Naselle vs Ilwaco; Naselle vs Seaside

Courtsey of Chinook Observer 12-13-2006

Disappointment” — Narci Carlson and Kristina Chism let loose sighs of disappointment after watching the Wahkiakum Mules boys’ basketball team sink a last minute three-pointer that sealed their blow-out victory over Naselle Saturday night. The winner of the game is awarded the KM Trophy, named for the hill that separates the two long-time rival schools. “This game was kind of a depressing game because it’s our rival and we were really excited,” said Chism following the game. “Those two last quarters, they kind of shot us out of the water,” said Carlson. “It’s just known that the most important game is against the Mules.” Chism concluded, “It would have been a really big moral boost for our team if we would have won tonight.”

Comets hit the wall in KM Trophy game

By PHIL RAISTAKKAObserver corespondent

DAMIAN MULINIX photo

Kyle Burkhalter flies past Wahkiakum’s Romeo Savant and slams into the wall along the baseline while trying to save a rebound from going out of bounds during the first quarter of Saturday’s game, which Wahkiakum won 77-42.

NASELLE - It seemed like almost a tale of two ballgames, when in reality it was only one that went completely haywire for the Naselle Comets in the second half of their KM Trophy game with the visiting Wahkiakum Mules. The annual battle, named for the hill dividing the two neighboring school districts, was played Saturday, Dec. 9 in Lyle Patterson Gymnasium. It saw the Mules blow the Comets away with a 40-12 second half to trounce the home team 77-42; the Comets early season record fell to 2-2 with the loss.The final score in no way resembled what went on in the first 16 minutes of action. The Comets trailed at each of the first two quarter stops, 10-18 and 30-37, but except for 10 seconds of foul-ups at the end of each of the first two quarters, the Comets might well have been leading at the half. The Mules, in those two 10-second moments, scored eight points, four in each quarter, to grab a seven point halftime lead. The Mules earned much of that lead late in each period by a combination of Naselle missing foul shots, steals and a foul with less than five seconds left, which gave the Mules their last two points of the half.The Comets seemed to have the Mules in a pretty good position, despite trailing at the intermission. The Mules had been called for 18 first half fouls and three of their starters were in foul trouble. Due to their harassing, trapping defense, foul after foul was called. The Mules big man, 6-feet 4-inch Romeo Savant, had sat on the bench for a quarter and a half with two personal fouls, after scoring only four points. Three of their other starters had three fouls apiece and the Mules had to go to their deep bench early, on a team with inter-changeable parts including nine seniors.The Comets had hung around by scoring 12 of their 20 second-quarter points on free throws and the only Naselle player in foul trouble was their high scorer, Kyle Burkhalter who led the team with 13 first-half points. Kyle picked up his third foul just five seconds before the intermission. The game turned totally around in the second half, beginning a minute and a half into the third period when Kyle picked up his fourth foul and had to go to the bench. A rebound put-back by Conor Smith brought the Comets within four points of the Mules at 35-39 with 5:13 left in the third quarter. From then on things deteriorated badly as the Mules were to score more points in the remaining 13 minutes than they had in the previous 19 minutes of game action.Savant, who had re-entered the game at the beginning of the quarter, started to make his presence felt after his buddies had carried the load in the first half. Without Kyle's presence to help Smith and Casey Heagy with the unenviable task of trying to control the Mules big front line of Savant, Toby David, and Ty Briscoe, the Mules went on a 11-0 run to outpoint the Comets 13-5 in the quarter and they led 50-35 at the end of three periods.Even though the Comets shooting had "gone south," there was still hope that there could be a comeback in the fourth period. Naselle was 7 for 19 from the floor in the first half and only 3 for 21 in the second half. The comeback wasn't to be as the Comets nearly matched the Mules scoring in the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, but then they went scoreless for nearly four minutes while the Mules ran off 15 points. The Mules built that run to a 20-2 advantage by the game's end while two of their players fouled out along with Kyle for the Comets.With the Mules harassing defense and rebounding allowing the Comets only one hurried shot on many possessions and the Mules offense running and scoring without any slow-down, the Mules outscored the Comets 27-7 in the fourth period to keep the KM Trophy with a 77-42 win.Naselle coach Brian Macy said, "Hats off to the Mules for playing a great second half. We needed someone to step up and hit some shots in the second half."I thought in the first half we played well, but had too many mistakes - especially to end the quarters. We must learn from the last two outings and correct the mistakes. If that gets accomplished we will be a very good team by season's end."Naselle travels to Oyehut for a game with North Beach Thursday, Dec. 14, and return home for a game with Tacoma Baptist on Saturday, Dec. 16.

