TACOMA — Neah Bay has never won a state championship in football.
The Red Devils (11-2) have a good opportunity to get over that last hurdle as they play for all the Class 1B marbles at the 2011 Gridiron Classic in the Tacoma Dome at 4 p.m. on Friday.
“We’re just one win away,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
They have already dispatched previously undefeated nemesis Lummi, the defending state champion and No. 1-ranked team, 58-40 in the quarterfinals.
That was a big hurdle because the Blackhawks had beaten the Red Devils six straight times, including twice this season and in the state semifinals in the past two years.
In the 2011 semifinals Saturday, a tired but game Neah Bay ripped Odessa-Harrington 74-34 in a contest that ended early in the third quarter because of the 40-point mercy rule.
Friday’s opponent won’t be so easy to beat, though.
The Almira Coulee Hartline Warriors are 13-0 and are considered the top-ranked team after Lummi lost.
Like the Red Devils, the Warriors have been unstoppable in the playoffs, pounding Pomeroy 46-6 in the semifinals after ripping Touchet 52-8 in the quarterfinals.
Touchet is the last team Neah Bay has faced in the state title game. That was a close affair with Touchet winning 42-36 in 1999.
The Red Devils have finished second twice and lost in the semifinals four times.
Almira, meanwhile, has one state title to its credit — in 2007 — and has never faced the Red Devils in the playoffs.
Speed defines the 2011 version of the Warriors.
“They are a good football team,” McCaulley said.
“Their quarterback is a speedy guy. He’s 175 pounds and he is fast.”
Senior Derek Isaak will be hard to stop because he has a 6-foot-2 frame to go with that speed and weight.
But the Red Devils will counter with a quarterback who is equally hard to stop, 6-foot, 176-pound sophomore Josiah Greene — who had four touchdown runs, a touchdown pass and a fumble recovery for a score and 231 yards on the ground against Odessa in the semifinals.
“We’re pretty set there at quarterback,” McCaulley said.
Almira also has a fast starting running back, McCaulley said.
“They throw the ball more than us, they spread you out and they like to run away from you.”
Neah Bay is used to throwing teams. Odessa passed the ball for 312 yards last weekend and Lummi likes to spread the field and throw the ball.
“In eight-man football, it’s all about matchups,” McCaulley said. “You are going to get burned once in a while.”
Physically, the Red Devils out-matched Odessa in size but Almira is closer to them size-wise.
“I think we are a little bit bigger but they are not much behind us in size.
“I think it will be a pretty good matchup.”
The Red Devils will have a building to go around at times, though, in senior nose guard Jordan Ping, who is 6-4 and 245 pounds.
Almira will be a little more experienced when the starting teams are on the field.
“All their starters are juniors and seniors,” McCaulley said.
The Red Devils, meanwhile, have several underclassmen as starters, including Greene, who is playing like a senior.
And then there’s senior Titus Pascua, who has had an outstanding four-year career but has been playing lights-out in the playoffs.
“We need one more out of him,” McCaulley said about his star senior.
Pascua had three touchdowns in the semifinals, one rushing, one on a pass reception and the other an 88-yard kickoff return for a score.
Good news for the Red Devilas is that they are healthy going into the game.
Junior linebacker Leyton Doherty is expected to play after hurting his shoulder while intercepting a key pass in the semifinals last weekend.
“He’s walking around and he looks pretty good,” McCaulley said about Doherty.
And now there’s just a little matter of the Neah Bay history books.
After a tough 13-game season, the Red Devils are just one victory away from re-writing those books and gaining that elusive state-title trophy.
