Nels Johnson shoots on goal during the Bruins’ 4-2 victory over the Bulldogs of Sutherlin. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

An improvement in communication led to an improvement in scoring for the Brookings-Harbor High School boys soccer team as they defeated the Bulldogs of Sutherlin 4-2 in Far West League play on Thursday.

“At practice we’ve been focusing on communication because it has been our biggest flaw,” senior captain Alan Anaya said. “We’ve been working on trust because it is easier to communicate when you have trust.”

The Bruins first goal came early in the game at the 11-minute mark when David Joyce crossed a pass that David Daniels was able to redirect into the goal for the Bruins first score.

The Brookings-Harbor High School football team got some much needed redemption on Friday night as they beat the Warriors of Hoopa Valley 35-27.

The Bruins came into the game having lost 6-41 to Cascade Christian and were looking for a victory to take into the beginning of Far West League play on Friday. 

The Bruins began the game kicking off to the Warriors, and then stopping their drive and forcing a turnover on downs. 

Andrew Goodman, experimental biologist assistant from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, shows one of the large chrome-bright Chinook seined in the Rogue River last week at Huntley Park. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report for 

September 14-20

Do you feel some electricity in the air? Or perhaps the hair on the back of your neck in standing on end? That’s because today is the first day of autumn, my favorite time of year, when fall Chinook start showing up in local-area rivers and estuaries.

They’ve actually been making a pretty decent showing in rivers like the Klamath and Rogue rivers, but the Coquille and Coos systems have been kicking out their fair share of fall kings as well.

The views from Humbug Mountain are caught only in glimpses through the trees, but the spectacular coastline more than makes up for the parcity. Richard Wiens/Wescom News Service

I actually used that line on a red-faced member of the second party we encountered after he complained, “there’s no view from the top.” Full disclosure: For all I knew I was just quoting Aerosmith at the time. Regardless, it’s a truism especially apropos to this journey.

The Brookings-Harbor High School boys soccer team traveled to Winston on Thursday to take on the Trojans of Douglas High School  in its second league game of the season and came home happy.

“They played a lot better,” Head Coach Gabriel Anaya said. “They started the game on time this time.”

Bruin defender Christian Rushton, right, corrals the ball as a North Bend player looks on. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

It took the Brookings-Harbor High School boys soccer team longer than usual to wake up and play soccer on Thursday, and by the time they arose, the Bulldogs of North Bend had scored three goals.

“That was a tough game,” Head Coach Gabriel Anaya said. “I think we were sleeping the first 15 to 20 minutes of the game.”

The Bruins mounted an offensive as the second half began but what seemed to be physical play on the field and a running clock conspired to keep them from scoring more than one goal.

An opening kickoff return for a touchdown by Brookings-Harbor High School’s C.J. Paxton seemed to set the stage for what could have been a close game between the Bruins and the Challengers of Cascade Christian.

But Paxton’s six points – the extra point was no good – were all the points the Bruins would score the rest of the game.

Cascade Christian is the sixth-ranked team in the state at the 3A level and they proved that the ranking was deserved as they put 41 points on the board. 

This is possibly the largest halibut caught out of the Port of Brookings Harbor. Geoff Ashby (right) of Brookings was fishing on Thursday with his friend A.K. Saadat of Brookings aboard Saadat’s boat Sunkist when he caught this 85-plus pound Pacific halibut. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report from 

September 7-13

“The scale read 85 pounds and the tail was still dragging on the ground!”

Bruin sophomore Courtney Kay, right, claims one of her six blocks during Monday night’s victory over the Gold Beach Panthers. The PIlot/Jef Hatch

The crowd held its collective breath as the final set played out to give the Bruins a 25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 22-25, 15-12 victory.