FISHERMEN CAN'T CATCH KEENEY
Mike Fanger, La Salle's first-year head football coach, called the program "a sleeping giant" after he accepted the position.
Make no mistake. Nobody is sleeping on La Salle anymore.
In a shocking turnaround, the Falcons overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit to upset previously unbeaten Astoria 20-16 Friday night, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1995.
"We were so flat in that first half," said Fanger, a former assistant coach at Portland State and head coach at Lewis & Clark who led the Falcons to the playoffs for the first time since 1996. "I had no explanations why or what. It was embarassing. We were just so bad on one side of the ball and very good on the other side of the ball."
"I praised the defense at haltime. They were playing with a ton of heart, desire and pride. I told the offense to thank them that were still in the game."
With Astoria seemingly in control after two quarters, the potent Fishermen offense sputtered in the second half, while junior wide receiver Cameron Keeney repeatedly torched Astoria's vaunted secondary, almost singlehandedly leading the Falcons to their fourth win in four playoff openers.
Keeney, held without a catch in the first half, finished with 165 yards and two touchdowns, combining with junior running back Chris Nagel to accumulate 248 of the Falcons' 272 yards of offense.
"Vince [Hicks, starting QB] and him played a lot of defense, which we haven't done all year," said Fanger of his quarterback-receiver connection, "because of the way Astoria spreads it out and all the playmakers they have. Obviously our best guy on offense receiving the ball is Keeney and all we have at QB is Hicks. It's a different situation now that it's win or go home so we pulled out all the stops. It gave us a little more athleticsim on the field."
"Keeney dropped a couple of balls he usually gets and didn't punt ball well early. I took him aside and told him, 'You need to make plays or we don't have a chance.' He made some big plays on both sides of the ball. He made couple of big stops on defense and caught a few balls and obviously the interception at the end."
The all-Capital Conference receiver's 48-yard catch and run with 2:25 left in the game put the Falcons in scoring position for Nagel, who powered into the end zone from one yard out for the go-ahead score with 2:05 to play.
Astoria scoring drives on average have lasted less than two minutes this season, but their final march down the field ended when Jordan Poyer's pass intended for Andy Murray was picked off by Keeney at the Falcons 38-yard line, effectively ending the game with 1:03 left.
"We missed on a couple of opportunities in the first half," said Astoria head coach Howard Rub, who led the Fishermen to the playoffs for the second time in three years. "Obviously, that came back and haunted us."
Astoria dominated the first half, holding the Falcons to 34 yards of offense and no points while taking a 16-0 lead, but two plays would loom large later in the game.
Leading 6-0 in the first quarter, Astoria mounted a long drive deep into Falcons territory, only to be turned away at the goal line and forced to settle for three points on a Tony Robinson 22-yard field goal. Dylan Jensen and Jordan Poyer were both stuffed short of the end zone on successive goal line runs and an illegal procedure penalty on a Poyer 4th and goal plunge wiped six points off the board and forced a change of strategy.
The Fishermen defense forced three Falcons turnovers in the first half, leading to two touchdowns, mirroring the turnover-prone Falcons' problems the last time these teams met in a 20-12 Astoria victory in week two of the season.
La Salle quarterback Vincent Hicks coughed up the ball on the first play of the game, giving Astoria the ball at the Falcons' 32-yard line. La Salle appeared to have stopped Astoria on 4th and 3 from the ten yard line when Poyer was bottled up in the middle of the line on a quarterback draw, but the slippery sophomore QB stayed on his feet. Driven back far behind the line of scrimmage, Poyer outran his pursuers to the sideline, weaving his way through traffic to negotiate yet another highlight-reel gem of a run all the way to the end zone.
"He's just a remarkable athlete and he'll continue to get better," said Rub of Poyer, who fell just short in his bid to rush and pass for over 1000 yards this year. "The sky will be the limit for him."
Robinson's field goal later in the quarter was set up by a Brook Smith interception. Defensive end Jake Banta deflected a Hicks pass setting up the all-Cowapa League middle linebacker's second pick in as many games.
The Fishermen would gain favorable field position again in the second quarter when Smith partially blocked a Keeney punt from near the goal line. The ball carried just 15 yards, giving Astoria the ball at the La Salle 26 with 3:56 to go in the half. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Poyer found Adam Koehnke in the end zone for six.
