Eight Blackhawks chosen all league

Lummi senior Robert Scott, left, was chosen first team all-Northwest 1B League North Division. He was joined on the all-star squad by senior Jesse Cooper, middle, who was named honorable mention defensive end, and junior Jeremy Spotted Bear, right, who was a first-team offensive line selection. Six Blackhawks were chosen to the first team offense or defense. Neah Bay had seven first-team selections (see the complete team).

Sophomore Deion Hoskins was chosen to the first-team offense as running back and to the first-team defense as linebacker. He also was honorable mention special teams. Of the eight Blackhawks chosen to the all-league team, six were underclassmen. In addition to Hoskins and Spotted Bear, they were freshman Austin Brockie, first-team wide receiver and honorable mention defensive back; junior Eli Wall, first-team offensive line and honorable mention defensive end; junior Jared Tom, honorable mention quarterback and linebacker; and junior Jordan Deardorff, honorable mention wide receiver and defensive back.

That sure hurt. Turnovers, injuries doom Lummi

Pain is written on the face of Blackhawk quarterback Jared Tom, who injured his ribs in Lummi’s 58-40 loss to Neah Bay on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the state 1B playoffs.

Jared Tom stood at midfield of Bellingham’s Civic Stadium after Friday night’s loss to Neah Bay grimacing and holding his injured ribs. Early in the second half Lummi’s junior quarterback landed on his side on the facemask of a Neah Bay defender. He struggled through the rest of the game hardly able to breathe, but gamely played on. He was standing there alone on the nearly empty field because he wanted to hug coach Jim Sandusky, who was giving a radio interview nearby.

Tom pretty much represented everything about Lummi’s 58-40 loss in Friday’s state quarterfinal, a defeat that brought the Blackhawks’ season to an end. He ran 62 yards for Lummi’s first score with 9:52 left in the first quarter and threw an extra-point scoring pass to Austin Brockie after the Blackhawks’ second touchdown, sparking Lummi to a 20-0 lead. He was injured in the third quarter, as was Deion Hoskins, and the Blackhawks’ fortunes began going downhill from there. And he will be back next year to lead a young team that loses just two senior starters, Robert Scott and Jesse Cooper. “We’re gonna’ have a good squad,” Tom said of next year’s team, between gasps for breath. He figured he cracked or broke some ribs.

Not a lot was expected of the Blackhawks this season after they lost the nucleus of last year’s state 1B championship team. But they exceeded expectations, going 12-0 before Friday’s loss to Neah Bay. Tom will be back next year, along with a bunch of players who were instrumental in this year’s successful season.

Friday night’s loss definitely hurt, but it’s not the end of Lummi’s fortunes. In fact, it might be just the beginning of another run to a state championship. (Read The Bellingham Herald game story.)

Trip to Tacoma at stake in gridiron family feud

Lummi quarterback Jared Tom prepares to throw a pass during Tuesday night’s practice at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium, site of Friday night’s state quarterfinal playoff game between the Blackhawks and Neah Bay.

When the Lummi Blackhawks and Neah Bay Red Devils play Friday night in the 1B state quarterfinals it will be their ninth meeting in the past three years. Lummi has won six in a row, including last year’s state semifinal in the Tacoma Dome. At stake Friday is another trip to Tacoma; the winner will face either King’s Way Christian or Odessa-Harrington (see the state playoff bracket). Kickoff is at 6 p.m. at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium.

Neah Bay advanced to the quarterfinals last week by thumping Mary M. Knight 40-0 in a game called at halftime because of the mercy rule (see game story). The previous week the Red Devils whipped undefeated Lopez in a play-in game. Neah Bay would be the class of the 1B Northwest League if not for Lummi, its “nemesis.” That’s the word The Peninsula Daily News used to describe the rival Blackhawks, and it’s fitting. The teams met in the first game of this season, Lummi winning by two points. They met again in October, and the Blackhawks rolled 40-12. “It’s pretty evenly matched,” Lummi coach Jim Sandusky said this week. “I think it was just momentum (in the second game). We got on them pretty quick. They had some penalties that put them in a bind, and we took advantage of it.” (Hear Sandusky’s take on the upcoming game.)

