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The short-handed La Conner Braves faced long odds when they hosted 1A South Whidbey in non-league hoop action at Landy James Gym Monday night. For a while, the NW2B Braves were able to beat those odds. With three key players unavailable to square off against the Falcons, La Conner still managed to lead throughout the first quarter and was tied at halftime before fading in the second half. South Whidbey’s Lucas Taksony scored a game-high 15 points and teammates Josh Sterba and Sterling Patton hit two three-pointers each to lead the visitors to a...
The La Conner High girls’ basketball team earned an A for effort in its close home loss to Burlington-Edison last Tuesday, June 8. The Lady Braves received an A for results when they soundly defeated Lynden in another highly anticipated non-league hoop matchup, again at Landy James Gym two nights later. Together, the hard-fought, highly competitive games proved that 2B La Conner could more than hold its own against top 2A foes from the vaunted Northwest Conference. Burlington-Edison (7-3) e...
Thursday La Conner High School’s seniors paraded and were feted from the time La Conner’s iconic 1941 Ford white firetruck and accompany Hook & Ladder Department vehicle fleet left the schoolgrounds parking lot to the end of the parade, bookended with another firetruck, at the Town’s Maple Hall. Seniors waved from car moonroofs, backs of pick up trucks,trailers and, of course, convertibles. A variety of classic cars, from vintage corvettes to old mustangs, were joined by Fire District 13 fire...
The La Conner Braves enjoyed a Jolly good time when they hosted co-league leader Friday Harbor in NW2B boys’ basketball action Saturday afternoon. Senior wing Josh Jolly scored a game-high 18 points, all but two coming in the second half, to lead La Conner to a 56-52 upset win at Landy James Gym. Jolly scored seven straight points over a two-minute stretch of the final period to lift the Braves on top of an ebb-and-flow affair from the outset. With the win, La Conner avenged an earlier road l...
It usually is not a good sign when a basketball team has just one defensive rebound in the first quarter and only 14 for the game. But that was not the case for the unbeaten La Conner High girls’ basketball team Saturday at Landy James Gym. The Lady Braves played such good defense against NW2B rival Friday Harbor that the visitors turned the ball over repeatedly and rarely got good shots at the hoop. Thus, there were not rebounds off the defensive glass to be grabbed. La Conner (9-0) remained a...
A La Conner High School student group was to have taken a science field trip to the beach last Tuesday on what would have been a perfect warm and sunny outing. But, as has been the case for more than a year, COVID-19 protocols forced a change in plans. Thankfully, due to the adaptability of La Conner school district and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve staffs, students in the Between Two Worlds Indigenous Science class could still enjoy the beach life. Padilla Bay’s Annie English and Madi McKay brought forage fish eggs to t...
The La Conner High basketball teams took different routes in Coupeville on Thursday to reach the same destination: Victory Lane. The Braves squared their season slate at 3-3 with a dramatic 59-57 NW2B triumph when senior point guard Elijah Porter scored in traffic with just one second to play. The La Conner girls, meanwhile, cruised down Easy Street for their sixth win without a loss, motoring to a convincing 74-15 decision. For the Braves, taking the more difficult road had its rewards in the end. “It was nice for us to execute in a close g...
Going on retreat was the best path forward for La Conner schools officials last week. School board members spent their three-hour retreat May 21 applying the finishing touches to the district’s new strategic plan, a process that has been two years in the making. They worked on next year’s budget and discussed capital improvements and naming two new student reps. That set the stage for formal action at its May 24 meeting. Members unanimously adopted a strategic plan designed to create a learning environment in which the academic and social emo...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no state basketball tournament this year. But the La Conner High girls’ basketball team, the defending state tourney runner-up, played – and won – four games in four days – similar to the Hardwood Classic format in Spokane – to tip off its modified spring season last week. And one of those matchups, a home clash with 1A King’s High School at Landy James Gym on Wednesday, very much resembled a state caliber game. La Conner fou...
Fancy passing was no mere passing fancy for the La Conner Braves during their first week of spring hoop action. La Conner passed effectively both in transition and in its half-court offense, consistently finding open shooters, to post convincing NW2B home victories over Concrete and Darrington. The Braves sped past Concrete 73-29 last Tuesday and used a second half surge to defeat Darrington 56-35 on Friday. The two wins bookended road losses at 1A Meridian (68-38) on Wednesday and league foe...
La Conner’s Kali Adams wowed fans by rushing for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns in the Braves’ 41-0 shutout win at Darrington in the team’s season finale. The sophomore running back impressed state athletics officials as well. As a result, Adams was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 2B football player of the week Thursday. Each week the WIAA, which governs school athletics and activities in the state, joins the Gesa Credit Union in recognizing stude...
La Conner students are daily taught the power of critical thinking. School officials are also embracing that lesson as they begin analyzing data collected from surveys whose input will help shape a draft district strategic plan addressing key academic and campus culture goals and objectives. La Conner school board members and administrators hosted a two-hour presentation Monday night by Roni Rumsey, director of professional learning at the Center for Educational Effectiveness. She shared insight into how data analysis can play a vital role in...
The La Conner High School Knowledge program is virtually – and truly – among the best in the country. La Conner’s “Chronically Iliad” team competed earlier this month against schools of all sizes in the inaugural virtual National Knowledge Bowl Tournament, placing fourth among entries from 1A enrollment campuses. Knowledge Bowl coaches Beth Clothier and Christi Malcomson said the La Conner team, which “competed up” as a 2B entry, underwent six rounds of oral and written questions...
