Peninsula Daily News for Friday/Saturday, November 26-27, 2010
Sports
S E CT I O N
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Outdoors
Coping with the white scourge WANT SOMETHING TO be thankful for? All the snow you see sitting on the ground right now should be gone by the end of the weekend. Now that’s a relief. Matt Outside of Schubert perhaps the Pacific Islands, I don’t think there’s a region less adept at dealing with the white stuff than Western Washington. It’s like Evergreen State kryptonite; a slushy scourge that forces the citizenry to recoil in fear. Where I come from — the snowy Midwest — this stuff would’ve been salted and plowed off the roads faster than you can say, “Get dressed and go to school.” Here, of course, Also . . . the entire region ■ Date set shuts down Cherfor meeting nobyl-meltdown on proposed style. Sutherland Certainly, the closure/B4 snow is a bit different here. But radioactive? Luckily, it could all be gone by Sunday. And we can go back to what we know best: Rain . . . and lots of it.
SCOREBOARD Page B2
Red Devils ready for Dome Neah Bays gets shot at revenge in 1B semifinal against Lummi the Tacoma Dome on Saturday at 4 p.m. TACOMA — It seems only And this time, the roles are fitting, doesn’t it? reversed. A year after seeing its Now it’s the Blackhawks — dream season denied by the Lummi Blackhawks, Neah Bay 2-0 in head-to-head matchups this fall — who come into the has a chance to return the semis with all the pressure favor. against the underdog Red DevThe Red Devils (9-2) and ils. Blackhawks (10-1) will meet Neah Bay head coach Tony for the second straight year in McCaulley wouldn’t have it the Class 1B state football semifinals when they face off at any other way. Peninsula Daily News
“They have everything to lose and we have nothing to lose,” said McCaulley, whose 2009 team beat Lummi twice during a perfect regular season only to fall 64-36 to the Blackhawks in the state semifinals. “It’s way better than last year. Last year we were the ones who felt the pressure. “My team is so young this year, I don’t think they even know where they are at.” That is, of course, a bit of an understatement. After all, many of the same players who will suit up for the Red Devils on Saturday were also on the field last year.
State Football Lummi’s wide-open offense overwhelmed Neah Bay in the game as it racked up 432 yards and eight touchdowns. The Blackhawks followed that up with 45-0 mercy rule win over the Red Devils in Week 1 this fall, staking their claim as the team to beat for eight-man football in Western Washington. Two month later, however, Neah Bay is a completely different team. Turn
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Steelhead: hot start Hopefully we can keep the wet stuff at a minimum. The way winter steelhead fishing is going right now, the longer the rivers stay in shape, the better. If things remain close to form, anglers ought to do pretty well this holiday weekend, according to Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks (360-374-6330). “They are killing them,” Gooding said. “It’s been snotty, but the weather let up and it ain’t bad at all. “There’s quite a few steelhead around.” Indeed, reports of limits have spread to all corners of the North Olympic Peninsula. The Bogachiel and Calawah, in particular, have produced a fair amount of fish during the past week. Those two rivers are the epicenter of the West End’s hatchery steelhead run and tend to come into shape by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. This year appears to be no different. “I’ve had guys that said they quit counting when they were in the 20s,” Bob Aunspach of Swain’s General Store (360-452-2357) in Port Angeles said. “I talked to one customer that said they caught four limits out of the hatchery hole [on the Bogachiel].” Added Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-6831950) in Sequim: “If I had an opportunity to go someplace for fishing, that’s where I would be. Without a doubt.” The Bogachiel Hatchery steelhead run is the largest of its kind on the Peninsula. Several other rivers in the area receive a hatchery run of some form or another, including the Hoh, Elwha, Lyre, Clallam, Pysht, Hoko and Sekiu. Some of those fisheries will end after this winter, however, due to budget cuts within the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The peak for hatchery steelhead typically comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when hordes of anglers eschew those holiday shopping plans for a shot at the steelies. This weekend is considered the unofficial kick off to the season. “There’s fish around, a lot of people have four-day weekends, and it’s always pretty busy,” Gooding said.
Snider Creek meeting Speaking of steelhead runs on the chopping block, the fate of the Snider Creek steelhead enhancement program could be up for grabs. Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting concerning the broodstock at the West End Sportsmen’s Club, 243 Sportsmen’s Club Road, in Forks from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Turn
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Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
First-year Peninsula College men’s basketball coach Lance Von Vogt, center, was brought in by athletic director Rick Ross, right, this summer to help hang more banners in the Pirates gymnasium.
Pirates’ new captain Von Vogt brings vision to Peninsula basketball By Matt Schubert
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Lance Von Vogt’s goals aren’t much different from any other college basketball coach. Championships, division titles, banners hanging from the rafters . . . there isn’t a program in the country that envisions any less in its master plan. More important to the 36-year-old Peninsula College men’s coach, however, is the process by which his Pirates go about getting that done.
“If we exhibit toughness on a play-by-play basis, on a day-byday basis, on a game-by-game basis, if we exhibit rebounding and fundamentals and discipline on the court, off the court and in the classroom, then that’s “I always tell the guys, ‘Some- what we become.” times, the scoreboard lies,’” Von Vogt said while sitting in his Greek philosophy office days before the start of his Quoting an ancient Greek first season in Port Angeles. philosopher to put a new spin on “You can go out there and win a game, but the other team the old “one game at a time” got more out of their talent than sports cliche? Now that’s uncommon. you did out of yours. So we don’t But for a coach who cut his really focus on the word ‘win’ as teeth under unorthodox coachmuch.” Rather, it’s the word “consis- ing legend Lefty Driesell at Georgia State, perhaps it’s to be tency.” “There’s an awesome quote expected. Driesell is credited with from Aristotle that says, ‘You are what you continually do,’” Von starting the nationwide tradiVogt said. tion of Midnight Madness dur-
Also . . .
■ Season preview capsule for Pirate men’s basketball/B3
ing his highly successful 17-year tenure at the University of Maryland. And Von Vogt brought that same custom — he called it “Pirate Madness” — to Peninsula College for its first basketball practice of the year earlier this fall. Players from the men’s and women’s teams ran out of a tunnel to spotlights in a blackened gym and were introduced to the crowd at the season-opening event. They performed a team dance routine, scrimmaged and capped things off with a dunk contest. Turn
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A running concern Saints
NFL Football
Seahawks rush defense must reverse course
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
RENTON — This is not the best week for Seattle to suddenly start questioning the problems with its run defense. Not with the best ground team in the Next Game NFL coming to Sunday town Sunday. S e a t t l e ’ s vs. Chiefs ability to stop at Qwest Field the run, a Time: 1:05 p.m. strength of the On TV: Ch. 7 Seahawks for The Associated Press the first half of New Orleans Saints running back Chris Ivory (29) is the season, has suddenly become a tackled on the Seattle five yard line by Seattle liability. Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) on a 29-yard gain Turn
hold off Cowboys
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Hawks/B2 during last Sunday’s game in New Orleans.
ARLINGTON, Texas — As Roy Williams ran toward the end zone, he realized the importance of his breakaway catchand-run. Just hold Also . . . onto it, he ■ N.Y. Jets, thought, and the Dallas Patriots Cowboys would hold form pull off one of on Turkey their greatest Day/B3 Thanksgiving comebacks. He even switched the ball from one hand to another to make sure he kept it from the defender in front of him. The guy behind him changed everything. Turn
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