Lummi coach Jim Sandusky goes over a play with his scout team during Tuesday’s practice at Civic Stadium.

Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley was furious after that second meeting, pointing to what he considered some questionable calls as the difference-maker. Although Lummi has dominated of late, McCaulley’s Red Devils have had some success against the Blackhawks, as much or more than any other team in the state. In 2009, they beat Lummi twice before losing their third meeting, again in the playoffs. They’ve played so often because they’ve been facing off early in the season in a nonleague contest, and then they tend to meet in the playoffs. “We try to match up each other in the preseason if we can because we know it’s good competition,” Sandusky said, “and we get better for it.”

All those games naturally make for a good rivalry, but the competition is even more heated because of the cultural, social and familial ties between the two teams. Both squads are dominated by members of Coast Salish tribes, Lummi and Makah, and it’s not unusual for players to be banging heads against a of cousin or two. It’s kind of a gridiron family feud. That said, the players and their coaches get along relatively well. “It’s about as sportsmanlike as you can get,” Sandusky said. “Both teams want to beat the crap out of each other, but they don’t let it get personal.”

Hoskins impact on Lummi football is all in the family

Lummi sophomore Deion Hoskins is one of eight cousins on this year’s Blackhawk squad who share the same grandparents. A standout running back and linebacker, he has earned the respect of opposing coaches and players for his ferocious play.

Dinner at the Hoskins house this evening is “Indian tacos.” You tear fry bread into pieces and then heap on the usual toppings: spicy ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream and salsa. Talk turns to football. Naturally. Among those sitting at the table are Deion Hoskins, the Lummi Blackhawks standout running back/linebacker and his little brother Hank, who backs up Deion on both sides of the ball.

Eighth-grader Hank Hoskins Jr. is more reserved than his older brother Deion, but he is going to be just as tough, says Lummi coach Jim Sandusky.

Also seated here are Hank Sr., who played tight end for Bellingham High, graduating in 1995, and Deion and Hank’s little brother Stanford, a sixth-grader who played for the Wolfpack and will turn out for the Blackhawks when he’s in eighth grade. And there’s their mother, Pauline, a vocal booster at Lummi games whose son Raymond Jefferson excelled on the 2008 Lummi squad.

No one could blame Hank Sr. and Pauline if they’re starting to tire of going to football games. But that’s not the case at all, they say, which is a good thing, because after Stanford will come Raymond’s 2-year-old son, Charles, who already is wandering around with an oversized helmet falling over his eyes. And then there are all the football-playing cousins. This year’s squad includes eight players who share the same grandparents. (For the record, they are Deion, Hank, Devin Cooper, Jesse Cooper, Anthony Phare, Alex Jefferson, Jacob Roberts and Kavarez Lane.) If there’s such thing as a first family of Lummi Blackhawk football, this is it.

The star of the bunch right now is Deion, a 5-10, 230-pound tackling machine and a bull of a running back. Talk to opposing coaches about Lummi and the words “that number 27” often are uttered. Deion wears jersey 27, though he did have to don number 66 in the season opener against Neah Bay when his 27 became bloodied. A 16-year-old sophomore, Deion plays with eye-opening ferocity. After the recent playoff game against Crescent the teams gathered for the Lord’s Prayer at midfield, and the Loggers 225-pound quarterback Kai Story called out, “Where’s Deion? Where’s Deion?” The players all touch someone when they pray, and Story wanted to touch Deion. “That guy can hit!” he shouted. When some of the other players laughed, he said, “No, I’m serious!”

Deion Hoskins usually wears number 27, but his jersey became bloodied in the season opener against Neah Bay and he had to switch to 66. Lummi coach Jim Sandusky says Deion is like having a coach on the field.

Despite his physical play, Deion is gregarious, playful and polite both on and off the field. During the waning minutes of a blowout victory earlier this season in Auburn he turned to the crowd and yelled, “I’m hungry,” prompting a chant of “Chuck E. Cheese! Chuck E. Cheese!” from the Lummi fans.

