On Tuesday, October 27th, the Red Devils were handed their first loss of the season by the North Bend Bulldogs. The Bulldogs rallied and scored two goals in a matter of 4 minutes in the second half of the game to take the lead; then the Bulldogs fought hard on defense to keep the Red Devils from tying up the game. There is still no word from the Oregon School Activities Association on the offered forfeit to Brookings- Harbor for the game played on October 5th.

In that game, Coquille inadvertently played a player in both the junior varsity and varsity matches, although this action was with full knowledge of the opposing coach, who gave his permission and the OSAA officials of the game also agreed to let the young man play so the JV teams could go on with their scheduled match. The Red Devils finished the regular season at Brookings-Harbor on Thursday, October 29th with a 2-2 tie. At press time, the Red Devils have finished in first place of the 4A FarWest Conference. If the OSAA enforces the forfeit, this will drop the Red Devils to a third place finish, and they will be scheduled to play the first OSAA State playoff game against the 4A Capital Conference champions, LaSalle Falcons, on November 7th, here in Coquille, time to be announced.

 If OSAA drops the forfeit, the Red Devils will have a by for the first round of playoffs, and will then be scheduled to play the 4A Skyline Conference champs, the undefeated Phoenix Pirates, in Coquille on November 10th, time to be announced. Congratulations to the Coquille Red Devils Boys Soccer team for making the OSAA State Playoffs for two years running.

Go Big Red!!!

On Friday night, the Coquille Red Devils hosted the Bandon Tigers for their Homecoming Game. The Red Devils going into this game were in fifth place in the 3A Sunset Conference standings with a conference record of 2-3 and 4-3 overall for the season.

The Red Devils played a hard fought game and were victorious with a final score of 34-26 over the Tigers. The 1st Quarter started off with a bang with the Tigers winning the coin toss and electing to receive. With the opening kickoff, they ran for a 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but the point after was no good. Then with 1:29 remaining in the quarter, the Tigers scored again with a 20 yard passing touchdown, and the point after was no good, which gave Bandon a lead of 12- 0. This is where the Red Devils turned on the heat. The Red Devils offense went into their two-minute drill, with 1:22 left in the first quarter and drove down the field with a combination of passing and running plays.

 With 1.1 seconds left on the clock, Senior Altenbach handed the ball to Senior Shannon Mooney, who punched a 4 yard rushing touchdown, and the point after by Senior Ryan Dannels was good, with the score now 12-7 in favor of Bandon. In the 2nd Quarter, after several great defensive plays by the Red Devils, Altenbach picked up a fumble and ran 74 yards for the score, and the point after was good, bringing the score to 14-12 for Coquille. The Red Devils with another great defensive effort got the ball back and with 1:41 remaining in the 1st half, Altenbach, on a quarterback sneek, punched in a 1 yard rushing score, and the point after was good. The score going into halftime was 21- 12 Coquille.

In the 3rd Quarter, the Red Devils’ defense, shutting down the Tigers’ passing game and forcing Bandon to punt and causing turnovers, held them scoreless. With 1:03 remaining in the quarter, Altenbach handed the ball off to Mooney, who ran a 14 yard rushing touchdown, but the point after was no good, and the score at the end of the quarter was 27-12 Coquille. In the 4th Quarter, with more great defensive efforts by both teams trading possession back and forth and with only 3:24 remaining in the game, Altenbach, scrambling in the backfield looking for a receiver, threw a 32 yard strike to Junior Nathan Huffman for the score, and the point after was good, bringing the score now to 34-12 Coquille. Bandon, however, never gave up.

 With Coach Thomason putting in many of the younger players, the Tigers began their push to make it close, and they got closer than many expected. With 3:03 on the clock, the Tigers’ quarterback threw a 20 yard pass for a touchdown, the 2 point conversion attempt was no good, and the score was now 34- 18 Coquille. After an onside kickoff attempt, Bandon held the second and third team Red Devils to three and out and took possession of the ball. With 50 seconds remaining, the Tigers’ quarterback punched another touchdown, with the 2 point conversion good, which brought the game to the final score of 34-26. Coach Thomason said, “This was a big game for us. Not only was it Homecoming and Senior Night, it was also a big league game for us, too.

 We struggled early in this game but never gave up. The team really showed their stuff! Defense again saves the night. We had some big stops and all but shut down Bandon’s dangerous passing game. But really it is the whole package, the team effort. Offense was able to put points on the board, and the defense was able to preserve and even add to the score tonight. Once again, I am very proud of this team and the great effort we give on the field.” In the 3A Sunset Conference standings, the Red Devils are in 5th place.