Leading 16-0, Astoria recovered a Hicks fumble at the La Salle 27-yard line or so it appeared. The Corvallis officiating crew converged and determined that an inadvertent whistle had stopped play before the change of possession. An infuriated Howard Rub had come all the way to the middle of the field to tend to an injured player and voiced his objections. Meanwhile, Fanger also made the trek out to the field, objecting to Rub's presence between the numbers without a time out being called. The down was replayed and Nagel was stopped for no gain, forcing a Keeney punt. Keeney, who happens to be an all-Conference punter as well as a top receiver, unloaded a 53-yard bomb of a kick all the way to the Astoria 20-yard line. So, thanks to an official unable to hold his water, Astoria had 80 yards to go with 1:31 on the clock instead of two minutes-plus to traverse 27 yards of real estate.
"The rule is you replay the down," said Rub. "We feel that we already had the ball. Our player was hurt, that's why I was out there. It should have been our ball."
"Coach Fanger and I didn't really exchange words with each other. I just told him I was leaving because they were kicking me off and they were trying to kick him off. He was arguing, 'Well, he's on the field, why can't I be on the field.' That's all that was. It's unfortunate. Obviously, it would have been a big play."
La Salle nearly got an even bigger break when defensive lineman Jeff Sawyer got in between Poyer and Koehnke on an attempted shuffle pass and intercepted the ball, only to have it stripped away and recovered by Smith. Astoria ran out of time as Poyer threw underneath to Koehnke for 16 harmless yards from the La Salle 42 instead of launching a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the half.
The Fishermen had ten first downs to just one for La Salle and a 198-34 edge in total offense in what was the most dominating half of defense they played all season long. But instead of what easily could have been a 28-0 lead, Astoria led by just two scores entering the second half.
"I gave the team two choices at halftime," said Fanger. "Quit and lose the credibility we've built for the program by going 5-1 in a pretty good league or go out and fight and try to win a football game. I didn't put one play on the board. It was all about playing and digging deep."
La Salle's first drive of the second half continued the offensive frustration, ending in a Koehnke interception at the Fishermen 5-yard line. However, Keeney provided a sign of things to come when he toasted cornerback Justin Tikkala on a sideline route, picking up a 37-yard gain on a 3rd and 24 play, putting the Falcons into Astoria territory for only the second time in the game.
Even though the Falcons didn't score, the shift of field position proved significant, as the La Salle defense was beginning to rise to the occasion. Back-to-back incompletions forced an Astoria punt from deep in Fishermen territory. The 26-yard kick gave La Salle its best field position of the night. Four plays later, the Falcons were in the end zone as Hicks connected with Keeney on a beautifully-thrown 24-yard pass deep in the left corner of the end zone. We'll have to assume that Keeney was inbounds because none of the five officials was anywhere near the play! The linesman who eventually signalled the touchdown was a good 15 to 20 yards upfield and couldn't possibly have seen whether Keeney got a foot inbounds or not.
The rapid changes in momentum on the Falcons sideline were enough to give a less hearty rooter the bends, as the fans roared to life after Keeney's long catch earlier in the half only to deflate on Koehnke's interception, firing up again on the touchdown catch. A failed two-point conversion pass, intercepted in the end zone by Brent Culver, dimmed the celebration somewhat, considering that La Salle was still down two scores trailing 16-6.
What was consistently clear was that Astoria's high-powered offense simply was not clicking.
"It was the weirdest night," said Rub. "Even the first half we didn't execute well. We didn't feel like we were in any rhythm even though we were winning. We didn't feel like we were getting any great breaks, even in that first half. The second half that certainly held true."
Andy Murray, who missed two weeks of the season with an ankle injury only to aggravate it on his return in the regular season finale at Tillamook, was hobbled again early in the contest.
"He didn't feel like he could go in a certain direction on the field," said Rub of his all-Cowapa League running back, "so we were trying to manipulate a couple of our plays for him in there so that wouldn't happen. It caused some confusion on a couple of play calls on where to line up, which took us out of our rhythm. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe you just go with Jawarski and Joey [Dursse, a senior running back] and go from there. But here's a senior leader on this team and one of the greatest football players I've ever gotten to coach. You want to give him a chance to help us."
