Blackhawks race into the playoffs

Junior quarterback Logan Toby leaves two Quilcene defenders behind as he sprints upfield on a long gain. Toby ran for 82 yards on just three carries.

The Lummi Blackhawks will have the week off before they go on the road in the state quarterfinals the weekend of Nov. 16-17. They likely will play in Tumwater against a yet-to-be-determined opponent, and if they win it likely will set up a semifinal contest against archrival Neah Bay in the Tacoma Dome on Thanksgiving weekend.

The Blackhawks thumped Quilcene 80-26 Friday night in a post-season seeding game (see the Bellingham Herald’s game story here). The defending state-champion Red Devils throttled Lopez 90-6 on Friday, running their record to 10-0. The Blackhawks lost to Neah Bay 48-28 earlier in the season, their only 8-man loss of the season (they fell to La Conner in an 11-man game).

In short, another climactic battle between the Blackhawks and their cousins from Neah Bay is looming. Stay posted.

Dimitri Sampson throws his body into Quilcene running back Josh Steele in the first quarter, which was played in a driving rain.

 

Blackhawk defense shines in 59-24 rout of Taholah

Lummi’s Jaycob Martin hauls down Taholah’s Wade Purdy as Richard Edwards closes in to assist on the tackle.

It’s a bit odd to want to focus on Lummi’s defenders after the Blackhawks put up 59 points on Taholah on Friday night, a game in which Jared Tom completed 12 of 14 passes for five TDs. But the defense looked inspired in the lopsided win, especially in the first half, and it contributed to the point total with a safety and an 89-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Richard Edwards.

In the Bellingham Herald’s game story, Lummi coach Jim Sandusky was quoted as saying his defenders did a good job of fighting off blocks and wrapping up the Chitwin ballcarriers. As he pointed out, the defense needs to come through in order for the Blackhawks to be successful this season, because it’s clear they can score points.

Lummi Linebacker Eli Wall applies pressure to Taholah quarterback Keanu Curleybear.

The Blackhawks play Evergreen Lutheran at 1 p.m. Saturday at Auburn Mountainview High School; they play host to archrival and defending state champion Neah Bay on Friday, Sept. 28.

Newcomers shine in season opener

The usual cast of characters made their presence felt in the Blackhawks’ 64-28 win over Pomeroy on Saturday afternoon: Jared Tom, Deion Hoskins and Austin Brockie had a hand in six of Lummi’s touchdowns. But a couple of senior transfers, Dimitri Sampson and Leo Scarbourough, also made a splash. Sampson caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score, and Scarbourough returned an onside kick for a touchdown. The game inaugurated the 2012 season and Lummi’s new $1.3 million FieldTurf. Read the Bellingham Herald’s game story here.

Dimitri Sampson hauls in a 20-yard pass from Jared Tom for Lummi’s second score on Saturday. Sampson transferred to Lummi last year from Blaine and was a standout baseball player for the Blackhawks in the spring. This season is his first playing football at Lummi.

Leo Scarbourough, a running back and defensive back, transferred to Lummi this year from Ferndale High School. He plucked an onside kick out of the air in the third quarter Saturday and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown. Following an earlier onside kick he told the bench he’d seen an opening and was going to take the next one to the house if he had the chance — and he did it.

Lummi plays Friday night at La Conner in an 11-man game. The Blackhawks fell to Sehome in 2010, the last time they played with 11 on each side.

Blackhawks open season Sept. 1

Logan Toby, left, and Jared Tom throw to Blackhawk receivers during practice Monday, Aug. 20. Tom is Lummi’s returning starting quarterback.

The Blackhawks play host to Pomeroy at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, to open the 2012 season. They travel to La Conner on Sept. 7 for an 11-man game, and they face defending state champ and arch-rival Neah Bay at home on Sept. 28. Here’s the full 2012 varsity schedule:

Sept. 1 — Pomeroy at Lummi 1 p.m.

Sept. 7 — at La Conner 7 p.m.

Sept. 14 — Tahola at Lummi (homecoming) 7 p.m.

Sept. 22  — at Evergreen Lutheran 1 p.m.

Sept. 28 — *Neah Bay at Lummi 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 — at *Crescent 2 p.m.

Oct. 11 — at Muckleshoot 6 p.m.

Oct. 13 — *Clallam Bay at Lummi (elders night) 6 p.m.

Oct. 20 — at *Lopez 2 p.m.

Oct. 25 — *Tulalip at Lummi (senior night) 7 p.m.

* Denotes league game

Lummi Blachkawks high step through a drill on the new artificial turf on Monday, Aug. 20.

