By JAMES NORTON
For The Beachcomber
The Vashon boys’ basketball team punched its ticket to the Washington state 1A championship tournament in Yakima this week. This has been an incredible journey, and the Pirates find themselves with a record of 22-1 overall after defeating Kalama High School in the regional round last Friday at Rogers High School in Puyallup by a score of 59-38.
This was a loser-out game, and the intensity was up to that reality from the start. It meant the end of one team’s season and the end of a playing career for many seniors. Kalama was the number-four seed from District 4 and had to travel to play Vashon, the number-one seed from District 3 and the third-ranked team in the state overall. That put Kalama in the underdog, spoiler position, and they came out with high energy and fire. The Pirates didn’t match that energy and execution but fought back to even the score, 11-11, at the end of the first quarter.
Kalama was surprisingly winning the rebounding battle by playing very physically. The Pirates won the second quarter by finding a measure of offensive efficiency and took a 26-21 lead into halftime.
As is the norm, Coach Andy Sears, who was named as the Nisqually League Coach of the Year, laid down the law at halftime, and the Pirates responded with a huge third quarter and held a double-digit lead going into the fourth. The Pirates stretched out that lead to the finish and won by 21 points.
Sam Yates, Jessie Norton and Ian Stewart led the Pirate charge, and there were big contributions from Alex Symbol, Sam Schoenberg and some much-needed brute force from Darrin May-Power.
The Pirates moved on to the 1A “Hardwood Classic” state championship tournament with the win. It is now down to the final eight teams in the state all vying to be state champs.
Over the weekend, the brackets for the final were released, and Vashon will open up against Kingsway Christian of Vancouver. That game is at 7:15 p.m. Thursday and will be broadcast live on the Voice of Vashon. The full bracket can be viewed at wiaa.org.
As mentioned, Sears was named Nisqually League Coach of the Year; Jessie Norton was named league MVP; Sam Yates was included on the All-League First Team. Senior Ian Stewart was named to the Second Team along with newcomer junior Alex Symbol.
The Pirates were well supported by the Green Tide at these last regular-season games and extend gratitude for those efforts.
The team has a mountain to climb to get to the goal of 1A state champions, as all of these final eight teams are talented and accomplished. It will simply come down to which team plays the best in a three-day playoff series. The Pirates are expected to represent their school and community with excellence and passion. Every member of this team and the coaches has put in the work and is up to the challenge of going to Yakima and being the last team standing.
— James Norton is the father of player Jesse Norton.
Listen to the game
Voice of Vashon will do a live broadcast of the Pirates’ game against King’s Way Christian on Thursday, March 5. The pre-game show starts at 7 p.m. and the game at 7:15 p.m.
Kevin Linell and John Yates do play-by-play on KVSH 101.9 FM, the KVSH App, audio on Channel 21 TV and on voiceofvashon.org.
