Six Timberwolves to Mat Classic
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Braydon Ross took an important step in his quest for a medal at the State wrestling tournament, when he defeated Matthew Macias, of Granger for the Regional title at 160 pounds, last Saturday. Macias had defeated the Goldendale wrestler the week before to earn the regions’ number one seed. Ross won tough matches against Zach Grimm, of Columbia-Burbank and number one seed from the SCAC east, Clay Wilcox, of Kiona-Benton, on his way to the show-down with Macias. Macias put Ross on his back in the opening moments of the match, but as he has done many times, the Timberwolf sophomore willed himself back in control of the match and rode out an 8-5 victory. The win gives Ross a high seed in the State tournament that begins on Friday in the Tacoma Dome.
Ross is one of six Timberwolves who earned a trip to the State tournament this year, including the first trip by a female wrestler at the school, Jessica Carr, who placed second at 285 in the girls’ Regional at Kittitas.
Billy Monroe came close to a win at 171, but a stalling call proved to be the margin of victory for Warden’s Dakota Scott in a 3-2 decision. Monroe and Scott were the top seeds in the division at the Regional tournament. The second place finish for Monroe gives him a high seed at State.
The Timberwolves had three wrestlers battle for third place at Zillah and all three won. First up was Torey Spaulding-Jimenez, who edged Royal’s Laddie Goroski at 135 pounds. Spaulding-Jimenez was 3-1, losing to Alex Myrick, also of Royal. Next was Nolin Bare, in his first year of high school wrestling. The sophomore showed his strength and growing confidence by pinning Royal’s Damien DeLarosa with just three seconds left in the match. Bare was comfortably in control but wasn’t satisfied to ride out a point win for his third win of the day.
Kurt Wilkins put himself in a tough position at the meet, losing his opening match to Garrett Whitney, of Kiona-Benton. Wilkins, a favorite to return to State after a great freshman year in 2009, was on the verge of elimination in his next two matches. He defeated Cle Elum’s Josh Chiles and eliminated Wahluke’s Enrique Barajas to clinch a top four finish and a spot at State. Wilkins made it three straight wins with a 6-2 decision over Warden’s Adam Hansen for third place.
Other Timberwolves who competed at the Regional tournament, but did not earn a spot at State were Austin Jones, Wade Gaston and Kyle Ross who were each 0-2. Jones and Gaston gained valuable experience for a shot at next year’s tournament while Ross finishes his wrestling career at Goldendale. As a team, the Timberwolves finished fifth in the region, which includes 14 teams from the SCAC.
District play at Zillah and River View for Wolves
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
It seems ages ago that Goldendale played an incredible game at Granger, but it surely was on the players’ minds as they took on River View in round one of the SCAC District playoffs for the boys, on Tuesday. There wasn’t much at stake in the Granger game, just pride. And there was the small matter of an undefeated season for the Spartans.
It is hard to imagine two teams playing a better game than last week’s 63-61 Granger victory. The largest lead of the game was nine points and came on the last shot of the first half. Granger shot 63 percent from two point range in the first half, but Goldendale was 75 percent, including a perfect 5-5 in the first quarter. Granger’s edge came in number of shots, partly gained through an edge on turnovers and rebounds.
Granger went cold in the third quarter and Goldendale cut the lead to 46-45 as Timberwolf three’s were beginning to heat up. Goldendale shot 7-9 on second half, three-point shots. Final stats showed Goldendale shot 20-38 while Granger was 29-60 on all shots from the floor. Mitchell Zapien was 60 percent from the floor, hitting on 15 of 25 shots. He also owned the Spartans’ only points from the foul line.
Foul shooting would seem to indicate a bad night for officials with Goldendale shooting 13-20 and Granger 2-4. But, the officiating was as good as the play. Granger was hard-pressed to stop Goldendale’s Reed Lindhe from scoring, so they opted to double team Lindhe and try to block him from behind. Instead, they sent the Timberwolf post man to the foul line for two shots, on five occasions. Lindhe made seven of the 10 shots plus 6-10 from the field to lead Goldendale with 20 Points.
Aside from the gawdy stats, the final minutes of the game were extraordinary. Zapien put the Spartans up 61-58 following a technical foul called on Lindhe for abusing the basketball when he showed frustration at mishandling a ball out-of-bounds. With just 44 seconds left in the game, sophomore Devon Casey nailed his second three-pointer of the quarter for the tie. With 8.5 seconds left, Granger ran an in-bounds play to Zapien. As the Spartan drove inside the arc, the Timberwolves converged and left Brandon Castro alone on the far side of the court. As Zapien elevated for the shot, Castro moved under the hoop and Zapien fed him a pass for an easy two that proved to be the winning points. But, the Timberwolves had one last scare for Granger. Following a time out, Goldendale’s Tyrell Cronin put the ball in play with 4.5 on the clock. Lindhe and Kaden Milliren collided while going for the ball, forcing a studder step from Milliren. As the whistle blew, Milliren was in the process of draining a picture perfect shot from three feet beyond the mid-court line. The sigh of relief was audible from the Spartan fans, as traveling was the call.
Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s game at River View, Goldendale’s boys will play again on Feb. 19, at the Middle School in Zillah, where all final district games are to be played. If Goldendale defeats River View, game time will be 8:15 p.m. If River View wins, game time for Goldendale will be 7:30 p.m.
