The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: The Jacks

  • A Local’s Perspective on HSU Football

    A Local’s Perspective on HSU Football

    HSU football brought two communities together and now we’re at a loss

    In July of 2018, with most of the student population home for the summer, former Humboldt State President Lisa Rossbacher and former Athletic Director Duncan Robins made the announcement that the HSU football team would be cut following the conclusion of the 2018 season.

    The efforts of many community members to raise money for the football program earlier in the year were seemingly for nothing. Many community members, including myself, were outraged about the decision to cut the football team, but some applauded the move, saying that a football program was unnecessary and a drain on academics. Either side you may be on, it was a polarizing move for the university to make.

    I am part of the small percentage of HSU students that grew up in Humboldt County. In fact, I grew up right here in Arcata about a mile away from the HSU campus. I am as local as a local student can get. I spent a good portion of my life going to HSU football games and it became a significant source of pride that my small town had a Division II college football team. When I started attending HSU, this was not just my school’s football team, this was my hometown team as well.

    When I transferred to HSU from College of the Redwoods, the first thing that caught me off guard about HSU was how separate it seemed from the rest of Arcata. Even though I was going to school in my hometown, HSU felt like a world of its own, far from the Arcata I grew up in. I felt that my identity as a native of Arcata and a student at HSU were two separate worlds, even though in a geographic sense I was in the same place.

    HSU football games were one of the only times that these two worlds felt one and the same. The games became some of the only times where I saw both students and local community members in the same place, at the same time, rooting for the same team. People from Arcata and Los Angeles alike, all rooting for the Jacks.

    It wasn’t just about the football team itself, but it was how football brought the entire community together. Getting rid of the football team felt like severing one of the last ties between the campus community and the local community.

    The only good news I can gather from this is that the Redwood Bowl is actually seeing more football this season than when the HSU football team was active. My alma mater, College of the Redwoods will be playing their football games at the Redwood Bowl starting on October 5, and both Arcata High and McKinleyville High are playing their football games on campus as well.

    I hope that someday HSU football will be brought back, but in the meantime, all of the other HSU athletes that are still here deserve our full support. Go Jacks!

  • Spring ball in full effect

    Spring ball in full effect

    Eleven coaches and 66 student athletes gather every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning in preparation for their spring game later this month.

    “Our energy is already feeding off of each other,” backup sophomore quarterback Cheyenne Keith said. “We are doing very well so far.”

    The Lumberjacks took to the Redwood Bowl again as they jumped into spring ball at their first 6 a.m. practice on March 27.

    Lumberjacks head coach Damaro Wheeler currently holds the interim position for the Jacks. He has been with the team since spring of 2017 and coached defensive backs and special teams during the 2017 season.

    “We have hired some coaches,” coach Wheeler said. “And a bunch of former players and alumni have come to help us out.”

    Along with practice during the week, the Jacks are required a certain amount of completed lifts done in the recreation center weight room. With some new and already familiar drills, the Jacks are taking everything on and going all in at practice.

    “We are ready,” Keith said. “We are ready to put the pads on and hit each other.”

    The Jacks will get a small break after the their spring game, and will return late summer for the start of the fall season.

    “We’re taking it day by day,” junior Sefa Tauanu’u said. “As a captain, I’m also focused on bettering the team.”

  • Men’s and women’s basketball Senior Night spoiled by UC San Diego

    Men’s and women’s basketball Senior Night spoiled by UC San Diego

    The men’s basketball team could not keep up with the first place University of California, San Diego Tritons, as they lost 77-57.

    Saturday’s game was no ordinary one for the Jacks, though, as it marked the last home game for each of the team’s seniors, who were honored at Senior Night in the Lumberjack Arena.

    The game marks a big milestone for all of the seniors, but specifically for locals Will Taylor and Ashton Pomrehn who started their Lumberjack careers as ball boys at an early age.

    “We were playing for the seniors,” head coach Steve Kinder said. “I thought that carried us through, and made the fans and their teammates proud.”

    Humboldt State was led by senior Davasyia Hagger, who had 14 points along with nine rebounds, while shooting 7-14 from the field. Those 14 points included a pair of dunks in the second half of the game that caused an eruption from the fans in the arena.

    “The effort was there,” Hagger said. “We’re gonna learn from this and battle back these next two games.”

    Another notable performance came from senior Justin Everett, who tallied 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

    “I was just out there getting my shots,” Everett said. “My teammates did a good job getting me open.”

    The Tritons were firing on all cylinders throughout the game, as they made 11 three-pointers on 30 shots (36.7 percent) opposed to only five made from the Jacks. Christian Bayne was a problem for the Jacks all game, as he led UCSD with 24 points, while shooting 8-11 from the field. Bayne also made his presence felt on defense, as he also had two steals and a block.

    “We think of [Bayne] as one of the better players in the conference,” Kinder said. “He’s a heck of a basketball player and has a great future ahead of him.”

