TACOMA — It seems only fitting, doesn’t it?
A year after seeing its dream season denied by the Lummi Blackhawks, Neah Bay has a chance to return the favor.
The Red Devils (9-2) and Blackhawks (10-1) will meet for the second straight year in the Class 1B state football semifinals when they face off at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday at 4 p.m.
And this time, the roles are reversed.
Now it’s the Blackhawks — 2-0 in head-to-head matchups this fall — who come into the semis with all the pressure against the underdog Red Devils.
Neah Bay head coach Tony McCaulley wouldn’t have it any other way.
“They have everything to lose and we have nothing to lose,” said McCaulley, whose 2009 team beat Lummi twice during a perfect regular season only to fall 64-36 to the Blackhawks in the state semifinals.
“It’s way better than last year. Last year we were the ones who felt the pressure.
“My team is so young this year, I don’t think they even know where they are at.”
That is, of course, a bit of an understatement.
After all, many of the same players who will suit up for the Red Devils on Saturday were also on the field last year.
Lummi’s wide-open offense overwhelmed Neah Bay in the game as it racked up 432 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Blackhawks followed that up with 45-0 mercy rule win over the Red Devils in Week 1 this fall, staking their claim as the team to beat for eight-man football in Western Washington.
Two month later, however, Neah Bay is a completely different team.
Not only did the Red Devils narrow the gap significantly in the teams’ second meeting this season — a 41-30 Lummi win — they also pulled off a 30-6 upset of fourth-ranked Lyle/Wishram in the first round of the 1B state playoffs.
“I think we’ve gotten better since the last time we played them,” McCaulley said.
“Our tackling, our defense, our blocking has all come quite a ways since we played them last time.”
That certainly appeared to be the case in last week’s win over Lyle.
The Red Devils kept vaunted Lyle running back Henry Mattai (6,523 yards in 37 games) out of the end zone while amassing 308 yards rushing on offense.
Neah Bay’s ball control offense ate away at the clock, with junior running back Titus Pascua carrying the ball 26 times for 151 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Josiah Green added 68 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.
It’s exactly that sort of grinding run game that McCaulley hopes to employ against the Blackhawks on Saturday.
“We’ve got to play tough defense and we’ve got to control the ball,” McCaulley said.
“We’ve got to control the clock, which means we’ve got to keep the ball away from them.”
With good reason.
Lummi has one of the most explosive offenses in eight-man football.
The Blackhawks, led by all-everything athlete Eric Robinson (1,383 yards rushing/receiving, 27 touchdowns), have scored 45 points or more nine times this season.
Just last week, they put 63 points on Taholah in a mercy-rule victory in a first-round playoff game.
“We felt we were only a couple plays away from winning that game [in October], but that’s what Lummi does to you,” McCaulley said. “They make those big plays on you.
“We’ve just got to shut down one of two of them.”
Maybe then the Red Devils can get their revenge.