Murray would return to play in the second half, but was simply not up to speed, finishing the game with 36 yards on ten carries. Poyer, the Cowapa League co-Offensive Player of the Year, brimming with confidence and bursting with big plays all year long, was simply off target a lot of the time and the confident gunslinger of previous weeks showed some indecisiveness.
"We should have done a much better job in the passing game," said Rub. "It was not the best playcalling in terms of what you've seen us do to get in rhythm and I take responsibility for that. And some of it is also having a young quarterback that's seeing some things that are all new. It's a first-time experience and he'll learn from those experiences and the things that he'll see because he's going to watch this film. He's not going to be done evaluating it just because we're done. That's the kind of of competitor he is. He wants to learn from it and he wants to get better."
La Salle's defensive play in the second half was inspired, as the Falcons were able to pressure Poyer while Keeney and fellow defensive backs Hicks, Thomas Loyola, Tony Titrud and Joshua Griffin locked up Astoria receivers. Inside linebacker Mark Meek, an all-Capital Conference selection, had one of the biggest defensive plays of the half, stopping Poyer dead in his tracks with a crunching hit on a 3rd and 1 carry, one play after Eric Whalen had stopped Murray for no gain. The Fishermen opted to punt instead of going for it on 4th and short from the Falcons' 46-yard line.
"It was one of those things where you call the blitz and it's the right one," said Fanger. "That can turn bad on you in a hurry with a player the caliber of Poyer. We guessed right and it worked out well for us."
Astoria's three 3rd-quarter drives ended in punts, but the third punt was a beaut! Nick Alfonse corraled a high snap and calmly booted the ball 41 yards to the La Salle 5-yard line where it died in the moist grass with 1:13 to play in the third quarter.
The Falcons began their longest drive of the night from there, with a pair of Hicks runs setting up a 15-yard pass to Joshua Griffin and a first down. A 12-yard strike to Keeney converted another third down. But the third time would not be a charm, as Hicks' 3rd-and-12 pass to a streaking receiver was picked off by Brent Culver inside the Astoria 1-yard line with 8:40 to go in the game.
The Fishermen were able to get some breathing room, as Poyer scrambled 14-yards on 3rd and 4 to move the chains. But a costly holding penalty and another incomplete pass, Poyer's fourth of seven straight incompletions in the second half, ended the drive and forced Astoria's fourth straight punt of the half.
A short kick gave La Salle the ball at the Fishermen 44-yard line and Hicks went for the big score on the first play, again finding Keeney behind the Fishermen defense on a post route for a devastatingly quick touchdown. Suddenly, the Falcons were only down 16-13 with nearly four-and-a-half minutes left. In a situation where Astoria needed nothing more than to force the Falcons to use some clock, to get beat deep on the first play was costly.
Still playing with time, a first down incompletion was not what the Fishermen needed, but that's what they got on the ensuing drive when Poyer's pass to a double-covered Koehnke was tipped and nearly intercepted. Thomas Jawarski was tackled by Keeney at the end of a two-yard run and Poyer's keeper netted only three yards on 3rd and 8, forcing Astoria's fifth straight punt. A 26-yard Alfonse kick was fair caught by Keeney at the Falcons' 41 with 2:35 to play.
Hicks' first pass attempt went in Keeney's direction, but was nearly intercepted. Flushed out of the pocket by pressure from defensive end Grady Parker, the 6-2 junior QB threw off balance toward his favorite receiver as Alfonse and Poyer converged on the ball. The two safeties collided and neither came up with it. One play later, Hicks found Keeney open in the middle of the field on a crossing route. Brent Culver dived for the receivers legs but missed and Keeney rambled all the way to the Astoria 11-yard line.
Suddenly time was no longer a factor in the Falcons comeback. Nagel took a handoff and ambled ten yards, tackled inside the one. The Capital Conference Offensive Player of the Year got the call again and surged across the goal line, giving La Salle the lead. An important PAT by freshman kicker Austin Thul made it 20-16 La Salle, with 2:05 left.
As any Fishermen fan knows, 2:05 on the clock is an eternity for Astoria to score from anywhere between the goal lines, but Astoria's offense looked a lot more like the one that slugged it out in the mud against Tillamook than the one that sliced and diced sixth-ranked Yamhill-Carlton and carved up Scappoose the two previous weeks.
