Town Criers Sports (not run in the print edition)

Since the reason I started this blog was to show what the Town Crier did not print in their weekly edition, here is what I submitted this week. If you want to continue to see space dedicated to local sports or sports of any kind in the Town Crier, I would suggest writing a letter to the editor!

On the Gridiron

Toledo's Brycen Holmes (#24) broke outside containment along the sidelines and is pursued by the Rocket's Zeke Lomer (#32) and Danny Aguilla (#21) during a SWWA 1A crossover game Friday.

Toledo 14 Castle Rock 6

Castle Rock's Zeke Lomer (#32), Brady Gardner and Layton Hurley try to tackle Toledo's D.J. Herbert during a 1A Crossover game on Friday.

The Rockets came right out, marched down the field against a vaunted Toledo defense and scored with a seven yard run by Chris Tinney . Castle Rock stymied the Indian offense and began a long, successful drive toward the Indian endzone. Just when it appeared the Rockets might take a near insurmountable two touchdown lead, a Brad Williamson pass found the hands of Toledo DB D.J. Herbert. The boys from upstream than took the ball right down the field and finished the drive with a 10 yard TD score by Herbert himself.

"You guys have given me a great senior season and for that, I thank all of you" Herbert told the rest of the team following the victory.

With 1:16 to go before halftime and immediately after the Indians first score , Toledo's David Wallace hit Williamson and forced a fumble that was recovered by Dean Lampert. That led to a 42 yard touchdown pass from Trevor Jones to Herbert.

The second half seemed almost a comedy of errors with multiple fumbles and another key Toledo interception as both teams were turned away. In all, the Indians forced 6 fumbles and recovered half. They gave up one deep in the red zone when it appeared they would widen their lead late in the 3rd quarter.

CRs Chris Tinney finished the game 140 yards after 30 carries.

Toledo's D.J. Herbert (#23), Nick Stevenson (#42) and Matt Deskin ready themselves for a goal line stand early in their playoff game with Castle Rock on Friday.

Toledo advances in the State Playoffs and will meet Cascade Christian.



Onalsaka 42 Kalama 12



The Loggers continue to improve and put all doubters into dreamland as Dalton Ritchey ran for three TDs and threw for three others. Nick Modica caught a 30 yard pass early as the Loggers took a lead that they would never relinquish. Jeff Swett and Derek Roundtree also caught touchdown passes for the Loggers. Ritchey rushed for 207 yards but Kolby Steel added depth by contributing 101 yards of ground attack. The Loggers are now 9-1 and will face King's Academy this week in the first round of the WIAA State playoffs.


Napavine 49 Northwest Christian 0

The Tigers scored often and at times repeatedly during a rout of The Light on Thursday. At one point, Napavine put three touchdowns on the scoreboard in a three minute span early in the game. Matthew Waltenberg was responsible for three touchdowns himself.; Two of them were pass receptions and one a put return. Runnicg back Micah Brown ran for 124 yards and touchdowns of 47 and 21 yards. Tucker Stanley added a 17 yard TD run. Layne Hellem got in on a defensive touchdown when he a recovered a fumble in the endzone. The Tigers earned the #4 seed from Southwest Washington and will enter the WIAA state playoffs with a date against Orcas Island at Mt. Vernon next weekend.


Soccer

Napavine won the rubber match over Ocosta in order to advance on to the regional playoffs against Life Christian.
It was Samantha May that sunk her penalty kick in a shootout that pushed the Tigers on. The two teams played to a scoreless tie, two overtimes and went well beyond the traditional 5 kickers. Until May stepped up, nine PKs had been missed in succession.
Napavine is known for defense and has shut-out many great teams in recent weeks. Goalkeeper Sam Grove only had to deflect one serious shot while the Tigers made the Wildcat goalie deflect seven of Napavine's 12 shots.
Grove had two significant saves during the PK to preserve the eventual victory.
On Thursday, Elaun Sherwood scored a goal in the final ten minutes of a regional playoff as Napavine defeated Life Christian 1-0. The Tigers will take on Evergreen Lutheran in their next match.


Toledo-Winlock United finished the District 4 season with a 6-0 defeat to powerful Montesano. United, now 11-6-1, will face Seattle Academy in Tukwila on Tuesday afternoon.

Volleyball

Castle Rock

Castle Rock took the championship at the SWWA District 4 Volleyball Tournament this week. The lady Rockets easily worked their way through the local competition, defeating Montesano 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 . The Rockets are 16 and 1 on the season and start three freshmen. Tierney Uhlenkott performed in a huge fashion against Montesano with 14 kills, five blocks, four digs. Macee Utecht added eight kills and 10 digs while Megan Moore contributed 14 digs. CR now advances to the WIIA State Tournament in Yakima and will face Connell in the first round.