 With Glide’s victory over Myrtle Point on Friday, this will make it even tougher for the Red Devils to get to third place in the standings to make the cut for the OSAA State Championship Playoffs. If Bandon plays the spoiler and defeats Glide, and the Red Devils defeat their next opponent, the Rogue River Chieftains, it could make it very interesting in the standings. We will just have to wait and see how it all shakes out. However, the Red Devils are having a winning season. Currently, they are 3-3 in the the Conference and 5- 3 overall.

Great Job Red Devils!

It was a rainy day and night, but it wasn’t the rain that dampened the Myrtle Point Bobcats—it was the character of the Red Devils’ team that overcame a rough start in the first quarter of the game and defeated the Bobcats 25-6 in the Bobcats’ Homecoming game. Coach Thomason has maintained the team concept is the only way to win: it is not about any single player, and it takes a team to win.

Friday night’s game revealed this all the more. With strong defensive stands, great offensive blocking and explosive running plays, the team defeated a very good Myrtle Point team this past Friday night. In the 1st Quarter, the Bobcats kicked off to the Red Devils to start the game, and the Bobcat defense forced a three and out. The ensuing offensive drive by the Bobcats led to a touchdown, but the point after was no good, giving them 6-0 lead. Then the Bobcats kicked off, and the Red Devil Senior Josh Duke fumbled the kickoff return, turning the ball over back to the Bobcats.

 It looked like it was going to be a long night; however, the Red Devils’ defense tightened up, and the game began to shift momentum. In the 2nd Quarter, the Red Devils drove the ball down the field, and Senior Heston Altenbach handed the ball to Junior Joe Harris, who drove his way into the end zone for a 15 yard rushing touchdown. The point after by Senior Ryan Dannels was good, and Coquille took the lead 7-6, never letting up for the rest of the night. The Bobcats knew it was going to be a long night for them when during one of the Bobcats’ big runs off the left side turned against them when Altenbach laid a big hit on the runner and sprung the ball loose, and Duke redeemed his earlier fumble by recovering the ball before it rolled out of bounds.

 Both teams played tough defense for two sets of downs. The Red Devils held the Bobcats, forcing a punt which put the ball deep into Red Devil territory inside the five yard line. The Red Devils didn’t falter; after a quarterback sneek to give them a little more room with the ball now on the five yard line, Altenbach pitched the ball out to Harris off to the left side, who followed a key block by Junior Nathan Huffman, giving Harris the gap to blast into open field for a 95 yard touchdown run. The point after by Dannels was good, and the score going into halftime was 14-6. Coming out after halftime into the 3rd Quarter, both teams traded off back and forth with good defensive stands. In the 4th Quarter, the Red Devils drove the ball down inside the 15 yard line of the Bobcats, only to be stopped. Soccer player and football player Dannels was given the opportunity to kick a 24 yard field goal, giving the Red Devils the lead at 17-6. The Bobcats didn’t give up, for on the ensuing kickoff, they ran the ball deep into Red Devil territory.

 The Red Devils shut them down when Dannels intercepted a Bobcat pass inside their own 5 yard line to stop their scoring drive. From there, the Red Devils began pushing the ball back down the field and burning up the clock. The Bobcats had one more chance; however, a strong Red Devil defense held them again. Late in quarter, Altenbach quickpitched the ball to Harris, who then broke it around the left side for a 44 yard rushing touchdown. The point after attempt was bobbled on the snap; Altenbach scrambled looking for a receiver and found Duke open in the endzone making the 2 point conversion good and bringing the final score to 25-6, Red Devils. Coach Thomason said, “We overcame some big setbacks in the first quarter and then shut Myrtle Point out for the rest of the game. I really can’t say enough about our guys; they showed their character tonight. I’m very proud of our guys tonight!” Their next game is on October 30th, 7 p.m. This game will be the Red Devils’ Homecoming game against the Bandon Tigers.

Go Big Red!!!

Although as reported in last week’s paper, the Coquille Red Devils offered a forfeit to the Brookings/Harbor for the game they played on October 5th, the official 4A FarWest Standings have the Red Devils at 9-0-2. On October 19th, the team hosted the Douglas Trojans and totally dominated the game with a 9-0 victory. In just a matter of a couple of seasons, the Coquille/Myrtle Point Red Devils have come from the cellar of the 4A Standings to now being one of the top 10 teams in the state, with the Oregon State Coaches poll having them ranked at 10th and the BCS style ranking showing them at 9th in the state. On Wednesday, October 22, Coquille traveled to Sutherlin and came away with its second tie of the season in a scoreless draw. Both teams each had 11 shots on goal in the match and for the first time in the season, Coquille was shut out.

