Thrills … and spills: Area skier enjoys ups and downs of movie appearance

YAKIMA, Wash. — Not that this will come as any surprise to mere mortals who can face-plant on an intermediate run, but those jaw-dropping flights-on-skis that will make it to the Capitol Theatre’s screen in Warren Miller’s latest adrenaline fix didn’t always come on the first take.

Sometimes that wow came only after a bunch of whoops.

“There’s definitely times where I crash, and I’d say everybody else does, too. It’s just bound to happen,” says Andy Mahre, the Naches resident and White Pass ski team alum who is one of the featured athletes in “… Like There’s No Tomorrow,” the 62nd annual feature in Miller’s seminal series of high-altitude highlights.

“The amount of footage that’s seen in the movie is a small fraction of what’s actually filmed,” says Mahre, 27, who spent just over a week last March skiing for Miller’s camera crews in the Monashee Range of British Columbia’s rugged interior.

“Skiing for a Warren Miller film is an epic experience,” Mahre says, but those avalanche-and-injury-defying shots of backcountry heli-skiing require research and repeats. Before descending an unfamiliar area, Mahre and the film’s other athletes typically fly over and photograph the slope to determine the most spectacular route that can be safely skied.

Then, of course, they have to memorize it.

“You have to remember certain landmarks — a group of trees, or a single tree — and where you need to be relative to that feature,” Mahre says. “The hardest part, actually … when you’re looking at something you can see how it links up and how it’s doable — but when you’re on top of it, you can see maybe 100 feet or 300 feet, and 1,500 feet below that you don’t have a clue.

“That’s the hardest part, knowing where to be when you’re going over that spot you can’t see past. Small little areas of misalignment can lead to big crashes, that’s for sure.”

Even for someone like Mahre, who grew up on skis — the son of one Olympic medalist, Steve Mahre, and the nephew of another, Steve’s twin brother Phil — and honed his craft over years of trial and error, risk is both inevitable and accepted.

“For 90 percent of the stuff or more, it’s fun,” Mahre says. “But at the same time there are those occasions where it is dangerous — there’s the situation where you can’t fall or you might not walk away from it.”

If it was easy, though, anybody could do it. Because not just anybody can, though, a guy like Andy Mahre is able to make a decent living as a professional skier.

He spends several months out of every year in mountain ranges across the globe, either testing products for the ski-equipment manufacturers who sponsor him or generating exposure for those products while filming high-octane ski footage for DVD sales or online “webisodes.”

Free-lance pro skiers like Mahre also have to do much of their own marketing, which means lots of shaking hands with sponsors, manufacturers and the public. And when it’s a major client like Warren Miller, Mahre is happy to oblige.

“For the Warren Miller shows, I go to 15, 20 shows in the fall. I was just in Salt Lake last week for a show,” says Mahre, who will also be at the Capitol Theatre for Wednesday’s showing of the newest film. “Ultimately the skiing job is more than just the skiing. You have to be available to meet and greet the people.

“It’s pretty enjoyable,” Mahre says of the marketing side of the business. “But the hardest time for me is when there’s snow on the ground and I’m not skiing. I’m jumping around from city to city going to all these shows and I’m like, ‘Maaaan, everybody else is skiing.’”

But the business end of skiing has paid off. Mahre bought a home in Naches early last year and he’s able to make a living — albeit not the mansion-and-a-Ferrari variety — by doing what he loves.

“I’m one who makes similar to what the guy in the office makes,” Mahre says. “There are guys who are winning big competitions and getting the big endorsements and they’re getting into six figures. Maybe even a couple of them into seven (figures). There’s definitely money to be made.

“But for me, I’m definitely just happy to be where I’m at. I’ll take a steady, decent paycheck over getting a large paycheck for a few years and then having to figure out, ‘What am I going to do now?’”

He knows if he keeps getting calls from the Warren Miller folks for another film, he won’t be saying no. The skiing he did for this latest film, he says, “was some of the best tree skiing I’ve ever had.

“The snow was really deep and the runs were really long, and the crew was really good, too.

“It just made for a really good experience.”

Sandsberry: You can’t regulate idiocy

YAKIMA, Wash. — Hunters’ forums around the Pacific Northwest and beyond were roiling last week over the previous Friday’s news out of the Salem, Ore., area, where a Marine reservist was killed by a hunter who thought he was shooting a black bear.

The victim was wearing black, not hunter orange or another color that would be easily recognizable as human apparel, but to their credit the hunters on those forums weren’t reacting in knee-jerk defense mode, rationalizing away the hunter’s regrettable error.

No, they were reacting as they usually do in this kind of case — the same way most four-wheel-drive enthusiasts do when they hear about a backcountry meadow turned into a mud bog by some of their more Neanderthal brethren.

They get downright mad.

Like four-wheelers, hunters know a hefty slice of the population already views with prejudice their chosen recreation, and this tragedy will fan that flame. It’s easy to understand why it would: There’s simply no excuse for any hunter pointing a loaded weapon and pulling the trigger if there’s even the slightest uncertainty what is being aimed at.