Onalaska

Onalaska ran into a roadblock on their way to a championship at the SWWA District 4 Volleyball Tournament at Castle Rock this week. The Lady Loggers met Stevenson in the first round and rolled 28-26, 25-22, 25-19. Samantha Gordon had 19 assists, seven kills, and made no mistakes while serving. Sarah Barnes added 10 kills while Amber Durand contributed eight blocks. In the second game, district power Castle Rock overpowered Onalaska 15-25, 15-25, 10-25. Results of the final two games for Onalaska were not known at the Town Crier's deadline but the Lady Loggers did qualify for WIAA State tournament and will face Cedar Park Christian in the first round.

Toutle Lake

The Lady Ducks crusied through the District 4 2B Volleyball Tournament defeating rival Adna in three games on Saturday afternoon. Toutle Lake will now enter the WIAA State Tournament.

Cross Country

Josh Rose of Toledo finished 11th in the WIAA State Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Pasco. Toledo's Ronnie Neumann completed the 5,000 meter course in 32nd place out of the 140 runners at the highest competition level in the state. As a team, Toledo finished 12th while Onalaska was 15th. Frank Krause finished in 48th place to lead the Loggers team.

In the girls race, Onalaska also finsihed in 15th place as a team led by Regan Givens who placed 49th out of 140 of Washingtons' best runners.

United Escapes with Important Victory

By Gregg Pohll of Southwest Preps

Emma Luhn stood in the loneliest spot on the field. She was assigned to kick the ball towards Napavine Goalkeeper Sam Grove who had been brilliant all evening, but especially during tie-break shootout.

Emma Luhn made her shot during a tie-breaker shoot-out against Napavine on Tuesday evening.

As it was, Luhn's shot went just to the left of the Napavine goalies' outstretched arms and into the net, giving Toledo-Winlock United a 2-1 victory in Southwest Washington soccer.

Both teams have post season aspirations in the back of their mind. United is now 6-1, 6-3 overall and tied for 1st place with Montesano. Napavine is one of two 2B teams in District IV and are battling with Ocosta for placement into a reginal tournament.

Defense was the name of the game for both teams on a rainy evening. United dominated the ball location, but only squeezed six shots beyond the Napavine defensive line. In true form, the only United score was off of a penalty kick in the 57th minute. When the kick bounced off of Keeper Grove, a hustling Brittany Hope pursued the rebound and placed it in the goal.

Napavine released only four shots, but some might comment about quality rather than quantity.

Napavine got their goal early (8th minute) with a break-away Emily Potter with an assist by Elaun Sherwood.

Napavine's defense was stingy and the Tiger Coach Allen Anderson lauded his team for their efforts. "It is only the 2nd goal" in recent games.

United's agressive Mercy Crocker met stern Tiger defense all evening.

United Coach Horst Malunat had nothing but good things to say about Napavine. "They flat-out out-worked us".

As for Luhn, Malunat has a distaste for the tie-break shoot-out, but he was glad she could be the heroine. "She missed a kick in the Montesano game that was really big. This is really good for her".

It is not like the bar was set all that high. Of ten kickers, only one from each team found the net during the shoot-out. Luhn ran onto the field with the possibility of winning the game for her team.

She admited that her confident stride to the muddy piece of turf in front of the goal was more show than substance. "I am so glad to have my rhythm back. I have not been making shots in practice so I wasn't all that confident".

Confidence is fickle, perhaps just like the game of soccer.

United Blanks Rock-On

In a game with only 13 shots on goal, it was Toledo-Winlock United that placed two attempts into the net. Actually one in the net and one just far enough.

Rock-On's Lacey Morris (5) and Samantha May (8) are challenged by a United player.

"We lost a couple of games to good teams in Seattle and then beat Steilcoom, a good 2A team. Those kind of things get us prepared for this game", said United Head Coach
Horst Malunat.

It was Tiffany Tornow that scored first for United in the 19th minute and then they began to play near lock-down defense, not allowing the combined team from Napavine and Onalaska to get much in the way of direct shots on United Keeper Lea Lucas.

United's Tyran Boone (#3) and Rock-Ons Elaun Sherwood chase after a loose ball.

After the break Freshman Mercy Crocker scored a goal that was closer to not in the 59th minute. The Rock-On keeper nearly had it stopped, but it slipped through her hands and arms and had just enough momentum to enter the goal.

"Mercy Crocker had a breakout 2nd half" said her coach.

Late in the 2nd half, United's defense stepped another notch until subs made their way in the game late.

"My defense is coming together" said Malunat. "Overall, we are really coming along. Even from 1st half to 2nd half we saw some growth and that is all I can ask for."

Rock-On's Rachel LaBrasca can't get the ball past United Goalkeeper Lia Lucas.

Distinctions are important as Rock-On pays a visit to United later in the season and Malnaut was proud of his team for this win, but wouldn't place any bets on the next meeting.

"It's league, its on the road, it's kind of a rivalery. It's always close and it is always competitive".

Jensen Scores Hat Trick as Monte Rolls by United

Montesano's Jason Franks (#10) controls the ball by a physical Mike White (#22). Monte Head Coach Erik Stanfield said "We knew coming down here that these guys play tough soccer".