Million-dollar field in the works at Lummi

Daryn Kasch, driving the front-end loader, and Joe Hillaire work on the Lummi High School football field Monday, July 16, in preparation for the installation of a new FieldTurf playing surface.

A state-of-the-art artificial surface is scheduled to be installed at Lummi High School  in time for the Blackhawks first football practice on Aug. 15.

The artificial-grass surface is called FieldTurf and is the same as the Seattle Seahawks play on at CenturyLink Field. “It’s top of the line,” said Gregory Weisbrich of FieldTurf’s Seattle office, which is general contractor for the project. Weisbrich said the company is scheduled to begin putting down the turf on Tuesday, July 24.

The field will cost nearly $1.5 million and is being paid for by Lummi Nation. The project also includes a new artificial-surface track, which will ring the football field. Dirt excavated from the site of the old field has been pushed behind the scoreboard end zone, creating a berm on which spectators will be able watch the Blackhawks games.

Daryn Kash, left, and Joe Hillaire are part of the crew working seven days a week to make sure the new playing surface is ready in time for Lummi’s first practice at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 15.

 

Blackhawks on the run

Enrique Medina, a Blackhawk wide receiver, won the 2012 Kwina Mile on June 6, making him “the world’s fastest Lummi.” The race drew hundreds of runners and walkers from the Lummi community and beyond. Enrique, who will be a sophomore in the fall, covered the Kwina Road course in just over five minutes and was joined by other Blackhawk football players, some of whom are pictured below.

Jesse Cooper, left, and brother Devin Cooper, right, flank Logan Toby at the starting line of the Kwina Mile. Jesse has graduated, but Devin and Logan will be back next season.

Sophomore-to-be Jacob Roberts, a running back and linebacker, sprints for the finish line of the Kwina Mile.

Hank Hoskins makes his way down Kwina Road with his phone in hand. Hank will be a freshman in the fall. He and his Blackhawk teammates are practicing this week and will head for Spokane for football camp the week of June 18.

Spotted Bear, Brockie named first team all-state

Jeremy Spotted Bear heads up the field after hauling in a pass against Crescent.

Lummi Blackhawks Jeremy Spotted Bear and Austin Brockie were named first-team all-state in Class 1B by the Associated Press. Spotted Bear, a junior, was chosen as as an offensive lineman and Brockie, a freshman, was chosen as wide receiver. Lummi sophomore Deion Hoskins was chosen as an honorable mention running back. See the complete Washington AP all-state teams.

Freshman Austin Brockie pulls in a pass during the season opener at Neah Bay.

Assistant coaches key to Blackhawks success

Jim Sandusky, 50, shown here instructing the Blackhawks before their season opener at Neah Bay, just finished his ninth season as Lummi’s head coach. He is assisted by three coaches: Dean Pederson, Dan Poasa and Craig Jackson.

Football coaches always “take it one game at a time.” That’s especially true when the playoffs roll around. Lose, and you’re done. Well, Pride of a Nation was guilty of looking ahead. A feature story on the Lummi Blackhawk coaches was going to be posted on the blog the week before the semifinal game in the Tacoma Dome. Alas, the Blackhawks fell to Neah Bay in the quarterfinals.

But it’s not too late to give credit to the assistant coaches who help head man Jim Sandusky prepare the Blackhawks. So, the following is a much-deserved — though abbreviated — nod to those three men.

Dean Pederson teaches at Lummi and serves as the Blackhawks’ assistant head coach.

Dean Pederson

Pederson, 55, is in his sixth year at Lummi; he teaches computing to kindergartners through eighth-graders and math to sixth graders. He’s also Sandusky’s assistant head coach, his right-hand man. He coaches the linemen at practice and in games, and he keeps track of the players academically, checking to see who has missed school or if any are ineligible because of grades.

It’s a big job that starts each morning at 7, following a 35-minute drive to school from Pederson’s home in Blaine. During football season his workday ends after practice at 5 or so. “Mentally, it just wipes me out,” he says. But the drive home provides him with a “chill-out time.” “By the time I get home I can pretty much put it away, whether it’s school or football,” he says.

He says he enjoys the everyday challenge of trying to help children succeed in the classroom and on the football field. His ultimate goal, he says, is to have a Blackhawk player go on to college, play football and earn his degree, then come back and take his job. “I want to try to get kids to go out and be role models,” he says.

Dan Poasa drove about 300 miles round trip each day during football season to oversee his business in the Seattle area and be back to Lummi in time for practice.

Dan Poasa

Poasa, 41 started his own business a year ago. Pro Line Aluminum Rails provides decks, guardrails, anything aluminum that’s needed for construction projects. Initially, the business worked on residential projects around Whatcom and Skagit counties and it was relatively easy for Poasa to make it to the Blackhawk practices. He coaches the offensive and defensive lines and now is in his fifth year at Lummi.

