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It seemed like a perfect storm brewing on Friday for the upset-minded Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes. They would be playing in front of a large and vocal home crowd and facing a La Conner team that would again be without a key starter — something of a recurring theme for the Braves this year. This time around it would be versatile wing Brady Nelson, a regular double-figure scorer of late, having to sit out. Nelson, a senior, was scratched due to the flu. “We knew that would be a big loss for us going in,” La Conner High head coach Sco...
They didn’t win in a breeze, but the La Conner High Lady Braves didn’t blow an early chance to clinch the NW2B girls’ hoop title, either. La Conner did so with a steady — if unspectacular — 46-37 road triumph over the Mount Vernon Christian Lady Hurricanes on Friday. With the victory, the Lady Braves wrapped up the league championship with a week remaining in the regular season. La Conner took an unblemished 10-0 conference slate into late Monday action with Shoreline Christian. The Lady Braves finish NW2B play at home oppos...
So much for home court advantage. The Orcas Vikings had routed La Conner by 25 points at Landy James Gym in December. But the Braves were able to return the favor at Eastsound last week, posting a crucial 66-62 NW2B triumph that puts La Conner back in contention for the league title. The victory, coupled with an earlier 62-32 blowout of Concrete, saw La Conner improve to 6-2 in conference action. “It was a big win for us, no doubt,” Braves head coach Scott Novak said afterward. His club fig...
They’re perfect in league play thus far. That’s the good news for the La Conner High girls’ basketball team. The better news is the Lady Braves continue to improve. “Our defense and rebounding are really getting better,” insisted La Conner head coach Scott Novak, whose team was 12-2 overall and 6-0 in NW2B action going into Tuesday’s late conference date at Concrete. This after La Conner defeated league rivals Shoreline Christian and Friday Harbor and 1A South Whidbey in succession last week....
It was a Hurricane warning that La Conner High head basketball coach Scott Novak didn’t take lightly. The 1B Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes were coming to town Friday with a skilled post in Carter Annema and an ability to score from the perimeter. And the Braves would be minus senior wing Brady Nelson, who had drained three deep treys in La Conner’s win over 1A Nooksack Valley at the recent Crush in the Slush hoopfest in Port Townsend. Those worries, though, were eclipsed by a long-awaited Lu...
There would be no blowout — either way — when La Conner High hosted the Mount Vernon Christian Lady Hurricanes in girls’ hoop action on Friday. A hard-fought, batten-down-the-hatches clash was expected. And that’s exactly the scenario that unfolded. In the end, it was La Conner who sailed — though not always smoothly — to a gritty 35-27 victory. “It was kind of a grinder game,” Lady Braves head coach Scott Novak said afterward, “but we found a way to get a win.” For...
Though short-handed, it was La Conner’s Braves who enjoyed the upper hand in terms of roster depth in an emotional rematch victory over Nooksack Valley in Port Townsend on Friday. The La Conner bench played a big role in a hard-fought 45-37 win over the Pioneers on the second and final day of the 10th annual Crush in the Slush Invitational Tournament. Minus two starters – including leading scorer Budda Luna – who had played in a previous home loss to Nooksack, La Conner head coach Scott Novak revamped his lineup and was rewarded w...
In an ebb-and-flow kind of game, it was a late La Conner scoring tsunami that sank the upset-minded Orcas Lady Vikings Wednesday at Landy James Gym. The hosts went on a 35-12 second half run to break open what had been a close contest at intermission and secure a key 57-32 NW2B hoop triumph. Freshman Justine Benson scored 14 of her game-high 23 points after halftime to lead La Conner, which improved to 6-1 going into this week’s Port Townsend Invitational Tournament action. “Justine scored so...
There are ugly wins, but few pretty losses. A rare example of the latter, though, might have been La Conner’s 77-55 non-league home hoop setback to 1A power Mount Baker on Saturday. The double-digit defeat looked much better in hindsight, at least from the perspective and through the lens of Braves’ head coach Scott Novak and his staff. “The Mount Baker game,” Novak said Sunday, upon reflection, “looks like we got blown out, but other than one stretch in the first quarter when we went from bein...