Deion already is receiving recruiting letters from colleges, including Washington State, UCLA, Stanford, Notre Dame and Oregon State (his mother doesn’t give them to him anymore to keep his head from getting too big). Lummi head coach Jim Sandusky says Deion could play at the Division II level in college, certainly, and maybe higher depending upon how he grows. A potential problem is he might get too big and lose speed, something Deion’s conscious of. He weighed 245 pounds and started on last year’s state championship team. This year he’s down to 230 and would like to play as low as 220 and be more fit. “Even if he gets real big and has to go on the line,” says assistant coach Dean Pederson, “he could still play somewhere because he’s got the ability and the attitude.”

Being too big isn’t a problem for little brother Hank, at least not now. The 13-year eighth-grader stands 5-feet-6 and weighs about 150 pounds. He’s more reserved but just as hard-nosed as his brother. Earlier in the season he suffered a blow to the side of the head and Sandusky held him out of a JV game as a precaution. Hank was angry; he responded as though he was being punished. “He’s going to be tough,” Sandusky says, “a lot like Deion.”

Hank Hoskins Jr. isn’t lost in his big brother’s shadow. The parent of an opposing player says he already looks stronger than the average player in the 1B Northwest League and will be a force in the future.

Hank already is turning heads. After the Evergreen Lutheran game Ed Shannon, the father of an Evergreen player and the team’s defensive statistician, saw Hank walking off the field. He’d watched the game from the sideline and was surprised at how boyish Hank looked without his helmet on. “He looked stronger than the average high school football player in the league, but he was also shorter than the average league player,” Shannon says. “This dichotomy immediately caught my attention.” He asked Hank what grade he’s in, and Hank smiled and answered eighth.

“He had sound fundamental skills and an intrinsic understanding of the game,” Shannon wrote later in an email. “He was simply comfortable on the gridiron. As Hank physically matures, I am positive he will be a reckoning force in the league.”

Parental love definitely plays a role in the Hoskins boys’ achievements, and some of it is tough love. Hank Sr. pushes his sons to succeed and works out with them — lifting weights, running stairs, doing wind sprints on the field in cleats. “All of my boys are different,” he says. “They all have different attributes, and I treat all of them differently. I mold them all to their personality. I’m kind of hard on them,” he concedes, “but when it comes to discipline I let Mom do most of that.” Pauline takes her role as disciplinarian seriously. She told Sandusky to sit Raymond for one game during his senior season for what she deemed poor behavior, and she did the same with Deion earlier this season.

Football and family are hard to separate in the Hoskins household, and so it’s no surprise that when asked why he enjoys football so much, Deion says, “It’s something I grew up with.” Hank’s answer: “My family did it.”

For Lummi Blackhawk football, success in large part can be tied to some grandparents and to a simple formula: Keep the boys coming.

Have mercy

Players from Lummi and Crescent, including from left, Jacob Roberts and Hank Hoskins, recite the Lord’s Prayer following Wednesday night’s game at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium.

Leading up to Wednesday’s Lummi-Crescent contest some Blackhawk followers wondered WWJD: What Will Jim Do? Coach Jim Sandusky’s undefeated and top-ranked squad was taking on a Crescent team it had defeated handily during the regular season, and now the Loggers were without four of their starters, benched for disciplinary reasons or out because they were injured. Would Sandusky simply try to end the game as quickly as possible, relying on the 40-point mercy rule, or would he play his reserves and make it something of a game — relatively speaking?

The Blackhawks took Wednesday’s beat down of Cresent in stride. Relaxing on the bench are from left, Kelton Lane, James Lawrence and Jesse Cooper.

Well, the Blackhawks didn’t have much mercy on the Loggers, dispatching them 65-20 in a game that ended after the first half. (See The Bellingham Herald game story.) Lummi didn’t play with as much enthusiasm or crispness as it sometimes does — with the starters seeing most of the action — but part of that could be blamed on the fact the Blackhawks hadn’t played in nearly two weeks. In the end, though, it was business as usual, as Lummi rolled to another easy victory. Next up: the winner of the Neah Bay-Mary M. Knight game, which will be played this Friday. The Blackhawks will take on the victor on either Nov. 18 or 19, again at Civic Stadium.