But I thought it was … just isn’t good enough. Not when you’re wielding a weapon powerful enough to knock down and kill a 700-pound mammal from hundreds of yards away.

It wasn’t good enough last fall in a wooded area near Shelton in Mason County, when a hunter shot what turned out to be a 25-year-old Guatemalan man who was earning the princely sum of $30 a day picking salal, those leaves used by florists in floral arrangements.

It wasn’t good enough two years ago on Sauk Mountain in Skagit County when a 14-year-old hunter on the opening weekend of bear season saw what he thought — and hoped — was a black bear and pulled the trigger. His aim was true, but his judgment was not; even at a distance of just 120 yards, the young hunter didn’t recognize the target as a woman wearing a blue jacket and green pants, bending over to put something into her pack.

It wasn’t good enough barely a month before that incident when, on the other side of the continent, a 23-year-old college senior two weeks away from her graduation ceremony was shot near her campus while looking for specimens for a science project just 75 yards from a paved cul de sac. The hunter told police he thought she was a deer.

Whenever something like this happens, there are invariably calls for laws making it mandatory that anybody out in the woods during hiking season wear hunter orange.

I disagree with this thinking. Although I believe people should take precautions to insure their own safety — plenty of visible hunter orange being the best one I can think of — making it mandatory creates the potential for assigning blame to the victim of the next idiot hunter.

And those two words — idiot hunter — are really the only way to describe someone who fires at a person, thinking the object in his sights is something else. There’s simply no excuse for it under any circumstances. That very thing — be absolutely certain of your target — is the mantra of every hunter-education class.

That’s why hunters get so angry when one of their own fails at this single most-important rule in hunting. They know they’ll be painted with that same broad brush stroke of condemnation as the guy who pulled the trigger.

The prevalent sentiment on hunter forums last week was this: Any person should be able to go into the woods dressed however he or she likes, even to the point wearing a deer-skin coat with antlers attached, and still be safe — because rule-abiding, safety-conscious hunters should never take that shot.

Unfortunately, idiots will, just as other idiots text while driving, thereby turning a 2,000-pound motor vehicle into a far more dangerous weapon than any hunting rifle.

As one hunting forum commenter posted, “You can’t fix stupid.”

 

• Outdoors editor Scott Sandsberry can be reached at 509-577-7689 or ssandsberry@yakimaherald.com.

Wildlife moment: Turkey was almost a bigger bird that it already is

YAKIMA, Wash. — Thanksgiving is coming up, and if you’re fortunate enough to gather with family and friends around a healthy feast of turkey, stuffing and cranberries, you might just pause a bit before your first bite of the main course.

That domesticated turkey on the table has a smaller cousin, the wild turkey, that is North America’s largest game bird. But it came very close to owning a far greater distinction.

The Great Seal was adopted by Congress on June 20, 1782, with the bald eagle as its centerpiece. Two years later, none other than Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter, sharing his thoughts about the fallacy of America having settled on this particular bird as its new symbol.

An excerpt from the letter:

“… for my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk [osprey]; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

“With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. … For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America. … He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

Originally this species was native to deciduous forests mostly in eastern North America. It has been widely introduced into areas where it historically did not occur. This is true for Washington.

The Washington Department of Game introduced wild turkeys into various counties in Washington beginning in 1913, though these earliest releases were not successful. Later, especially starting in 1961, releases were successful in Klickitat and Stevens counties.

In 1984, a more aggressive program of introductions began and the bird now seems well established in several areas of the state, most notably the ponderosa pine forests in the state’s northeast corner, in Klickitat County and in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Near Yakima, there have been a number of wild turkey introductions, especially in the Wenas Creek and Bethel Ridge areas, usually in ponderosa pine forests.

How to spot one: Everyone knows a domesticated turkey, a tame, brown or white, clumsy, and rather stupid-appearing bird. Their wild cousins, especially males, have beautifully iridescent plumage, and are wary and nimble. Males are huge, standing fully three feet tall and weighing 15 to 18 pounds. They have an ugly, naked, blue head and grotesque red wattle, brightest in spring when they are trying to attract females. Females are smaller (about 9 pounds), browner, with much less iridescence in their plumage.

Social life: Turkeys spend most of their time in groups on the ground, scratching leaf litter to expose seeds, grain, berries, insects, and acorns. Towards nightfall, they noisily and very clumsily fly up into tall trees to roost.

In spring, males give a gobbling call to attract females. If a female approaches he puffs out all his feathers, raises and fans its tail, swells up its face wattles, drops its wings and proceeds to strut, rattling its wing feathers, making a humming sound. This fancy display may attract a female, who responds by uttering a clucking call.

Family time: One male may mate with several females. After mating, the male takes no further action in raising the family. The female places her nest on the ground, usually hidden in the grass. The nest is a shallow depression, lined with grass and leaves. She lays 10 to15 eggs; these are pale buff with reddish-brown dots. More than one female will sometimes lay eggs in one nest. She incubates the eggs for 26 to 30 days.

The young hatch quite developed, like a chicken, and leave the nest very soon after hatching. The hen then leads the young to food-rich areas. She protects the young at night by brooding them for several weeks after hatching. In fall, families join into groups of up to 60 birds.

