FISHERMEN SCOOP COWAPA TROPHY WITH RECORD WIN
With all of the hype surrounding Astoria's quick strike offense, the regular season ended with something for the old school football fan. A defensive-oriented shutout.
Astoria blanked Tillamook 20-0 Friday night at Doc Adams Field, ending a perfect regular season with their tenth win, a regular season record for the school. The Fishermen will try to tie a 55-year-old record as they go for their 11th consecutive victory in two weeks, hosting the La Salle Falcons in a second round state playoff game at John Warren Field.
Friday's shutout was the second of the season for the Astoria defense, which also goose egged Philomath in week four of the season. Last night, mother nature provided the best defense of all.
With constant rain vacillating between steady and biblical deluge and a howling southwesterly wind a constant, both teams struggled to move the ball effectively all night.
All of the scoring took place in the second period, with Astoria forcing three consecutive Cheesemakers turnovers, all of which were converted into touchdowns.
Tillamook running back Blaise Bennett coughed up a fumble at the 50 yard in with 7:52 remaining in the first half. That was the only time Tillamook's offense touched midfield until the Cheesemaker's final drive of the game, as Astoria held the Mooks to 130 total yards and seven first downs.
Three Jordan Poyer runs and a shuffle pass to Adam Koehnke put the Fishermen in the end zone with 6:28 to go in the half. Poyer scored on a 16-yard run on an option keeper, but a 21-yard run to set up the initial score was the highlight of the night. Running around right end, the athletic sophomore quarterback appeared to be upended by a Cheesemaker defender, but somersaulted over the the tackler without his knees or elbows touching the ground and continued down the right sideline.
Poyer finally met his match with the foul coastal weather, which negated his favorite weapon, the deep ball, and made throwing even the simplest short patterns challenging. Poyer completed 5 of 10 throws for a measly 43 yards with two of the completions on safe shuffle passes to Koehnke. He also threw an interception for the first time in four weeks and coughed up a fumble.
Unfortunately, the Cheesemakers were unable to take advantage of Astoria's two turnovers, while they provided the Fishermen with two more short drives to the end zone in the second period.
Poyer intercepted a Jake Pugh pass, returning it 18 yards to the Cheesemaker 32-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Andy Murray tried to change direction in a mud puddle and lost his footing and two yards. The senior running back also aggravated a right ankle injury and hobbled off the field, returning in street clothes in the second half. Poyer would handle the majority of the ballcarrying duties on the night on a mix of draws and options. A pass interference penalty on Tillamook gave Astoria a first down at the Cheesemaker 15-yard line and three plays later Poyer ran it in from three yards out.
On the ensuing Tillamook drive, Brook Smith picked off his first pass of the season, returning it all the way to the Cheesemaker 13-yard line. A Poyer run of five yards set up 2nd and five at the eight yard line. On the next play, Hans Lund appeared to take a handoff from Poyer and hit a brick wall at the line of scrimmage, bouncing straight backwards. While the Cheesemaker players and coaches on the sideline celebrated a great hit, Poyer tiptoed into the end zone on a perfectly executed bootleg run, fooling nearly everyone in the stadium and giving his linemen cause to chuckle as they jogged to the sideline.
Poyer rushed for 95 yards on 21 carries and his three touchdown runs give him 14 on the season to go with a school record 17 touchdown passes. The super soph also leads the team in rushing with 874 yards and interceptions with five, including a touchdown return on his first defensive series of his varsity career in the week one endowment game against Molalla. Despite his low passing totals Friday night, the 15-year-old phenom is the leading candidate to win Cowapa League Offensive Player of the Year honors, a remarkable acheivement in a league that contains two proven Division I recruit quarterbacks in Scappoose's Justin Engstrom and Yamhill-Carlton's Zach Anderson.
Anderson, who is probably the other top candidate, struggled Friday night, completing only 13 of 32 passes for 133 yards and a pair of interceptions, but did lead his team to a big win over Scappoose. Anderson was intercepted four times in Yamhill-Carlton's 48-27 loss at Astoria on Oct. 27, while Poyer nearly had 200 yards rushing and passing with two rushing touchdowns and three passing TD's with no interceptions.
It could be a clean sweep of postseason awards for Astoria. Head coach Howard Rub should be a unanimous choice for coach of the year and cornerback Brent Culver's play this year has been outstanding on a defense that missed him terribly a year ago when he broke his thumb in early September. Coach Rub has also consistently praised the play of middle linebacker Brook Smith and expects him to get consideration for the honor.
Astoria now has two weeks to prepare for an opponent it has already played and beaten. The Fishermen beat the three Capital League playoff teams this year, including second seed La Salle in a 20-12 win at home in week two. The Nov. 17 playoff matchup will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m.
ASTORIA 0 20 0 0--20
TILLAMOOK 0 0 0 0--0
2ndQ-Poyer 16 run (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-Poyer 3 run (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-Poyer 8 run (kick failed)
RUSHING-AST: 38-143 (Poyer 21-95-3td), TIL: 41-111 (Bennett 23-66)
PASSING-AST: 5-11-1-43 (Poyer 5-10-1-43), TIL: Pugh 1-8-2-19
RECEIVING-AST: Koehnke 3-15, Dursse 1-20, TIL: Miller 1-19
TURNOVERS-AST: 2, TIL: 4
PENALTIES-AST: 1-10, TIL: 4-35
Astoria blanked Tillamook 20-0 Friday night at Doc Adams Field, ending a perfect regular season with their tenth win, a regular season record for the school. The Fishermen will try to tie a 55-year-old record as they go for their 11th consecutive victory in two weeks, hosting the La Salle Falcons in a second round state playoff game at John Warren Field.
