A8
FRIDAY
November 26, 2021
Fall Sports
SeasideSignal.com
BOYS SOCCER
All-league honors for Seaside, Astoria players
The Astorian
Despite tough years in the league stand-
ings, the Astoria and Seaside boys soccer
teams still managed to place a combined 11
players on the Cowapa all-league team, as
voted on by the league’s coaches.
In a down season for the Cowapa League,
the 4A boys soccer state quarterfi nals did
not include any teams from the Cowapa, as
league champion Valley Catholic and sec-
ond place Tillamook both lost in the fi rst
round of the state playoff s.
Player of the Year honors went to Car-
ter Aff olter of Tillamook and Charles Bett-
ger of Valley Catholic; and Goalkeeper of the
Year recipients were Valley Catholic’s Dhilan
Thanik and Seaside senior Riley Wunderlich.
Valley Catholic landed eight play-
ers on the all-league team, including two
goalkeepers.
Seaside (5-7-1 overall), which lost at state
runner-up Hidden Valley in the play-in round,
had six all-league selections, with two juniors
and three sophomores joining Wunderlich,
one of just two Seaside seniors this season.
Seaside’s fi rst team all-league players
were juniors Migiel Campos and Anthony
Peon, and sophomores Leivis Lopez and
Ismael Villasenor.
A young Astoria team, which had just one
senior, fi nished 0-13-1 overall. The Fishermen
still reeled in fi ve all-league selections, with
one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen.
First team players were junior Cameron
Schauermann, sophomore keeper Salvador
Wienecke and freshman Walker Steele.
Photos by Gary Henley/The Astorian
Seaside’s Anthony Peon, left, and Astoria’s Cameron Schauermann, middle, both made Cowapa
all-league fi rst team as juniors.
Seaside’s Riley Wunderlich capped his senior
season with a co-Goalkeeper of the Year
award for the Cowapa all-league team.
COWAPA ALL-LEAGUE
Player of the Year: Carter Aff olter, Tillamook;
Charles Bettger, Valley Catholic
D: Carl Carlson, Sr., Banks
M/F: Cameron Schauermann, Jr., Astoria
Honorable Mention
M: Edgar Estrada, Sr., Tillamook
M/D: Walker Steele, Fr., Astoria
M/F: Kaden Burch, So., Seaside
D: Riley Hill, Sr., Valley Catholic
D: Sebastian Stefanowicz, Sr., Valley Catholic
D/M: Tayden Cole, Fr., Astoria
D: Drew Klopcic, Fr., Valley Catholic
D/F: Ismael Villasenor, So., Seaside
F: Cole Crossen, Jr., Banks
M/F: Carter Aff olter, Jr., Tillamook
D/M: Leivis Lopez, So., Seaside
F/M: Graysen Voss, Jr., Banks
M/D: Kainoa Henley, Sr., Banks
M: Charles Bettger, Sr., Valley Catholic
D: Brock Manderson, Sr., Tillamook
GK: Sam Brown, Sr., Valley Catholic
M/GK: Diego Lara, Fr., Tillamook
M/F: Cole Aff olter, Fr., Tillamook
M/F: Cruz Mendola, Jr., Banks
GK: Dhilan Thanik, Sr., Valley Catholic
F/M: Alex Lopez, Sr., Tillamook
F: Elian Ayala, Sr., Valley Catholic
M: Bruno Monroy, Sr., Tillamook
GK: Salvador Wienecke, So., Astoria
M: Riley Reinikka, So., Valley Catholic
D/M: Migiel Campos, Jr., Seaside
M/F: Anthony Peon, Jr., Seaside
GK: Riley Wunderlich, Sr., Seaside
M/F: Owen Williams, So., Astoria
Goalkeeper of the Year: Dhilan Thanik, Valley
Catholic; Riley Wunderlich, Seaside
First Team
Arden, Taylor, Brien on girls soccer fi rst team
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
League champion Valley Catholic contin-
ues to lead the way and reap the rewards in
Cowapa League girls soccer, but Astoria and
Seaside continue to close the gap between
the Valiants and the next two best teams in
the Cowapa.
While Valley Catholic led the all-league
selections with seven players (fi ve on the
fi rst team), the Fishermen and Gulls were
right behind, with a combined nine all-
league players (fi ve for Seaside, four for
Astoria).
The league’s Player of the Year honor
went to Valley Catholic senior Casmira Fox,
while Rainier’s Jamie Knox was named
Goalkeeper of the Year and the Valiants’
Kibwe Cuffi e earned Coach of the Year
honors.