What you may not know: Across its large range, turkeys have evolved into recognizably different subspecies. The males differ the most. In the humid forests of the east, birds have coppery-edged tail and lower back feathers; in the dry west, these parts are white. In eastern Washington, most introductions have been of turkeys from more arid parts of the birds’ range. These are commonly called “Rio Grande turkeys.”

 

• Wildlife Moment, focusing on native wildlife, typically runs in Outdoors on the first Tuesday of every month, with the cooperation of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

Hunters the most recent group upset at Forest Service

NACHES, Wash. — Already targeted by critics of the ongoing Forest Plan revision process within the Wenatchee National Forest, primarily motorized users and mountain bikers, staffers at the Naches Ranger District have lately found themselves in the emotional crosshairs of yet another user group: hunters.

By the time the nine-day, modern-firearm elk season began Saturday in Yakima-area game-management units, the Naches district had been deluged by complaints about road closures in certain drainages that have been traditionally popular with elk hunters.

Many of the closures have been in force since flooding blew out culverts or otherwise damaged roads last winter or even in previous years. Many of them, including a closure at the base of the 1601 road heading up Dry Ridge out of the Nile Valley and one on the Milk Creek Road, have been blocked by a veritable wall of gravel and stone pillars.

“(District crews) have gone to a lot of effort all over these roads that are closed, putting in loads of rock and gravel to block these roads,” said Nile resident and hunter Ty Brown. “With the amount of time and effort they’ve put into blocking these roads, they could have fixed some of them.”

The Dry Ridge Road (1601) was closed to motorized traffic at its crossing of Dry Creek after flooding last winter damaged a culvert and washed out a portion of the road. The closure is next to a dispersed camping area that often fills up during every big-game season with hunters precisely because of its easy access to the 1601 and the numerous huntable draws beyond.

During the mid-October modern-firearm deer season, many hunters — no longer able to drive across the damaged culvert — took to driving their rigs over the long, slow, circuitous route up the 1611 to Mud Spring and then back on on the Dry Creek Road (1613) or the Orr Creek Road (233). Finally, they would head down the 1601 road to its base — on the other side of the Dry Creek closure.

That circuitous route was roughly a 60- to 80-minute drive, but then the hunters would leave their rigs overnight alongside the 1601 across the creek from their hunt camps and, in the morning, simply walk to their rigs and drive from there.

On the next-to-last day of the deer season, though, hunters saw a sign at the 233 junction saying the Dry Ridge Road below that junction was closed to motorized traffic, and that violators could face a fine of $5,000 or more. Meaning, of course, that their park-and-ride system was illegal.

“Everybody up there is so mad,” Yakima hunter Curt Johnson said the next day. “Not just my camp, but the whole area is mad.”

Having to go the hour-plus drive the long way around, instead of simply walking across the damaged culvert to a vehicle parked on the other side, he said, “is just ridiculous. Now we’re coming up to the start of the (elk) rifle season and they close that road. It’s been open all year — archery, muzzleloader, even deer season — until it comes to rifle season elk, and then they close it off.”

What the park-and-ride hunters didn’t realize was their system had been illegal for three months. The first 1 1/2 miles of the 1601 road, up to its junction with the 233, had actually been closed by forest order on Aug. 19.

Marge Hutchinson, South Zone engineer for the Wenatchee National Forest, said the road had originally been signed as closed not only at the creek crossing, but up that 1 1/2-mile grade at the 233 intersection. By deer season, though, that sign was gone.

“We put signs at all of our closure spots,” Hutchinson said. “That doesn’t mean they stayed there.”

Naches Ranger District spokesman Doug Jenkins said road signs — particularly ones that announce road closures — are routinely torn down, removed or vandalized. Even without signs, he added, it’s incumbent on all forest road users to be aware of any road closures.

“They ignored the closure. The road’s closed. That’s the bottom line,” he said.

“(The closure notice) is on the website. It’s in the rec(reation) report. It’s in the road report. It’s pretty much everywhere. What we’re running into is people are removing the barriers or they’re tearing down the signs and then going back in there.”

The original closure order at the 1601 road was amended from no traffic to allowing mountain bikes, horse riders and hikers, Jenkins said, adding that hunters could still walk across at the damaged culvert and hike up the ridge.

“But we’re getting inundated in our office with phone calls from hunters,” Jenkins said. “They want (the 1601 and other roads) open and they want it open now because they don’t want to get out of their rigs and walk.

“They’re demanding. They say, ‘We pay for our hunting licenses and we pay for our Discover passes and we pay for this and that and we want those roads open.’ Wrong. We’re not responsible to keep those roads open for hunters. We’re responsible to everybody.”

Johnson said it was simply “not feasible” for hunters to hike that steeply uphill 1 1/2-mile stretch to the 233 junction — “carrying gun, spotting scope, range finders, food, water and everything else you put in your rig every day” — and beyond. And no hunter would leave his rig overnight at the junction, 1 1/2 miles from hunt camp, he said.

Hutchinson, the Forest Service engineer, said the 1 1/2-mile stretch of road going up Dry Ridge is closed not for safety reasons, but to prevent the very thing hunters resorted to doing — parking rigs across the creek from the camping area.