Friday's shutout was the second of the season for the Astoria defense, which also goose egged Philomath in week four of the season. Last night, mother nature provided the best defense of all.
With constant rain vacillating between steady and biblical deluge and a howling southwesterly wind a constant, both teams struggled to move the ball effectively all night.
All of the scoring took place in the second period, with Astoria forcing three consecutive Cheesemakers turnovers, all of which were converted into touchdowns.
Tillamook running back Blaise Bennett coughed up a fumble at the 50 yard in with 7:52 remaining in the first half. That was the only time Tillamook's offense touched midfield until the Cheesemaker's final drive of the game, as Astoria held the Mooks to 130 total yards and seven first downs.
Three Jordan Poyer runs and a shuffle pass to Adam Koehnke put the Fishermen in the end zone with 6:28 to go in the half. Poyer scored on a 16-yard run on an option keeper, but a 21-yard run to set up the initial score was the highlight of the night. Running around right end, the athletic sophomore quarterback appeared to be upended by a Cheesemaker defender, but somersaulted over the the tackler without his knees or elbows touching the ground and continued down the right sideline.
Poyer finally met his match with the foul coastal weather, which negated his favorite weapon, the deep ball, and made throwing even the simplest short patterns challenging. Poyer completed 5 of 10 throws for a measly 43 yards with two of the completions on safe shuffle passes to Koehnke. He also threw an interception for the first time in four weeks and coughed up a fumble.
Unfortunately, the Cheesemakers were unable to take advantage of Astoria's two turnovers, while they provided the Fishermen with two more short drives to the end zone in the second period.
Poyer intercepted a Jake Pugh pass, returning it 18 yards to the Cheesemaker 32-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Andy Murray tried to change direction in a mud puddle and lost his footing and two yards. The senior running back also aggravated a right ankle injury and hobbled off the field, returning in street clothes in the second half. Poyer would handle the majority of the ballcarrying duties on the night on a mix of draws and options. A pass interference penalty on Tillamook gave Astoria a first down at the Cheesemaker 15-yard line and three plays later Poyer ran it in from three yards out.
On the ensuing Tillamook drive, Brook Smith picked off his first pass of the season, returning it all the way to the Cheesemaker 13-yard line. A Poyer run of five yards set up 2nd and five at the eight yard line. On the next play, Hans Lund appeared to take a handoff from Poyer and hit a brick wall at the line of scrimmage, bouncing straight backwards. While the Cheesemaker players and coaches on the sideline celebrated a great hit, Poyer tiptoed into the end zone on a perfectly executed bootleg run, fooling nearly everyone in the stadium and giving his linemen cause to chuckle as they jogged to the sideline.
Poyer rushed for 95 yards on 21 carries and his three touchdown runs give him 14 on the season to go with a school record 17 touchdown passes. The super soph also leads the team in rushing with 874 yards and interceptions with five, including a touchdown return on his first defensive series of his varsity career in the week one endowment game against Molalla. Despite his low passing totals Friday night, the 15-year-old phenom is the leading candidate to win Cowapa League Offensive Player of the Year honors, a remarkable acheivement in a league that contains two proven Division I recruit quarterbacks in Scappoose's Justin Engstrom and Yamhill-Carlton's Zach Anderson.
Anderson, who is probably the other top candidate, struggled Friday night, completing only 13 of 32 passes for 133 yards and a pair of interceptions, but did lead his team to a big win over Scappoose. Anderson was intercepted four times in Yamhill-Carlton's 48-27 loss at Astoria on Oct. 27, while Poyer nearly had 200 yards rushing and passing with two rushing touchdowns and three passing TD's with no interceptions.
It could be a clean sweep of postseason awards for Astoria. Head coach Howard Rub should be a unanimous choice for coach of the year and cornerback Brent Culver's play this year has been outstanding on a defense that missed him terribly a year ago when he broke his thumb in early September. Coach Rub has also consistently praised the play of middle linebacker Brook Smith and expects him to get consideration for the honor.
Astoria now has two weeks to prepare for an opponent it has already played and beaten. The Fishermen beat the three Capital League playoff teams this year, including second seed La Salle in a 20-12 win at home in week two. The Nov. 17 playoff matchup will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m.
ASTORIA 0 20 0 0--20
TILLAMOOK 0 0 0 0--0
2ndQ-Poyer 16 run (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-Poyer 3 run (Robinson kick)
2ndQ-Poyer 8 run (kick failed)
RUSHING-AST: 38-143 (Poyer 21-95-3td), TIL: 41-111 (Bennett 23-66)
PASSING-AST: 5-11-1-43 (Poyer 5-10-1-43), TIL: Pugh 1-8-2-19
RECEIVING-AST: Koehnke 3-15, Dursse 1-20, TIL: Miller 1-19
TURNOVERS-AST: 2, TIL: 4
PENALTIES-AST: 1-10, TIL: 4-35
posted by Matt Richert at 7:12 PM
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