Coming off their first win of the season, a 78-48 victory over Crescent High School, the Tulalip Heritage Hawks (1-3) were looking forward to a competitive game against one of their rivals, the Neah Bay Red Devils (3-0). The Red Devils are the back-to-back WA State 1B champions, currently ranked #32 in the nation, and ranked #1 in the state. The Red Devils have been destroying teams by an average margin of 37 points per game and appear prime to repeat again as 1B champions.
The game was played at Quil Ceda stadium on Saturday, October 10, where clouds opened up to rain showers just before kick-off.
On the opening kick-off the Red Devils scored on an 87-yard kick return, completed the 2-point conversions, and took an 8-0 lead over Tulalip Heritage less than 15 seconds into the game. On the Hawks ensuing possession they went 3 and out, but their 4th down punt attempt went awry as the snap was low and the ball was fumbled. The Red Devils took over on downs at the Hawks 22-yard line and on 1st down scored an easy touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.
It would be that kind of day for the Hawks, as the Red Devils were just too good, took advantage of every Hawks miscue, and continued to pile on the points.
Down 0-44 with 90 seconds left in the 1st quarter the Hawks got on the board. From their own 45-yard line, quarterback Willy Enick dropped back and connected to Robert Miles on a 15-yard throw. Miles shed a would-be tackler and was off to the races for a 55-yard touchdown.
The Red Devils would add another touchdown right before the end of the 1st quarter, giving them a 50-6 lead over the home team after the opening quarter.
Early in the 2nd quarter Willy Enick again connected with wide receiver Robert Miles for a 74-yard catch and run touchdown for the Hawks. This time it was a well-timed throw by Enick that caught Miles in stride and led him past the Red Devils secondary for the score. The 12-50 score was the closest the Hawks would get unfortunately.
The Hawks would be held scoreless for the remainder of the game and would go on to lose 12-72. It was definitely a humbling experience for the home team who with the loss now sit at 1-4 on the season. Next up is an away game at Clallam Bay on Friday, October 23.
After four seasons of losing to Lakewood Archbishop, the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats ended the Friday, September 18 game with a 45-13 victory over the Cougars. Pictured above #58 #78 #59 holding the line
2nd team O-line: Senior Darion Joseph # 58
Martin Napeahi Jr #59 sophomore
Jesus Echavarria Jr #78 junior
The Archbishop Murphy Wildcats football team also won their home conference game against Sultan, on Friday, September 25, by a score of 48-0.
You can find the Murphy Wildcats, and other high shool sports teams, game schedules and scores at www.maxpreps.com
On Tuesday, October 6, the Tulalip Lady Hawks (2-4) volleyball team hosted the Rockets (1-5) from Skykomish. The Francis J. Sheldon gymnasium was decorated with pink signs, pink balloons, and pink ribbons to recognize October as national Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
It was clear just by watching the two teams warm-up prior to their match that the Lady Hawks had a decisive advantage in skill and athleticism. All the Lady Hawks had to do was execute their game plan and not commit turnovers that result in points for their opponent.
The 1st game started out rough for the home team to say the least. They weren’t communicating, there was no hustle, and most of all they were scoring most of the points for their opponent by committing error after error. Coach Tina Brown called timeout when the Lady Hawks went down 9-10, but was unable to get her team going. The Lady Hawks were visually stunned after giving away the 1st game, 17-25, to the Rockets.
Before the start of the 2nd game, coach Tina told her team, “All we have to do out there is talk, that’s it. Just talk and we’ll win this match. If you don’t communicate with each other then you make it very difficult to win.”
The Lady Hawks took that 1st game loss personal, as they should have, and came out motivated and determined to make up for it in the 2nd game. Jumping out to a 10-3 point lead calmed the girls’ nerves and allowed them to settle in and just play their game. They would win the 2nd game 25-15, tying the match at one game apiece.