“We don’t want them getting down into that bottom area,” Hutchinson said. “If we have cars parked on the other side, someone’s going to see them on the other side and people are going to drive across the culvert.”

Even though there is a dump-truck load of gravel and large stone obstacles blocking the road?

“You’d be amazed,” Hutchinson said, “at what people will do.”

Brown, the Nile resident and hunter, said his frustration is less with the closures than with what he sees as an increasingly exclusionary attitude within the Forest Service itself.

“I think the Forest Service does some of these things because, truthfully, they don’t want people in the woods,” he said.

“As a motorized user myself, I get that feeling from them that they’d be happy if I wasn’t up there anywhere.”

11/01/11 Outdoors What’s Happening

White Pass ski swap set for this weekend

The annual Yakima Ski and Snowboard Swap is set for this Saturday and Sunday at the Modern Living Building at State Fair Park.

Hours for the 46th annual swap, put on by the White Pass Ski Patrol, will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 to 3 on Sunday.

Proceeds (primarily from the 25-cent per-item registration fee) will go to the White Pass Ski Patrol toward the purchase and maintenance of equipment and first-aid supplies.

For more info, go online to www.yakimaskiswap.com or contact Ken Lust at 509-966-4162 weekdays or email at info@yakimaskiswap.com.

 

1800 open to traffic; 1808 still needs work

Backcountry recreationists who have waited more than four years to be able to drive south and west from Bumping Lake to trailheads accessing the William O. Douglas Wilderness have reason to celebrate … and still some time to wait.

The Naches Ranger District announced last Friday that a bridge over Deep Creek along Bumping River 1800 Road had passed inspection. People wishing to hike into Swamp Lake, Cougar Lake and the Pacific Crest Trail can now drive the remaining four miles to the trailhead.

The 1808 road — accessing such places as Copper City and the Twin Sisters Lakes trailhead — is still problematic.

While motorists can now drive an additional 11?2 miles south on 1808 before the previous closure, they’ll have to park or turn around at an area regulars know as “the rock pit,” because of repairs that still need to be made to a culvert at the 1808’s intersection with Deep Creek. Those repairs may not be completed until next spring.

 

BIRD ALERT

Gulls can be an intimidating challenge beginning birders learning to identify different species, but Rimrock Lake, near the Indian Creek campground, continues to be a good place to practice gull identification.

This week that area had about 250 gulls with seven species of gulls among them, including Bonaparte’s, ring-billed, California, herring, Thayer’s and western gulls. To add the challenge, there was also a glaucous-winged/western hybrid. All in all, a pretty good flock for Yakima County.

Buchanan Lake also attracts gulls and this week a herring gull was on the lake. Also seen were two female surf scoters, medium-sized diving ducks found mainly near the ocean, and three or four bufflehead.

Other interesting sightings this week include two adult bald eagles. One was spotted flying up the Naches River just north of Painted Rocks and the other was at the west end of Rimrock Lake. A Lapland longspur, a common songbird of the Arctic tundra, American pipit, and horned larks, all birds of open country, were noted on a hike up Rattlesnake Ridge north of Wapato.

An immature male Anna’s Hummingbird that has been visiting a Yakima feeder since mid August was joined this week by a female. The male sits and sings in a birch tree most of the time and is starting to show a mostly red throat and partial red head.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963.

— Kerry L. Turley

 

AROUND AND ABOUT

BIG CATFISH: Lacamas Lake near Camas has yielded yet another monster channel catfish, this one 28.2 pounds. Vancouver angler Kelly King landed the lunker on Sept. 28 using a nightcrawler with some garlic flavoring of Mike’s Glo Scent. Six years ago another angler pulled in a 33-pounder on Round Lake, a portion of Lacamas. The state record, though, still belongs to Yakima — a 36.2-pounder caught in 1999 from I-82 Pond No. 6.

WOLF MEETING: State wildlife commissions will hold a work session on the state’s proposed wolf management plan Thursday in Spokane, followed by a general meeting Friday on other issues — including the likely approval of a proposed 7,711-acre acquisition in Kittitas County and a briefing on deer and elk population objectives. Both meetings will be at the Ramada Spokane Airport hotel.

Note: This post was updated to reflect a correction in the meeting days.

KLICKITAT NIGHT CLOSURE: Anglers on the Klickitat River from the Fisher Hill Bridge downstream will be limited to fishing from one hour before official sunrise to one hour after official sunset through the end of Jan. 31.

 

ON THE CALENDAR

THURSDAY: The Cascadian Pokies will do a “Snipes Mountain Ramble” in memory of Jeanette Werkhoven. For meeting time and place, call Peg Stapleton at 509-966-6194.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY: The Yakima Ski & Snowboard Swap at State Fair Park. (See above.)

SUNDAY: The Cascadians’ David Hagen will lead another “Mystery Hike,” which will be somewhere between easy-intermediate and easy-advanced, meaning some steep pitches and an elevation gain of 2,000 feet or so, with time for a leisurely lunch. This could be a fall-colors hike, but with weather changing, be ready for anything. Call Hagen at 509-965-3697 for meeting time and place.

