TACOMA — Western Washington 8-man football supremacy is once again on the line Saturday at the Tacoma Dome when Neah Bay and Lummi square off at 4 p.m.
This is the third straight Class 1B semifinal matchup between the two programs and fifth in the past six years. They also met up in the quarterfinals in 2010.
When these two tangle this deep in the season, the contest serves as the de facto Westside Championship.
“These are the ones you look forward to, the ones you circle on the calendar. The one’s you have the ice packs ready for after the game because you know you’ll need them,” Neah Bay senior John Reamer said.
The two powerhouse 8-man programs have developed quite the rivalry over the past decade, meeting 21 times since 2004, with the Blackhawks, losers of the last seven games between the two, holding a slim 12-9 win advantage.
The Red Devils have ended Lummi’s season in the state playoffs each of the past three years — the past two in
the semifinals.
Before that, the Blackhawks tripped up Neah Bay in the 2009 and 2010 semifinals.
Many of the games have been tight, back-and-forth track meets masquerading as football games — where the smallest of mistakes can turn a short gain into a sprint for a score.
“With the close games, I think that’s what it is, that’s our school’s rival now in football,” Reamer said. “And everything surrounding the game backs that up.
“It’s ‘Oh we want to beat Lummi, we’ve got to beat Lummi,’ and everybody wants to beat Lummi.
“The atmosphere changes in Neah Bay, everybody knows it’s Lummi week and everybody in Neah Bay will be there in the Dome.”
Neah Bay’s seven-game winning streak includes two triumphs this season, a 38-26 win at home in September and a 50-38 victory on Lummi’s turf in league play last month.
Both coaches involved, Tony McCaulley at Neah Bay and Lummi’s Jim Sandusky, agreed that far as rivalries go this one is pretty friendly.
“We get along really, really well for the type of physical games we play,” McCaulley said.
“After the game, we’re good. There’s a lot of respect on each side.
“He’s done an outstanding job up there. That program is top of the line at the B level and could probably have won at 2B or even A at times.”
The two programs even trade game films and sometimes compare scouting reports as well in games against nonleague opponents.
Sandusky revels in the physicality of these matchups, something lacking many times from regular season games against lesser-talented teams.
“As a coach in this league, it’s tough sometimes because you know the [level of] competition isn’t going to be there week in and week out,” Sandusky said.
“That’s why we schedule each other [for nonleague games], so we can get a good test.”
“The fun of it is, you know it’s going to be a good game. A hard-hitting game, a game where each team is going to want to drag the other team in the dirt, but it’s never mean-spirited.”
Much of that mutual respect comes from the tribal connection to the game, with Lummi serving as the on-reservation school for members of the Lummi nation and Neah Bay, a public high school in the center of Makah tribal lands.
These players know each other from past paddle journeys and potlatches and also meet up regularly in basketball and track and field competitions during the other sports seasons.
With blended heritages over the years, some players may even be lining up against a long-lost cousin, though neither coach knew off the top of their heads of any relatives on this year’s teams.
Neah Bay faces a tough task in attempting to beat Lummi for the third time this year and eighth in a row.
“I know they are hungry to beat us — seven wins in a row that starts to stack up on a team,” Reamer said.
“But we want it too. We’re young and ambitious and we want to go as far as we can, and that’s a repeat [championship].”
McCaulley thinks his team still hasn’t seen Lummi at full strength.
But he’s not sure the Blackhawks have seen all that Neah Bay has to offer, either.
“To win the two games this year was a little unexpected for us,” McCaulley said.
“I don’t think either team played as well as they could have. I think we played better but they didn’t play as well as they could have.
“And one game they were missing Austin Brockie.”
Brockie is typically a receiver for the Blackhawks, but often lines up in the backfield to take direct snaps from center. The left-hander also has thrown a few passes for Lummi.
He’s complimented by burly quarterback Hank Hoskins at 5-foot-9 and 215 pounds.
“It’s tough to beat a team twice, even tougher three times,” Sandusky said.
“The teams that win the first two, for the most part, what do you change?
“You may throw a few wrinkles in there, but the team that loses, you have to change some things up. You lost so you have to make some fixes and hopefully it’s enough.”
Neah Bay has blown out its first two playoff opponents by an average score of 76-21, but they’ve done so predominately on the ground with Cole Svec, Chris Martinez, Cameron Buzzell and Elisha Winck sharing the load.
The Red Devils have had success when they’ve taken to the air, though, and Svec believes a multi-dimensional attack is key to a win.
“We need to do more than execute our run game,” Svec said. “We have to execute our pass game if we want to beat Lummi.”
Each player fully understanding their role and being in the right position to make plays will be paramount for both teams.
“In 11-man football, a small mistake can lead to a first down, a 10- to 15-yard gain,” Sandusky said.
“In 8-man, if you have two players shoot the same gap and the other team runs to the uncovered gap that can, and usually does, turn into a touchdown.
“That’s what happened when they played here: Neah Bay put together four straight 60-yard-plus plays because guys were not following their assignments.
“We’ve cleaned things up and made things simpler for us, so hopefully we don’t make it as easy for them and as hard on us.”
Looking forward to what he described as “the biggest football game of my life so far,” Reamer is focused on the details.
“It’s going to come down to every little thing; penalties, turnovers, it’s the little things that are going to help us win this game, execution and really who wants it more.”
And what should fans expect?
“A hard-hitting football game,” Reamer said.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on Forks 1490 AM and www.forks1490.com.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