In the 3rd game, #13 Jaylin Rivera kept the momentum going for her team by serving up four straight aces. With #12 Aliya Jones leading the way with her active voice and energy, she sparked the rest of her teammates to follow suit and hustle their way to a 25-13 win to claim the 3rd game.
The 4th game would be the easiest of them all for Lady Hawks, as the Rockets best player appeared to strain her hamstring and come out of the game. Leaving little competition for the Lady Hawks, they took the game 25-12 and the match 3-1. It was the first home win on the season for the Lady Hawks, and moved their overall record to 3-4 and only 1 game behind for 4th place in the division standings.
On Saturday, September 26, the Tulalip Heritage Hawks (0-2) football team played their first home game of the season at Marysville Pilchuck field versus the Seattle Lutheran Saints (2-1). Last year the Hawks beat the Saints in dominate fashion, winning 58-0.
In the Hawks opening game of the 2015 season, played on September 3, they traveled to Evergreen Lutheran and came away with a 32-62 loss. After a week’s worth of practice the team was looking forward to playing Entiat on Saturday, September 15. Instead they had to forfeit the game due to having more than half the team academically ineligible to play, resulting in not having enough eligible players to field a team.
Against the Saints of Seattle Lutheran, the Hawks were able to field nine players, just enough to field a team and have one substitute player. Important to note, that with only nine players that meant all of the boys would be playing both offense and defense for pretty much the entire game.
On the second play of the game the Hawks sent #24 Robert Miles on an inside blitz and he tackled the Saints running back in the back field for a 3-yard loss. Two plays later the Hawks came away with a clutch 4th down stop and took over on the 48-yeard line, in Saints territory.
It didn’t take long for the Hawks to capitalize on the turnover, as Rob threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver #82 Braxton Lake to score the game’s first points. The Hawks opted to go for a 2-point conversion and Rob connected again with Braxton to take an 8-0 lead only three-minutes into the opening quarter.
The Saints responded in kind by marching down the field and scoring on a touchdown pass, then converting the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8. Attempting to catch the Hawks by surprise, the Saints attempted an on-side kick, but #22 Nate Hatch managed to corral the ball and possession at the Saints 45-yard line.
Using a mix of short dink and dunk passes with their running game, the Hawks were able to get into the red zone. On a 2nd down play from the 16-yard line, Rob dropped back to pass, not seeing anyone open, threw a pump fake, tucked the ball and ran it into the end zone. The Hawks again went for 2-points and Rob connected on a pass to #15 Nashone Whitebear to give the Hawks a 16-8 lead.
Less than 20 seconds later the Saints tied the game at 16-16. Their star player #23 J.J. Young had a 60-yard kickoff return to put his team in the red zone. On the next play the Saints would score a touchdown and follow it up with converting the 2-point conversion.
On the Hawks next offensive possession they were forced to punt, and the Saints scored quickly to take a 22-16 lead over the home team. The Saints 2-point conversion failed as Braxton tackled their running back just short of the goal line.
Opting to go for the onside kick once again, the Saints managed to recover the ball after it bounced over the outstretched hands of Nate and #17 Dominic Joseph. Fortunately for the Hawks, in this division the ball is marked down where it’s recovered (runner is not allowed to advance after recovery) otherwise the Saints would have scored an easy touchdown off the recovery.
The Hawks defense did a great job on the next series containing the Saints skill positions and tackling on first contact, but the Saints still managed to work the ball down the field. After a nice throw and catch, the Saints easily scored from 1st and goal from the 1-yard line. Opting not to follow the Seahawks lead in the last super bowl, the Saints ran the ball from 1-yard line to score and go up 28-16. The Hawks defense stepped up and prevented the 2-point conversion to keep their deficit at 12-points.
Yet again, the Saints attempted an onside kick that was collected by #57 Lloyd McLean, giving the Hawks good starting field position at their own 47-yard line.
The Hawks ran it on back-to-back plays before Rob dropped back on a key 3rd down and bombed out a 40-yard throw to Braxton who caught it and looked to have a for sure touchdown, but was tackled just short at the 2-yard line. On the very next play Rob switched to running back and took the handoff in for an easy score. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful, but the Hawks had cut into their deficit now only trailing 22-28.