Week 9 football logs, how state-ranked fared

VALLEY FOOTBALL LOGS
Through Week 9

CLASS 4A

DAVIS (3-3, 6-3)
W, 54-28, @ Eastmont
W, 26-18, Sunnyside
W, 35-18, @ Moses Lake
W, 34-27 (OT), Richland
W, 41-16, @ Walla Walla
L, 37-43, Eisenhower
L, 0-28, @ Chiawana
L, 22-29 (OT), Wenatchee
W, 61-41, @ Hermiston, Ore.
Next: CBBN tiebreaker Tuesday with Wenatchee and Richland, 6 p.m.

EISENHOWER (5-1, 8-1)
W, 54-12, Rainier Beach
W, 44-13, @ West Valley
L, 13-42, Chiawana
W, 55-31, @ Evergreen-Van
W, 34-22, Wenatchee
W, 43-37, @ Davis
W, 48-21, Moses Lake
W, 40-31, @ Richland
W, 53-3, Walla Walla
Next: vs. Ferris at Albi Stadium, Friday, 8 p.m., winner to state

CLASS 3A

SUNNYSIDE (2-5, 3-6)
W, 51-14, Grandview
L, 18-26, @ Davis
L, 19-20, @ Southridge
L, 12-22, West Valley
L, 7-20, @ Kennewick
W, 40-16, Pasco
L, 0-28, Kamiakin
L, 25-31, @ Eastmont
W, 32-14, Hanford
Next: West Valley, Thursday, 7 p.m.

WEST VALLEY (2-5, 3-6)
W, 21-13, @ Selah
L, 13-44, Eisenhower
L, 6-7, Hanford
W, 22-12, @ Sunnyside
L, 23-28, Kamiakin
L, 14-24, @ Eastmont
L, 6-34, Kennewick
W, 28-20, @ Pasco
L, 14-33, @ Southridge
Next: @ Sunnyside, Thursday, 7 p.m.

CLASS 2A

EAST VALLEY (5-3, 6-3)
W, 48-14, @ Naches Valley
L, 7-8, Ellensburg
W, 20-18, @ Quincy
L, 7-34, Prosser
L, 6-42, @ Othello
W, 41-19, Grandview
W, 35-28, @ Toppenish
W, 25-17, @ Ephrata
W, 44-15, Wapato
Next: Selah, Thursday, 7 p.m.

ELLENSBURG (7-1, 7-2)
L, 13-56, @ Archbishop Murphy
W, 8-7, @ East Valley
W, 47-6, Wapato
W, 56-20, @ Grandview
L, 28-32, @ Prosser
W, 45-21, Selah
W, 29-21, @ Quincy
W, 42-7, Toppenish
W, 55-17, Ephrata
Next: @ Othello, Thursday, 7 p.m.

GRANDVIEW (1-7, 1-8)
L, 14-51, @ Sunnyside
L, 7-15, Toppenish
L, 12-55, @ Selah
L, 20-56, Ellensburg
L, 8-54, @ Quincy
L, 19-41, @ East Valley
W, 28-21, Ephrata
L, 14-28, @ Wapato
L, 0-56, Othello
Next: Prosser, Thursday, 7 p.m.

PROSSER (8-0, 8-1)
L, 12-41, @ Kamiakin
W, 36-17, @ Ephrata
W, 33-14, Othello
W, 34-7, @ East Valley
W, 32-28, Ellensburg
W, 60-0, @ Wapato
W, 55-0, @ Selah
W, 38-7, Quincy
W, 56-0, @ Toppenish
Next: @ Grandview, Thursday, 7 p.m.

SELAH (4-4, 4-5)
L, 13-21, West Valley
W, 46-21, @ Wapato
W, 55-21, Grandview
W, 17-15, @ Ephrata
W, 24-7, Toppenish
L, 21-45, @ Ellensburg
L, 0-55, Prosser
L, 7-35, Othello
L, 16-25, @ Quincy
Next: @ East Valley, Thursday, 7 p.m.

TOPPENISH (2-6, 2-7)
L, 21-28, River View
W, 15-7, @ Grandview
W, 28-14, Ephrata
L, 0-47, @ Othello
L, 7-24, @ Selah
L, 7-21, Quincy
L, 28-35, East Valley
L, 7-42, @ Ellensburg
L, 0-56, Prosser
Next: @ Wapato, Thursday, 7 p.m.

WAPATO (1-7, 1-8)
L, 12-42, @ Zillah
L, 21-46, Selah
L, 6-47, @ Ellensburg
L, 13-30, Quincy
L, 13-33, Ephrata
L, 0-60, @ Prosser
L, 6-73, @ Othello
W, 28-14, Grandview
L, 15-44, @ East Valley
Next: Toppenish, Thursday, 7 p.m.

