LIGHTS, CAMERA, FISH!
Jordan Poyer is no longer the Cowapa League's best-kept secret.
With accolades, attention and college letters heaped on senior quarterbacks Zach Anderson and Justin Engstrom, Astoria's young signalcaller has emerged as the league's most dangerous player, if not its most talented. And the sophomore slinger has never shined so much as when the spotlight was at its brightest.
It wasn't just the [South County] Spotlight on hand Friday night at Scappoose, but a Portland radio station, a reporter from the Oregonian, Fox Channel 12 News cameras and a packed-house homecoming crowd to see what folks from the North Coast have known for some time now. The kid is the real deal!
Poyer threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 129 yards and another score as the Fishermen defeated the Indians 34-21 to improve to 8-0 on the season.
"Tonight they had a pretty big crowd," said Poyer, "but it didn't bother me at all. They were playing their music, but I was dancing with them. Didn't bother me at all. I had a few nerves before the game, but if you're not nervous you're not ready to play.
"Our O-line stepped it up a lot tonight," Poyer continued. "They gave me time to look at one receiver, look back to the other receiver and look at another receiver. I give so much credit to them."
Despite coming in with a superior record and higher state ranking, few expected Astoria to come out of Scappoose with a victory. One man who had few doubts was head coach Howard Rub, who cinched his winningest season in seven years at the school, even though his team has technically not yet clinched a playoff berth.
"I wouldn't have viewed us winning--and neither would our kids--as being an upset," said Rub. "It is obviously going to be a tremendous confidence booster.
"You always kind of take rankings tongue in cheek and you don't want to put emphasis to it, because when you go out there between the lines it has nothing to do with anything anyway. But it does certainly validate the fact that we are ranked as one of the top three teams in the state. It's important in terms of where we hope to go from here, which is finish with a league title and go on from there."
The Fishermen can accomplish that mission with a win at home Friday against Yamhill-Carlton, which currently shares first place in the Cowapa League with Astoria after defeating Seaside 41-14. Rub hopes to have injured running backs Andy Murray and Joey Dursse, both defensive starters as well, back in practice Monday and hopefully ready to play against Y-C.
Astoria has never won an outright Cowapa League title in football, and the Fishermen hadn't beaten Scappoose since 1997, a span in which the Indians won the league title seven times in eight years. This was only the second Cowapa League loss for Scappoose during that period, the other one costing them a title in 2003 when the Banks Braves beat the Indians 8-6 in the league opener.
Not only did Astoria have history and reputation to overcome, but the Indians had the fanfare of homecoming, the motivation of being ranked a notch below a team they have dominated for eight years and the glare of the media spotlight on Astoria's inexperienced QB. Not to mention that the Fishermen were missing their two starting running backs, including the player [Murray] who was their most proven offensive weapon entering the season.
"I think that's a tribute to their makeup," said Rub. "I think that's a little bit of a tribute to the coaches who helped them get prepared for all that. I think we anticipated that type of hype and buildup and I think the coaching staff overall did a pretty good job of letting them be aware of all those things. The bottom line was still about us and how we played and how we do.
The Fishermen had another obstacle to overcome--an early deficit.
Scappoose jumped ahead 7-0 in the first quarter after Ryan Goodnight recovered a muffed punt at the Astoria 38-yard line. Astoria appeared to have overcome the mistake when a pair of penalties put the Indians in a 4th and 17 situation, but Engstrom, their 3-year starting QB, found tight end R.J. Logue in the corner of the end zone with a perfect touch pass behind two defenders for a touchdown.
Astoria's response was swift. On the second play after the kickoff, Poyer launched the ball down the right sideline for his favorite receiver, Adam Koehnke, running a deep corner route. Koehnke caught the ball behind his defender, straightened his path and turned on the jets, racing 67 yards for a touchdown.
"It really helped set the tone for the rest of the night," said Rub of Astoria's early counterpunch. This team would not be intimidated in any way. "I think that play in itself signified the fact that we would not come in here and be pushed around."
Later in the quarter, Poyer finished a short drive, set up by a shanked Scappoose punt, locating Koehnke in the middle of the end zone with a 4-yard laser to put Astoria in front 14-7.