WAHKIAKUM (77) - Toby David 18, Ty Briscoe 14, Travis Bain 14, Romeo Savant 12, Hamman 5, Deaton 3, Olsen 3, Gerlach 2, Rongey 2, Tyson Bain 2, McLain, Benson;

Rebounds (26); Fouls (26)

NASELLE (42) - Kyle Burkhalter 14, Casey Heagy 10, Smith 8, A. Burkhalter 5, Spencer Griss 4, Martin 1, Sultemeier, Nick Hines, Ray, See, Erickson;

Shooting: FG - 10-40 for 25 percent,

3's - 1-11,

FT - 21-31;

Rebounds (30): Smith 3, K. Burkhalter 5, A. Burkhalter 5;

Assists: K. Burkhalter 2;

Steals: Heagy 2, Smith 2;

Turnovers: 17; Fouls (15)

The Mules JVs beat the young Comets 86-29 in the preliminary game.

Seagulls kick Comets out of their nest

SEASIDE, Ore. - For three quarters of the game the Naselle Comets had things going well and a slim lead over the Seaside Seagulls in the two teams first ever boys' basketball game between the two schools, Thursday, Dec. 7. However, the fourth quarter turned into a mass of swarming Gulls as Seaside shut down the Comets and sent them home with a 65-52 thumping. The Comets non-league record dropped to 2-1 for the season.Naselle coach Brian Macy said, "They turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter and we didn't handle it. We made some turnovers, giving them easy buckets, and it snowballed from there. We couldn't get anything going in the last quarter."Indeed, they couldn't as the Comets could only score three points in the period while giving up 19. Until that time, the Comets had maintained the lead, 32-29 at halftime and a third quarter lead of 49-46. The Gulls had held a 15-11 lead after one quarter. Naselle was again led by Kyle Burkhalter with a game-high 17 points and he was joined in double figures by Nathan Sultemeier with 12 points and Casey Heagy with 10. However, the Comets couldn't match the Gulls balanced scoring, with three players in double figures, but also with three more just out of double digits. Mike Peinhardt led the Gulls with 14 points and 13 rebounds.The Naselle rebounders were led by Conor Smith with 9 and Kyle with 7 boards. The Comets did not move the ball as well as they have in their previous games as shown by their low number of assists. Nathan Sultemeier led with two assists and Smith led the theft department with two steals. In their previous game, the Comets had troubles at the foul line. In this game, they were 9 for 10 in the third period but only one for seven in the critical fourth stanza.Naselle coach Brian Macy said, "I think the difference in the third quarter was inexperience and depth. Seaside put pressure on early in the fourth which led to some steals and easy baskets, we responded by playing tentatively which only compounded the issue. We also gave up 21 offensive rebounds for the game and were out-rebounded for the first time all year 33-38. This is definitely an area we need to improve upon."We are playing very good basketball at times; we just need to be more consistent. I am confident we will keep getting better, as these boys practice and play hard."