CLASS 1A

CLE ELUM (6-0, 8-1)
W, 72-20, Kittitas
L, 21-50, Cashmere
W, 49-14, @ Chelan
W, 51-0, @ Naches Valley
W, 52-21, Goldendale
W, 56-0, @ Highland
W, 56-7, Granger
W, 53-7, @ La Salle
W, 44-13, Zillah
Next: River View, Friday, 7 p.m., winner to state

GOLDENDALE (4-2, 5-4)
W, 41-16, @ White Salmon
L, 26-34, River View
W, 50-20, @ La Salle
L, 14-20, Zillah
L, 21-52, @ Cle Elum
W, 41-0, Naches Valley
L, 7-14, @ Burbank
W, 40-21, @ Highland
W, 44-8, Granger
Next: @ Royal, Friday, 7 p.m., winner to state

GRANGER (3-3, 4-5)
L, 10-13, Burbank
W, 52-7, @ Mabton
W, 47-0, Highland
L, 21-28, Wahluke
L, 6-28, @ La Salle
W, 14-12, Zillah
L, 7-56, @ Cle Elum
W, 47-7, Naches Valley
L, 8-44, @ Goldendale
Next: @ Connell, Friday, 7 p.m., winner to state

HIGHLAND (1-5, 2-7)
L, 0-34, Kiona-Benton
L, 21-39, Brewster
L, 0-47, @ Granger
L, 14-49, La Salle
L, 0-22, @ Zillah
L, 0-56, Cle Elum
W, 37-22, @ Naches Valley
L, 21-40, Goldendale
W, 36-0, @ Mabton
Next: Wahluke, Friday, 7 p.m.

LA SALLE (2-4, 2-7)
L, 7-39, @ DeSales
L, 20-30, Burbank
L, 20-50, Goldendale
W, 49-14, @ Highland
W, 28-6, Granger
L, 7-49, @ Royal
L, 12-50, @ Zillah
L, 7-53, Cle Elum
L, 8-14, @ Naches Valley
Next: Kiona-Benton, Friday, 7 p.m.

MABTON (0-6 East, 0-9)
L, 13-28, @ White Swan
L, 7-52, Granger
L, 7-39, @ Wahluke
L, 0-51, Royal
L, 0-46, @ River View
L, 8-49, Connell
L, 8-41, @ Kiona-Benton
L, 6-49, Burbank
L, 0-36, Highland
Next: @ Naches Valley, Friday, 7 p.m.

NACHES VALLEY (1-5, 1-8)
L, 14-48, East Valley
L, 21-49, Cascade
L, 6-28, @ Zillah
L, 0-51, Cle Elum
L, 6-41, @ Kiona-Benton
L, 0-41, @ Goldendale
L, 22-37, Highland
L, 7-47, @ Granger
W, 14-8, La Salle
Next: Mabton, Friday, 7 p.m.

ZILLAH (4-2, 6-3)
W, 42-12, Wapato
W, 14-12, @ Kiona-Benton
W, 28-6, Naches Valley
W, 20-14, @ Goldendale
W, 22-0, Highland
L, 12-14, @ Granger
W, 50-12, La Salle
L, 7-14, @ River View
L, 13-44, @ Cle Elum
Next: Burbank, Friday, 7 p.m., winner to state

CLASS 2B

KITTITAS (1-4, 2-7)
L, 20-72, @ Cle Elum
W, 45-0, @ Pateros
L, 13-36, Lind-Ritzville
L, 13-46, Reardan
L, 7-38, White Swan
L, 12-20, @ Lake Roosevelt
L, 6-37, Warden
L, 14-27, @ Soap Lake
W, 46-0, Waterville
Next: Entiat, Friday, 7 p.m.

WHITE SWAN (5-0, 6-3)
W, 28-13, Mabton
L, 6-25, at Wahluke
L, 16-42, DeSales
L, 6-20, @ Asotin
W, 38-7, @ Kittitas
W, 34-14, Warden
W, 39-22, Soap Lake
W, 57-13, @ Waterville
W, 30-0, Lake Roosevelt
Next: Brewster/Oroville/Manson tiebreaker winner, Friday or Saturday.

CLASS 1B

SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN (0-5, 1-8)
L, 0-36, King’s Way Christian
L, 0-14, Lyle-Wishram
W, 58-44, Mansfield
L, 8-52, @ Touchet
L, 14-40, @ Pomeroy
L, 0-42, Liberty Christian
L, 16-50, St. John-Endicott
L, 22-65, @ Colton
L, 14-58, Garfield-Palouse
Next: @ Lacrosse-Washtucna, Friday, 7 p.m.

LYLE-WISHRAM (4-2, 6-3)
L, 6-36, Dufur, Ore.
W, 14-0, @ Sunnyside Christian
W, 52-14, South Wasco County
W, 50-20, Wishkah Valley
W, 60-28, @ Lake Quinault
L, 14-20 (OT), Mary Knight
W, 53-8, @ Oakville
W, 42-0, @ State Deaf
L, Taholah, 22-24 (OT)
Next: @ King’s Way Christian, Saturday, 1 p.m.