Scappoose responded with a 10-play, 88-yard scoring drive, capped by T.J. Crane's 1-yard touchdown run. Crane ran 14-yards to the goal line on the previous play to set up his plunge, but the biggest play of the drive came immediately prior to that, when senior receiver Weston Powers made an outstanding, diving catch on the sideline of a 24-yard Engstrom pass on 3rd and four. Powers, Scappoose's most dangerous receiver, sat out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, a continuation of a penalty that saw him miss a half of action the previous week against Seaside. And much like the Seaside game, he produced four quarters worth of results, catching seven balls for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The Fishermen would respond in kind, maintaining a long drive of their own to regain the lead before halftime. Astoria marched 68 yards in nine plays, mixing runs by Poyer and junior fullback Dylan Jensen with three passes to three different receivers. Poyer even caught one of his own passes, when an attempted shuffle pass was blown up by penetration by Scappoose's defensive line, deflecting the ball back into his hands. Poyer ran eight yards around right end to make a positive gain. The athletic sophomore would motion out to wide receiver a couple of plays later, as tight end Nathan Stinnett shifted under center. With the Indians defense scrambling to account for the quarterback-turned-receiver, Stinnett floated a pass to running back Tom Jawarski in the right flat for a 9-yard gain and a first down. Four plays later, Poyer called his own number again on a quarterback draw and ran 18 yards up the middle for a touchdown.
A key defensive stand ended the first half as Scappoose' Sean Wasson returned a Nick Alfonse punt 47 yards to the Fishermen 14-yard line with just under two minutes remaining. But Powers slipped on a second down incompletion and Poyer--yes, he's a defensive standout, too--belted Engstrom for a 2-yard loss on an option play. Going for it on fourth down from the Fishermen 10-yard line, junior Grady Parker, who moved inside to defensive tackle for this game, batted down Engstrom's attempted screen pass and the Fishermen strutted off the field with a 21-14 halftime lead.
That was the first of three fourth down holds for the Astoria defense, which showed a variety of new looks for this game. Brent Culver moved to linebacker from cornerback and made several key tackles. The senior 3-year starter knifed into the backfield to cut down Sean Wasson for a 4-yard loss on an attempted fourth down reverse on Scappoose's first series of the second half. That gave the Fishermen the ball on their own 35, leading to a drive deep into Indians territory, ending in a Tony Robinson field goal to make the score 24-14 Fishermen.
"They like to run those short routes," said Culver. "The linebackers do a great job, but they kind of needed a lot more help on the secondary side too. So I was there to help out as more of a pass defender there and it worked out."
Later in the quarter, Koehnke, who started in Culver's right cornerback spot and matched up with Powers most of the night, made a leaping interception in the end zone to snuff out a potential Indians scoring drive. That turned into points when the Fishermen drove 80 yards in seven plays, capped by a 35-yard Poyer pass to Tony Robinson for six. Robinson added another field goal at the end of a fourth quarter drive, set up by a 67 yard run by Poyer, who got Crane, the Indians strong safety, to bite on a pitch fake and spun him completely around.
Robinson, who took over kicking duties from 2-year all-leaguer Kye Johnson, is a perfect 14-for-14 on PAT's and 2-for-2 on field goals in Cowapa League play.
Astoria would end the night with 438 yards of offense, a nearly even balance of run and pass, and 21 first downs. Poyer completed 15-of-20 passes to six different receivers, with Robinson having his biggest night of the year with five grabs for 66 yards.
Trailing 34-21 with 9:14 to play after Robinson's 21-yard field goal, the Indians were completely stymied by the Astoria defense on their next possession. Stinnett bottled up backup running back Ryland Geiger for a nine-yard loss on first down and T.J. Crane, the Cowapa League's leading rusher with over 900 yards entering the game, was cut down two yards behind the line of scrimmage by Koehnke. A third down pass to Goodnight was underthrown and, with Scappoose deep in its own end with 7:30 to go, the Indians were forced to punt.
The final Scappoose drive ended when Culver tackled Cody Hoglund short of the first down marker on a 4th down pass for the ESPN Radio "Dambuster Play Of The Game". Astoria held the Indians to 17 yards rushing in the second half and limited Crane to 80 yards on 22 carries, his lowest output of the season. Engstrom completed 19 of 32 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
"It was a physical game," said Rub, "but I felt like we were the more physical team. And I think their coaching staff would echo the same. We earned a lot of respect not only because of how we executed, but how we played the game. We played it hard, we were very physical and we certainly did leave a lasting impression."