Montesano Forward Derek Jensen scored a “hat trick” as the Montesano Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 3-2 1A Evergreen League soccer victory over Toledo/Winlock United on Saturday afternoon in Winlock.

Montesano's Derek Jensen (#4) scored three goals against Toledo-Winlock United. In this case, he is defended by Jesse Holbrook (#15).

The Bulldogs jumped out quickly with a breakaway goal just 90 seconds into the game as Jensen got behind the United defenders. Monte’s second goal came off a free kick when Curtis McConnell put the ball into a soft spot right in front of United Goalie Conor Sathre. Jensen spent little effort slapping the ball into the net and crediting McConnell with the assist.

Max Hernandez scored a breakaway goal just 53 seconds after the break but in the 53rd minute, Jensen scored his 3rd goal.

United Forward Max Hernandez (#9) scored one goal, but seldom was left uncontested for open shots or passes.

Five minutes later, United Forward Enrique Ramirez found the net after a messy sequence of events for the Bulldogs.

United's Enriquie Rameriez (#8) scored the last goal of the game, but here he is defended closely by Aaron Ross (#14) of Montesano.

“There were some shots that could have went either way,” said Montesano Head Coach Erik Stanfield. “We were up 2-nil at half and you have to come out strong. Those teams that want it, want it and they came back.

From that point, United had many opportunities but Monte Goalie Gonzalo Gaona had many of his 10 saves in the waning minutes of the game. In all, United had 22 shots, but most were contested while the Bulldogs accounted for 27 shots and many of those were defended by the embattled goalie Sathre.

United Goal Keeper Conor Sathre guards agressively. Here he stopped Curtis McConnell (#7)well away from the goal and managed to come away with the ball. Mike Ayon (#35) is in the air trying not to land on his galie.

United Coach Hugo Molina said that his team’s weakness was their lack of hustle to the ball on defense. “They need to go after the ball more aggressively,” he said. “They think it is going to go through the man and then come to them”.

“We had a tough game up in Forks two days ago,” continued Stanfield. “It was a tough loss for us. We knew coming down here that these guys play tough soccer every time we play them. They are one of the teams that play a different formation in a 4-3-3 and that puts a lot of pressure on your defense.”

Montesano keeper Gonsalo Gaona had 10 saves against 22 shoots from United.

“We graduated a ton last year, so we are a really new team this year.,“ said the Monte Coach who's team is now 1-1 while United falls to 1-2.

“We have put in a whole new formation that we are still working with so our biggest thing coming into this game was the hustle factor. We were going to take the ball away on every point of attack. That is what we did not do at Forks and we paid the price for it,” described the Bulldog Head Coach.

“If people are going to beat us, it is not going to be because they out hustle us,” continued Stanfield. “That was our goal coming into tonight and I give credit to United. They put a lot of pressure on our defense for a while there. We knew that was coming and we practiced for it. It kind of fell our way.

Monte will host La Center on Tuesday while United will have Stevenson at home on Tuesday before traveling to Forks on Thursday.

Warriors Out Shoot United

Rochester's Dustin James (#8) starts a breakaway as United's Kyle Kenzie (#5) and the Warrior's Trent Hitchcock (#1) pursue.

Freshman Ricardo Zimudio and Conor Sathre had five major skirmishes on Tuesday evening. Sathre won most of the battles as the goalie for Toledo-Winlock United, but it was Zimudio, a forward for Rochester that won the last one during a shoot-out that gave the Warriors a 5-4 victory in and 1A Evergreen Soccer game at Winlock.

It was Zimudio that struck first for the Warriors in the 36th minute when he chased a lose ball and somehow managed to get it by Sathre.

Zimudio then had three breakaways between the 62 and 84th minute. Three times, United Keeper Sathre aggressively met Zimudio and fearlessly wrestled the ball away while legally undercutting him. Twice the Rochester forward ended up writhing in pain.

Ricardo Zimudio (#9) scored the Warrior's only goal and then put the last ball of a shoot-out in the net to move Rochester into the 1A Evergreen winners column.

In the 69th minute, United’s Max Hernandez scored a long awaited goal from about 25 yards with an assist from Tyler Diamond.

What was on both coaches minds were the players that were not on the field. Rochester played most of the game with no subs. United had seven starters sitting in the stands.

Zimudio (#9) and Deweit Doleman (#11) battle United's Eric West for a ball on Tuesday.

“It is like night and day,” said United Head Coach Hugo Molina. “The entire defense and two outside guys were not playing. We really noticed it on defense”.

Rochester Coaches Jamie Black and Domigus Zimudio share time as the head coach of the Warriors.

"Those kids, all 11 of them did an excellent job for the first game,” said Zimudio.

“They are usually a really strong team within the league” Black said of the team from Toledo with a few Winlock players sprinkled in.

United kickers missed the first two shots in the tie-break putting Sathre in a quick hole. He was able to stop one but four Warriors managed to slip the ball by him for the winning margin.

Rochester plays Forks today.