Blackhawks play host to Crescent in Bellingham

Jared Tom, Lummi’s junior quarterback, passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in the Blackhawks 57-14 rout of the Crescent Loggers in September.

Wednesday’s contest between Lummi and Crescent in Bellingham isn’t technically a state playoff game; it’s for seeding purposes. But the bottom line is the loser is done for the season. The winner moves on to the quarterfinals as the top seed in the district and will play on Nov. 18 or 19. See the playoff bracket.

The Blackhawks are undefeated and top-ranked in the state, according to the Associated Press. Crescent earned its way into Wednesday’s game by beating Quilcene 33-14 on Saturday. The Loggers finished the regular season 6-3 and in fourth place in the Northwest League. They’re relatively big and physical, but they’re dinged up and won’t be at full strength. “They’ve had some injuries and are going to be watered down from when we last saw them,” Lummi coach Jim Sandusky said.

Senior Jesse Cooper caught a 6-yard scoring toss from Logan Toby in the Sept. 23 game between Lummi and Crescent.

Lummi rolled past Crescent 57-14 on Sept. 23 in a game stopped by the 40-point mercy rule. See the Bellingham Herald game story. The Blackhawks will be at full strength. There’s no way to sugarcoat it; expect a blowout.

Kickoff is 5 p.m. at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium.

A view of the Blackhawks from outside the lines

Freshman Jacob Roberts, 44, and his teammates relax at halftime of Lummi’s game against Evergreen Lutheran.

The Blackhawks received a reprieve this week when Muckleshoot forfeited Thursday night’s game. Lummi most certainly would have won the contest had it been played, but the forfeit gave them a chance to rest up and nurse nagging injuries. The Blackhawks next will play at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium against the winner of Saturday’s Quilcene-Crescent game. If they win that game — and they handily defeated both of those teams during the regular season — they will play in the state quarterfinals on Nov. 18 or 19 (see the state playoff bracket).

The break in the action offers an opportunity to view some images of the Blackhawks outside the lines during the season. Go to the Lummi Blackhawks Facebook page to see an album of photos.

Victor Solomon, a member of Lummi’s chain gang, sports a leather helmet with a Blackhawk logo during the Highland Christian game. Solomon also has a cedar helmet.

Thursday’s game cancelled

Lummi’s last regular-season game of the year, scheduled for Thursday night against Muckleshoot, has been cancelled. Muckleshoot didn’t have enough eligible players. The Blackhawks will play next week at a date to be determined against the winner of Saturday’s Crescent-Quilcene game.

The Wolfpack: Where it all begins

Does this look familiar? It should. Lincoln Tom runs through the ProStock defense, much like his older brothers Dustin Tom and Jared Tom have done as quarterbacks for the Lummi Blackhawks. That’s Caleb Revey on the left.

Jack Johnson gathers his Wolfpack squad around him. In a few minutes they will be taking on ProStock on a muddy field behind Bellingham High School. Each boy supports himself on his left knee, with straight posture and eyes on the coaches — as he is taught. Little things like that matter to Johnson, and by extension to his players. “When you go out there lay a hit on them,” Johnson exhorts the boys, “and he’s going to remember your number.”

Johnson, 49, played for the Lummi Chiefs when he was these boys’ ages, 9 and 10 years old, and he recounts to them how an opponent blew him up on the first play of one his games. He definitely remembered the kid’s number, and he wants his boys to be the ones delivering the memorable hits.

Jack Johnson has been coaching the Wolfpack since 1998. He nearly retired but was inspired to keep going by the success of the Lummi Blackhawk high school program under coach Jim Sandusky.

Johnson steps back, and the Wolfpack’s assistant coaches — Jeff James, Robin James and Levi Alec — take turns addressing the boys. Their approach is much softer, much quieter. They emphasize good sportsmanship — hit hard but help up your opponent — and remind the boys of the family members and coaches who are supporting them. The players clap for their coaches, their families, and for themselves.

