|
Division title on the line Saturday at Olympic Stadium |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by Don Orton
|
|
Friday, 18 September 2009 20:07 |
| Division title on the line Saturday at Olympic Stadium | | By
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- The Daily World | | Friday, September 18, 2009 11:13 AM PDT | | |  |  Print Version |  E-mail This Story | |
| | The first-year Grays Harbor Bearcats will walk onto Olympic Stadium’s turf on Saturday night in the most important game of their young existence.
The Southern Oregon Renegades, the No. 1 team in the North American Football League rankings, will travel more than nine hours north to face the No. 16-ranked Bearcats.
At stake on Saturday — kickoff is 6 p.m. — will be the NAFL Northwest Cascade Division title, the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs and bragging rights.
“This is a huge game,” Bearcats head coach Todd Hoiness said. “They’re a really good team, by far the best team we’ve seen this season This game will be a challenge and we hope to get everyone out cheering for us.”
The first meeting between the two teams, down in Medford, Ore., on July 25, had everyone playing in heat that reportedly neared 120 degrees on the field. The game officials even stopped the game at times for safety concerns to allow the players to rehydrate.
It also didn’t help the Bearcats (7-1, 8-1) that the Renegades (8-0, 9-0) dominated every aspect of the contest.
“They outplayed us in every way you can in football; it was ugly,” Hoiness said. “The score was 47-0 and it wasn’t that close. It was a war, very physical.”
Hoiness added that the Renegades have nearly an entire ex-collegiate roster to choose from and plenty of options on offense and defense. Southern Oregon has given up just 32 points in nine games, while scoring 357.
“They blitzed us 100 percent of the time — seven and eight-man blitzes, at times,” he said. “They’re good at running the ball, their quarterback is athletic and can throw and they have two receivers who can catch and run. They’ve been one of the best team (in the Northwest) for a long time.”
Grays Harbor will have tight end Sam Sherwood, of Elma, back from injury for the game.
Tickets are $5 for adults, with students with ASB cards for $3. Children 12-and-under and seniors over 65 are free.
Bearcat All-Stars
Seven Grays Harbor Bearcats were named to the first-team All-NAFL Western Conference All-Stars recently.
These players are eligible to play in the NAFL All-Star games on Nov. 14 in Miami.
The first-team selections are: RB Jeff Gates, OL Don Orton, OL Noah Kamiro Nalpo, DL Joel Brown, DB Brandon Johnson, K Bryce Ogren and kick returner Robby Lisle.
Linebacker Dan Brown and tight end Joe Winther were named to the second team and are alternates to play in the game. |
|
|
|
Written by Don Orton
|
|
Thursday, 03 September 2009 07:19 |
|
There will not be a game on September 12th at the Yakima Mavericks. Instead the Bearcats will be participating in Loggers Playday. From the Mavericks website: " As of September 1st the Yakima Mavericks will no longer be a part of the NAFL. It was to much to ask the players to play another full season of football and the Mavericks management decided to cancel the season now rather than to try and finish the season at a sub par level. The future of the team is some what in limbo right now. Financially the team is having a hard time paying its bills and will need help from everybody involved if it is to survive. The team will not be able to make it through the off season if it does not receive monetary donations from the public, hold fundraisers, and/or have better luck securing sponsorship for the 2010 season.
Assuming the Mavericks pull through and survive the team will play spring ball in 2010, however the league that the Mavericks have played in since 2005 may be going through some major changes as well. Their is a meeting planed for late October in which every team in the NW will be attending. The team reps will be discussing what needs to be done for minor league football to not only survive in the NW but to thrive. Following this meeting we will know more of what our league will look like in 2010. We may have more teams, we may have less; we may have more game in the season, and we may have less. Many questions will be anwsered then. Again assuming the team will be back in 2010 the team will be completely over hauled. No longer will certain players receive special treatment. Players and coaches will be expected to show respect for other players, coaches, management, officials and fans. All players will be held responsible for their actions and punishment will handed out much more frequently. Things must change if this team is going to go forward. Players must pay their dues, and commit fully to the team or the team will be no more.
