NEAH BAY — Neah Bay lives on a different planet than most 8-man football teams.
When the Red Devils wonder if their defense will be as good a year after losing some key players to graduation, the “as good” part is definitely the crux of the question.
With most of the offensive starters returning from last year’s 1B state championship squad, the question this season was whether the defense would be good enough to help the offense win another title.
Heading into Friday’s state semifinal showdown with Lummi (9-3), the Red Devils’ defense is doing just fine.
Neah Bay (10-0) is allowing only 12 points per game. That doesn’t include its forfeit win over Lummi, but it does include the 44-36 victory over Northwest Christian of Colbert in an 11-man game. Take away the points from that game and the Red Devils are allowing an average of only nine points to their 8-man opponents.
The most points they’ve allowed in an 8-man game was 14 to Clallam Bay on Oct. 30.
Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley isn’t completely surprised, but he admits the defense was more of a question mark than the offense coming into the season.
“I think, here of late, they’ve been playing really well,” McCaulley said of the defense.
“I expected most of these guys to play pretty well.
“The defense I thought would maybe have the more rebuilding to do. The defense is maybe playing a little bit better than I thought they would.”
The Red Devils lost half of their starting defense from last season with the graduations of John Reamer, Josh Monette, Elisha Winck and Chris Martinez.
The names have changed, but that’s about it, defensive lineman Kenrick Doherty Jr., a holdover from last year’s starting defense, said.
“They got the same mindset and the same work ethic,” Doherty said while comparing this year’s defense to last year’s.
“We certainly lost a lot with John and Chris and Elisha and all them, but we had players to fill them and . . . our defense hasn’t missed a beat.”
Defense has been an important component during Neah Bay’s current run of three state championships in four years.
A lot of 8-man teams can score, and so can the Red Devils, but their advantage comes from preventing points.
As with most things during its era of 1B football dominance, Neah Bay’s defensive excellence can be traced back to the Class of 2014, which led the program to its first two state titles in 2011 and 2013.
“I think that a few years back when we had Josiah Greene, Tyler [McCaulley], Zeke [Greene], they kind of molded that program to where the offseason work was so important,” Tony McCaulley said.
“Other kids have kind of followed their footsteps.”
And then when the season starts, senior defensive lineman Jericho McGimpsey says, the work continues Monday through Thursday each week.
“You know, we work hard in practice,” he said.
“We play as a team, we’re like a family when we step out on that field. We all get motivated and we know what we have to do, and we go out there and we do it.”
McGimpsey took a year off from playing football last year, but has returned for his senior season and leads Neah Bay in tackles.
Unfortunately, McCaulley said, McGimpsey will miss this week’s game with a concussion.
The good news for the Red Devils is that there is probably another player who is more than ready but has just been waiting for more playing time.
“We’ve just had some really good backups,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
“Our scout team is probably better than a lot of the teams in the state.”
The wide chasm in 1B football leads to many blowout wins for the Red Devils, and that limits the amount of snaps the starters play, but it also lets the younger players see some action.
“They play a lot during the year,” McCaulley said.
“They get a lot of playing time, so they’re pretty good by the time they get to be starters.
“I think that’s really helped our program with the transition from one year to the next.”
The deeper the Red Devils advance in the state playoffs — this is the seventh straight year they’ve reached the semifinals — the smaller the rotation gets. Depth remains one Neah Bay’s biggest strengths, but it doesn’t quite get utilized to the extent that it does during the regular season because there is less time for on-the-job learning.
That means a lot of players are stuck on the sidelines watching their teammates play for state championship. And that leaves them hungry for their time.
“Most of the people on this team, they really haven’t gotten to play, so they want to get to the moment so they can play in the game,” Doherty said.
“And the more and more [state championship games] we get to, the older those people get that can step up and fill those positions.”
That is what Chris Martinez did last year, and what players such as McGimpsey, Roland Gagnon, Tommy Tyler, Nate Tyler, Everett Greene-Maddalena, Phillip Greene, Michael McGee and Reggie Buttram have done this season.
The luxury of having so many capable defenders is that McCaulley and defensive coordinator T.J. Greene are able to pick the personnel that is best suited for each opponent.
“For different teams, we play different guys,” McCaulley said.
“It depends on if we need more coverage guys or if we need more run stoppers. Just basically situational stuff.”
McCaulley said Neah Bay has been switching defensive players more this year than ever.
Even players’ positions have been rotating. Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. has been moved from defensive end to defensive back to linebacker. Cole Svec will play defensive back or linebacker, depending on the team the Red Devils are playing.
So who starts Friday afternoon?
As of Tuesday, McCaulley still wasn’t sure.
Part of his indecision is because of the status of Lummi’s Hank Hoskins, who missed the Blackhawks’ 40-0 quarterfinal win over Quilcene due to injury.
McCaulley has heard Hoskins has what is a potentially major ankle injury. But McCaulley isn’t counting Hoskins out.
Hoskins is Lummi’s top runner. Without him the Blackhawks are good. With him, they’re even better.
Without Hoskins in a 62-12 loss to the Red Devils last month, the Blackhawks had only 69 yards rushing. Lummi instead focused on throwing the ball, and quarterback Jonathan Casimir attempted 48 passes and had 254 yards through the air.
Last year, Hoskins ran for 298 yards in three games against Neah Bay. The Red Devils won all three games — they’ve won nine straight against Lummi — but the margins were 12 points or less.
“If he’s in there, we’re going to have to play the run hard,” McCaulley said.
Friday’s semifinal at the Tacoma Dome kicks off Friday at 1 p.m.
If the Red Devils win, the defense will then face another stiff test from a team featuring an offensive star, either John Lesser and Liberty Christian or Dallas Isaak and Almira-Coulee/Hartline.
________
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at
360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