Thomas Jawarski returned a short kickoff 14 yards to the 40-yard line, giving the sizable playoff crowd hope. On the first play of the drive, tight end Nathan Stinnett shifted to quarterback with Poyer splitting out to the left side as a single receiver. This trick formation netted a short gain on a pass to Culver in the first half, and a pass to Jawarski gave Astoria a sizable gain and a first down. But an illegal block in the back by Murray negated the play and cost Astoria precious time and a loss of five yards. After an imcomplete pass, Poyer connected with Jawarski for 19 yards and a first down to the La Salle 47-yard line. On the next play, Poyer scrambled to his right buying time as the Falcons dropped their linebackers back in coverage. Murray appeared to be open mirroring Poyer toward the right sideline, but Keeney closed from behind and stepped in front of the receiver to intercept the pass at the 33-yard line with 1:03 left.
With only one time out left, all Astoria could do was watch Hicks take a knee three times. Hearts stopped around the stadium as Hicks fumbled the center snap on the second play, but the Falcons were able to cover the ball and run out the clock, setting up a wild celebration on the visitors sideline.
After completing two passes for a total of 11 yards in the first half, Hicks was 8-for-13 in the second half for 189 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons outgained Astoria 231-82 over the final two quarters and had 10 first downs to Astoria's three. Nagel, who rushed for over 100 yards eight times during the regular season, was relatively quiet, but thanks to a couple of long second half runs finished with 63 yards on 14 carries and also caught four passes for 20 yards.
For the first time since taking over fulltime starting quarterback duties in week three of the regular season, Poyer was held under a 50% completion rate. The 15-year-old emerging star suffered the first significant setback in his rapid ascension, as he was held to 1-of-7 passing for 19 yards and an interception in the second half.
In a moving display of team togetherness that exemplified their "One Beat" theme for the season, Astoria's 17 senior players emerged from the locker room about 15 minutes after leaving the field, lining up straight across the goal line in the west end zone and walking the field hand-in-hand to the opposite goal line, where they assembled in a huddle for several minutes saying their final goodbyes.
"This team is very unique in their camaraderie," said Rub. "A lot of times with a larger senior group, you have some cliques within it. These guys are all for one and one for all and that's from the first one to the 17th one. That is very unique and very special and they have a very special bond. The great thing about it is it will be that way forever. What happened tonight won't change that. That's a pretty special thing. That's what helps make what we do a very special thing and great for the kids."
Astoria's 10-0 regular season was a school record and the first unbeaten regular season since the Hall Of Fame 1951 team won 11 straight games to reach the state semifinals. La Salle improved to 7-4 on the season and 4-0 all time in playoff openers. The Falcons will host a playoff game on Saturday, Nov. 25 against Greater Oregon League co-champion Baker, which defeated North Bend 53-14.
"We have so much respect for the Astoria program and Howard and their athletes," said Fanger. "They are going to be good for a long, long time. It's a great scheme and they have great athletes. I just hope the number two Capital team doesn't play the Cowapa number one every single year."
The Cowapa League won 10 out of 12 games against Capital Conference competition during the regular season, including Astoria's wins over the three Capital playoff qualifiers (La Salle, Molalla and Gladstone). Yet two Capital teams, La Salle and Gladstone, a 19-14 winner at Newport, have advanced to the quarterfinals, while all three Cowapa teams lost their playoff openers. Second seed Yamhill-Carlton joined Astoria in the losing column, ending up on the wrong end of a 49-35 Old West shootout at Ontario, while Scappoose fell to Cottage Grove 22-14 last week in the first round of the playoffs.
LA SALLE 0 0 6 14--20
ASTORIA 9 7 0 0--16
1stQ-AST: Poyer 10 run (kick failed)
1stQ-AST: Robinson FG-22
2ndQ-AST: Koehnke 26 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
3rdQ-LAS: Keeney 24 pass from Hicks (pass failed)
4thQ-LAS: Keeney 44 pass from Hicks (Thul kick)
4thQ-LAS: Nagel 1 run (Thul kick)
RUSHING-LAS: 26-72 (Nagel 14-63-td), AST: 33-126 (Poyer 15-69-td)
PASSING-LAS: Hicks 10-20-3-200-2td, AST: 12-25-2-140-td (Poyer 11-24-2-135-td)
RECEIVING-LAS: Keeney 5-165-2td, AST: Koehnke 8-94-td
PENALTIES-LAS: 6-40, AST: 9-70
TURNOVERS-LAS: 5, AST: 2
Make no mistake. Nobody is sleeping on La Salle anymore.