In an interesting move to keep their momentum going, they took a page from the Saints book and attempted a surprise onside kick. Unfortunately, a Saints player recovered the ball and ran untouched to the end zone, followed by a successful 2-point conversion. Just like that, in a matter of seconds, the Hawks were now trailing 22-36.
The Haws leaned heavily on the playmaking abilities of Rob on their next offensive series. He seemingly accounted for every yard on the drive and picked up two 4th down conversions with his legs. After a personal foul penalty on the Saints, the Hawks were in business in the red zone, having a 1st down on the 15-yard line. There was no doubt what the play call would be, as Rob took the hike and immediately ran to the left edge and running right by four Saints defenders and stiff arming his way in for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful, but the touchdown capped off a great drive for the Hawk. The score was now 28-36 with under 2 minutes remaining in the 1st half.
#24 Robert Miles scores his 4th touchdown of the game, none more impressive than this 15-yard scamper with a stiff-arm at the end. Photo/Micheal Rios
Considering how many big plays the Saints had and the Hawks playing with only one substitute player, it was amazing to see the Hawks keep grinding away to keep the game within reach.
Notably absent on the Hawks next defensive series was Rob, who was on the Hawks bench receiving attention to his left side. He had taken a nasty hit going for the failed 2-point conversion and immediately walked gingerly to the sideline afterward.
The Saints wasted no time taking advantage of Rob being on the sideline as they ran three straight run plays right into the heart of the Hawks defense to score a touchdown and complete the 2-point conversion.
At halftime the Hawks trailed the Saints, 28-44.
Coming out of halftime there was bad news coming from the Hawks side as it was announced Rob was out for the remainder of the game, leaving an already short-handed team without its best player on offense and defense.
The 3rd quarter was an absolute disaster for the Hawks as they allowed two punt returns for touchdowns and threw a pick-6 on offense. Fatigue was for sure a factor at his point in the game and having to switch players in and out of QB in Rob’s absence made it difficult to get any momentum going. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Hawks were now trailing 28-65.
The Saints, having 20+ players on their active squad, and 37-point lead used the 4th quarter to give them 2nd string players some game action. Meanwhile the Hawks having no subs at this point had to dig deep to finish the game out strong.
Taking advantage of very good field position following a 50-yard kickoff return by Braxton, the Hawks’ Dominic Joseph turned a broken play into a rushing touchdown. Following a failed 2-point conversion, the score was 34-65. That would go onto be the final score, dropping the Hawks to 0-3 on the season, while the Saints moved to 3-1.
For the Hawks, their next home game will be Saturday, October 10, when they host the Neah Bay Red Devils.
As a reminder, all Tulalip home games can be viewed on Tulalip Broadband TV channel 99 or be streamed live at TulalipTV.com
Aliya Jones goes full extension in her serving game against the Lady Eagles. Photo/Micheal Rios
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Lady Hawks played their third straight home game of the young season on Tuesday, September 22. They hosted the Eagles of Grace Academy.
In the 1st game, Grace Academy came out firing on all cylinders and made short work of the home team 25-10. During the short between game intermission, Lady Hawks Coach Tina Brown pleaded with her team to communicate. “Ladies, you have to talk out there. I’m going to keep rotating players until I find that person who is not going to stop communicating and keeping everyone on their toes.”
The 2nd game was highly contested and saw the Lady Hawks play their best volleyball of the season. They seemingly matched Grace Academy point for point and were communicating as a team as their coach had urged them to. Tied 16-16, Grace Academy took a timeout. Following the timeout, the Lady Hawks went back to bad habits of not communicating and gave up some easy points. That made all the difference as they lost the 2nd game 20-25.
The Lady Hawks didn’t respond well to start off the 3rd game and quickly found themselves down 2-10. They hung in there and did their best to keep one another positive. The closest they’d get back in the game was 15-20, as they went on to drop the 3rd game 15-25, and lost the match 0-3.