HOW LAST WEEK’S STATE-RANKED FOOTBALL TEAMS FARED

Class 4A
1. Eastlake (8-1) lost to Woodinville 17-14.
2. Bellarmine Prep (9-0) beat Gig Harbor 27-20.
3. Chiawana (8-0) beat Wenatchee 27-13.
4. Ferris (8-1) beat Gonzaga Prep 21-14.
5. Kentlake (9-0) beat Kent-Meridian 47-3.
(tie) Federal Way (9-0) beat Jefferson 34-8.
7. Olympia (8-1) beat Shelton 42-13.
8. Woodinville (9-0) beat Eastlake 17-14.
9. Skyline (6-3) beat Roosevelt 45-14.
10. Lake Stevens (9-0) beat Edmonds-Woodway 35-31.
Class 3A
1. Bellevue (9-0) beat Liberty 38-0.
2. Lakes (9-0) beat Bonney Lake 62-14.
3. O’Dea (9-0) beat Franklin 49-0.
4. Kamiakin (9-0) beat Eastmont 41-17.
5. Meadowdale (9-0) beat Oak Harbor 34-17.
6. Camas (8-1) beat Kelso 55-0.
7. Oak Harbor (8-1) lost to Meadowdale 34-17.
8. Peninsula (8-1) beat Enumclaw 48-6.
9. Seattle Prep (8-1) beat West Seattle 42-0.
0. Kennewick (8-1) beat Pasco 35-0.
Class 2A
1. Lynden (9-0) beat Anacortes 42-12.
2. Tumwater (7-1) beat Aberdeen 48-0.
3. Prosser (8-1) beat Toppenish 56-0.
4. North Thurston (8-1) beat W. F. West 52-6.
(tie) Archbishop Murphy (8-1) beat Sultan 50-23.
6. Chehalis (7-2) lost to North Thurston 52-6.
7. Othello (7-2) beat Grandview 56-0.
8. Lakewood (8-1) beat South Whidbey 34-7.
9. Cheney (7-1) idle.
10. Deer Park (8-1) beat Riverside 44-13.
(tie) North Kitsap (7-2) lost to Kingston 27-20.
(tie) Sequim (8-1) beat Port Angeles 27-14.
Class 1A
1. Cashmere (9-0) beat Omak 35-8.
2. Montesano (9-0) beat Onalaska 62-0.
3. Connell (8-1) beat River View 42-0.
4. Meridian (7-2) beat Coupeville 47-0.
5. Cle Elum (8-1) beat Zillah 44-13.
6. Cascade Christian (7-2) beat Orting 42-14.
7. Freeman (8-1) beat Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 33-20.
8. Royal (7-2) beat Kiona-Benton 41-27.
9. King’s (7-2) beat Friday Harbor 41-13.
10. Chelan (6-3) beat Cascade (Leavenworth) 60-0.
Class 2B
1. Colfax (8-0) beat Kettle Falls 34-16.
2. Waitsburg-Prescott (9-0) beat Tekoa-Oakesdale/Rosalia 35-0.
3. Naselle (8-0) beat Ocosta 48-12.
4. Napavine (8-1) beat Willapa Valley 52-14.
5. Morton/White Pass (7-1) beat Pe Ell 43-0.
6. Adna (8-1) beat Mossyrock 47-7.
7. DeSales (6-2) beat Tri-Cities Prep 54-8.
8. Lind-Ritzville (7-1) beat Davenport 40-19.
9. Willapa Valley (6-3) lost to Napavine 52-14.
10. Tacoma Baptist (6-2) beat Seattle Lutheran 41-0.
Class 1B
1. Lummi (9-0) beat Neah Bay 40-12.
2. Almira/Coulee-Hartline (9-0) beat Odessa-Harrington 64-20.
3. Touchet (7-1) lost to Pomeroy 48-42.
4. Colton (8-1) beat St. John-Endicott 52-12.
5. Neah Bay (6-2) lost to Lummi 40-12.

Oct. 31 state volleyball poll

OCT. 31 STATE COACHES VOLLEYBALL POLL

Class 4A: 1. Mead; 2. Jackson; 3. Olympia; 4. Bellarmine Prep; 5, Walla Walla; 6, Richland; 7. Puyallup; 8. Kentwood; 9. Newport; 10. Wenatchee.
Class 3A: 1. West Valley (Yakima); 2. Mt. Spokane; 3. Seattle Prep; 4. Prairie; 5. Auburn Mountainview; 6. Meadowdale; 7. Mount Si; 8. Eastside Catholic; 9. Capital; 10. Glacier Peak.
Class 2A: 1. Burlington-Edison; 2. Selah; 3. Anacortes; 4. Tumwater; 5. Pullman; 6. North Kitsap; 7. Grandview (obviously an oversight, should probably be East Valley-Yakima); 8. Mark Morris; 9. West Valley (Spokane); 10. North Thurston.
Class 1A: 1. Colville; 2. Chelan; 3. King’s; 4. Castle Rock; 5. Lynden Christian; 6. Freeman; 7. Cascade; 8. Cedar Park Christian; 9. Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls); 10. Zillah.
Class 2B: 1. Reardan; 2. Colfax; 3. Northwest Christian (Spokane); 4. Bear Creek; 5. La Conner; 6. Brewster; 7. Kittitas; 8. Adna; 9. Riverside Christian; 10. Dayton.
Class 1B: 1. Christian Faith; 2. Tekoa-Oaksdale; 3. Moses Lake Christian; 4. Almira/Coulee-Hartline; 5. Colton; 6. Wilbur-Creston; 7. Thorp; 8. Klickitat; 9. Sunnyside Christian; 10. King’s Way Christian.