In a shocking turnaround, the Falcons overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit to upset previously unbeaten Astoria 20-16 Friday night, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1995.
"We were so flat in that first half," said Fanger, a former assistant coach at Portland State and head coach at Lewis & Clark who led the Falcons to the playoffs for the first time since 1996. "I had no explanations why or what. It was embarassing. We were just so bad on one side of the ball and very good on the other side of the ball."
"I praised the defense at haltime. They were playing with a ton of heart, desire and pride. I told the offense to thank them that were still in the game."
With Astoria seemingly in control after two quarters, the potent Fishermen offense sputtered in the second half, while junior wide receiver Cameron Keeney repeatedly torched Astoria's vaunted secondary, almost singlehandedly leading the Falcons to their fourth win in four playoff openers.
Keeney, held without a catch in the first half, finished with 165 yards and two touchdowns, combining with junior running back Chris Nagel to accumulate 248 of the Falcons' 272 yards of offense.
"Vince [Hicks, starting QB] and him played a lot of defense, which we haven't done all year," said Fanger of his quarterback-receiver connection, "because of the way Astoria spreads it out and all the playmakers they have. Obviously our best guy on offense receiving the ball is Keeney and all we have at QB is Hicks. It's a different situation now that it's win or go home so we pulled out all the stops. It gave us a little more athleticsim on the field."
"Keeney dropped a couple of balls he usually gets and didn't punt ball well early. I took him aside and told him, 'You need to make plays or we don't have a chance.' He made some big plays on both sides of the ball. He made couple of big stops on defense and caught a few balls and obviously the interception at the end."
The all-Capital Conference receiver's 48-yard catch and run with 2:25 left in the game put the Falcons in scoring position for Nagel, who powered into the end zone from one yard out for the go-ahead score with 2:05 to play.
Astoria scoring drives on average have lasted less than two minutes this season, but their final march down the field ended when Jordan Poyer's pass intended for Andy Murray was picked off by Keeney at the Falcons 38-yard line, effectively ending the game with 1:03 left.
"We missed on a couple of opportunities in the first half," said Astoria head coach Howard Rub, who led the Fishermen to the playoffs for the second time in three years. "Obviously, that came back and haunted us."
Astoria dominated the first half, holding the Falcons to 34 yards of offense and no points while taking a 16-0 lead, but two plays would loom large later in the game.
Leading 6-0 in the first quarter, Astoria mounted a long drive deep into Falcons territory, only to be turned away at the goal line and forced to settle for three points on a Tony Robinson 22-yard field goal. Dylan Jensen and Jordan Poyer were both stuffed short of the end zone on successive goal line runs and an illegal procedure penalty on a Poyer 4th and goal plunge wiped six points off the board and forced a change of strategy.
The Fishermen defense forced three Falcons turnovers in the first half, leading to two touchdowns, mirroring the turnover-prone Falcons' problems the last time these teams met in a 20-12 Astoria victory in week two of the season.
La Salle quarterback Vincent Hicks coughed up the ball on the first play of the game, giving Astoria the ball at the Falcons' 32-yard line. La Salle appeared to have stopped Astoria on 4th and 3 from the ten yard line when Poyer was bottled up in the middle of the line on a quarterback draw, but the slippery sophomore QB stayed on his feet. Driven back far behind the line of scrimmage, Poyer outran his pursuers to the sideline, weaving his way through traffic to negotiate yet another highlight-reel gem of a run all the way to the end zone.
"He's just a remarkable athlete and he'll continue to get better," said Rub of Poyer, who fell just short in his bid to rush and pass for over 1000 yards this year. "The sky will be the limit for him."
Robinson's field goal later in the quarter was set up by a Brook Smith interception. Defensive end Jake Banta deflected a Hicks pass setting up the all-Cowapa League middle linebacker's second pick in as many games.
The Fishermen would gain favorable field position again in the second quarter when Smith partially blocked a Keeney punt from near the goal line. The ball carried just 15 yards, giving Astoria the ball at the La Salle 26 with 3:56 to go in the half. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Poyer found Adam Koehnke in the end zone for six.