Pro Line is doing well and has expanded to take on bigger jobs in Puget Sound. Poasa has contracts for jobs in Puyallup, Issaquah and Tacoma. That’s the good news. The bad news is Poasa had to travel 300 miles round trip, five days a week, to oversee and work on the projects and then be back to Lummi by 3 o’clock in time for football practice.

Some days the trip seemed more worth it than others. “Sometimes I get frustrated with the kids,” Poasa says. “Sometimes the practices aren’t up to par; the kids aren’t focused.” But Poasa says he always is excited as he nears Lummi and readies for practice.

Craig Jackson volunteers to help however he can, including looking after the Blackhawk players when they’re injured.

Craig Jackson

Jackson, 49, is in his sixth year coaching the Blackhawks. Of the team’s four coaches, he is the only one who is strictly a volunteer. Because of his responsibilities as a licensed practical nurse at Northwest Gastroenterology, he only can make practice one day a week.

Jackson is on the sidelines for the games, making sure the players have the equipment they need and tending to their bumps and bruises. “The love of the kids and being around them” is what motivates him, he days. “Because of the work I can’t be there more. I wish I could.”

Lessons learned this season should pay dividends in 2012

Lummi coach Jim Sandusky is looking forward to a busy off-season, including the implementation of a new conditioning and weight-training program. He expects the Blackhawks and Neah Bay to be battling each other for the 1B Northwest League championship in 2012. “They won’t beat us again for three years,” he says.

Two-dozen or so Lummi players and fans traveled to the Tacoma Dome on Dec. 2 and saw Neah Bay defeat Almira-Coulee-Hartline 36-28 to win the state 1B championship. They must have been thinking, “That could have been us. That should have been us.”

 The Blackhawks’ 2011 season came to an unceremonious end in November when they lost to the Red Devils in the quarterfinals of the state 1B playoffs. It was a stunner at the time. How could the Blackhawks, the defending state champions, lose to a team they already had beaten twice during the regular season?

A couple of fumbles proved costly, as did injuries to Deion Hoskins and Jared Tom. And, obviously, Neah Bay was a worthy opponent. “We had our chances, and we didn’t take advantage of them,” Lummi coach Jim Sandusky said last week. “It’s frustrating because it was right there in front of them. It was one or two plays.” Sandusky said the loss to Neah Bay will motivate the Blackhawks during the off-season. “That’s one thing we can take from this; it’s going to stick in these guys’ craws and we can use that to our advantage.”

 Neah Bay loses standout running back Titus Pascua but will return first-team all-Northwest League quarterback Josiah Greene and 250-pound running back Tyler McCaulley, son of coach Tony McCaulley. The Blackhawks lose senior starters Robert Scott and Jesse Cooper, plus Donald George, whose only season was cut short by injuries. But they return Hoskins, Tom, wide receivers Austin Brockie and Jordan Deardorff, and linemen Eli Wall and Jeremy Spotted Bear, all of whom were chosen all-league.

 Lummi is instituting an off-season weight-training and conditioning regimen for the first time, something Sandusky says will help against bigger opponents, like Neah Bay.  Until now the Blackhawks lacked funding for a proper training program and there weren’t enough players willing to put in the work. But the players are more committed than they’ve been in the past, part of  an evolution in the culture of the program.

 Despite all their past success, the Blackhawks have struggled at times with discipline issues, poor schoolwork and bad attitudes. That was especially true during the 2010 state championship season. “It was the worst year I’ve had,” Sandusky said. Coaching the Xs and Os, at which Sandusky is something of a genius, was the easy part. Managing the personalities, motivating star players — that was an entirely different challenge. “It was a bittersweet victory,” assistant coach Dan Poasa said of the 2010 team’s success. “We were glad to win the championship. We just wish we’d had a better team.”

 It was much better this season, the coaches said. The squad was young, and the inexperience led to mental mistakes on the field, but for the most part the players followed rules, took care of their classroom responsibilities and regularly showed up for practice. The team felt more like a family, Poasa said, and coaching was easier and more enjoyable. “We just have a great group of kids,” he said. “They’re with us; they’re with the program. They understand what we expect of them. They’re coachable. It feels like a football team now.”

 Next year’s squad will be more experienced and should learn from this season’s mistakes (the tape of the Neah Bay loss is especially instructive, Sandusky said — “It’s a great learning film to watch”). Combined with the new off-season training program and an improved attitude, there’s every reason to believe the Blackhawks will be in the running for another 1B state championship in 2012.

Photos from the past season posted

Check out 10 photos from the Blackhawks 2011 season on the  Sportsshooter.com website.