Last Words

"Life is a journey, not a destination" - Ralph Waldo Emerson Another season has come to an end, and unlike the past 3 years, there is no next year for me and my 9 senior teammates. We are 10 brothers who worked together, fought together for one prize- the state championship. 3 times we came up short, yet we were determined to make our final year, the year that we would walk awayu from the game as champions. However, once again we were unable to reach the highest of our goals. There was much grief and bitterness on the sidelines friday night after realizing the clock was ticking quickly on our season and our careers. Several thoughts and emotions were racing through my mind. What is happening? Where did we go wrong? How is this happening? Why? The truth hit us all hard. In only minutes our high school football careers would cease to exist and we would never put on our pads and fight with our brothers again. Writing this even now brings back the pain that I felt that night. In the days following the game, i was surprisingly able to find peace. When I look back on the time weve all spent together, I know I wont think of shattering my knee in June, or lying in a hospital bed for a week while my brothers are practicing and playing our homecoming game, or standing in defeat on our sideline at the end. I'll recall the awe of playing in the Tacoma dome, being the first team to raise the KM trophy in who knows howmany years (TWICE!!), weightlifting at 5:30 in the morning veacause of afternoon basketball practices, and leading the Naselle Comets to their first undisputed league championsship in decades. And those are only a few. Looking back, I am a thousand times more thankful for our successes than I am bitter towards our shortcomings. To my fellow 2011 Naselle Comets, I love you all and I am proud to have been able to fight with you. I thank God for the gifts we were given this year. I wouldn't have been able to overcome the obstacles I faced this year without his strength. So for the last time, leaving not in bitter defeat but in satisfying victory, Ryley Queener #71 Comet Pride Forever "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD." -Proverbs 21:31

Photo gallery - NHS vs Adna, State playoffs, first round

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, serious tech problems the last 12 hours... Photos by Dmaian Mulinix/Chinook Observer

Week 11 previews - First Round 2B playoffs

2B State Playoffs, First Round
Naselle vs. Adna
7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 11
Pentilla Field, Naselle

Things are about to get a whole lot harder for the Naselle Comets (10-0, ranked second in the state, top seed on western side of the bracket). While Morton/White Pass get LaConner (6-4) and Napavine get Orcas (6-5), Naselle gets perhaps the toughest first round match up ever, facing Adna (9-1). Heck, even Tacoma Baptist gets Valley....
Adna, two seasons removed from winning the state title, is probably the third best team on the west side of the state. They can score points, and just as importantly, they can keep you from scoring points.
In terms of points allowed, the Pirates have the second best D in all of 2B this year, giving up only 63 points this season, an average of just 6.3 ppg. Naselle is third best on D, averaging just 9.1 ppg. The top D in the state belongs to Morton/White Pass, the likely opponent of the winner of this game, who have only given up 14 points all year. Yeah, 14, all year. But we can talk more about them later.
But the Pirates are not all defense. They are averaging 36.7 ppg on offense, and save for a 10-0 loss to the afore mentioned Morton/White Pass, they haven't played a close game all year. Their smallest margin of victory was a 39-14 win over Wahkiakum. The Pirates tied with MWP and Napavine for the Central League title, and are playing the Comets simply because they lost a coin flip. Naselle could have just as easily been facing either of the other two teams. And if the Comets are able to make it the state finals they will likely have to beat all three teams from the Central to get there.
But here's perhaps the key point going into this week's match up — the Pirates are also the team that ended Naselle's season last year, with a shutout in the district crossover game.

So what's different this year?
Well, for starters, the Comets seem to have fully realized their potential, especially on offense. Last year the Comets scored only 224 points. This year they led the state 2B's with 489 points in 10 games. Last years D was essentially equal, giving up just 110 points, this year they've allowed only 91, though as we've mentioned before about half of those can't be assigned to the varsity D.
For the Comets, having only a 9 point lead going into half time last week was a foreign thing. The Comets had a 40 point lead or better by half time the previous five games. But in the end it was just another blowout win for the Comets. Wahkiakum was probably the best team they've faced so far, but the Comets still pulled away to win by 31 points, which is their second closest game all year — they beat Raymond by only 28. And for a group of players who hadn't played a minute in the fourth quarter all year prior to last week, the Comets outplayed the Mules to the tune of 22-6 in the second half.

That being said, the locker room was fairly quiet at the break, and the celebration after winning the K-M Trophy was pretty subdued. Reflective, but not demonstrative.

And maybe that's a good thing. This team may lack the verbose enthusiasm of say the 2008 team that played in the semis, but what they have instead is a much more defined sense of purpose. Very business-like in a way. They don't get too high, but they never get low, seemingly at all. They expect to win, but not in a cocky way. They seem to believe in what they can do and expect that it will get them the results they are after, and so far, so good. 

Other first round games
• Valley vs. Tacoma Baptist, Friday, 7pm, @ Curtis High School, Tacoma
The fourth seed from District IV, the Valley Vikings, travel to a house of horrors for Comets fans — Curtis High School, where Tacoma Baptist destroyed the Comets in the first round of the 2009 playoffs. We all know about Valley, they are essentially the Neumeyer show. The Crusaders won their league with a 8-2 record and average 28.6 ppg while giving up 15.7 ppg.

• Napavine vs. Orcas, Saturday, 5 pm, @ Napavine
Orcas (6-5) placed third in their league, and gave up just about as many points as they scored this year. They win big, or they lose big, averaging 26.5 ppg, while giving up 23.4. They may have a hard time keeping up with the Tigers, who were the third highest scoring team in the state, at 34 ppg.