Leading 16-0, Astoria recovered a Hicks fumble at the La Salle 27-yard line or so it appeared. The Corvallis officiating crew converged and determined that an inadvertent whistle had stopped play before the change of possession. An infuriated Howard Rub had come all the way to the middle of the field to tend to an injured player and voiced his objections. Meanwhile, Fanger also made the trek out to the field, objecting to Rub's presence between the numbers without a time out being called. The down was replayed and Nagel was stopped for no gain, forcing a Keeney punt. Keeney, who happens to be an all-Conference punter as well as a top receiver, unloaded a 53-yard bomb of a kick all the way to the Astoria 20-yard line. So, thanks to an official unable to hold his water, Astoria had 80 yards to go with 1:31 on the clock instead of two minutes-plus to traverse 27 yards of real estate.
"The rule is you replay the down," said Rub. "We feel that we already had the ball. Our player was hurt, that's why I was out there. It should have been our ball."
"Coach Fanger and I didn't really exchange words with each other. I just told him I was leaving because they were kicking me off and they were trying to kick him off. He was arguing, 'Well, he's on the field, why can't I be on the field.' That's all that was. It's unfortunate. Obviously, it would have been a big play."
La Salle nearly got an even bigger break when defensive lineman Jeff Sawyer got in between Poyer and Koehnke on an attempted shuffle pass and intercepted the ball, only to have it stripped away and recovered by Smith. Astoria ran out of time as Poyer threw underneath to Koehnke for 16 harmless yards from the La Salle 42 instead of launching a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the half.
The Fishermen had ten first downs to just one for La Salle and a 198-34 edge in total offense in what was the most dominating half of defense they played all season long. But instead of what easily could have been a 28-0 lead, Astoria led by just two scores entering the second half.
"I gave the team two choices at halftime," said Fanger. "Quit and lose the credibility we've built for the program by going 5-1 in a pretty good league or go out and fight and try to win a football game. I didn't put one play on the board. It was all about playing and digging deep."
La Salle's first drive of the second half continued the offensive frustration, ending in a Koehnke interception at the Fishermen 5-yard line. However, Keeney provided a sign of things to come when he toasted cornerback Justin Tikkala on a sideline route, picking up a 37-yard gain on a 3rd and 24 play, putting the Falcons into Astoria territory for only the second time in the game.
Even though the Falcons didn't score, the shift of field position proved significant, as the La Salle defense was beginning to rise to the occasion. Back-to-back incompletions forced an Astoria punt from deep in Fishermen territory. The 26-yard kick gave La Salle its best field position of the night. Four plays later, the Falcons were in the end zone as Hicks connected with Keeney on a beautifully-thrown 24-yard pass deep in the left corner of the end zone. We'll have to assume that Keeney was inbounds because none of the five officials was anywhere near the play! The linesman who eventually signalled the touchdown was a good 15 to 20 yards upfield and couldn't possibly have seen whether Keeney got a foot inbounds or not.
The rapid changes in momentum on the Falcons sideline were enough to give a less hearty rooter the bends, as the fans roared to life after Keeney's long catch earlier in the half only to deflate on Koehnke's interception, firing up again on the touchdown catch. A failed two-point conversion pass, intercepted in the end zone by Brent Culver, dimmed the celebration somewhat, considering that La Salle was still down two scores trailing 16-6.
What was consistently clear was that Astoria's high-powered offense simply was not clicking.
"It was the weirdest night," said Rub. "Even the first half we didn't execute well. We didn't feel like we were in any rhythm even though we were winning. We didn't feel like we were getting any great breaks, even in that first half. The second half that certainly held true."
Andy Murray, who missed two weeks of the season with an ankle injury only to aggravate it on his return in the regular season finale at Tillamook, was hobbled again early in the contest.
"He didn't feel like he could go in a certain direction on the field," said Rub of his all-Cowapa League running back, "so we were trying to manipulate a couple of our plays for him in there so that wouldn't happen. It caused some confusion on a couple of play calls on where to line up, which took us out of our rhythm. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe you just go with Jawarski and Joey [Dursse, a senior running back] and go from there. But here's a senior leader on this team and one of the greatest football players I've ever gotten to coach. You want to give him a chance to help us."
Murray would return to play in the second half, but was simply not up to speed, finishing the game with 36 yards on ten carries. Poyer, the Cowapa League co-Offensive Player of the Year, brimming with confidence and bursting with big plays all year long, was simply off target a lot of the time and the confident gunslinger of previous weeks showed some indecisiveness.