We need everyones help. If you see that the Mavericks are holding some type of fundraiser than please contribute if you can, if you hear of the team doing some sort of community service than please volunteer your time to help repair the image of the team, if you have any ideas that may help the team get back to having a good time with little worries of the future than please speak up and contact the team. If we pull together we can make this work, but a few of us cannot do it alone. Nathan Soptich
GM Yakima Mavericks "
On behalf of the Bearcats organization we would like to wish the Mavericks the best of luck in the future with all that they do. Thanks, Don Orton, President
Grays Harbor Bearcats
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
1.800.575.6922 |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 September 2009 07:24 )
|
|
Bearcats throttle Raiders, 30-7 |
|
|
|
|
Written by Don Orton
|
|
Sunday, 09 August 2009 09:23 |
This time, the Grays Harbor Bearcats didn’t wait to offensively support their defense against Portland.
Scoring on three of their first four possessions, the Bearcats never allowed the visiting Portland Raiders to come close en route to a 30-7 NAFL Northwest Division victory at Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Grays Harbor (6-1, 7-1), which entered the contest ranked 20th overall in the NAFL, rolled up 320 yards of offense against Portland on a muggy night in Hoquiam.
“I’m happy; we have all of our guys together this week and we pretty much controlled the tempo of the game” Grays Harbor head coach Todd Hoiness said. “(Portland) adjusted its blitz packages after the first two scores, but we adjusted to them as well. We really need a week off. We have some guys nicked up and we could use the rest.”
The rotating quarterback duo of Alex Todak and David Evans enjoyed productive nights against the Raiders defense. Evans finished with more passing yards — 8-for-14, 102 yards, one score — but Todak had two scoring throws to go with his 8-for-11 attempts for 88 yards.
“I was really happy with our quarterbacks; they made a lot of plays and they handled a lot of stuff,” Hoiness added. “Other than that one turnover at the 1-yard line, I feel pretty good about our offense.”
Evans started for the Bearcats and hit three of his first four passes, including a 28-yard strike to Joe Winther, to push Grays Harbor on the opening drive. Two plays after Winther’s one-handed catch and run, Jeff Gates rushed through for an 18-yard touchdown run.
Winther led all Bearcat receivers with three catches for 56 yards and one touchdown. Running back Tim Lee added 45 yards on two catches and one score, a 34-yard scoring sprint down the sideline from Evans to end the scoring late in the fourth quarter.
Todak’s first drive of the game was a quick seven-play, 40-yard march, capped by a 14-yard touchdown pitch-and-catch to Daunte Barnett in the corner of the endzone. Barnett reached over a Portland cornerback to pluck the touchdown.
After a stalled drive early in the second quarter, Grays Harbor made it 21-0 with another drive that started in Raider territory.
A methodical drive down to the 29-yard line ended when Todak rolled out to his right and found Jeremy Walker streaking all by himself down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown.
Bryce Ogren kicked all four point-after conversions for the Bearcats.
As the offense put the team at ease, the defense made life tough for the Raiders, including quarterback David Littleton. The athletic signal caller was on the run away from the Bearcat defenders throughout the contest.
Portland finished with just 95 yards of offense for the game, 84 of them on the arm of Littleton. Only one big strike hit for him, a 44-yard toss to David Austin, following Todak’s strike to Walker. One play later, running back Jeremy Jones ran 8 yards for a touchdown.
For the game, Littleton was sacked seven times by Grays Harbor, two of them by linebacker Daniel Brown. The biggest sack came from safety Jack Traxtle when he and others brought down Littleton in the endzone for a safety early in the fourth quarter.
Grays Harbor returns to action by hosting the Westside Saints of Silverdale in a non-division matchup on Aug. 22.
