Both teams face tough home games this week
Game of the Week
Naselle vs. Willapa Valley, 7 pm, Friday, Oct. 1, Pentilla Field
By losing to South Bend last week, Naselle (1-1, 3-1) has put themselves in a tough position going into perhaps an even tougher game this week against the Valley Vikings (2-0, 3-1).
After falling in week one to South Bend, in a non-league game 24-0, the Vikings have been red hot. In the last three weeks they have outscored their opponents 129-35. The bad news for Naselle? A lot of those points came through the air as well as on the ground.
The Comets showed last week that their defense can control an opponents run game and keep it out of the end zone. The problem for the Comets came when South Bend figured out that they could take advantage of the Comets undersized cornerbacks and threw a couple of pop-ups to their taller receivers that turned in two TDs.
So what will the Comets do this week when they face a QB like Matt Friese who throws for an average of 112 yards per game? If they reshape their D to try and shut down the pass attack the Vikings can simply hand it off to an equally potent weapon in running back Michael Neumeyer, who averages 112 yards on the ground and has rushed for 8 TDs thus far (he also averages more than 20 yards per catch).
The Comets offense looked terrible last week and face a Vikings D that only gives up an average of 15 ppg, while scoring an average of 32 ppg. And if you take out the shutout loss to South Bend and look at how they've scored all their points in three games, that average rises to 43 ppg.
Prior to last week the Comets had been averaging more than 300 yards on the ground per game, but saw that fall to just 192. Their leading rusher was QB Dustin Eaton with 46 yards. FB Robert Eaton was held to 31 yards after averaging 121 yards per game, while Leo Mendoza and Kai Leach were essentially non-factors.
The limited success the Comets did have came through the straight up passing game, with Eaton going 5-for-9 for 67 yards, including a 25-yard reception by Mendoza for Naselle's only score. The Comets were finally able to hold on to the ball, giving up only one fumble, after coughing it up 16 times the first three games. Now if they can just move that ball in a productive fashion down the field.
PACIFIC LEAGUE NOTES: Valley is currently tied for first in the Pacific League with South Bend. The Vikings have perhaps the best chance of winning the league title outright as they face South Bend at home in their final league game of the year. However, if Naselle were to beat Valley and then Valley beat South Bend (and all three run the table in their other league games) you would have another co-champion situation like you did in 2007.
But forget about all that for a second. Naselle is still very much alive for a playoff berth, regardless of whether they are number one or not. The Pacific League gets two automatic berths to state for it's top two teams tis year. The third place team plays a crossover game on Nov. 5 with the third place team from the Central League, with the winner going to the playoffs. NW Christian are currently in third place, but have yet to play South Bend, Valley or Naselle.
Don't forget to check back Saturday for a game recap and player blog posts
*NOTE: The will be no photo gallery this week as Observer photojournalist Damian Mulinix will be out of town attending the annual WNPA awards ceremony Friday night.
Ilwaco vs. Ridgefield, 7 pm, Friday, Oct. 1, Petersen Field
As if facing one of the top teams in the Trico League wasn't tough enough, the Ilwaco Fishermen (0-2, 1-3) will be doing so with a new body taking the snaps Friday.
Josh Berteaux was moved to QB this week after playing the first four games at running back. How this will affect the double wing offense the team has run this year is yet to be seen, but Berteaux is a playmaker, even though he is a bit undersized. Don't be surprised if you see more option runs and wildcat-like formations this week as the team tries to find its bearings. One thing you probably won't see is much of a pass game as apparently Berteaux does not have much touch. The few times the Fishermen have put it in the air this year, Bobby Byrd and Kasey Plato have made some productive catches, but it would likely have to be someone else getting the ball to them. One other point about the Fishermen O — If you take away the 34 points they scored at Neah-Kah-Nie three weeks ago, the Fishermen have scored only 8 points the rest of the year and have been shutout twice in four weeks.
The Trico League is tough this year. Period.
The top five teams are either 4-0 or 3-1, and all of them average nearly twice as many points as they give up. LaCenter (1-1, 3-1) is one of those teams — 26 ppg average, while giving up 13 ppg. The Wildcats beat an equally good Ridgefield team last week, 27-13, while Ilwaco was blown out on the road, 45-8 at Kalama.
TRICO LEAGUE NOTES: Coming up this month the Fishermen will have a good chance at netting a few more wins this season as they face the two teams below them in the Trico League: Columbia of White Salmon and Castle Rock. Next Friday the Fishermen will travel up the gorge to White Salmon to face a team that is 0-4 and is losing by an 8-44 average score each week. The Fishermen will play their homecoming game Oct. 22 against Castle Rock, a perennial Trico League favorite, who are having a down year in 2010, 1-3 record and losing by an average score of 12-23 each week (Ilwaco's average score is 11-25). Castle Rock haven't lost more than three games in a season since 2004.
Pigskin Pick'em
What the heck? 0-2 last week, dropping me to 4-3 this year
L- Ilwaco vs. LaCenter
Tough visiting team and personnel changes don't bode well for Fishermen
L- Naselle vs. Valley
Wish I could another way on this one, but after how the Comets looked last week it'd be pretty hard to pick'em over a really good Valley team. Hope they prove me wrong, but the Comets haven't beaten the Vikings in the regular season in the last decade.
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