 With Coquille so far this seaon, scoring the most in the 4A FarWest league with 54 goals, their defense has been equally impressive by only allowing 7 goals against them. The Red Devils are an offensive and defensive dominating team. So far this season, they have almost doubled the amount of scoring by that of the second place team, Brookings/Harbor, and also have nearly less than half of the goals against them than those against the Brookings/Harbor team— Brookings/Harbor has 29 goals scored compared with 13 goals against the Red Devils. This final week of the season is going to be a great week, for the Red Devils will be hosting the North Bend Bulldogs on October 27th, at 4:30pm, and then the rematch between Brookings/Harbor will be on October 29th in Brookings. These final two games will determine the 4A Farwest Champion and ranking for the upcoming OSAA Soccer State Championship Tournament.

Misty Huffman chases back her much taller opponant with a hook kick

by Karen Saxton

On October 17th, Coquille Martial Arts traveled to Medford for Chip Wright’s Championship Karate Tournament, held at Chip Wright’s school on Main Street. With an early start time, and 3-4 rings running, the tournament ran smoothly. Mr. Wright is the stunt double for Chuck Norris, although he is largely retired from his television work and focuses himself on furthering the martial arts. Coquille Martial Arts felt very honored when Mr. Wright, upon discovering that mother and daughter, Misty and Tianna Huffman, were to compete at the same time in different rings, rearranged the competition schedule, saying this was a conflict. The Coquille school hopes they can return the favor in some way when Wright’s team competes at their November 14th tournament at the Coquille Community Center.

 Everyone who competed did a great job of representing their school, and made victories that went beyond earning medals. 5year-old Milana Fortune found herself the youngest and least experienced competitor by two years in age and about a year in training, but still managed to come back with a third in forms, after practicing by herself for nearly 40 minutes before competition actually started. Misty Huffman, the only woman in the adult beginner sparring class, earned third place against men who were both much taller and much heavier than she was. Richard Esteves walked away with 1st place in that division, and he said he hadn’t expected to place in competition, but rather to give his best effort.

 Chris Kinney overcame his stage fright and competed well in both forms and sparring. He is looking forward to getting his rematch in November, as is Tianna Huffman, who has her eyes on further closing the gap between herself and a rival from Chip Wrights. Milana’s mother, Amy Fortune, summed it up with these words, “We always tell Milana it isn’t important whether she wins or loses, but rather that she does her best every time and more importantly, that she is respectful to the judges and her fellow competitors.” If there is one thing that can be said about the Coquille team, they never fail to show respect. The team made several new friends at this tournament. Blessed with great fall weather, the team arrived home in time to catch the end of the festivities at the Coquille Community Celebration downtown.

With two wins this past week and with two more league games to play in the race for the four coveted playoff spots this year, the Coquille Lady Devils have entered into a three-way tie for second place in the 3A Sunset league standings.

 On Tuesday, October 20th, the Lady Devils traveled to Reedsport and defeated them 3 sets to 1, with the scores of each game at 25- 12, 25-11, 21-25, and 25-15. Coach McKinley stated, “The girls were on fire. They played very well, and we are feeling that the team who took Cascade to 5 sets in early September is back.” The Lady Devils dropped the third set because Coach McKinley tried different players and as Coach stated, “Reedsport came out strong and gunning for us.” Individual statistics for some of the key players are: Juniors Chelsy Forbes with 22 assists; Christie Andy, 14 assists, 12 points scored off great serving; Nikki Hall with 11 kills, 6 digs, 13 points scored off great serving; Sophomore Kaitlyn Altenbach with 22 digs; and Freshman Taylor GeDeros, 14 kills, 2 stuff blocks. On Thursday, October 22nd, the Lady Devils hosted the Myrtle Point LadyCats and defeated them in three straight sets with games scores of 25-22, 25- 19, and 25-23. Coach stated the key to winning was the improvement in passing. “I think overall our passing has really improved, and that’s been something we’ve been working on.”

Individual statistics are: Coquille libero Kaitlyn Altenbach, 19 digs; Forbes with 29 assists and 3 kills; Sophomore Kelsey Hill, 12 kills and 12 digs; and Gederos, 9 kills and 4 stuff blocks. Tuesday, Oct 27th, the Lady Devils travel to Bandon to take on the Tigers, and then on Thursday, Oct 29th, they will host Rogue River for the final game of the regular season. Come on out to the game and enjoy watching our Lady Devils win their way into the OSAA State Playoffs.

Go Big Red!!!