Clatsop County football teams kick off
· Yahoo Sports
Astoria football finally joined the win column, Warrenton seized control of the 3A-SD1 Special District 1, Knappa had a happy homecoming and Scappoose put on a clinic against Seaside. Here’s what happened in local football this week.
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Seaside takes a loss from Scappoose
Friday night in Seaside was a show of force by Scappoose.
The Indians’ offense put on a clinic as they scored on every first half possession en route to a 50-6 crushing of Seaside. A lone bright side for Seaside was that the coaching staff played many of their backups in the second half, including many freshmen and sophomores. This gave head coach Dennis Olstedt and his staff a chance to evaluate the future players of the program on a night that turned sour pretty quick.
Scappoose opened the game by scoring within the first minute and made it look easy from there on out. The Indians led 21-0 after the first quarter and 35-0 at halftime. Scappoose utilized a four wide out set and the Indians were able to pass and run from that formation all night. With a number of skilled position players at his disposal, quarterback Will Kessi was able to spread the ball around to a wealth of receiving talent. Senior running back Elijah Biggs used his 196-pound frame to run through attempted arm tackles and also made a great catch on a deep ball from Kessi.
Sophomore running back Beau Long scored the only touchdown for the Seagulls late in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Trey McCleary was the bright spot for Seaside on offense as he had a couple of big kick-off returns and ran hard all throughout the game. It was clear that Seaside was overmatched on both sides of the ball as Scappoose responded in a big way after getting blown out by Cascade Christian 35-7 in week two.
Next up for Seaside, is a winnable game against Woodburn on the road. Seaside is not completely eliminated from playoff contention, but the team will need to win out against Woodburn, Banks and Astoria.
Astoria tackles a victory
It took six weeks for Astoria, but the Fishermen came out on top Friday night against Woodburn. Playing at CMH Field, the Fishermen took care of one of the two new Cowapa League opponents 42-14.
This capped off the best game for Astoria on both sides of the ball. The 42 points was the most they’ve scored and the 14 points was also the least they’ve allowed. Coming into the game, Astoria had allowed at least 24 points on defense during their first four games and had only scored 32 points combined over the last three after opening the season with 37 against Stayton.
After the game against Banks, head coach Howard Rub said his team was trending in the right direction — and Friday against Woodburn showed his words were true. Finishing drives with touchdowns has been difficult for Astoria in recent weeks, so scoring seven(!) should give the offense confidence.
Despite the Fishermen having a 1-4 record, they are still very much in the playoff hunt due to reclassifications. With more teams in 4A this year, the top three schools from each of the five leagues automatically qualify for the state playoffs and the top ranked fourth-place team also gets in. Banks and Scappoose occupy the first two spots, but the race for the third spot is still open. Tillamook currently has that spot at 2-1, but the Cheesemakers look beatable this year as they’ve had to put together two massive fourth quarter comebacks in the last three weeks just to keep themselves afloat.
Astoria has Scappoose on the schedule this coming week and then games against Taft, Tillamook and Seaside. In order to make the postseason, Astoria will need to upset either Scappoose or Tillamook, then win against Taft and Seaside.
Warrenton rolls behind a generational performance
One would be hard pressed to find a better performance in 3A than Dylan Ballard’s this past Friday.
The senior quarterback and free safety put on a demolition of destruction against Dayton as he scored five touchdowns in the first half alone. In addition to his five touchdowns, he had two interceptions. This performance led Warrenton to destroy Dayton by a score of 49-21. The Warriors led 42-13 at halftime and cruised home to a victory. Of Ballard’s five first-half touchdowns, four were through the air and one was on the ground.
After the victory, Warrenton now has a clear path to win the 3A-SD1 Special District 1. The Warriors are 2-0 in league and trail only 3-0 North Marion. Next up for Warrenton, is another road game against winless Yamhill-Carlton at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9. Assuming both the Warriors and Huskies take care of business, the Oct. 30 game in North Marion will be for the league championship and a home playoff game.
The Warrenton Warriors are now 3-2 overall and 2-0 in league after Friday’s action.
Knappa keeps Gaston down
The Knappa football team kept Gaston scoreless on the year so far.
Coming into the game, the Greyhounds had yet to score any points and the Loggers made sure to keep it that way as they won 50-0. It was Knappa’s third straight victory and improved the team’s record to 3-2 after starting the season with two losses.
The last two weeks against Neah-Kah-Nie and Gaston, Knappa has scored 105 points and given up just 14. Following a surprising loss by Clatskanie to Corbett, Knappa now leads the 2A-SD1 Special District 1 with a 3-0 record. Corbett and Clatskanie follow with a 2-1 record. This week for Knappa will be a road game against Dufur that starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9.