"We should have done a much better job in the passing game," said Rub. "It was not the best playcalling in terms of what you've seen us do to get in rhythm and I take responsibility for that. And some of it is also having a young quarterback that's seeing some things that are all new. It's a first-time experience and he'll learn from those experiences and the things that he'll see because he's going to watch this film. He's not going to be done evaluating it just because we're done. That's the kind of of competitor he is. He wants to learn from it and he wants to get better."
La Salle's defensive play in the second half was inspired, as the Falcons were able to pressure Poyer while Keeney and fellow defensive backs Hicks, Thomas Loyola, Tony Titrud and Joshua Griffin locked up Astoria receivers. Inside linebacker Mark Meek, an all-Capital Conference selection, had one of the biggest defensive plays of the half, stopping Poyer dead in his tracks with a crunching hit on a 3rd and 1 carry, one play after Eric Whalen had stopped Murray for no gain. The Fishermen opted to punt instead of going for it on 4th and short from the Falcons' 46-yard line.
"It was one of those things where you call the blitz and it's the right one," said Fanger. "That can turn bad on you in a hurry with a player the caliber of Poyer. We guessed right and it worked out well for us."
Astoria's three 3rd-quarter drives ended in punts, but the third punt was a beaut! Nick Alfonse corraled a high snap and calmly booted the ball 41 yards to the La Salle 5-yard line where it died in the moist grass with 1:13 to play in the third quarter.
The Falcons began their longest drive of the night from there, with a pair of Hicks runs setting up a 15-yard pass to Joshua Griffin and a first down. A 12-yard strike to Keeney converted another third down. But the third time would not be a charm, as Hicks' 3rd-and-12 pass to a streaking receiver was picked off by Brent Culver inside the Astoria 1-yard line with 8:40 to go in the game.
The Fishermen were able to get some breathing room, as Poyer scrambled 14-yards on 3rd and 4 to move the chains. But a costly holding penalty and another incomplete pass, Poyer's fourth of seven straight incompletions in the second half, ended the drive and forced Astoria's fourth straight punt of the half.
A short kick gave La Salle the ball at the Fishermen 44-yard line and Hicks went for the big score on the first play, again finding Keeney behind the Fishermen defense on a post route for a devastatingly quick touchdown. Suddenly, the Falcons were only down 16-13 with nearly four-and-a-half minutes left. In a situation where Astoria needed nothing more than to force the Falcons to use some clock, to get beat deep on the first play was costly.
Still playing with time, a first down incompletion was not what the Fishermen needed, but that's what they got on the ensuing drive when Poyer's pass to a double-covered Koehnke was tipped and nearly intercepted. Thomas Jawarski was tackled by Keeney at the end of a two-yard run and Poyer's keeper netted only three yards on 3rd and 8, forcing Astoria's fifth straight punt. A 26-yard Alfonse kick was fair caught by Keeney at the Falcons' 41 with 2:35 to play.
Hicks' first pass attempt went in Keeney's direction, but was nearly intercepted. Flushed out of the pocket by pressure from defensive end Grady Parker, the 6-2 junior QB threw off balance toward his favorite receiver as Alfonse and Poyer converged on the ball. The two safeties collided and neither came up with it. One play later, Hicks found Keeney open in the middle of the field on a crossing route. Brent Culver dived for the receivers legs but missed and Keeney rambled all the way to the Astoria 11-yard line.
Suddenly time was no longer a factor in the Falcons comeback. Nagel took a handoff and ambled ten yards, tackled inside the one. The Capital Conference Offensive Player of the Year got the call again and surged across the goal line, giving La Salle the lead. An important PAT by freshman kicker Austin Thul made it 20-16 La Salle, with 2:05 left.
As any Fishermen fan knows, 2:05 on the clock is an eternity for Astoria to score from anywhere between the goal lines, but Astoria's offense looked a lot more like the one that slugged it out in the mud against Tillamook than the one that sliced and diced sixth-ranked Yamhill-Carlton and carved up Scappoose the two previous weeks.