The Lady Timberwolves were simply out-shot by Granger. The Spartans were 14-28 on twos and 6-17 on threes. By comparison, Goldendale was 9-26 on twos and 0-13 on three-point shots. Granger won the game 51-31. Granger lost it’s bid to go undefeated when Zillah upset the Spartans’ in the following game. Goldendale finished league play in third place by virtue of two wins over Mabton. Both teams are 7-5
The girls will take on Connell in Connell, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. Their second game in the double elimination tournament will be played at River View High School on Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. if they defeat Connell, or at 2 p.m. if they lose.
The top three teams from each tournament will advance to State at the Yakima SunDome, March 3-6.
Lady Pirates and Vandals boys stave off elimination on Sunnyside court
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Trout Lake-Glenwood (TLG) and Sunnyside Christian swept the opening round of the 1B, District five playoffs in Sunnyside, last Friday. By Saturday evening, Sunnyside Christian owned spots in the boys’ and girls’ State tournaments, and TLG was relegated to the loser bracket where they would have to duplicate their day one feat.
TLG’s girls rebounded from a slow start against Bickleton to take a 23-14 half-time lead after scoring only six points in the first quarter and being plagued by turnovers and missed shots until halfway through the second quarter. The second quarter proved costly to the Mustang-Eagles, who saw their center, Liz Vogt, saddled with four first half fouls. Bickleton who also started slowly, made it an even match in the second half, but they could not overcome TLG‘s first half lead and were sent to the loser bracket with a 53-47 loss. Katie Yarnell took control of the game for TLG during the third quarter and led all scorers with 18 points. Vogt sat out the entire third quarter, but managed to score 16 points in the game. Bickleton was led by Star Kibby’s 15 points.
Another slow first quarter for TLG put them behind Sunnyside Christian on Saturday and things would only get worse in the second half. Renee Dalyrymple scored 15 points and Kelly Newhouse added 12 more to lead the Knights to a 55-28 win which guaranteed a spot at State for Sunnyside Christian. TLG had a rematch with Bickleton in White Salmon on Tuesday to determine who else would be going to State. The championship game will be played in Mabton this weekend.
It was a much wilder ride for the TLG boys, who fought back against Yakama Tribal after an early slump and won an overtime victory 81-77. The game came down to a battle of Yakama Tribal three-point shots and inside play of James Whitefoot versus the foul shooting of TLG’s Lucas King. King was 7-11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter after taking several dives onto the Sunnyside floor. The Eagles were led by Gordon Gardipee’s pair of threes in the fourth, but the game was destined for overtime, tied at 71 at the end of regulation. Andy Wells dominated the boards with five rebounds in overtime and King went to the line for 14 more shots in the four-minute period. King hit nine of the free throws while Yakama Tribal went stone cold, hitting 2-13 from the floor. They were also hindered when Gardipee and both starting guards fouled out.
The Mustang-Eagles put up a bit of a fight against Sunnyside Christian with King and Tygh Schuster scoring 14 points each, but the Knights saw the State berth looming and ran away with a 69-45 win. TLG played Klickitat in White Salmon on Tuesday for the other State playoff berth.
Tuesday’s game was a tough one for the Vandals who were riding high Saturday night after playing what Coach Joe Bales called “our best game of the year.” Sunday morning the community learned that two 16 year old students had lost their lives in a car wreck east of town. Alan Blake and Dylon Johnson weren’t team members, but they were friends of the players in the tight-knit community of Klickitat.
Klickitat earned the right to play TLG in the loser out, winner to State game on Tuesday, by defeating Yakama Tribal 67-46 in the game Coach Bales called their best. It was nearly flawless, almost a duplication of what Sunnyside Christian did to the Vandals the previous night, putting them in the loser out game against the Eagles. Everything worked for Klickitat. Tyler Linville and Matthew Kessinger were picking off passes out-front to trigger breaks. Everyone had hands that could handle Kessinger’s slick passes and finishing was no problem. Caleb Keys scored 17 points and Linville scored 16. Wade Ramsey was in key spots on the baseline where he was able to score 10 points and pull down 11 rebounds. Seth Davis and Keys each had 11 rebounds in the game. Kessinger had five steals and seven assists, Davis also fed laser feeds for six assists. Yakama Tribal was unable to hit the three point shots that worked so well against TLG, as only Gardipee scored from beyond the arc and came away with 20 points.
Klickitat’s girls couldn’t find their offense in losses to Sunnyside Christian 55-28 and Bickleton 50-32. The Knights continued to dominate the league with Kelly Newhouse, Renee Dalrymple, Marisa Broersma and Joleen Van Wingerden providing a dominant inside game. The Knights showed no effect of being without their star guard, Hilari Bosma, who is nursing a knee injury. While the Vandals knew it would be a long shot to knock off Sunnyside Christian, they expected to match up better against Bickleton. Both teams started slowly as the first quarter ended 5-4 in favor of the Vandals. Klickitat was the first team to get something going, as they moved to a 12-6 lead. A big shift in momentum occurred when Katelynn Clinton blocked a shot and sent Star Kibby on a run for an easy lay-in. Kibby came right back down court, seconds later, this time missing the lay-in, but Clinton followed up with the rebound and score. Clinton tied the game at 12 with 2:30 left in the second quarter and Bickleton never looked back. The Pirates managed to hold Samantha Brewer to four points and Morgan McBride’s 10 points neutralized Charice McConville’s team leading 12 points. Bickleton got a second shot at TLG on Tuesday. The winner will play in the championship game, Friday at 6 p.m. in Mabton, and will have secured a place at State.
The State 1B tournament runs from Feb. 24-27, in the Yakama SunDome. |
