Game of the Week
Naselle @ Ocosta, 7 pm, Thursday, Nov. 5, Ocosta High School, Westport
Though last weeks dominant win over South Bend was exciting and certainly important, it was not quite as significant as the team thought at the time. Following the 22-8 victory the team celebrated its qualification for their third trip to the postseason in three years. Only problem was, they weren't quite there yet.
As was reported here in the preview last week, the win by Naselle (8-1, 4-1) put them in the best position to make the playoffs as the second place team in the Pacific League, but they would still have to beat Ocosta (5-3, 3-2) to guarantee a trip to the first round.
You see, as it stands now Ocosta is tied with South Bend for third place in the league. South Bend will likely beat North Beach tonight. And if somehow Ocosta upsets Naselle it will create a three way tie for second place with all three teams at 4-2 in league (Valley has already locked up the league title). If this were to occur the three teams would meet Saturday in a "Kansas tie-breaker" where they would all play each other for a quarter and whoever wins the most gets the second seed, next best likely the third seed, etc. However, Naselle can make it real easy on themselves and just win tonight, take second and lock up a date with the overrated Tacoma Baptist next Saturday (more about them later).
First things first, lets talk about the Ocosta Wildcats. They come into the game tonight having blown out North Beach last week 38-0. But while their record says one thing, a closer look at how they got there says another.
Fact 1 - They have yet to beat a team that has a winning record this year. In their three losses against Winlock, Valley and South Bend they have lost by a collective score of 98-6 — and Winlock actually doesn't have a winning record either, 3-6 on the year.
Fact 2 - The teams they have beaten are a collective 6-36 on the year.
Fact 3 - They have scored fewer points then they have allowed. Now sometimes this isn't a big deal, but in their case they have scored 130 points (14 ppg) while giving up 153 (17 ppg). Meanwhile the Comets have scored a league best 322 points (36 ppg) while giving up just 109 points (12 ppg).
Fact 4 - I think we all know that Raymond is terrible this year (0-9, averaging 9 ppg while giving up an average of 45 ppg). By far the closest they came to winning a game this year was a two point loss to Ocosta. Nuff said.
Now, as for the the Comets, I have a feeling they opened a lot of eyes this last week (I know for a fact that Valley had a scout at the game again). The high flying, multiple weapon juggernaut of an offense the Comets have had to make an adjustment to both a physical South Bend defense and a sloppy field thanks to mother nature. What did they do? Oh, nothing short of dominate their biggest rival by having fullback Alan Erickson run for a season high 113 yards and three TDs. By the way, Nate Carlson ran for a season high 162 yards on 16 carries — thats just over 10 yards per run. They also held a strong offense to just over 100 yards, with the South Bend QB going o-fer the night. And the confidence of this team right now is amazing. You definitely hear a lot of things in the post game celebratory huddle, but I heard something after last game that felt less hyperbole and very real. One of the starters said flat out to his teammates "we're going to be state champions." After watching them this year, don't you believe it too?
Couple other notes:
There has been a weather advisory issued for the coast Thursday. This not only means that there may be significant rainfall and wind gusts during the game, but also there is potential for flooding along Hwy 101 in Raymond about the time that many will be heading up to Westport. Keep this in mind as you hit the road and be careful out there.
Naselle remains 10th in the state AP poll for the third straight week, though they picked up a few more votes, 13 in all. Somewhat surprising is that Napavine remains in the top 10 despite now having two losses on the year and Asotin only fell from number three to number seven after their first loss. Tacoma Baptist rose to number four this week after clobbering another cupcake last week. I've got a ton of stuff to write about them next week ...
Don't forget to check back Friday for a game recap and photo gallery
Pigskin Pick'em
2-0 once again last week. We're now 13-4 on the year
W- Naselle @ Ocosta
I haven't picked against Naselle once this season, and I'm certainly not going to start now. Comets make state with a resounding win — despite whatever weather issues may come their way Thursday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment