'Moon' shines for Lummi
David 'Moon' James among unheralded Blackhawks who excel in 60-36 win over Neah Bay.

Junior receiver David James hauls in an extra point from Dustin Tom in the second quarter of Saturday's game.

With three starters suspended for disciplinary reasons, and a fourth out with an injury, the Blackhawks came into Saturday's game against Neah Bay with half of their starters sidelined. Somebody needed to step up for Lummi. "Moon" James, all 5-6, 13o pounds of him, proved to be the man. He caught two touchdown passes and an extra point from quarterback Dustin Tom, and made a passel of big plays on defense.

Moon, who inherited his nickname from his father, is known for his exploits on the basketball court, but he's been fighting for playing time on the football field. With Gale Jefferson moving to running back for the Neah Bay game, Moon filled in at starting wide receiver. According to statistics compiled by The Bellingham Herald's Dave Rasbach for his game story, Moon caught six passes for a team high 167 yards. He also played well on defense, where he started at defensive back. "He can play," coach Jim Sandusky said. "He had a good defensive game, not just breaking up passes but coming up and making tackles, almost like a linebacker. He was doing things I wasn't even asking of him. He's just a player — natural talent, natural instincts."

Moon James heads for the end zone after grabbing a screen pass from Dustin Tom.

Moon wasn't the only Blackhawk to play a bigger role than usual on Saturday. Freshman Jeremy Roberts, a second-stringer, filled in at linebacker and fullback. "He played awesome," Sandusky said. "Asking a freshman to come in and do what he did, he played far beyond my expectations. I knew he could do the job, but I wasn't expecting the kind of performance he had offensively and defensively." Roberts is the "world's fastest Lummi," a title he earned by being the first Lummi to cross the finish line in this spring's Kwina Mile. You can see a photo of him running the race on SportsShooter.com.

Sandusky also had praise for Kody Dennis, who played last year but didn't turn out this season until a couple of weeks ago. Dennis filled in at receiver and defensive end, and he might see some action on the offensive line in future weeks. "He's kind of my utility guy right now," Sandusky said.

The Blackhawks will receive a boost this week with the return of running back/defensive end Tony Washington. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association granted the fifth-year senior a hardship waiver as a result of family issues that derailed his early high school years. He had to sit out the first five weeks of the season due to poor grades last semester, but his academic probation ended last weekend. His last action came in the 2007 state semifinal loss to Almira-Coulee-Hartline in the Tacoma Dome, where his touchdowns and hard running can still be seen on YouTube. Washington has been practicing all season, working on the scout team to prepare the first-stringers each week. "He's in decent shape and chomping at the bit," Sandusky said.

Tony Washington will return to the Lummi lineup when the Blackhawks travel to Lopez on Saturday. Kick off is at 2 p.m.

Meet Lummi's coaches
Head coach Jim Sandusky is assisted by Dean Pederson, Dan Poasa, Rocki Sandusky and Craig Jackson

It's film night for the Lummi Blackhawks, and after practice head coach Jim Sandusky jogs off the field to the school kitchen while the players dress in the locker room. He unscrews the tops of a couple industrial-size cans of chili con carne, dumps the contents into a pot and sticks in a spoon. He unwraps three dozen or so hot dogs and loads them into the oven. “That’ll take 20 minutes or so,” he says to no one in particular. Who paid for the players' dinner? “The tooth fairy,” Sandusky answers, chuckling. “I wish I could count on her.”

Sandusky serves up chili dogs to, from left, Ronomus Revey, Ray Jefferson, Nelson Montenegro, Dustin Tom and Tony Washington.

He hurries out of the kitchen and heads for an upstairs classroom where his team is waiting to watch film of last week’s win over St. John-Endicott and of this week’s opponent, Neah Bay. “Hey coach,” a player yells down to him from a balcony. “Jacob quit.” Sandusky barely flinches. Earlier in the day he was told that three of his players have been accused of smoking pot, putting their eligibility in jeopardy. That news came on top of learning that Andre Revey, a key contributor to the Lummi offense, broke his collarbone against St. John-Endicott and is out until the state playoffs, at best. “The stress and the emotional factors are hour to hour,” Sandusky says. “It’s not even day to day. You’re constantly trying to adjust.”

Excuse coach Sandusky if he looks a bit blurry-eyed during the football season. He often doesn’t leave his office until or 1 or 2 in the morning, and he gets about four hours of sleep a night. “I usually get really sick after the season,” he says. “I mean the next day. I get wiped out. It’s happened the last three years.”

Sandusky’s work in building the Blackhawks into a football power is well documented; both The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote about his early days with the program. Here’s the CliffsNotes version. Sandusky grew up in Othello and excelled as a receiver and kick returner at UNLV and San Diego State. He played 12 years in the Canadian Football League with the B.C. Lions and Edmonton Eskimos and two years with the Seattle Seahawks. He was the Lions’ receivers coach in 1997 when he moved his family to Ferndale because he wanted his children, Rocki and Natasha, to go to school in the States. (He and his wife, Tami, have been married for 24 years. Natasha is now a senior at Ferndale High School, and Rocki is a student at Western Washington University and an assistant coach with the Blackhawks.) Sandusky took over the Lummi football team in 2003, and in the past three years the team has reached the B-8 state championship game once and the semifinals twice.

Lummi’s strength is its offense, and so far this season the Blackhawks are averaging 58 points per game. Sandusky says he is “exploiting” the rules of 8-man football to make his offense as potent as possible. “It evolved from what I thought 8-man football should look like,” he explains. He’s also incorporating some of the things he learned in the CFL, where the field is bigger and the offenses more wide open than in the United States. Because 8-man football is played on a regulation-size field, those CFL strategies work well at this level — so well, in fact, that other 8-man coaches around the state have begun copying Sandusky's schemes. The Lummi offense appears sophisticated by high school standards, with shovel passes, players going in motion and running backs lining up as quarterback, but Sandusky says it’s not so complicated. It relies on word association — for example, runs are animals, as in dog is a dive play, snake is a sweep — and the players wear wristbands that serve as cheat sheets. Each band includes three cards, four plays on each card. Sandusky can tell a player he is the 2 back on play 6 and the player can look down and see exactly what he must do. “We get injuries, I could put any kid at quarterback, technically,” he says.

Sandusky says his primary goal is to build character in his players. He wants to win, of course, but he also understands the value of using football to teach life lessons. It sounds corny, but it’s reality at Lummi. For some of the boys, Sandusky and his assistants are among the most influential adults in their lives, especially when it comes to modeling the value of hard work, clean living and bouncing back from adversity. Sandusky makes sure his players know they can count on him; on the first day of practice he gives them his cell phone number, requires them to memorize it and tells them to call whenever they need help with anything. He counts it as success when they graduate and get a job. Going on to college is a bonus. “It’s very stressful because you can see the opportunities they have and the negative choices they make,” he says. “You know if they hold on long enough they can see the light.”

After watching film of the first half of the St. John-Endicott game, the Blackhawks head downstairs and line up in the hallway outside the kitchen. The tooth fairy, er, Sandusky heaps chili onto two hot dogs on each of the players' plates. Lummi principal Heather Leighton stops by, and as Sandusky serves the food the two of them quickly and quietly discuss the players accused of smoking pot. When the food is gone, Sandusky runs water into the chili pot, closes the window to the kitchen and leaves the mess behind. He'll clean it up later. He heads back upstairs to finish showing film to the team. It's 6:45, and there's still plenty of work ahead for Lummi's head coach.

Dean Pederson


This is Dean Pederson’s third season at Lummi, and he’s more than just an assistant coach; he also serves as Sandusky’s right-hand man. He helps coach the offensive and defensive lines, and on game days he makes sure everything is working and in place: the scoreboard, the chain gang, gear for the players. Many of the details Sandusky used to fret over are now Pederson’s responsibility. “Whatever I can do to make his life easier,” he says.

Pederson worked for Intalco for 26 years before being laid off. He took advantage of a retraining program to attend Western Washington University and earn his teaching degree, graduating in spring of 2006. That summer he went to work at Lummi; he teaches computing to kindergarten through eighth-grade students.

He previously had coached youth football in Blaine for eight years, six years as a head coach, and he spent two years as an assistant coach at Blaine Middle School. Among the boys he coached were his two sons, Tyler, now 20, and Travis, 16, a junior starting tackle at Blaine High School. He and his wife, Diane, have been married 22 years.

Pederson, 52, is a 1974 graduate of Ferndale High School, where he was a member of the football squad. “We weren’t very good,” he says with a laugh. “That was before Ferndale was a powerhouse.” Now, not far from his old hometown, Pederson finds himself in a second career and an intergral part of a football powerhouse.

Dan Poasa


Dan Poasa didn’t need more football when he met Jim Sandusky two years ago. Poasa was coaching and playing semipro football, and he had done some coaching at Squalicum and Bellingham high schools. He agreed to meet Sandusky at the urging of Craig Jackson, who told him the Lummi coach could use some help. One meeting was all it took to convince Poasa to join Sandusky’s staff. “He’s just a great guy with a huge heart,” Poasa says. “He’s father, he’s counselor, provider, everything.”

Poasa is in his second year coaching at Lummi. He works with the offensive linemen, polishing their technique and keeping them focused. He brings a wealth of football experience to the job. He starred at Central Kitsap High School before moving on to the University of Washington, where he was on the squad but didn’t letter. He’s had much more success as a semipro, and in 2005 was inducted into the Minor League Football Hall of Fame. He coaches the Bellingham Bulldogs semipro team during the spring and plays with the BC Spartans in the summer. The Province newspaper in Vancouver wrote a story about him last summer, calling him “the die-hard.” “I’ve got football going all year long,” he says.

Poasa, 38, lives in Bellingham and is receiving manager for Max Hydro Swirl. He is divorced and has four children: Tristan, 18, a senior at St. Louis High School in Honolulu, who recently was accepted to Stanford; twins Chance and Tanner, 11; and Jailahni, 9, all of Ferndale.

Balancing family, job, and all that football can be tricky, but Poasa says working with Sandusky and the players is worth it. “It’s a dream job for those who are just getting into coaching or who want something different,” he says. “If you want to find yourself and find passion for the game, that’s the place to be.”

Rocki Sandusky


Rocki Sandusky was Jake Locker’s favorite target when the Ferndale Golden Eagles rolled to the 3A state title in 2005, catching 17 touchdowns and earning second-team all-state honors. He accepted a scholarship to UNLV, where his father had played, spent a season on the practice squad and transferred to Western Washington University. He played for the Vikings last year, but prior to this season decided he’d had enough football. “It took a lot of my time,” he says. “I wanted to do different things, experience new things. I just felt it was time to let it go.”

After explaining his decision to his mother and father, he mentioned that he’d need a job now that he wasn’t spending so much time with football. His father said, "I know a job you can do. You can coach Lummi with me." Rocki responded, "OK, sign me up.”

The 20-year-old coaches the offensive backs and receivers and the defensive backs. He also helps with special teams and his father expects him to take over that responsibility by midseason. “He’s pretty excited that I get to spend more time with him, and so am I,” Rocki says. “It’s fun to be out there coaching instead of being coached.”

Craig Jackson


Craig Jackson is in his third season with the Blackhawks. He volunteers his time, helping wherever Sandusky needs him. A licensed practical nurse, he also keeps an eye on the players’ physical well-being.

Jackson, 46, played high school football at Long Beach (Calif.) Poly as an offensive guard, and to say he has stayed involved in football would be an understatement. He owned the Northwest Avalanche semipro team in Bellingham for a couple of years — Dan Poasa was his head coach — and played and coached with the semipro Bellingham Eagles. He has helped out the football teams at Bellingham and Squalicum high schools and at the Bellingham Boys and Girls Club. “I’ve been around the game for quite a long time,” he says. “I just love it. When I played the line I loved the combat in the middle of the field.” He yearns to be an offensive coordinator for a team like Lummi and has considered moving to achieve his goal, but for now he’s staying put and lending his experience to the Blackhawks.

Jackson served 13 years in the Navy. He has lived in Bellingham since 1993 and works for Northwest Gastroenterology. He is divorced and has three grown children: daughter Porcia, 25, and boy-girl twins Chasey and Craig, Jr., 22.

Courtesy photos from Othello

Robert Barrett, an Othello High School teacher, provided these photos from the Lummi vs. St. John-Endicott game played last week in Othello. Coach Jim Sandusky was a student of Barrett's when he attended Othello High. Thanks, Robert.

Passing grades for Lummi
Blackhawks earn second win of the season

The Blackhawks faced two extra challenges last week as they prepared for Friday's game against St. John-Endicott in Othello. First, they weren't sure they'd have the services of senior quarterback Dustin Tom, who sprained his ankle in the Sept. 13 loss to Tri-Cities Prep. Second, a new academic policy went into effect, requiring students to have a C in all their classes in order to participate in extracurricular activities. Lummi overcame both obstacles. Tom, still hobbled a bit — coach Jim Sandusky said he was about 80 or 85 percent — managed to throw for more than 500 yards in the 58-20 win. And all but four of the Blackhawks earned good enough grades to play in the game. Another three must attend after-school tutoring to make up missed or late assignments. They will miss the first half of practices.

Sandusky said the weather was hotter in Othello than it had been the week before when the Blackhawks repeatedly cramped up against the better-conditioned Jaguars. The coaches made sure the players drank plenty of water on the way over and during the game, and Sandusky substituted more than he had the previous week. "We didn't have any cramping," he said. "We made a step in the right direction that way."

As for Tom, he's looking more and more like the Lummi Jake Locker. Sandusky said someone who was keeping stats — he thinks it might have been someone from bsports.org — said Tom nearly set a state record for completions with 36 or 39 (the coach is checking on the exact number). In any case, he completed passes to seven different receivers in leading the Blackhawks' passing attack. Sandusky says he's had quarterbacks who've had stronger arms or who were more elusive, but "I don't think we've had anyone who's had the whole package (like Tom)."

Assistant coach Rocki Sandusky said Tom has some of the best touch of any high school quarterback he's seen — high praise considering Rocki was Locker's favorite receiver at Ferndale. Rocki said Tom reminds him of Kellen Moore, the former Prosser star who torched Oregon on Saturday.

Tom will have a chance to add to his statistics this week when Lummi plays host to Neah Bay at 2 p.m. Saturday. The game originally was scheduled for Friday night, but the new lights have yet to arrive. Neah Bay is 2-1 with wins over Crescent and Clallam Bay and a loss to Lake Quinalt.

Editor's note: Pride of a Nation was unable to attend the game against St. John-Endicott, thus the reason there are no photos. Check back later this week for a feature story and photos of the Lummi coaching staff.

Lummi vs. Tri-Cities Prep

Gut-check, grade-check time for Lummi

Gale Jefferson hauls in a touchdown pass from Dustin Tom during the second quarter of the Blackhawks' 58-34 loss to Tri-Cities Prep on Saturday, Sept. 13.

It's gut-check time because top-ranked Lummi lost to No. 3 Tri-Cities Prep on Saturday after running out of gas in the second half. Senior co-captain Ray Jefferson told the The Bellingham Herald the Jaguars were in better shape than the Blackhawks. "We haven't taken our conditioning seriously enough," Jefferson said. "Our captains need to take more of a leadership role."

It's grade-check time because a new Lummi Schools policy requires students to have a C average in every class in order to participate in extracurricular activities. The policy is stricter than that of most Whatcom County schools, but assistant coach Dean Pederson, who teaches at Lummi, said the school's athletic success has brought added responsibility and scrutiny. The first grade check of the season comes this week.

Coaches Dean Pederson, left, and Jim Sandusky help Dustin Tom off the field Saturday. The senior quarterback sprained his ankle and is questionable for this week's game.

The Blackhawks led Tri-Cities 34-28 at halftime but failed to score in the second half. A handful of the players missed plays because of cramps, and without them Lummi couldn't use the defensive scheme it had put in to stop the Jaguars. "That was frustrating because we had a great game plan," Sandusky said, "but we weren't able to use it to our advantage."

The Blackhawks appeared slow in the second half, when they were outscored 30-0. After watching film of the game, Sandusky said it looked as though the players were jogging off the ball instead of sprinting. "We can be in a lot better shape," he said. "Our guys don't have the extra work ethic. I try to tell them, 'Don't count on me to keep you in shape. You've got to do the extra stuff.' I can promise you those guys from Tri-Cities Prep were out running sprints during the summer. Our guys don't have that kind of dedication. The coaches try to instill it, but it comes down to the players."

Tri-Cities Prep's Geovani Solorzano fumbles over his shoulder after a hard hit by Ray Jefferson as David James looks on.

The Herald's Michelle Nolan wrote that the second half of Saturday's loss was "one of the grimmest scenes in the Blackhawks' storied history." This is the seventh year of Lummi's football program, and in the early years the team suffered some lopsided defeats, sometimes failing to score at all. Sandusky didn't seem too concerned about Saturday's defeat. "It's nonleague, so it means nothing," he said. "This game is meaningless as long as we can learn from it. Once we get down the road we're going to get a lot better."

The Blackhawks play in the North Division of the Pacific Coast League. The top three teams in the division qualify for the playoffs. Lummi's first league game will be against Crescent on Oct. 11.

The Blackhawks travel to Othello Friday to meet St. John-Endicott, a 62-16 loser to Colton/Pullman Christian last weekend. The game begins at 4 p.m. Senior quarterback Dustin Tom sprained his ankle Saturday, and Sandusky said Sunday it is uncertain whether he will be available this week. The backup quarterback, as of today, is senior receiver Gale Jefferson, though Sandusky said he will consider all his options. "I have to see who's healthy and who we can move around."

Then there's the issue of who will be eligible after the grade check. Lummi endured some hard times on the football field in the early years of the program before becoming a state power. Now, the school is trying to achieve similar success in the classroom, where some of the players have struggled in the past. How quickly the players step up remains to be seen, but the first test comes this week.

Blackhawks ranked No. 1 in state
Lummi plays No. 3 Tri-Cities Prep at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lummi High School.

Check out out the game preview on the bsports.org Web site.

Lummi vs. Highland Christian slideshow

Pride of a Nation

Ray Jefferson shakes off a Highland Christian defender en route to the end zone in the Blackhawks Sept. 5 win in Arlington.

Lummi rolls 82-68 in season opener; Dustin Tom throws 10 TD passes, or was it 12?

If you read Saturday's Bellingham Herald story about the Blackhawks' game you learned that the score was 84-68 and that Dustin Tom threw 12 touchdown passes. Neither of those statements was accurate, but it wasn't the newspaper's fault.

A couple of factors caused the misinformation. First, the camera Lummi used to film the game ran out of batteries in the second half. Coach Jim Sandusky planned on using the game film to compile the Blackhawks' statistics, so without tape of the entire contest he wasn't sure exactly who did what. He's still working on it, though, including talking to Highland coach Don Kurtzenacker about getting a copy of the game film from him.


Second, Lummi scored so much it was difficult to keep track of who all visited the end zone, and how often. Even the players weren't sure. Sandusky asked them after the game who had done the scoring but they couldn't give him an exact accounting. "You'd think if a kid scored a touchdown he'd know it," Sandusky said. You'd think, but the Blackhawks can be forgiven, especially Tom. On further reflection, it appears the senior quarterback (pictured above) threw for only 10 scores. He ran for one, as did Andre Revey. Ray Jefferson was on the receiving end of a bunch of Tom's scoring tosses, and Gale Jefferson caught a few, too.

After the game when it came time for Sandusky to call in the score to the Herald he could only make an educated guess. Stay tuned; the complete and accurate statistics should be forthcoming.

In the meantime. the Blackhawks are preparing for Saturday's 2 p.m. game against Tri-Cities Prep at Lummi. Tri-Cities whipped Echo, Oregon, 64-30 last week (check out video of the game on the Tri-City Herald Web site). Sandusky said the Blackhawks came out of the Highland Christian game with some bumps and bruises but with no serious injuries. They watched film and worked out on Saturday and will resume practicing Monday.

Ronumus Revey, left, and Kyle Finkbonner take a break during the first half of Friday's game.


Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Andre Revey heads for the end zone during an Aug. 30 intrasquad scrimmage.

Lummi football is a remarkable story. The Blackhawks play 8-man football in Washington state. The program has been in existence only seven years, but Lummi has established itself as one of the premier B-8 teams in the state. Last year the Blackhawks beat Crescent 118-72, tying the national record for most points scored by an 8-man team. They made it to the state semifinals, where they lost 80-50 to Almira-Coulee-Hartline. But the wins and the points are just part of the story.
Senior quarterback Dustin Tom is one of the team leaders and a captain, along with Ray Jefferson and Lonnie James.

Lummi High School serves students from the Lummi Nation Indian tribe in the Northwest corner of Washington state. The football team is coached by Jim Sandusky (below), a former Canadian Football League star, who also is the school's athletic director. When he began coaching the team in 2003, it played on a makeshift field in the front yard of his home in Ferndale, Wash. The team now uses a field adjacent to the new high school building, and this year lights are to be installed, allowing the team to play on Friday nights.

It is hard to overstate the challenges Sandusky faces in keeping the Blackhawks competitive. The Lummi school system — K through 12 — has an enrollment of about 320 students, 120 in the high school; so there aren't many boys from which to build a state-champion-caliber football team. Plus, some of his players come from broken homes, struggle with addiction or have run afoul of the law. Absenteeism is a problem, as is keeping players academically eligible. In that respect, Lummi is no different than many other schools, especially those in communities beset by poverty and inequity, but when your roster includes only 15 or so upper-classmen it is crucial to keep everyone eligible. Sandusky is enthusiastic about this year's team, but he acknowledges that the status of a handful of his players could make or break the season. "There's the potential to have the right mix for a state champion," he said the other day after practice.

Lummi opens its season Friday night in Arlington against Highland Christian Prep. The Blackhawks play host to Tri-Cities Prep — a state playoff team last year — on Saturday, Sept. 13, before traveling to Odessa on Sept. 19 to face perennial power St. John. "Our first three games are the toughest first three we will have ever had," Sandusky said.

Each week "Pride of the Nation" will post photos from the Blackhawks' games, plus provide insight into the team and its place in the larger tribal community. Check back regularly; it's going to be an interesting season.

Assistant coach Dean Pederson looks over the Blackhawks during a recent practice.