NEAH BAY — Don’t let down.
That’s the message coach Tony McCaulley is giving his Neah Bay football team this week as the Red Devils prepare for the state semifinals, just one win away from the Class 1B state championship game.
Neah Bay (10-2) will meet Odessa-Harrington (8-3) on Lions Field in Moses Lake on Saturday starting at 3 p.m.
That’s eight days after the Red Devils had one of their best wins in the history of their program when they beat nemesis Lummi 58-40 in the quarterfinals in Bellingham.
The then-undefeated Blackhawks, defending state champions and No. 1-ranked team, had beaten the Red Devils six straight times, including twice this year and in the past two state semifinal games.
And on top of that, Lummi was ahead 20-0 and within the Red Devils’ 5-yard line, ready to go up by four touchdowns in the quarterfinal game.
“If they had scored that touchdown, we would not have beaten them,” McCaulley said.
It didn’t help that quarterback Jared Tom had handed the ball off to standout fullback Deion Hoskins, whose running has bedeviled Neah Bay this year, with less than 5 yards to go for paydirt and that four-touchdown lead.
Then came the season-saving play of the game for the Red Devils as Tyler McCaulley, the coach’s son, tackled Hoskins, forced him to fumble with Neah Bay recovering.
“That was a big hit,” Tony McCaulley said.
Two plays later Josiah Greene sprinted 78 yards for the score, the Red Devils scored on a two-point conversion and suddenly it was a 20-8 game that soon became a 20-16 score by halftime.
“That was huge,” McCaulley said about Greene’s touchdown run.
The momentum had changed.
The contest went back-and-forth after that with the Red Devils finally gaining control late in the fourth quarter.
High emotions
Thus, Tony McCaulley had to bring his team back down to earth at Monday’s practice.
“Yes, I am worried about a letdown,” McCaulley said in an interview just before practice started. “We need to stay focused this week.
“It was a huge roller-coaster of a game we were on last week. I’m really concerned.”
Another problem is the traveling time for the Red Devils. After driving to Bellingham and back last weekend, Neah Bay will travel all the way to Moses Lake for the semifinals.
But McCaulley isn’t worried about the road trip.
“That is not a distraction for us,” he said. “We’re used to traveling. It is what it is.”
McCaulley worked on the mileage issue the other day and figures the Red Devils will have traveled almost 1,900 miles when they get back home from Moses Lake just since the playoffs started two weeks ago.
“We will have traveled 1,890 miles,” he said.
The good news for the semifinals is that Neah Bay almost is 100 percent healthy with one offensive guard with a bad ankle and Tyler McCaulley with a shoulder stinger.
Tyler received the stinger in the second play against Lummi but played the whole game. He will be ready to play this week, Tony McCaulley said.
On Saturday, McCaulley is expecting to play a solid team in Odessa-Harrington.
“They are really fundamentally sound,” he said. “They tackle well and they don’t really get themselves out of position.”
They are from the South League, though, which isn’t as strong as the North, where Neah Bay and Lummi come from.
Odessa’s quarterfinal opponent, King’s Way Christian, isn’t in the same class as Lummi, McCaulley said.
“North is quite a bit tougher, but they did beat King’s Way by a good margin,” McCaulley said of the 76-36 score.
Odessa quarterback Jared King is the team leader.
“He is a real player,” McCaulley said. “He throws well and he runs hard.”
At 170 pounds, he isn’t easy to bring down.
The Titans don’t use the spread and use more conventional formations, according to McCaulley.
“They are more like we are,” he said. “That’s kind of nice.
“On the three tapes I saw on them, they are run-orientated and try to control the game tempo to keep guys honest.”
Just the kind of team to help the Red Devils get grounded for the semifinals.