Following the game, #10 Keryn Parks shared her thoughts on the match. “During practice this week, we’ve been working really hard on our fundamentals; digs, spikes, settings and serves. I think we are improving every game and we are learning from our mistakes.
“I honestly think we are getting better because it’s a competition for us to be on the court playing, we all want playing time and as much time on the court as we can get. So we’re all trying to be loud and communicate and play our best. Going forward we need to work on communicating better and getting our serves over the net. They are just like free-throws, the more practice the better they’ll be.”
Samantha, Aliya and Kaenisha prepare for a Lady Knights serve. Photo/Micheal Rios
by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
On Friday, September 18, the Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks hosted the Eagles of Highland Christian at the Francy Sheldon gymnasium. It was the second game of the 2015-2106 volleyball season and second home game for the Lady Hawks. Coming off a 0-3 match defeat at the hands of the Lopez Island Lobos in their home opener, the Lady Hawks were looking to capitalize on their extra days of practice.
The Lady Hawks started out hot as they jumped out to a 3-0 point lead in the 1st game, but the tide was quickly turned as they would go on to drop the game 12-25.
In the 2nd game, the Lady Hawks once again started out playing very good team ball and communicating with each other. This resulted in an 8-4 point lead before the Knights turned the heat on and took a 21-12 lead. The Lady Hawks dug deep and behind some key aces they managed to battle back and close their deficit to only 3 points, down 18-21. The Lady Hawks’ surge made the Knights take a timeout to collect themselves. Following the timeout, the Lady Hawks were unable to match the intensity of the Knights and lost the 2nd game 19-25.
The lack of intensity continued into the 3rd game for the Lady Hawks and they lost 14-25, resulting in a 0-3 sweep.
On Tuesday, September 15, the Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks hosted the Lopez Island Lobos at the Francy Sheldon gymnasium. It was the first game of the 2015-2016 volleyball season and home opener for the Lady Hawks. Coming off a very disappointing season last year, that saw them win only one set and zero matches, the Lady Hawks were excited to start fresh.
Unfortunately, there were some behind the scenes issues with their previous coach, and for reasons unknown she was replaced last minute by Tulalip Heritage Athletic Director, Tina Brown. Coach Tina spent the last couple weeks with the Lady Hawks going over volleyball basics and focusing on conditioning.
In the 1st set the Lady Hawks would fall 16-25, followed shortly thereafter by a quick 2nd set 9-25. However, in the 3rd set the Lady Hawks showed signs of their dedication to teamwork as they fought and scraped for every point they could muster. After falling behind 7-13, the Lady Hawks rallied to take a 15-14 lead behind the serving of #10 Keryn Parks and #13 Jaylin Rivera. The Lopez Island Lobos wouldn’t be denied and went on to win the 3rd and final set 25-20.
Losing the match 0-3 was a bummer, but captain #1 Myrna Redleaf was upbeat after the loss, saying “I thought we did really well compared to last year, especially going against our rivals from Lopez Island. I feel we did really well for our first match of the year. We have a lot of new girls playing this year, and we’re all still getting used to playing with each other and learning each other’s tendencies. We were really nervous in the first couple sets, but in the last set we relaxed and just had fun and our play was better.”
Myrna Redleaf, captain #1. Photo/Micheal Rios
Going forward, Myrna says the team will look to improve their communication most of all. The Lady Hawks take on Highland Christion on Friday, September 18. It’s a home game and starts at 5:00 p.m.
Upcoming native youth basketball skills academy in partnership with Rise Above & Elite Youth Camps, Saturday September 19th 2015 from 9am-4pm located at the Tulalip Youth Center. Ages 5-18, must be a Tulalip Tribal member. Pre-registration is suggested, stop by the Don Hatch Youth Center.