Early deadline this week for Pigskin Picks

Because of Thursday’s full slate of CWAC games, the deadline for this week’s Pigskin Picks contest is Thursday at 5 p.m.

Also, because of the early deadline, games which had yet to be determined by Sunday night will not be part of the contest this week.

This affects Davis and White Swan.

Davis is playing in a three-team tiebreaker Tuesday to determine its opponent for Friday, while White Swan is waiting for the result of another Tuesday three-team tiebreaker to determine its Friday opponent.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY

The weekend’s top photos

YAKIMA, Wash. — A look at some of the best photos by Associated Press photographers from the past weekend.

 

Football: Central stumbles late

CANYON, Texas — It was the type of back and forth game Central Washington was hoping for.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it involved more back than forth during the fourth quarter Saturday night, with 20th-ranked West Texas A&M pulling away for a 49-35 non-conference victory.

It was 35-35 early in the fourth quarter, after Central’s Justin Helwege caught his second touchdown pass of the game, an 8-yarder from Jose Mohler.

The Buffaloes, however, went ahead on the ensuing possession and later, after CWU’s Josef Kistler punted 56 yards to the A&M 3 yard line, they got a 70-yard score on a pass from Dustin Vaughan to Brittan Golden.

“We couldn’t answer offensively,” Central head coach Blaine Bennett said via cell phone after the game. “They’re very talented. I wasn’t sure if we could put enough points on the board. We just couldn’t keep up with them.”

West Texas (6-2) was explosive offensively, with Vaughan throwing for 430 of the Buffs’ 549 total yards. He also passed for four touchdowns while Golden and running back Khiry Robinson scored three apiece.

“Their quarterback is a big kid, he’s 6-5 and a very accurate passer,” Bennett said. “Their receivers are talented and their running back broke a lot of tackles.”

Central (3-5) saw its hopes for a 10th consecutive winning season end, but can avoid its first losing campaign since 2001 by winning its last two games — next Saturday at Simon Fraser and at home on Nov. 12 against Dixie State.

Mohler, in his second start since replacing the injured Ryan Robertson, was 31 for 53 for 358 yards and four scores with two interceptions. Helwege had six catches for 124 yards and two scores.

“I thought going in that they’d be the best team we’ve seen,” Bennett said, “and walking off the field, I still feel that way. We made some plays in all three phases of the game, but we just couldn’t keep up with their offense.”

Central Washington 7 14 14 14 — 49
West Texas A&M 7 14 7 7 — 35

First Quarter

CWU — Leon La Deaux 56 pass from Jose Mohler (Sean Davis kick), 12:17.

WTAMU — Tommy Hampton 8 run (Sergio Castillo kick), 0:28.

Second Quarter

CWU — Levi Taylor 9 pass from Mohler (Davis kick), 7:20.

WTAMU — Khiry Robinson 10 pass from Dustin Vaughan (Castillo kick), 5:55.

CWU — Matt Mosley 8 fumble return (Davis kick), 3:26.

WTAMU — Robinson 2 run (Castillo kick), 1:03.

Third Quarter

WTAMU — Brittan Golden 26 pass from Vaughan (Castillo kick), 8:38.

WTAMU — Golden 16 pass from Vaughan (Castillo kick), 5:08.

CWU — Justin Helwege 22 pass from Mohler (Davis kick), 2:48.

Fourth Quarter

CWU — Helwege 8 pass from Mohler (Davis kick), 12:29.

WTAMU — Robinson 14 run (Castillo kick), 10:36.

WTAMU — Golden 70 pass from Vaughan (Castillo kick), 8:09.

                                CWU          WTAMU

First downs                   24                29

Rushes-yards          22-80               30-119

Passing                       358                   430

Comp-Att-Int      31-53-2             32-43-1

Return yards             114                     172

Punts-Avg.                  7-37.9              4-46.8

Fumbles-Lost                0-0                    1-1

Penalties-Yards            8-55                11-115

Time of Possession 30:42                29:18

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — CWU, Mohler 9-34, Taylor 9-40, Ishmael Stinson 4-6. WTAMU, Robinson 12-74, Vaughan 5-21, Tanner Marsh 1-(minus 9), Hampton 82-4, Aarrhon Flores 4-9.

PASSING — CWU, Mohler 31-53-2-358. WTAMU, Vaughan 32-42-1-430.

RECEIVING — CWU, Armahd Lewis 2-31, Anthony Spain 3-35, Dominique Gaisie 1-12, La Deaux 5-89, Stinson 5-38, Taylor 6-26, Mike Nelson 1-(minus 1), Helwege 6-124, Robert Akeo-Orr 1-4. WTAMU, Robinson 4-37, Nathan Slaughter 1-6, Golden 9-170, Torrence Allen 2-17, Lance Ratliff 7-96, Jeremy Watson 5-50, Hampton 1-13, Trevor Hammargren 3-41.

Next Page »