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Columbia River Boys: Snook is key cog to making Chieftains go

By Joshua Hart, Columbian sports reporter
Published: December 20, 2019, 3:10pm

The first player most coaches mention when asked to talk about the 2A Greater St. Helens League is Columbia River’s 6-foot senior guard Nate Snook. The reigning co-player of the year returns for his final season, and every team is planning to stop him.

That’s still a hard feat to accomplish.

“You think you can bottle him up, but he’s going to get out on breaks, make steals and he can create his own offense,” said coach David Long, entering his 27th season. “Hell, he might get half of his 20 off of steals. He just has a knack for finding the basketball.”

Long also knows Snook is comfortable playing within the system. If the shot isn’t there, he’s more than willing to give it to someone else. The Chieftains have plenty of weapons around him.

Alex Miller, a 6-2 senior guard, returns after an all-league season. Six-foot-2 senior post Marc Miranda is “a hell of a scorer” and Dylan Valdez, a 6-4 senior post, is a bruiser down low.

“We do have to find a new identity, a new leader, a new way to score points,” Long said. “We took a few things out and added a few things to highlight some good players.”

The Chieftains will be a little more up-tempo this season after running the league table last season before finishing the year 22-5 and just shy of a state trophy.

“That was a special group,” Long said. “I don’t think we’re quite at that level yet. I don’t know if we have the pieces to be at that level. But I think we can come close.”

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Columbian sports reporter