Probably no satellite trucks, but there will be a likely near-capacity crowd in attendance on Friday at John Warren Field when the 8-0 Fishermen take on the 7-1 Yamhill-Carlton Tigers in a battle of Cowapa League unbeatens. Hear the game live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. Also, stay tuned to ESPN Radio and KAST-99.7-FM this week to find out how you can win $99.70 in a halftime field goal kicking contest!
ASTORIA 14 7 10 3--34
SCAPPOOSE 7 7 0 7--21
1stQ-SCA: Logue 20 pass from Engstrom (Maloney kick)
1stQ-AST: Koehnke 67 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
1stQ-AST: Koehnke 4 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-SCA: Crane 1 run (Maloney kick)
2ndQ-AST: Poyer 18 run (Robinson kick)
3rdQ-AST: Robinson FG-22
3rdQ-AST: Robinson 35 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
4thQ-SCA: Powers 34 pass from Engstrom (Maloney kick)
4thQ-AST: Robinson FG-21
RUSHING-AST: 32-214 (Poyer 19-129-td), SCA: 26-76 (Crane 22-80-td)
PASSING-AST: 16-22-224-3td (Poyer 15-20-215-3td), SCA: Engstrom 19-32-1-230-2td
RECEIVING-AST: Koehnke 3-74-2td, Robinson 5-66-td, Alfonse 4-46, SCA: Powers 7-122-td
TURNOVERS-AST: 2, SCA: 2
PENALTIES-AST: 5-50, SCA: 7-50
With accolades, attention and college letters heaped on senior quarterbacks Zach Anderson and Justin Engstrom, Astoria's young signalcaller has emerged as the league's most dangerous player, if not its most talented. And the sophomore slinger has never shined so much as when the spotlight was at its brightest.
It wasn't just the [South County] Spotlight on hand Friday night at Scappoose, but a Portland radio station, a reporter from the Oregonian, Fox Channel 12 News cameras and a packed-house homecoming crowd to see what folks from the North Coast have known for some time now. The kid is the real deal!
Poyer threw for 215 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 129 yards and another score as the Fishermen defeated the Indians 34-21 to improve to 8-0 on the season.
"Tonight they had a pretty big crowd," said Poyer, "but it didn't bother me at all. They were playing their music, but I was dancing with them. Didn't bother me at all. I had a few nerves before the game, but if you're not nervous you're not ready to play.
"Our O-line stepped it up a lot tonight," Poyer continued. "They gave me time to look at one receiver, look back to the other receiver and look at another receiver. I give so much credit to them."
Despite coming in with a superior record and higher state ranking, few expected Astoria to come out of Scappoose with a victory. One man who had few doubts was head coach Howard Rub, who cinched his winningest season in seven years at the school, even though his team has technically not yet clinched a playoff berth.
"I wouldn't have viewed us winning--and neither would our kids--as being an upset," said Rub. "It is obviously going to be a tremendous confidence booster.
"You always kind of take rankings tongue in cheek and you don't want to put emphasis to it, because when you go out there between the lines it has nothing to do with anything anyway. But it does certainly validate the fact that we are ranked as one of the top three teams in the state. It's important in terms of where we hope to go from here, which is finish with a league title and go on from there."
The Fishermen can accomplish that mission with a win at home Friday against Yamhill-Carlton, which currently shares first place in the Cowapa League with Astoria after defeating Seaside 41-14. Rub hopes to have injured running backs Andy Murray and Joey Dursse, both defensive starters as well, back in practice Monday and hopefully ready to play against Y-C.
Astoria has never won an outright Cowapa League title in football, and the Fishermen hadn't beaten Scappoose since 1997, a span in which the Indians won the league title seven times in eight years. This was only the second Cowapa League loss for Scappoose during that period, the other one costing them a title in 2003 when the Banks Braves beat the Indians 8-6 in the league opener.
Not only did Astoria have history and reputation to overcome, but the Indians had the fanfare of homecoming, the motivation of being ranked a notch below a team they have dominated for eight years and the glare of the media spotlight on Astoria's inexperienced QB. Not to mention that the Fishermen were missing their two starting running backs, including the player [Murray] who was their most proven offensive weapon entering the season.
