gulls.
Emily Philbrook and Hailey Hughes go for the ball in the Clatsop Clash.
side net.
In the 48th minute, Espe-
lien stole a ball from a Sea-
side defender and converted the
first of her two goals for a 3-nil
advantage.
Less than two minutes later,
Espelien’s pass down the cen-
ter of the field was gathered in by
O’Meara, who scored her third
goal of the night.
And with 20:41 remaining in
the game, Espelien scored her sec-
ond goal off a deflected shot on
goal, giving Astoria its most goals
ever in a Clatsop Clash.
The Fishermen had 11 shots
on goal in the second half. Play-
ing with no reserves for the final
25:22, Astoria kept the Gulls
scoreless over the final 40 minutes.