Clatsop Clash Round 2: No change

Published 12:04 pm Monday, February 2, 2026

Round Two of the Clatsop Clash saw no change from Round One. The Seaside girls and the Astoria boys teams clinched the season series against their rivals with victories on Friday night. About 40 minutes east, the Knappa Loggers took care of business against Faith Bible to keep pace in the league race.

Seaside girls lean on experience

It’s rare when both coaches can sum up the game with a one word phrase. This was true in the postgame comments from both Astoria’s head coach Jordan Ax and Seaside’s head coach Marla Olstedt.

That word was “experience.”

With the Fishermen now graduated from their young team status and being competitive in most of their games, Friday night was going to be a battle of wills. After the Fishermen and Seagulls were tied at halftime 24-24, the expectation around the Seaside gym was that the senior led Seagulls would have a third quarter explosion. The question was: could the Fishermen match it.

The answer was no.

Seaside put on a defensive showcase in the second half to overwhelm their rivals. The Seagulls allowed just eight points in the second half to take home a 50-32 victory. This extended their winning streak to 11 games in a row. For Astoria, this dropped their record to 4-12 overall and 0-6 in league.

Though the Fishermen are much more competitive in games than they were at the start of the season, Ax said the next step for them is to overcome some mental hurdles.

“It’s starting to become a pattern of a really good first half, then struggling in the second,” Ax said. “But give Seaside credit — they came out and were super physical. We’ve got to get used to that physical brand of basketball and we will. I think that the biggest adjustment was just their ability to come out and dictate their pace through physicality.”

Ax said he feels like the girls are still inexperienced in comparison to most of the teams in the Cowapa League this year.

“I think we’ve gotten past the youth part,” Ax said. “Inexperience is for sure going to be something that you need to figure out, whether it’s different defenses, speeds, game plans from one game to the next. Those are all areas where having experience helps, but we are getting there.”

“The goal right now is to put four quarters together. Right now we’re at about 60 percent. It’s overcoming that mental hurdle. Once they figure out how good they can be and finish a game we’re going to win quite a few.”

The Fishermen are hopeful they can overcome some mental hurdles and put together some complete games between now and the end of the season. With eight games remaining, the Fishermen are trending in the right direction and a couple late season wins could really serve as a springboard.

As for Seaside, it was more of the same. A slower start was followed by a second half flurry.

The Seagulls defense was suffocating and they figured out ways to beat the 2-3 zone that Astoria was playing. Fans in attendance were able to see the difference in experience watching the second half. While Astoria was mostly stagnant against the Seagulls’ zone and playing on the perimeter, the Seagulls tore apart the Fishermen in the fourth quarter.

The Seagulls would set a high screen for their dynamic freshman point Jahzara Marshall, who would then drive to the free throw line and either get inside herself or find teammates cutting to the basket.

This victory was even more sweet for the Seagulls since they will be playing the rest of the year without senior point guard Mya Feeney, who underwent knee surgery earlier in the week.

“We really leaned into our experience in the second half,” Olstedt said. “It’s a senior heavy class who know how important every possession is and that one half can make or break a game. If we continued with the first half momentum it wouldn’t be enough, so they understood how important it was to execute every possession on offense and defense.

“Both Mya and Berkley Sturgell had their surgeries on Monday, back-to-back with the same doctor,” Olstedt said. “They’re obviously still a part of the team — four days later they’re in the gym and cheering us on. With Mya, that girl’s drive was something different and she played five games for us and is still an integral part of this basketball team.”

Kilee Svensen and Kyah Gohr, who each had 10, led Astoria in scoring. Seaside had three players in double figures. Miller led the way with 13, Carly Corder and 12 and Marshall pitched in 11.

Astoria boys lead with defense

The boys game could be described as a barnburner.

After Astoria exploded against Seaside in the first game, this one was played more at the Seagulls pace. With neither team being able to score that efficiently, this game was going to be about defense.

In the past, these defensive games have been won by the Seagulls, but Friday night the Fishermen flipped the script. Behind 14 points from Quin Gohr, the Fishermen scored just enough to survive the Seagulls 41-34. This win is huge for the Fishermen as it marks the first time they’ve won the season series against their rivals in quite some time. It also keeps them in the running for a Cowapa League Championship.

“Defense, we played pretty well, it’s been the backbone of this team,” Astoria head coach Alex Eterno said.

“Offensively, we couldn’t put the ball in the bucket, didn’t shoot free throws well. Seaside made it hard on us at times … . They played a really scrappy game and made it tough on us, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop.”

This was evident early on for the Fishermen as they had a number of layup and dunk attempts just sit on the front rim or roll out at the last second. But being able to overcome a bad shooting game is a sign that this team is growing.

Perhaps the best sign for Astoria is the return of their best shooter Kanon Huber.

Huber suffered a football injury in the fall and was thought to be lost for the season, but the doctors cleared him to play a few weeks ago. The team decided to keep his status a secret and have him return against Seaside.

Though he was on minute restrictions, the senior still knocked down a couple of threes, played good defense and had a couple of highlight passes that unfortunately weren’t finished on the other end. Having their sniper back gives the Fishermen another weapon to add for the playoff push.

“It was nice to have Kanon back in the lineup, he brings a lot of energy and I know he’s been chomping at the bit to get back,” Eterno said. “It was good for him and everybody else. It’s nice to get everybody back healthy for the last part of the season.”

Though the Seagulls came out on the wrong side of the result, this game was much like how fans expect Seaside basketball to look. The Seagulls defensive intensity was good and they made shots at times, though it wasn’t enough to beat their rivals.

With injuries and sickness running throughout the team, junior Brody Perrigo was the standout scorer. Perrigo was called up from the junior varsity roster and led the Seagulls with 12 points. He was joined in double figures by senior Slatter Martinez, who had 10.

Knappa sweeps Faith Bible

Friday was a straightforward night for Knappa basketball as the Loggers took care of Faith Bible easily.

The girls cruised 49-21 to kick things off, then the boys took home a 71-46 victory.

With the victory, both teams stay right in the thick of both the league race and playoff chase. The Logger girls will need to win out and hope that Clatskanie upsets Nestucca on Tuesday. That scenario would see the girls win the league outright, but if Nestucca and Knappa both win out then the league will end in a tie.

The boys currently sit No. 7 in the 2A state rankings and are chasing undefeated Portland Christian. Though it will be difficult to beat PC this year, the Loggers are hoping to stay in the top 8 and give themselves a chance to have a home playoff game.