Bearcats 30, Raiders 7
Port 0 7 0 0 — 7GH 14 7 0 9 — 30
P GH
Net Rushing 11 130
Net Passing 84 190
Total Net Yardage 95 320
Passing 7-20 16-25
Had Intercepted 0 0
Fumbles Lost 0 1
Yards Penalized 30 50 | | |
|
|
|
Bearcats pass way to 48-12 triumph |
|
|
|
|
Written by Don Orton
|
|
Sunday, 23 August 2009 00:57 |
| By
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- The Daily World | | Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:14 AM PDT | | | | | Print Version | E-mail This Story | |
| | Thanks largely to David Evans’ passing arm, the Grays Harbor Bearcats are playoff bound in their first year of semi-pro football.
Evans passed for six touchdowns as the Bearcats crushed the West Sound Saints of Bremerton-Silverdale, 48-12, in a North American Football League Northwest Region contest Saturday night at Olympic Stadium.
Although the Bearcats (7-1, 8-1) have three regular-season contests remaining, the victory guarantees them a berth in the NAFL playoffs.
Evans, a Yelm High School product who normally shares quarterbacking duties with Alex Todak, played the entire second half last night when Todak suffered a bruised sternum in the second quarter.
He completed 13 of 25 passes for 180 yards. His six TD passes went to five different receivers.
“He played a great game,” said Grays Harbor coach Todd Hoiness. “He made some fantastic throws.”
Again vastly outnumbering their opposition, the Bearcats broke this one open by outscoring the Saints (2-4) 29-6 in the second half. But they were never in jeopardy even prior to that surge, forging a 19-0 lead by the 8:11 mark of the second quarter.
“We’ve improved a lot in the last month on offense,” Hoiness noted. “A lot of it is the quarterbacks being more comfortable with the timing on offense.”
The Bearcats scored on their second possession and never looked back.
Matt Brown recovered a Saint fumble on West Sound 13-yard line with the game less than four minutes old.
Two plays later, Evans rolled to the right and hit tight end Joe Winther on a 12-yard scoring strike. Bryce Ogren tacked on the conversion kick.
Grays Harbor took advantage of another short field for its second touchdown, after a short punt went out of bounds on the Saint 19 late in the first quarter.
Evans connected with a wide-open Joe Kohn over the middle on a 15-yard TD pass with the second quarter only seven seconds old.
Winther dragged several tacklers into the end zone to complete a 13-yard pass-and-run that made it 19-0.
West Sound, which hadn’t even mustered a first down to that point, then put together a 68-yard scoring drive that culminated with Raylin Williams’ 14-yard pass to Rico Givans with 4:08 remaining in the second period. It was 19-6 at the half.
Evans’ 42-yard TD pass to Jeremy Walker and Jeff Gates’ 3-yard scoring run (the lone Grays Harbor touchdown scored on the ground) widened the gap to 33-6 late in the third quarter.
After the Saints responded with Williams’ 37-yard scoring pass to Eric Mischenko in the third quarter, Evans added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, on passes of 29 yards to Tam Hines and 16 to Jordan Fry.
Ogren added a second PAT late in the contest. Evans passed to Daniel Harris for a 2-point conversion, while Tim Lee ran for another.
Officials instituted a running clock for the final 7 1/2 minutes. Even so, the glacially-paced contest exceeded the 3-hour mark — thanks in large measure to 197 yards in penalties, 124 of those incurred by the Bearcats.
Grays Harbor’s Alex Chicano led all rushers with 61 yards on 12 carries.
Taholah’s Daniel Brown had an exceptional defensive game for Grays Harbor, with Kory McElravy and Chris Raffelson also making multiple stops.
The Bearcats play their final road game Sept. 12 at Yakima before returning home for their last two regular-season appearances.
WS 0 6 6 0 — 12GH 7 12 14 15 — 48
First Downs: West Sound 8, Grays Harbor 17.
Net Rushing: West Sound minus 2, Grays Harbor 116.
Net Passing: West Sound 103, Grays Harbor 214.
Passing: West Sound 10-27-2, Grays Harbor 18-37-0.
Fumbles lost: West Sound 2, Grays Harbor 1.