"I think that's a tribute to their makeup," said Rub. "I think that's a little bit of a tribute to the coaches who helped them get prepared for all that. I think we anticipated that type of hype and buildup and I think the coaching staff overall did a pretty good job of letting them be aware of all those things. The bottom line was still about us and how we played and how we do.
The Fishermen had another obstacle to overcome--an early deficit.
Scappoose jumped ahead 7-0 in the first quarter after Ryan Goodnight recovered a muffed punt at the Astoria 38-yard line. Astoria appeared to have overcome the mistake when a pair of penalties put the Indians in a 4th and 17 situation, but Engstrom, their 3-year starting QB, found tight end R.J. Logue in the corner of the end zone with a perfect touch pass behind two defenders for a touchdown.
Astoria's response was swift. On the second play after the kickoff, Poyer launched the ball down the right sideline for his favorite receiver, Adam Koehnke, running a deep corner route. Koehnke caught the ball behind his defender, straightened his path and turned on the jets, racing 67 yards for a touchdown.
"It really helped set the tone for the rest of the night," said Rub of Astoria's early counterpunch. This team would not be intimidated in any way. "I think that play in itself signified the fact that we would not come in here and be pushed around."
Later in the quarter, Poyer finished a short drive, set up by a shanked Scappoose punt, locating Koehnke in the middle of the end zone with a 4-yard laser to put Astoria in front 14-7.
Scappoose responded with a 10-play, 88-yard scoring drive, capped by T.J. Crane's 1-yard touchdown run. Crane ran 14-yards to the goal line on the previous play to set up his plunge, but the biggest play of the drive came immediately prior to that, when senior receiver Weston Powers made an outstanding, diving catch on the sideline of a 24-yard Engstrom pass on 3rd and four. Powers, Scappoose's most dangerous receiver, sat out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, a continuation of a penalty that saw him miss a half of action the previous week against Seaside. And much like the Seaside game, he produced four quarters worth of results, catching seven balls for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The Fishermen would respond in kind, maintaining a long drive of their own to regain the lead before halftime. Astoria marched 68 yards in nine plays, mixing runs by Poyer and junior fullback Dylan Jensen with three passes to three different receivers. Poyer even caught one of his own passes, when an attempted shuffle pass was blown up by penetration by Scappoose's defensive line, deflecting the ball back into his hands. Poyer ran eight yards around right end to make a positive gain. The athletic sophomore would motion out to wide receiver a couple of plays later, as tight end Nathan Stinnett shifted under center. With the Indians defense scrambling to account for the quarterback-turned-receiver, Stinnett floated a pass to running back Tom Jawarski in the right flat for a 9-yard gain and a first down. Four plays later, Poyer called his own number again on a quarterback draw and ran 18 yards up the middle for a touchdown.
A key defensive stand ended the first half as Scappoose' Sean Wasson returned a Nick Alfonse punt 47 yards to the Fishermen 14-yard line with just under two minutes remaining. But Powers slipped on a second down incompletion and Poyer--yes, he's a defensive standout, too--belted Engstrom for a 2-yard loss on an option play. Going for it on fourth down from the Fishermen 10-yard line, junior Grady Parker, who moved inside to defensive tackle for this game, batted down Engstrom's attempted screen pass and the Fishermen strutted off the field with a 21-14 halftime lead.
That was the first of three fourth down holds for the Astoria defense, which showed a variety of new looks for this game. Brent Culver moved to linebacker from cornerback and made several key tackles. The senior 3-year starter knifed into the backfield to cut down Sean Wasson for a 4-yard loss on an attempted fourth down reverse on Scappoose's first series of the second half. That gave the Fishermen the ball on their own 35, leading to a drive deep into Indians territory, ending in a Tony Robinson field goal to make the score 24-14 Fishermen.
"They like to run those short routes," said Culver. "The linebackers do a great job, but they kind of needed a lot more help on the secondary side too. So I was there to help out as more of a pass defender there and it worked out."
Later in the quarter, Koehnke, who started in Culver's right cornerback spot and matched up with Powers most of the night, made a leaping interception in the end zone to snuff out a potential Indians scoring drive. That turned into points when the Fishermen drove 80 yards in seven plays, capped by a 35-yard Poyer pass to Tony Robinson for six. Robinson added another field goal at the end of a fourth quarter drive, set up by a 67 yard run by Poyer, who got Crane, the Indians strong safety, to bite on a pitch fake and spun him completely around.