In a short season, the La Conner High football team went a long way. All the way, in fact, to the top of league standings. Not too bad for a group some thought would be continuing a rebuild under new head coach Jeff Scoma. Instead, the Braves raised the roof and clinched the NW2B championship Friday night with their fourth straight win, a convincing 41-0 shutout victory as La Conner showed its mastery of the Wing-T attack Scoma brought with him from Bellevue. With the triumph, the Braves finished the ’21 spring campaign with a 4-1 mark. Five L...
The two-time defending state champion La Conner high volleyball team made the most of a season shortened due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Not only did the Lady Braves play four matches in five days during the last week of the month-long campaign, but they did not drop a single set. While capturing the league title in an undefeated season, La Conner did not lose a set in any of its 10 NW2B matches. The Lady Braves put an exclamation point on their modified 2021 spring schedule Saturday afternoo...
The La Conner high boys’ soccer team closed out a shortened spring season with a win in their longest match of the campaign Friday. Andre Knudson clinched a 2-1 Braves home triumph over Grace Academy of Marysville with a goal in the shootout round to break a 1-1 tie following 80 minutes of action and two five-minute overtime sessions. Knudson was mobbed by his teammates, who rushed onto the field from their sideline following his game-winner,. Braves’ goalkeeper Elijah Porter also came up big in...
Homecoming at La Conner schools will be earlier than usual this year. That is true, at least, for the district’s new assistant principal and athletics director. School Board members last week hired La Conner alum Christine Bruffy Tripp, currently the principal at Concrete High School, to return to her alma mater starting July 1. The board decision was unanimous, with member Lynette Bruffy Cram – Tripp’s sister – recusing herself from the vote. Tripp previously served an administrative internship at La Conner schools, middle and hig...
The La Conner-Mount Vernon Christian girls’ soccer match at Whittaker Field Friday afternoon was essentially over within 90 seconds when Lady Hurricane standout Caitlyn Vander Kooy scored the first of MVC’s 13 goals. But a shorthanded La Conner team, minus two injured starters and without any subs, played through the full 80 minutes to the final whistle. “This team has some heart,” said La Conner head coach Christian Warman, who had five eighth graders and a freshman on the field opposit...
In a season like no other, the two-time defending state champion La Conner High volleyball team continues to post familiar results. La Conner defeated NW2B rival Coupeville in straight sets on Senior Night at Landy James Gym Thursday, the team’s sixth win in as many outings. The hosts withstood a good start by Coupeville, which broke to a quick 2-1 lead in the opening set, to record a 25-12, 25-14, 25-15 triumph before a supportive home crowd. While Coupeville played well in stretches, the Lady Wolves had no answer for La Conner’s dominant play...
The La Conner High football team saved its best for last at Lummi Thursday night. The Braves (3-1) overcame a slow start to claim their third straight triumph, a 27-6 road victory under new head coach Jeff Scoma and using the Wing-T attack he brought to La Conner this year from the vaunted Bellevue High program. The convincing win at Lummi means La Conner can capture the spring NW2B grid crown by prevailing at Darrington Friday, the season finale for both clubs. Kickoff is 6 p.m. For those into comparative scores, Lummi defeated the Loggers...
The La Conner High football team hit the ground running at Concrete Friday night. Operating out of their new Wing-T set, the Braves topped 300 yards rushing and saw four different players score touchdowns as La Conner posted a convincing 48-14 NW2B triumph in the Lions’ Den. Hal Ikebe paced the Braves with three TDs. Cole Hagen found paydirt twice and Kali Adams and Alden Schnabel each recorded a touchdown for La Conner, which improved to 2-1 on the campaign. “It was a total team win,” first-year Braves head coach Jeff Scoma told the Weekl...
The La Conner High boys’ soccer team battled a stiff headwind at Whittaker Field last Tuesday. The Braves also dueled with a physical and veteran Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes club that broke a scoreless tie with a pair of wind-aided second half goals, the latter of which came in the final minute of the contest. MVC recorded the tidy 2-0 victory on a beautiful sunlit but gusty afternoon. Coming off a season opening shutout win over Cedar Park Christian, La Conner was unable to take advantage...
The La Conner High football team was looking forward to avenging its 6-0 season opening overtime loss at Coupeville. Fortunately for the Braves, that opportunity came earlier than expected. And they made the most of it. The Braves blanked Coupeville 21-0 at home Saturday in a game that was moved up in the schedule mid-week due to Friday Harbor having suspended its athletics program because of increased COVID-19 test results in the San Juan Island School District. Friday Harbor was to have been La Conner’s foe last weekend. Coupeville was a...
The COVID-19 pandemic has scuttled post-season action, but the La Conner High volleyball team is playing like another state title is on the line. Lady Braves head coach Suzanne Marble, who has guided the program to five state crowns, would not have it any other way. The two-time defending state champions swept NW2B rivals Coupeville and Concrete in straight-set decisions last week. La Conner bested Coupeville 25-15, 25-7, 25-9 in a key road test last Tuesday against the former Class A Lady Wolves, who moved back to the NW2B ranks this year. It...
State lawmakers have decided the time has long since passed that use by public schools of Native American sports mascots goes unchecked. And on that score La Conner schools, home of the Braves, has already proved ahead of the game. The local school district has an established history of responding to Swinomish Tribal Community requests regarding imagery portraying Native Americans, most notably the decision several years ago to substitute an interlocking L and C for tribal caricatures as the school logo. That kind of collaboration is what...
