“Despite the loss, we are trending up.”

Those were the positive words Seaside High School head coach Aaron Tanabe told his team after their third-straight loss Oct. 4. Those words might seem surprising, as the Seagulls saw a 10-point lead disappear late in the fourth quarter to rival Scappoose.

But even though the loss more than likely means Seaside won’t win the Cowapa League, Tanabe is looking ahead and saw a team trending in the right direction.

After two sloppy games in a row against Banks and Marist Catholic, the Seagulls came out of the bye week much sharper. Though they got clipped at the end 26-22 by the Indians, Tanabe finally saw a team he thinks can make a run in the playoffs.

“We made a lot of mistakes the last two weeks, so I thought the kids responded,” he said. “I thought we played cleaner, we competed, we were physical, we did everything we could have done. I’m proud of the kids, they played their butts off. This is something for us to build on as we finish up the regular season.”

The Oct. 4 game looked reminiscent of the Seagulls of last year. That team was hard-nosed, physical at the point of attack and fed off the dynamic play of Ryder Jackson. The Oct. 4 game saw Jackson carry the ball 36 times for 155 yards and one rushing touchdown. Quarterback Zayden Anderson had 53 yards on 15 carries and a rushing touchdown. He also added a passing touchdown to Jordan Westerholm as time expired in the first half.

“Ryder is a great player,” Tanabe said, “I think he’s the best player in the Cowapa League. We made a point to feed him tonight and he responded.”

Though the Seagulls fell to 2-3 on the season after the loss, they’re still No. 8 in the Oregon School Activities Association rankings. Tanabe is confident the Seagulls can beat both Marist Catholic and Scappoose if given the opportunity for rematches.

“We made a deep playoff run last year so they can keep this in perspective,” Tanabe said. “I told them it hurts right now, but we’re going to build on this and want to be peaking when we get to November and playing our best ball at that point, so I think this is a step in the right direction.”