Robinson, who took over kicking duties from 2-year all-leaguer Kye Johnson, is a perfect 14-for-14 on PAT's and 2-for-2 on field goals in Cowapa League play.
Astoria would end the night with 438 yards of offense, a nearly even balance of run and pass, and 21 first downs. Poyer completed 15-of-20 passes to six different receivers, with Robinson having his biggest night of the year with five grabs for 66 yards.
Trailing 34-21 with 9:14 to play after Robinson's 21-yard field goal, the Indians were completely stymied by the Astoria defense on their next possession. Stinnett bottled up backup running back Ryland Geiger for a nine-yard loss on first down and T.J. Crane, the Cowapa League's leading rusher with over 900 yards entering the game, was cut down two yards behind the line of scrimmage by Koehnke. A third down pass to Goodnight was underthrown and, with Scappoose deep in its own end with 7:30 to go, the Indians were forced to punt.
The final Scappoose drive ended when Culver tackled Cody Hoglund short of the first down marker on a 4th down pass for the ESPN Radio "Dambuster Play Of The Game". Astoria held the Indians to 17 yards rushing in the second half and limited Crane to 80 yards on 22 carries, his lowest output of the season. Engstrom completed 19 of 32 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
"It was a physical game," said Rub, "but I felt like we were the more physical team. And I think their coaching staff would echo the same. We earned a lot of respect not only because of how we executed, but how we played the game. We played it hard, we were very physical and we certainly did leave a lasting impression."
Probably no satellite trucks, but there will be a likely near-capacity crowd in attendance on Friday at John Warren Field when the 8-0 Fishermen take on the 7-1 Yamhill-Carlton Tigers in a battle of Cowapa League unbeatens. Hear the game live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. Also, stay tuned to ESPN Radio and KAST-99.7-FM this week to find out how you can win $99.70 in a halftime field goal kicking contest!
ASTORIA 14 7 10 3--34
SCAPPOOSE 7 7 0 7--21
1stQ-SCA: Logue 20 pass from Engstrom (Maloney kick)
1stQ-AST: Koehnke 67 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
1stQ-AST: Koehnke 4 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-SCA: Crane 1 run (Maloney kick)
2ndQ-AST: Poyer 18 run (Robinson kick)
3rdQ-AST: Robinson FG-22
3rdQ-AST: Robinson 35 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
4thQ-SCA: Powers 34 pass from Engstrom (Maloney kick)
4thQ-AST: Robinson FG-21
RUSHING-AST: 32-214 (Poyer 19-129-td), SCA: 26-76 (Crane 22-80-td)
PASSING-AST: 16-22-224-3td (Poyer 15-20-215-3td), SCA: Engstrom 19-32-1-230-2td
RECEIVING-AST: Koehnke 3-74-2td, Robinson 5-66-td, Alfonse 4-46, SCA: Powers 7-122-td
TURNOVERS-AST: 2, SCA: 2
PENALTIES-AST: 5-50, SCA: 7-50
posted by Matt Richert at 5:03 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting looking at the 4A playoff brackets. It would appear that the number #2 Cowapa team has a much eaiser road to the final game at Autzen. The number 1 team will most likely play LaSalle, then La Grand and then Sisters in the Semi's.
Number 2 will play Ontario/Baker, Hidden Valley/Henley and then Siuslaw in the Semi's.
Either way it should be a great game. It's hard to root against Astoria on Friday, but they will be better off in my mind if they lose. Sisters is by far the best team in the State and I'd rather see an Astoria/Sisters showdown for the 4A final.
Is that you, Trent?
It may be so, but after Friday I can't imagine Astoria ducking anybody at this point. You have to beat the best teams eventually and it may be splitting hairs to judge one team clearly superior to another without seeing them prove it across the line of scrimmage from each other. Plus, way to early to start talking about semis and finals when Astoria hasn't even clinched a playoff berth yet, much less the league title.
Do you remember Sisters beating Astoria in the mud back in 2000? Fish should have won that game. It might be nice to get a chance at retribution. Sounds like the Outlaws have a strong line, but Astoria's speed on defense has kept big plays in check all year. Would be tough to rush for 400 against the Fish. Doubt the Outlaws have seen anything like "The Chef" either.
Get ready for A decade of playoff runs.This Is only the start of whats yet To come for the Astoria football program. State title runs & state titles to come for A long time.
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