The winter sports season is racing toward an exciting conclusion, with much to be determined this week.
The inaugural state tournament for girls flag football will be staged Friday and Saturday, with White River making an appearance; Plateau athletes will appear in the West Central District swim meet, wrestlers from both Plateau schools will compete at the league championship meet and White River’s Shelby Lee will be among Washington’s best at the state bowling tournament.
In addition, both boys and girls basketball teams will wrap up the regular season this week with the second edition of the hardwood Battle of the Bridge. Then the focus will turn to tournament time.
GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL
Putting an emphatic exclamation point on their inaugural season of flag football, the White River High girls earned a berth in the coming Class 3A state championships.
Across the river, the Enumclaw High squad – also in its first season of existence – fell one victory shy of making a state appearance.
Everything was decided during the 12-team District 3 tournament, staged Jan. 30-31 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
Here’s how things went for the Plateau schools.
White River: On the strength of a regular-season league championship, the WR crew was seeded No. 2 into district play and earned a first-round bye. That brought a second-round contest against their Plateau rivals from Enumclaw High.
The Buckley squad was more than up to the task, racing to a 49-21 victory. Leading the way were freshman quarterback Danika Scott who tossed three touchdown passes and Jayna Vain who rushed for three scores. On the defensive side, Riley Soule had six tackles and two pass interceptions.
The triumph guaranteed White River a trip to state and advanced the team to the Jan. 31 semifinals. Squaring off against Capital High – the tourney’s No. 11 seed that earlier had upended No. 3 Mount Tahoma 42-3 – the Hornets went into overtime before escaping with a 22-21 victory.
The Hornets jumped on top 14-0 thanks to a pick-six by Breanne Valiquette and a long TD pass from Scott to Giuliana Fioretti. Capital exploded for three TDs to take the lead but the Hornets forced overtime when Jordyn Daigle swept around the left side for a rushing touchdown.
In overtime, Capital took possession first and failed to score. White River then sealed the victory when Scott connected with Vain on a five-yard, one-point score.
White River then took the field against Tacoma’s Lincoln High, with both teams gunning for top seeding into the state tourney,. Lincoln left the field with a 21-14 win and is the overall No. 1 seed into this week’s state championships. Having taken the district loss, White River was seeded No. 5 into the 16-team, single-elimination state tourney.
Hornet touchdowns against the Abes came on a Scott-to-Fioretti pass play and a Fioretti running play.
Enumclaw: Seeded No. 10 into the District 3 tourney, the EHS squad crushed No. 7 Central Kitsap by a score of 35-6 in the Jan. 30 tourney opener. The loser-out contest sent Enumclaw into a battle against No. 2 White River, a game EHS dropped 49-21.
Taking the field twice on Jan. 31, the EHS girls first lost to the host Thunderbirds 35-21, slipping into a winner-to-state, loser-out contest against Kentlake. The Falcons prevailed 35-7, bringing Enumclaw’s season to an end.
Next for White River: The Buckley-based White River High squad will join 15 other teams for the Class 3A state flag football tournament. The tourney will span two weekends, beginning with two rounds on Feb. 7, semifinals on Feb. 13 and championship rounds on Feb. 14.
All tourney games are of the loser-out variety.
White River, seeded No. 5, will open against Lakeside High. The game will take place at Bothell’s Pop Keeney Stadium. While the loser will be finished for the season, the winner will play again that day, facing the winner of a opening-round game between No. 4 Inglemoor and No. 13 Mount Tahoma.
The semifinal and final-round games will be played at Federal Way Memorial Field.
BOYS SWIMMING
Plateau swimmers wrapped up their regular season with an all-league meet at Auburn High, squaring off against fellow North Puget Sound League 3A athletes.
Competing Jan. 30, the Enumclaw High squad placed second in the field while the small-in-numbers White River crew was ninth.
Here’s a look at the top performers for each school.
Enumclaw: 200-yard freestyle relay (Titus Tuck, Miguel Cruz-Gardea, Ellis Behrens, Melvin Johnson), first place; Ian Dickson, 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle, second place; Liam Bellah, 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, second place; Aaron Gruner, 500-yard freestyle, second place; 400-yard freestyle relay (Bellah, Cruz-Gadea, Dickson, Gruner), second place; Behrens, 500-yard freestyle, third place; 200-yard medley relay (Bellah, Gruner, Tuck, Dickson), third place; Cruz-Gardea, 200-yard freestyle, third place.