Some of these boys will someday be playing for the Lummi Blackhawk high school team. Dean Pederson, the Blackhawks’ assistant head coach, teaches kindergarten through eighth grade at Lummi, and most of the boys who play for the Wolfpack come through his classroom. Those boys who advance through the ranks no longer want to be on the Blackhawks simply because they see the players as cool. Many also see it’s important to model the good behavior, the classroom work, the sportsmanship and the attitude instilled in the Blackhawks by head coach Jim Sandusky and his assistants. “The little guys definitely look up to the Blackhawks,” Pederson says.

Most of the current Lummi starters played for Johnson on the Wolfpack (he’s been coaching the team since founding it in 1998). His reward is seeing his boys go on to play for the Blackhawks. “That’s all I want from them,” he says. He nearly retired from coaching a few years ago, but says he was inspired by Sandusky’s approach to coaching and his success; so he has stayed with it. “I feel it’s important we have this every year,” he says.

When the Wolfpack takes the field against ProStock they look much like the Blackhawks, scoring on their first three possessions. Although the Wolfpack is a feeder of sorts for the Blackhawks, the two programs aren’t formally associated. For one thing, Johnson’s 9 and 10 year olds wouldn’t be able to run Sandusky’s relatively sophisticated offense. “It’s really nothing fancy with us,” Johnson says. “I’m just teaching them basic football.”

That said, for many of the Wolfpack players this is preparation for their chance to take the field at Lummi. They all have an older brother or cousin who now competes or once competed for the Blackhawks. “That’s what we’ve been getting through to them all season,” Johnson says. “I’ve really been brainwashing them to be a Blackhawk.”

The Wolfpack poses for a photo before their Oct. 22 game. Coaches are, from left, Levi Alec, Robin James, Jack Johnson and Jeff James. The team finished its season last Saturday and will celebrate with a banquet on Wednesday night.

Blackhawks prevail over rivals from Neah Bay

Jared Tom, right, and Deion Hoskins move in to tackle Neah Bay’s Titus Pascua. Controlling the Red Devils’ running game was key to the Blackhawks’ 40-12 win on Friday night.

Lummi coach Jim Sandusky and Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley offered different perspectives Friday night on why the Blackhawks handled the Red Devils so much easier the second time around this season, winning 40-12 (Lummi prevailed by 2 points in the season opener at Neah Bay).

“Defensively, we contained the run a lot better,” Sandusky said. “We didn’t let them get outside as much.” It’s true. In September, the Blackhawks struggled to keep Neah Bay senior running back Titus Pascua in check. On Friday, Pascua returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the second quarter for Neah Bay’s first score, but otherwise he was pretty much bottled up by the Blackhawk defenders.

McCaulley offered a different take. Asked what he saw as the difference this time around, he replied, “You want me to be honest?” Sure, that’s a good policy. “The officiating,” he said. “It took us out of our game.” McCaulley pointed to a couple of plays in the first half — one was a Blackhawk touchdown that he thought shouldn’t have counted; the other was a play he thought should have been a Red Devil touchdown but was called down before the runner reached the end zone. Change the calls on those two plays and it’s a different game, he said. McCaulley vowed “to get to the bottom of it.” How does he do that? “All I can do is complain,” he said. “It will come back to haunt me, but I have to do something.”

Neah Bay coach Tom McCaulley, left, discusses the fine points of officiating with a ref during Friday night’s game at Lummi. McCaulley vowed to register a complaint about what he saw as poor officiating in his team’s 40-12 loss to the Blackhawks.

Sandusky said he’ll have to check the film, but he said he didn’t see evidence of a conspiracy on the part of the officials. It might be comforting for McCaulley and Neah Bay fans to put the blame on the refs, but it’s a fact that Lummi jumped out to 22-0 lead with just less than 10 minutes left in the first half, pretty much putting the game out of reach. Read the Bellingham Herald game story.

It’s likely the two teams will meet again in a few weeks in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. Lummi plays Muckleshoot on Thursday in its last game of the regular season; it then will play host to the fourth place team in the 1B Northwest League the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Neah Bay plays Clallum Bay next week and then will take on Lopez in the first round of the playoffs. All of this sets the stage for another Lummi-Neah Bay showdown. One thing is certain: If they play again, it will be a physical battle between two bitter rivals. Stay tuned.