NASELLE (52) - Kyle Burkhalter 17, Nathan Sultemeier 12, Casey Heagy 10, Smith 4, Griss 4, A. Burkhalter 3, N. Hines 1, Ray, See, Martin, Erickson;

Shooting: FG - 16-40 for 40 percent,

3's 1-5,

FT - 19-33;

Rebounds (33): Smith 9, K. Burkhalter 7;

Assists: Sultemeier 2;

Steals: Smith 2

SEASIDE (65) - Mike Peinhardt 14, Ed Kauffunger 12, Chris Senick 11, Olivar 8, Watts 8, Strite 7, Walker 4, Carlson 1, Olstedt, Carow, Truax; Rebounds: Peinhardt 13;

Rebounds (38)

Comets come out on top in rivalry renewal

By PHIL RAISTAKKAObserver corespondent

NASELLE - In a classic battle, the two neighboring schools went at it tooth-and-nail in a revival of the long-time boys basketball rivalry between Naselle and Ilwaco high schools. The non-league game, played Monday, Dec. 4, in Naselle's Lyle Patterson Gym, saw the Comets hold off the Fishermen 58-52.The tone of this game was set very early as both team were in a running, harassing mode of play. Ilwaco's senior standouts, 6-foot 4-inch Anthony Wirkkala and 5-8 Paul Blaylock dropped in Ilwaco's opening four points. They were more than matched with a 3 pointer by Naselle's 5-foot 7-inch sophomore Nathan Sultemeier, four points off drives by 6-foot 1-inch junior Kyle Burkhalter, and a fast break hoop by 6-foot 2-inch sophomore Conor Smith, with all three of the drives starting from Ilwaco turnovers.Blaylock countered with another three-pointer, only to be matched by Naselle senior Spencer Griss on a baseline drive and Kyle on a defensive rebound and coast-to-coast drive for a goal plus a free throw. Kyle's "basket plus one," gave the Comets a 14-7 lead with less than half of the quarter gone. Kyle was to rack up 11 points in the period, with four of his teammates also scoring when senior Casey Heagy dropped in a deuce before the quarter ended. On the Fishermen end of the court, only Wirkkala, Blaylock, and junior Matt Kaino were able to score as Naselle took a 20-13 lead at the horn.The Comets had a distinct rebounding advantage (39-23) in the game and this pleased Macy. He said, "I realize that they were missing a few players that would have helped them but I was pleased with the way we hit the boards in comparison to our first game. Kyle led our rebounders with 15, but several others, such as Conor, Austin, and Casey, chipped in to get some key boards. But we still need to improve our rebounding." Another area which probably will receive lots of work will be the Naselle free throw shooting where they only made 6 of 17 for 35 percent shooting, less than their (24 of 54) 44 percent shooting from the floor.Things were to change in the second stanza. Ilwaco sophomore Jack Whealdon was to emerge as the "mad bomber" as he opened Ilwaco's scoring with a trey. He was to add a long deuce and another three ball later to account for eight points in the period. Ilwaco was also to get a rebound hoop from Wirkkala and four points from sophomore Kolby Kirby, with his last shot just beating the half-time horn.The Comets had opened the second period with freshman Austin Burkhalter scoring on a rebound put-back, Kyle's second coast-to-coast score, and Austin's baseline drive, for Naselle's largest lead at 11 points. However, with Ilwaco pouring in 14 second quarter points, Naselle went stagnant as their long shots wouldn't drop and they only got one free throw by sophomore Nick Hines in slightly over six minutes when Kyle finally scored with forty seconds left in the half. When Kirby got his buzzer beater, it completed a 11-4 Ilwaco run and the Fishermen closed to within 27-29 at the intermission.Wirkkala opened the second half to first tie the game, and then give the Fishermen their first lead since the opening minutes at 31-29, Naselle couldn't make a shot for the first 3:05 of the half, and after Wirkkala's two scores, the Fishermen went flat for the next 4:05. Kyle finally broke the dry spell on a hustling second rebound effort to tie the game. Austin, Heagy, and Kyle followed with scores and Naselle's eight straight points had given them back a six-point lead. While this was going on, Wirkkala picked up his third foul at the 5:12 mark and was benched by Jarrett. Kyle picked up his third foul at 3:56, but stayed in the game, and Sultemeier his third foul 10 seconds later.Ilwaco responded with six straight points, two by senior Junior Talancon and four by Blaylock, the last two on free throws that tied the game at 37 with 1:13 left in the third period. Heagy responded with four points, the first on a coast-to-coast steal and hoop and the second on a fast-break pull-up jumper. Those hoops were sandwiched around Blaylock's free throws and they were to give Naselle the lead for good, as it turned out, at 41-38 as the third quarter ended.The fourth quarter was controlled by the Burkhalter boys, especially Kyle with 11 points of the first 13 points scored in a 13-8 run. Austin was to add five points and help control the boards as the game wound down. The Fishermen opened the final quarter with two Wirkkala hoops bracketed around Kyle's basket as Naselle maintained and then improved its lead.The Fishermen then went cold again for two minutes and 20 seconds while Kyle hit a three-ball and scored on a rebound put-back to give Naselle a six point lead at the 4:34 mark. Ilwaco finally found the hoop and four points by Blaylock got them within four points of the Comets. However, Kyle came right back with two offensive drives which left the Ilwaco defense scrambling and Naselle had its biggest lead of the quarter at eight points with 2:25 left.The Fishermen were again to go without a point for the next two minutes and 10 seconds while the Comets were having their troubles at the foul line. Until the final seconds, they were only two for six at the line inside the final 1:48, while missing the front ends of two one-and-ones. This allowed the Fishermen to hang around but they were missing their shots, thus allowing the Comets to run the clock.Jarrett called timeout in the middle of this run and instructed his team to set up for three point shots. Whealdon responded with his third trey of the game and Blaylock his second three-ball. Those six points allowed the Fishermen to get closer, but each time, the Comets would make a free throw or two, capped by Austin's two-for-two with 7.9 seconds left and the Comets 17-14 fourth quarter gave them their hard-fought 58-52 win.Jarrett said, "We have to learn to play hard in every game with the people that we have. My hat is off to the Naselle players and their coaches; they came out and played hard-nosed man-to-man defense and out-played us."Macy concluded, "I was pleased with the way that we played team defense. We had some breakdowns, but Wirkkala and Blaylock are especially tough players to defend. Overall, I was pleased with the way that we played."