PINE RIDGE (AP) — A longtime tennis coach in England has been offering free tennis classes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Leigh Owen, 50, has been visiting Pine Ridge regularly since 1997 and has been enamored with the people and their culture since he was an 8-year-old boy, when he asked his mom to write to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, he told the Rapid City Journal.
“I don’t know exactly why,” Owen said by phone, “but I was interested in the Native-American culture since childhood.”
Owen began coaching at Red Cloud Indian School in February, spending one day a week at the school. Although Red Cloud does not have a formal tennis court, the school’s gym is perfect for what Owen calls “mini-tennis,” allowing his students to work on technique.
“The kids really liked it,” he said.
Patrick Welch, a physical education teacher at Red Cloud Elementary and assistant athletic director at the middle school, said Owen is doing an amazing job. Welch said kids on the reservation know basketball, football and cross country running, but tennis was foreign to them.
“Leigh got the kids interested; he grabbed their attention right off the bat,” Welch said.
Owen said the United States Tennis Association has been generous in providing equipment for the fledgling tennis players.
Tony Stingley, director of training and outreach for USTA’s northern district, estimated that the organization has donated more than $1,200 worth of equipment.
Owen said he is determined to turn the reservation he loves into a mecca for the sport he loves, and he and Welch are thinking big. They want to renovate some outdoor courts for what could become a tennis center.
Owen is back in Liverpool but will return to the United States in early September.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A Native American tribe from South Dakota will return a $25,000 donation from a charitable arm of the NFL’s Washington team, saying the team name is “derogatory and inappropriate.”
The tribal council of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe voted Wednesday to return the check, which was issued last month by the team’s Original Americans Foundation to the tribe’s rodeo association.
“A lot of those in our community are opposed to accepting money from the R*dsk*ns, which to us is a racist organization; the term is derogatory and inappropriate,” said Ryman LeBeau, the tribe’s vice chairman and a councilman. “Their fans make a mockery of Indian culture, and that’s just wrong.”
The foundation was created in March 2014 by team owner Dan Snyder following intensifying calls by Native Americans and other groups for the team to do away with its name. The team has maintained that it is meant to honor Native Americans, though a federal judge in June ordered the team’s trademark registration be cancelled, saying there is ample evidence that the name may be perceived as disparaging. However, that ruling does not preclude the team from using the word.
It wasn’t immediately known how many tribes have received donations from the foundation, but team spokesman Maury Lane said the majority of tribes are happy to accept such help and typically put the money toward improving things like transportation, education and football camps.
“The Original American foundation has been working with more than 50 federally recognized tribes, spending millions of dollars on more than 250 projects on tribal lands,” Lane said. “Our mission remains to improve the quality of life on these lands without interfering with tribal governance.”
The Cheyenne Sioux’s fair and rodeo board had passed a motion to allow Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier to seek money from the foundation but hadn’t brought the check to council until this week, LeBeau said, adding that Frazier has met personally with Snyder and the charitable arm.
Included in the motion voted on this week is language that bans Frazier from “unsanctioned communication” with the team or any group or person associated with it. Messages left at Frazier’s office were not immediately returned.
LeBeau, who says the central South Dakota tribe has areas he feels need improvement, doesn’t think it’s right to accept money from an organization that many feel doesn’t support them.
“It just feels like they want to buy us off and keep us quiet,” he said, noting that he knew of only a few people in the approximately 16,000-member tribe supported accepting the check.
Lane maintained that the vast majority the foundation’s donations are well-received.
“This is definitely an anomaly,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah ousted a tribal chairwoman who was involved with the Original Americans Foundation for misconduct and ethical violations after accepting gifts of an autographed football and a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a game in 2014.
The foundation also donated two vans to the tribe, which ex-chairwoman Gari Lafferty has said are used to transport children and elders. Lafferty has disputed the tribe’s allegations.
In South Dakota, LeBeau said the issue is preventing from the tribe from tackling larger issues like drug and alcohol abuse and suicides.
“This is just a (distraction) from working on the bigger solutions that will help our communities with the issues that are really affecting us, he said.”