Yards Penalized: West Sound 73, Grays Harbor 124. |
|
|
Bearcats improve to 6-1 with 31-13 victory |
|
|
|
|
Written by Don Orton
|
|
Sunday, 02 August 2009 02:20 |
| By
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- The Daily World | | Sunday, August 2, 2009 1:14 AM PDT | | | | | | | | | | | | For only their second home appearance, the Grays Harbor Bearcats saw little need to alter what primarily has been a winning formula.
Erupting for 28 points in the final 31 minutes, the Bearcats pulled away from the Yakima Mavericks, 31-13, in a North American Football League Northwest Division game Saturday night at Olympic Stadium.
Jeff Gates and Alex Chicano each ran for a second-half touchdown as the Bearcats improved to 4-1 in league and 6-1 overall.
This victory bore considerable resemblance to Grays Harbor’s previous six. After spinning their wheels offensively for the better part of a half, the Bearcats dominated the second half while unleashing a lethal pass rush that produced eight sacks — six by Tumwater product Joel Brown.
“That might be the formula for the entire league,” said Grays Harbor coach Todd Hoiness. “We’re not familiar with any other team, with our offense, so there’s kind of a feeling-out process. If that’s the formula, so be it.
“All I can say is that we’re happy to be home,” Hoiness added.
After playing five of its first six games on the road, Grays Harbor will be home for five of its final six regular-season contests.
Down 10-7, Grays Harbor finally kicked into gear offensively late in the second quarter.
After a face-mask infraction on a punt runback set them up on their own 45-yard line, the Bearcats needed only three plays to cover the distance.
David Evans, who again alternated quarterback duties with Alex Todak, hit Hoquiam’s Jeremy Walker for 22 yards.
A Yakima personal foul penalty moved it to the 19, from where Evans connected with Daniel Harris over the middle for a touchdown with 1:05 remaining in the first half. Bryce Ogren’s conversion kick made it 10-7 at intermission.
Gates hurdled a tackler on a 15-yard scoring run late in the third period.
Chicano, the game’s leading rusher with 69 yards on nine carries, scored on a 15-yard sweep in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Ogren’s conversion kick was blocked, but Grays Harbor’s Tim Lee saved a college-type Yakima scoring conversion return by hauling down John Devaul from behind on the Bearcat one-foot line.
Although drastically outnumbered (they suited up only 22 players, less than half of Grays Harbor’s 50-plus roster), the Mavericks narrowed the deficit to 23-13 when quarterback John Lobbestal hit Alex Mahre on an 13-yard touchdown pass with 4:29 remaining. Robby Lisle picked off the conversion pass attempt.
After Aaron Zepp recovered Yakima’s onside kick, the Bearcats drove inside the Maverick 10. They fumbled it away with less than two minutes remaining, but wrapped up the victory moments later when defensive end Isaac Davis sacked Lobbestal in the end zone for a safety with 1:30 left.
Following the ensuing free kick, Grays Harbor tacked on a superfluous touchdown in the final minute on Todak’s 26-yard pass to Eric Dixon. The latter, a Hoquiam High grad, suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury on the play and was helped off the field.
The Bearcats opened the scoring on Ogren’s 24-yard field goal that barely cleared the crossbar with 3:07 remaining in the first quarter.
Six minutes later, the Mavericks grabbed their only lead of the game on Lobbestal’s 48-yard scoring howitzer to R.J. Elezondo, who outjumped one Bearcat for the ball and stepped around another en route to the end zone.
The Bearcats host the Portland Raiders next Saturday. Following a bye, they’ll entertain the Westside Saints of Silverdale (a late addition to their schedule) on Aug. 22.
Yak 0 7 0 6 — 13GH 3 7 7 14 — 31
First Downs: Yakima 9, Grays Harbor 16.
Net Rushing: Yakima 7, Grays Harbor 182.
Net Passing: Yakima 132, Grays Harbor 135.
Total Net Yardage: Yakima 139, Grays Harbor 317.
Passing: Yakima 8-23-1, Grays Harbor 9-19-1.
Fumbles Lost: Yakima 0, Grays Harbor 1.
Yards Penalized: Yakima 90, Grays Harbor 105. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 5 of 8 |
|
|
|