Thomas Jawarski returned a short kickoff 14 yards to the 40-yard line, giving the sizable playoff crowd hope. On the first play of the drive, tight end Nathan Stinnett shifted to quarterback with Poyer splitting out to the left side as a single receiver. This trick formation netted a short gain on a pass to Culver in the first half, and a pass to Jawarski gave Astoria a sizable gain and a first down. But an illegal block in the back by Murray negated the play and cost Astoria precious time and a loss of five yards. After an imcomplete pass, Poyer connected with Jawarski for 19 yards and a first down to the La Salle 47-yard line. On the next play, Poyer scrambled to his right buying time as the Falcons dropped their linebackers back in coverage. Murray appeared to be open mirroring Poyer toward the right sideline, but Keeney closed from behind and stepped in front of the receiver to intercept the pass at the 33-yard line with 1:03 left.
With only one time out left, all Astoria could do was watch Hicks take a knee three times. Hearts stopped around the stadium as Hicks fumbled the center snap on the second play, but the Falcons were able to cover the ball and run out the clock, setting up a wild celebration on the visitors sideline.
After completing two passes for a total of 11 yards in the first half, Hicks was 8-for-13 in the second half for 189 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons outgained Astoria 231-82 over the final two quarters and had 10 first downs to Astoria's three. Nagel, who rushed for over 100 yards eight times during the regular season, was relatively quiet, but thanks to a couple of long second half runs finished with 63 yards on 14 carries and also caught four passes for 20 yards.
For the first time since taking over fulltime starting quarterback duties in week three of the regular season, Poyer was held under a 50% completion rate. The 15-year-old emerging star suffered the first significant setback in his rapid ascension, as he was held to 1-of-7 passing for 19 yards and an interception in the second half.
In a moving display of team togetherness that exemplified their "One Beat" theme for the season, Astoria's 17 senior players emerged from the locker room about 15 minutes after leaving the field, lining up straight across the goal line in the west end zone and walking the field hand-in-hand to the opposite goal line, where they assembled in a huddle for several minutes saying their final goodbyes.
"This team is very unique in their camaraderie," said Rub. "A lot of times with a larger senior group, you have some cliques within it. These guys are all for one and one for all and that's from the first one to the 17th one. That is very unique and very special and they have a very special bond. The great thing about it is it will be that way forever. What happened tonight won't change that. That's a pretty special thing. That's what helps make what we do a very special thing and great for the kids."
Astoria's 10-0 regular season was a school record and the first unbeaten regular season since the Hall Of Fame 1951 team won 11 straight games to reach the state semifinals. La Salle improved to 7-4 on the season and 4-0 all time in playoff openers. The Falcons will host a playoff game on Saturday, Nov. 25 against Greater Oregon League co-champion Baker, which defeated North Bend 53-14.
"We have so much respect for the Astoria program and Howard and their athletes," said Fanger. "They are going to be good for a long, long time. It's a great scheme and they have great athletes. I just hope the number two Capital team doesn't play the Cowapa number one every single year."
The Cowapa League won 10 out of 12 games against Capital Conference competition during the regular season, including Astoria's wins over the three Capital playoff qualifiers (La Salle, Molalla and Gladstone). Yet two Capital teams, La Salle and Gladstone, a 19-14 winner at Newport, have advanced to the quarterfinals, while all three Cowapa teams lost their playoff openers. Second seed Yamhill-Carlton joined Astoria in the losing column, ending up on the wrong end of a 49-35 Old West shootout at Ontario, while Scappoose fell to Cottage Grove 22-14 last week in the first round of the playoffs.
LA SALLE 0 0 6 14--20
ASTORIA 9 7 0 0--16
1stQ-AST: Poyer 10 run (kick failed)
1stQ-AST: Robinson FG-22
2ndQ-AST: Koehnke 26 pass from Poyer (Robinson kick)
3rdQ-LAS: Keeney 24 pass from Hicks (pass failed)
4thQ-LAS: Keeney 44 pass from Hicks (Thul kick)
4thQ-LAS: Nagel 1 run (Thul kick)
RUSHING-LAS: 26-72 (Nagel 14-63-td), AST: 33-126 (Poyer 15-69-td)
PASSING-LAS: Hicks 10-20-3-200-2td, AST: 12-25-2-140-td (Poyer 11-24-2-135-td)
RECEIVING-LAS: Keeney 5-165-2td, AST: Koehnke 8-94-td
PENALTIES-LAS: 6-40, AST: 9-70
TURNOVERS-LAS: 5, AST: 2
posted by Matt Richert at 6:48 PM
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