White River: Cracking the Top 10 for the Buckley crew was Eli Long, who finished sixth in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.
Up next: Plateau athletes will return to Auburn High School for the Feb. 6-7 West Central District 3A championships.
BOYS WRESTLING
When wrestlers from Enumclaw High traveled to White River the evening of Jan. 28, all but four of the 14 individual pairings went the way of the hosts.
It was a mat version of the Battle of the Bridge when the Plateau pair squared off in North Puget Sound League 3A action.
Three of Enumclaw’s victories came in consecutive bouts. Easton Bylin pinned Hudson Hoalst at 138 pounds, Eddie Cormier-Higgins pinned Braydon Thacker at 144 and Bo Bruhn took a 12-3 major decision over Rohnon Cummings. Aside from that brief stretch of success Enumclaw earned six team points when White River forfeited the 285-pound weight class.
Other than that, it was all White River.
The host Hornets earned pins in nine weights: Laedyn Mills over Gaven Gemmell at 106 pounds; Gaige Cartwright over Danner Becker at 113; Mandon San over Zachary Sipe at 120; Morgan Presley over John Elliott at 126; Joshua Wilson over Romeo Gwerder at 132; Colten Kennedy over Samuel Pedersen at 157; Tyson Lynch over Niko Gross at 175; Brendan Fonda over Nathan Sieg at 190; and Carson Phillips over Baron Peterson at 215. White River also picked up three team points when Joshua Hanson earned an 8-5 decision over Cole Schumacher at 165 pounds.
Prior to the varsity match White River had outpointed EHS during an abbreviated, five-bout junior varsity showdown. With all matches decided by fall, the host team received victories from Masen Emry at 126 pounds, Lucas Knauss at 138 and Cade Kennedy at 175. Enumclaw’s pair of JV wins were delivered by Solomon Morales at 150 pounds and Carson Lee at 165.
Junior varsity: The Kentwood JV tournament attracted 30 teams for a day’s worth of wrestling and, when the final match concluded, Enumclaw High finished in sixth place.
The JV tourney was contested Jan. 31.
Top finishes for Enumclaw High were turned in by individual champions Wade Bruhn, Conner Henry, Mason Morales, Kadeyn Close-Kirkham, Solomon Morales and Eli Elliott.
Advancing to the finals and claiming second place were Jesus Varillas-Amaro, Nathan Sieg and Baron Peterson.
What comes next: The White River and Enumclaw High varsity teams will head to the Feb. 7 North Puget Sound League 3A championships at Kent-Meridian High School. In addition to the Plateau schools and the host Royals, the league meet will include Auburn Mountainview, Decatur, Federal Way, Kentlake, Thomas Jefferson and Todd Beamer.
GIRLS BOWLING
White River High’s Shelby Lee is heading to the Class 3A state championships, to be staged Feb. 6-7 at Bowlero in Tukwila.
For the Hornet senior this will be a repeat appearance, as she also advanced to state as a junior.
The Hornet team competed Jan. 31 in the West Central District tournament, placing seventh in the 3A ranks. Aside from Lee, the White River district team consisted of juniors Bridget Heston and Leah Esparza, sophomores Sam Burrell and Bristol Sproes, and freshman Eden Dehnert.
Lee earned her state trip by rolling a three-game series of 491 (156, 178 and 157).
GIRLS BASKETBALL
A busy final week of the North Puget Sound League 3A season culminates with the second edition of the hoop world’s Battle of the Bridge.
It shapes up to be a mighty important showdown. Through games of last week both the White River and Enumclaw teams sat at 9-1 in league play, tied for first place and just a step ahead of Decatur. The teams will meet Thursday, Feb. 5, in the White River gymnasium, likely with championship implications on the line.
Prior to the regular-season finale, Enumclaw traveled Feb. 3 to take on Todd Beamer High. White River hosted Auburn Mountainview on Monday and hosted Thomas Jefferson on Tuesday.
BOYS BASKETBALL
The Enumclaw High boys could be closing in on a North Puget Sound League 3A championship.
Toward that goal, the squad hosted Todd Beamer Tuesday night and travels to Federal Way Thursday, before hosting rival White River on Friday.
The season’s second Battle of the Bridge will take place in Enumclaw’s Chuck Smith Gymnasium with tipoff slated for 7 p.m.
In advance of the Bridge showdown White River traveled Tuesday night to challenge Federal Way High.
Through games of last week Enumclaw was sitting atop the NPSL 3A with a 10-1 record. White River was fourth with an 8-4 mark.