ILWACO (52) - Blaylock 19, Wirkkala 14, Whealdon 11, Kirby 4, Kaino 2, Talancon 2

NASELLE (58) - K Burkhalter 24, A Burkhalter 15, Heagy 8, Smith 4, Sultemeier 4, Griss 2, Hines 1

The rivalry today
The two teams were once opponents in the now defunct Pacific County League, with games dating back into the '20s. Over the years, with Ilwaco gaining and Naselle dropping in school population, the schools went their separate ways as far as athletics, especially basketball and football, were concerned. However, with yet another change in Washington athletics the "Battle of Bear River Ridge" was revived.This year's rivalry went deeper than the two schools' long-time relationship. The two head coaches, Paul Jarrett of Ilwaco and Brian Macy of Naselle, both have roots in the Naselle athletic program. Jarrett, an Ilwaco graduate and an all-state performer for the Fishermen, coached the Naselle JVs and was an assistant in the Naselle basketball program until two years ago. Now a counselor at the Naselle Youth Camp and a resident of Naselle, Jarrett took over the Ilwaco basketball reins this year. Macy, who was a standout at Naselle, took over the basketball coaching duties at Naselle last year.The patrons, students and athletes of the each school also have a familiarity with the other school through such things as musical performances, contests, and athletics - especially baseball, softball, volleyball, track, and cross country. In other words, the resumption of the hoop rivalry was a game waiting to happen.And happen it did. Both teams are loaded with young, relatively inexperienced, players, but neither team played as though they were short on experienced talent through most of this game. Both teams have four seniors on their roster, with only three senior Fishermen available and seeing action and only two senior Comets getting playing time. The best should be yet to come for both of these young teams.

The Naselle JVs jumped off to a 10-0 lead on the young Fishermen in the preliminary game. As it turned out, that lead was enough for the Comets to hold on for a 35-31 win. The Comets led 19-8 at the half, only to see the Fishermen come back with a big second half to get within two points of the Comets with five minutes left to play. Naselle was able to outscore Ilwaco 7-5 in the remaining minutes for their 35-31 victory.