    Aside from Bayne, other notable performers where Scott Everman (16 points) and Christian Oshita (14 points).

    San Diego played stingy defense all game as well, accumulating nine steals while forcing 13 turnovers.

    The loss is Humboldt’s second in a row, and moves their overall record to 9-17 (6-14 conference), while San Diego improves to 17-9 (14-6 conference). The Jacks will look to bounce back before the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament begins on Feb. 27, and will have two games to do so.

    Their next game will be on the road against Sonoma State University on Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. They will then close out the regular season on Feb. 24 at San Francisco State University.

    The Humboldt State University women’s basketball team fell short of a comeback after a slow start in the first half, as they fell to University of California, San Diego by the score of 77-62.

    This was the last home game of the regular season for the Lumberjacks, making it Senior Night at the Lumberjack Arena.

    “This is a really special group to me,” head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. “To see the seniors honor their careers here is special.”

    The Jacks shot only 26.9% (7-26) from the field and were outscored 42-20 during the first half.

    On the other hand, the Tritons were hot from the field in the first half, as they made five of their first seven three-point attempts and put up 42 points before halftime.

    San Diego was led by Mikayla Williams (19 points, eight rebounds), Kayla Sato (17 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Dalayna Sampton (16 points, 10 rebounds).

    However, the Jacks did battle back in the second half. At one point, they had the lead down to as little as 10 points during the third and fourth quarters.

    “We dug a huge hole for ourselves (in the first half) that we just couldn’t quite get all the way out of,” Bento-Jackson said.

    Tyla Turner led the team’s late run by scoring 24 of her team’s 42 points in the second half. The sophomore standout followed up her career high 32-point performance from her last game with 29 points in addition to eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in this one.

    “My team had my back, and that’s really what got me going,” Turner said. “I had to do it for them, and that’s why I had to turn it up.”

    Once Turner turned it up, her teammates responded. The team shot 15-29 (51.7 percent), while shooting 8-12 (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Jovanah Arrington was the most notable contributor, as she had 13 points while shooting 3-5 from three (3-4 in the second half).

    “I knew we had to catch up, and making threes is the quickest way to do that,” Arrington said.

    With regards to their upcoming schedule, coach Bento-Jackson had a clear message for her team.

    “We absolutely have to put this behind us. The bottom line is–going into that conference tournament–we want to be playing our best basketball,” Bento-Jackson said.

    The loss moves the Jacks’ record to 14-11 overall, with a 13-7 conference record. For San Diego, the win moves the team’s record to 23-3, with a dominant 19-1 record within the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

    They will have two games remaining before the conference tournament begins, HSU will play Sonoma State University on Feb. 23 and San Francisco State University on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m..

  • Softball team looking to strike in CCAA

    Softball team looking to strike in CCAA

    Fresh off of a devastating defeat in last year’s Division II National Championship tournament, the young Humboldt State softball team is looking to make a statement as the 2018 season begins.

    The Jacks were 44-15 overall last season and boasted a 22-11 record within the CCAA conference, which was good for third place. However, the women’s season came to a close with a 5-1 loss to Armstrong State University.

    Despite losing their entire infield to graduation, there is certainly reason for optimism in the 2018 season for the Jacks as they have an impressive new group of starters.

    The team was ranked third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach’s Poll.

    This Jacks team has not necessarily gotten off to the start that they wanted as they are 4-5 after going 2-2 in a four-game series against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

    The Jacks lost their first two games of the series in a doubleheader on Friday by the scores of 5-0 and 9-6. However, on Saturday they responded by winning 4-2 and 13-9 in that order.

    The Jacks may have found their stroke during the latter game of their doubleheader, as they exploded for 19 hits and 13 runs against Dominguez Hills despite being down 9-5 going into the top of the seventh inning.

    The Jacks put up eight runs in the last inning and were led by third basemen Rachel Barker, who went 4 for 4 with a home run and four RBI.

    “Every game we’ve played we’ve gotten better.” Barker said. “Now that we’ve played with each other we know how to motivate each other, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get (our record) under control.”

    However, the inning started with designated hitter Micaela Harris doubling in the left-center field gap.

    “I think I started the hype of the inning,” Harris said.

    The Jacks will look to use the hype from that magical seventh inning to propel them up the standings in the coming weeks.

    They will start a four-game series with UC San Diego on Friday, as they play their first game of the series at noon, followed by game two at 2 p.m. The series will conclude on Saturday, with game three being played at 11 a.m. and game four at 1 p.m.

    In their series last year, the Jacks split the four-game set with the Tritons down in San Diego. The Jacks will hope that the cold, cloudy weather of Arcata will give them the advantage they need to take the series this time around.

    Despite the sluggish start, the Humboldt State softball team is hungry and has the momentum that is crucial in having a successful season.