Seaside had three fi rst team selections —
senior Emma Arden and juniors Lilli Taylor
and Abby Brien, one of two goalkeepers on
COWAPA ALL-LEAGUE
Player of the Year: Casmira Fox, Valley
Catholic
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jamie Knox, Rainier
Coach of the Year: Kibwe Cuffi e, Valley
Catholic
First Team
M: Casmira Fox, Sr., Valley Catholic
M: Evelyn Wheeler, Jr., Rainier/Clatskanie
M: Kimara Witham, Fr., Banks
GK: Abby Brien, Jr., Seaside
GK: Jamie Knox, Sr., Rainier/Clatskanie
Honorable Mention
Ila Bowles, Sr., Seaside
F: Emma Arden, Sr., Seaside
Elizabeth Louie, So., Valley Catholic
M: Paulina Filip, So., Valley Catholic
Kate Manderson, Jr., Tillamook
D: Malia Groshong, So., Valley Catholic
Natalee Rizzo, Sr., Banks
F: Mariella Gunther, Sr., Valley Catholic
Tyler Rose, Jr., Banks
F: Karen Jiminez, Sr., Astoria
Mia Rosebrook, Fr., Valley Catholic
D: Anna Kinder, Sr., Valley Catholic
Ashley Sisley, So., Astoria
M: Adriana Rico, Sr., Tillamook
Kaylee Snyder, Jr., Seaside
Emma Arden takes the ball downfi eld.
M: Madelyn Russell, Jr., Banks
Grace Tallman, Sr., Rainier/Clatskanie
the fi rst team.
The Fishermen landed seniors Karen
Jiminez and Maddie Sisley on the fi rst team.
F: Maddie Sisley, Sr., Astoria
Vanessa Velazquez, Sr., Astoria
D: Lilli Taylor, Jr., Seaside
Areli Velazquez Villa, So., Tillamook
Jeff TerHar
Crab season set to open on time
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Marine toxins, skinny crabs and conten-
tious price negotiations have all had a hand in
delaying the start of Oregon’s lucrative com-
mercial Dungeness crab season in recent years.
Not this season — at least not yet.
For the fi rst time in years, commercial
Dungeness crab fi sheries in Oregon, Washing-
ton state and Northern California will begin on
the traditional Dec. 1 opener after recent pre-
season testing showed high meat yield in crabs
across the region.
At the same time, domoic acid — and the
diatom that produces the naturally-occurring
marine toxin — seems to have almost dis-
appeared from ocean waters off Oregon and
Washington.
Crabbing vessels can begin to set gear on
Nov. 28 and could begin pulling ocean crab
pots on Dec. 1.
It is the fi rst time in years that Oregon has
cleared meat fi ll hurdles in the fi rst round of
tests, said Tim Novotny, spokesman for the
Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.
A starting price per pound still needs to be
set, but, Novotny said, “we are over one big
hurdle to a potential Dec. 1 opener for the fi rst
time since 2014.”
Last season, the state gave commercial
crabbers the green light in mid-December
but regional price talks and elevated levels of
domoic acid in Washington delayed the start
of season.
Still, with the all-clear from the state this
season, fi shermen and buyers can begin to pre-
pare in earnest earlier than has been normal for
a while.
Crab could be at markets in time for Christ-
mas this year, another fi rst in a long time, said
Dan Ayres, coastal shellfi sh manager with the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Commercial Dungeness crab is one of Ore-
gon’s most valuable fi sheries. Despite a delay
last year, fi shermen still landed 12.2 million
pounds coastwide in Oregon for an ex-vessel
value of $60.6 million. The West Coast fi sh-
ery is managed under a tri-state agreement
between Oregon, Washington and California.
Cold water off the coast now could also
Crabbing
vessels can
begin to set
gear on
Nov. 28.
Hailey Hoff man/
The Astorian
mean domoic acid is unlikely to be an issue
this winter. The toxin load in razor clams — an
important indicator species when it comes to
tracking the presence of domoic acid — is in
the single digits and dropping in Washington
state, Ayres said.
In Oregon, domoic acid and pseudo-nitzs-
chia, the diatom that produces the toxin, is just
“background noise at this point,” said Matt
Hunter, shellfi sh project manager with the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“You never give it 100% confi dence, but I
think compared to past years it certainly looks
better than it was,” he said.
The good meat fi ll results may also be a
boon for the fi shery beyond allowing for an
earlier start. Fishery managers do not use the
tests to predict crab abundance, but Ayres said
they did see a higher number of crabs in pots
they pulled.
It is impossible to predict very far in
advance for any fi shery, however.
“We’ll see what we see when we get there,”
Ayres said.
But, he added, “I think we’re headed for
some positive stuff ahead.”