BELLINGHAM — Neah Bay is hoping third time’s the charm as the Red Devils face their nemesis Lummi in the state Class 1B quarterfinals Friday night.
The Lummi Blackhawks, the defending state champions and ranked No. 1, have had No. 3 Neah Bay’s number the past two years.
The Blackhawks (12-0) have knocked the Red Devils (9-2) out in the state semifinals two years running and are 2-0 this year, including a 38-36 nail-biter in the first game of the season in Neah Bay and a 40-12 blowout in Bellingham on Oct. 28.
“We’re due,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
The game is scheduled for Civic Stadium in Bellingham, and starts at 6 p.m.
Neah Bay’s worst loss to Lummi was two years ago when the Red Devils beat the Blackhawks twice during the regular season but then lost to them at state.
“That one really hurt,” McCaulley said about the state loss.
Lummi coach Jim Sandusky insists that the two teams are evenly matched and that the Blackhawks have had the ball bounce their way in recent games.
“It’s always evenly matched up between us,” Sandusky said.
“We were able to get the edge in the past five to 10 games.
“But it’s always a flip of the coin between the teams, to tell you the truth.
“I fully expect [Friday’s game] will be like the first game we had this year.”
In the 40-12 blowout, the Blackhawks were able to get an early jump on the Red Devils, Sandusky said.
“We were able to catch them off guard; they had a couple of early turnovers and we were able to keep the momentum going.”
Lummi is hard to beat because the program is run like a well-oiled machine, according to McCaulley.
“They are coached well and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,” McCaulley said.
“They are just a good football team. They are well-balanced.”
The balance between the passing and ground games is the reason for Lummi’s success, Sandusky said.
“That has been our game plan for the past several years.”
The snow doesn’t even slow the Blackhawks down. There is a forecast of possible snow in the Puget Sound area Friday. Bellingham seems to always pick up more snow than surrounding areas.
“We had a state playoff game in the snow last year and we threw for 300 yards and ran for 290,” Sandusky said.
The Blackhawks are young but deep. They have only two seniors on the team, and start two freshmen and three sophomores for eight-man football.
And even though they are so young, they rolled out their second team at the start of the second quarter in a Northwest Football League playoff game against Crescent last week.
And still won by the 40-point mercy rule by halftime.
“Another reason we are so successful this year is that we were able to play a lot of our younger kids last year to give them experience,” Sandusky said.
McCaulley is well aware of Lummi’s depth.
“They will go only about 12 to 14 deep against us,” McCaulley said.
But one of those will be sophomore fullback Deion Hawkins, who ran over the Red Devils in the second game.
“He hurt us pretty bad,” McCaulley said.
“Deion has been starting for us since the eighth grade,” Sandusky added. “He’s a good kid.”
Hawkins is big and fast, according to McCaulley.
But the Red Devils aren’t chopped liver when it comes to personnel.
Sophomore quarterback Josiah Greene has had an outstanding season, rushing for 718 yards and 14 touchdowns and passing for another 1,077 yards and 17 scores, and that’s minus two games because stats weren’t available for them.
Senior running back Titus Pascua, sophomore wide receiver Zeke Greene, senior wide receiver Michael Dulik and running back Tyler McCaulley all are key players in Neah Bay’s offense and defense, McCaulley said.
Pascua has 430 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, minus two games.
“Everyone will have to play well for us to win,” McCaulley said.
Both teams are relatively healthy going into the game.
“We’re injury free,” McCaulley said. “We have one guy a little dinged up in our last game.”
Lummi will be missing one key player.
Freshman Kavarez Lane, the team’s top reserve linebacker, sprained a knee in the Crescent game and won’t suit up.
