Even the Best Lose Sometimes

Why, I wondered, were Jim and I standing on the frost covered turf at Bellingham’s Civic Field on a bone-chilling cold Friday night watching the two best 1B high school football teams in western Washington play when the two best high school football teams in Washington, Bellevue and Lakes were playing a game that would surely decide who wins the State 3A title?  The answer I suppose is that we have been following the Lummi Blackhawk team for a couple of years now and have watched Head Coach and Athletic Director Jim Sandusky mold a team and a program from nothing--a team that was rated the number one 1B team in the state despite fielding a roster of under-classmen.  Prior to Friday night, Lummi had played in only one close game all season; a last-minute 38-36 win against Neah Bay in the season opener.  On this night, those same two teams were meeting for the third time.  The second time Lummi and Neah Bay met a couple of weeks ago, Lummi won handily 40-12.  This was to be their third game this season.  It is difficult to beat a team three times in the same year, especially a good team.  That is an axiom that proved prophetic.

Prior to the game, Coach Sandusky said that it was important that his team get out to an early lead.  That’s what had allowed this team of underclassmen to remain undefeated all year.  And, in the beginning, that’s just what they did.  Before the rumps in the stands had warmed the ice cold stadium seats, his Blackhawks had swarmed to a 20-0 lead early in the first quarter.  It appeared that the rout was on.

Last year, when Lummi won the 1B crown at the Tacoma Dome, they were a senior dominated team -- a group equally able to run or throw.  This year’s squad had more freshmen on the roster than any other class and only two senior players.  It was also bereft of linemen.  It was filled with smaller skill players who were thriving in Coach Sandusky’s complicated schemes and who always seemed to be able to come up with the big play when needed.  But the passing game wasn’t nearly so strong and they depended upon the run much more often than they had in the past.  Their opponents on this night, the Neah Bay Red Devils, were a bigger and slightly older team with 11 juniors and seniors to Lummi’s 7.

Another factor that would affect the eventual outcome was the margin of victory that Lummi had won by this season.  By the end of the first quarter they were usually ahead by so much that the starters were on the bench.  In addition, the team rarely played an entire game because by the second half they were so far ahead that the mercy rule kicked in ending the game.  Did they have the stamina to play an entire game, a game where they had to work hard the entire way?

For the first half they did.  Despite costly turnovers they were still ahead by 10 at halftime.  At the start of the third quarter Lummi took the opening kickoff and methodically drove the ball down the field.  Then, disaster struck.  Their all-everything player, Deion Haskins, who was playing on an ankle that he had injured the week before, fumbled the ball in the red zone.  More importantly, he had to be assisted off the field never again to return to the game.  The ankle that had hampered him all evening finally couldn’t go any further.   That was the turning point of the game.

From that point on, Neah Bay’s excellent running game started to click.  Without Haskins to clog the middle, their outstanding running back, Titus Pascua, behind the blocking of battering ram 266 pound fullback, Tyler McCaulley, gashed the smaller Blackhawk team for large chunks of yardage and started to take charge of the game.   The Lummi squad fought back valiantly and kept matching scores with Neah Bay until the last couple minutes of the game.  But it was obvious to all except the most loyal fans that the outcome was inevitable.  As the game wore on, the physicality of the Neah Bay players wore down their smaller opponents.  As the Lummi players slowly picked themselves up after each play, the sideline began to resemble a MASH unit.  Injured Blackhawks hobbled by cramps and other infirmities left the field of play seemingly on every play.  Momentum is a fickle master.  Once you lose it, it’s almost impossible to get it back and once you get it, it’s easy to ride it to victory.  Neah Bay had stolen the momentum and they weren’t going to give it back.  Not on this night.

In the end, winning three games against the same good opponent proved too big a hurdle.  The final score after the frost had settled was Neah Bay 58, Lummi 40.  Congratulations to the Neah Bay Red Devils who will be a difficult team to stop as they march toward the 1B finals.  They are limited through the air, but their running game is formidable.  It will take a big, stout team to stop them now that they know they can beat the best.  For Lummi, they will have to be content to wait another year.  With their underclass centric team, they will be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.  Dick Kalla