• Morton/White Pass vs LaConner, Saturday, 2 p.m., Everett Memorial Stadium
You can be sure that if the Comets win Friday night there will be a caravan of Naselle folks driving up to this game the next day. The winner of this game will play the winner of the NHS-Adna game. Not that this is going to be much of a game — as mentioned previously, MWP has given up only 14 points all year, in a 14-7 loss to Napavine. LaConner? They went 6-4 in a pretty soft league, giving up 200 more points than MWP.

Here's a little state tournament factoid for ya. A District IV team has played for the championship each of the last four years, with three teams winning — South Bend, Adna and Napavine — and one team — Toutle Lake — losing in the final. Prior to that run it was six years since the last District IV team appeared in the championship game, that being Valley, who won it all in 2001.

PREGAME FESTIVITIES
Come join the good folks at Naselle for an old-fashioned tailgate and pep rally prior to the game Friday. Tailgate party should start around 3:30, with the pep rally getting underway around 4:45.

Photo gallery - NHS wins KM Trophy, District Crossover, a top seed in playoffs

Photos by Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer

Photo Gallery - Ilwaco wins big in final game

Photos by Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer

Week 10 previews

Thursday night, playing for pride, Saturday night, playing for playoffs

Ilwaco vs. Warrenton, 7 pm, Thursday, Nov. 3, Peterson Field, Ilwaco, Wa.

Despite playing one heck of a game last week, the Ilwaco Fishermen (3-6) were shutout 14-0 and in turn, shut out of the district playoffs. The Ilwaco defense was outstanding and kept it to a one score game till the fourth quarter. The Fishermen offense just couldn't get any traction and was held scoreless for the third time this season — interestingly enough, two of the Fishermen's wins have been been shutouts as well.

Despite all that, and whether or not they come through on Thursday night, the Fishermen still have to take pride in what has been their most successful season since 2007. But before they move on to wrestling, hoops, or whatever, they get to lace'em up one more time for the home fans.

The Fishermen will end their season with what is essentially an exhibition game against Warrenton (4-5) who also missed the playoffs this year. The Warriors come in having lost their last two games — 62-0 to league champ Rainier, and a 12-0 loss last week to lowly Corbett Charter. The Fishermen and Warriors have nearly identical numbers — Ilwaco has scored 131 points, Warrenton 135, while IHS has given up 230 to the Warriors 255.

Nothing on the line but pride, this should be a fun one, even if it is in the rain (which it looks like it will be...)

Don't forget to check back for photo galleries from both games this week

Naselle vs. Wahkiakum, 7 pm, Saturday, Nov. 5, Pentilla Field, Naselle, Wa. — District crossover playoff game

This one's a big one. Winner goes to the 2B state playoffs, loser goes home. And if Naselle (9-0) is the winner they get the top seed on the western side of the bracket. Pretty good stakes, huh? Oh, did I mention the team coming into Pentilla Field is the hated Wahkiakum Mules?

So, what do we know about Wahkiakum (4-4)?

Well, when last seen on the field — two weeks ago — they destroyed Raymond, 40-7. It was their first win against a team with a winning record this season — the Mules went 0-4 against Adna, Morton/White Pass, Napavine and Toutle Lake, all of which finished ahead of them in the standings. However, despite losing 23-12 to Napavine in their second to last game, the Mules played a very tough game against a very good Tigers team. They had a similar result when losing 26-21 to Toutle Lake. In both cases key turnovers were the Mules downfall. Wyatt Parker is the Mules main offensive threat, he runs for a ton of yards and has scored more than his fair share of TDs this year. He's joined in the back field by Cole Bergseng and QB Lars Blix, who has put up some pretty respectable passing stats this year. Their defense is hard-hitting and gave up an average of only 15.8 ppg.

Fact is, the Mules are a pretty good team that happens to be in a league with four teams ranked in the top 10 in the state this year, and should not be overlooked.

Not that the Comets will. In fact, I bet they've been hankering for a chance to play a good team for weeks (like nine?).

The AP voters finally got a clue this week and voted Naselle #2 in the final poll of the regular season. The jury is still out though on them voting the 5-3 Toutle Lake into the #10 spot — Reardon, Warden, White Swan, Oroville, Brewster, Valley and Raymond all have better numbers and records and are not in the top 10.

You gotta figure that unlike pretty much every game they've played this year, this game will likely not be over by halftime. Coach Jeff Eaton admitted after last weeks win — where he had some starters on the bench midway through the second quarter — that their biggest question mark is whether his team can play a full game, as in all four quarters. I don't think a single starting varsity player has put in a single minute in a fourth quarter so far. 

But the fact is they haven't had to. They have been so very good on both sides of the ball that their players are well rested and recuperated. In fact, I don't know of a single player coming in with an injury. Even Ryley Queener should be 100% for this one. 

And what's more, we haven't even seen the full arsenal. The Comets have not run a full playbook probably all year. One week they beat you one way, next week they beat you another way. Imagine when they throw it all at you?

The first round of the playoffs have been the bug-a-boo for the Comets the last two seasons, losing to Adna 21-0 in last year's district crossover playoff, and 42-8 to Tacoma Baptist the year before. But despite all of their accomplishments this year — perfect record, league title, top scoring team in the state at 2B — they don't seem to have let it go to their heads. This seems like a pretty down to earth team, very business-like in a way. Let's see if they can take care of business Saturday night.

Pigsskin Pick'em

Well, looks like my luck is running out, 1-1 again last week,  14-3 this year

W- Naselle vs. Wahkiakum

Comets get that first round monkey off their backs, but it probably won't be easy

W- Ilwaco vs. Warrenton

Just like the Fishermen, I'm going down swinging, picking them for the third week in a row. This is the one!