They have height. They have length. Now the La Conner High Lady Braves are building depth. And that depth was on display in a big way when La Conner swept back-to-back games at Landy James Gym last weekend. Joanie Benson and Kayla Hagen each made important contributions off the bench as the Lady Braves routed Concrete 61-37 on Friday and romped past Sultan 56-29 Saturday night. Benson scored a game-high 19 points, shooting five-of-nine from behind the three-point arc, while Hagen led the victors with four steals to go along with two points in...
They didn’t start the season on a roll, but the Lady Braves weren’t bowled over, either. La Conner salvaged a split of a two-game home set with larger non-league foes Lakewood and Granite Falls that tipped off the 2016-17 hoop campaign. The season opener on Wednesday was truly a pins-and-needles affair, with La Conner falling 61-58 in overtime to Lakewood after having bolted to an early double-digit lead. The loss came despite a brilliant 32-point effort by senior guard Nakiya Edwards, and a s...
Over time, the names change. But expectations remain the same. Lofty expectations, at that. Despite loss to the collegiate ranks of premier point guard Kamea Pino, who will reunite with former La Conner High teammate Anna Cook at Highline Community College this winter, the Lady Braves again appear poised to make a deep post-season run. “You can never underestimate the value of an outstanding point guard, someone who can get you into your offense,” La Conner head coach Scott Novak said last wee...
Ashley Watkins delivered countless big hits for the La Conner High volleyball team that placed third in State Tournament play at Yakima this month. Because of that, Watkins herself is a big hit with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which oversees athletics and fine arts programs in the state’s schools. Watkins, a 5’-7” hitter was named WIAA 2B Athlete of the Week for her stellar performance at the recent Yakima tourney. The La Conner High senior placed 97 percent of her serves and was nearly as efficient on serves recei...
Nobody hates losing more than La Conner High head football coach Peter Voorhees. Not that the first-year Braves mentor and NW2B Coach of the Year has had much experience tasting defeat. His team, which scored 50 or more points seven times this fall, lost only twice in 2016. Turns out, that pair of setbacks was to the two top small school grid programs in Washington state this year. La Conner was edged by No. 1-ranked Napavine during the regular season. The second Braves loss came on Saturday,...
In a battle of the birds and B’s, it was the Raymond Gulls who ended up getting swarmed. It was hardly sexy, perhaps even ugly at times, but La Conner High — led by Killer B’s Budda Luna and Brady Nelson — overcame seven fumbles and five turnovers to best Raymond 33-10 in first round State 2B football playoff action in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday. A swarming La Conner defense, with Michael Page recording a sack and interception, likewise made its mark as the Braves advanced to this week’s State quarterfinal game opposite Toled...
Another Yakima trip, another State volleyball trophy to display. The La Conner High Lady Braves, coming off a dramatic State runner-up finish a year ago, placed third in arguably an even tougher 2B tourney field at the Sun Dome last weekend. La Conner, in fact, had to show its mettle to win this latest State medal. The Lady Braves, 20-2, survived a marathon opening day with twin five-set triumphs over Toutle Lake and Dayton before finishing strong in the bronze medal match opposite Napavine — in another tense clash that went the distance...
Two down, one to go. The La Conner High volleyball team won two post-season tournaments in convincing fashion last week, and now the Lady Braves have their sights set on a familiar target: another State championship. La Conner came ever so close to its fourth State crown in program history a year ago, settling for second place after falling in a marathon five-set match to Colfax at the Yakima Sun Dome. The Lady Braves return to Yakima — La Conner head coach Suzanne Marble has been there so often she needs neither GPS nor a map — to...
La Conner High head football coach Peter Voorhees knew going in that beating an improved Concrete team a second time in five weeks would be no trip down Easy Street. That even though the Braves had flattened Concrete 60-0 on the road in September. Sure enough, the spirited Lions blocked La Conner’s path to another NW2B grid title with a few speed bumps for a while. But not so many that the Braves weren’t able to ultimately take the checkered flag before a loud and supportive Senior Night cro...
There was no test anxiety for the La Conner High volleyball team on Saturday. The Lady Braves continued to stay out in front of the learning curve by making the grade at a big 2A-4A invitational tournament in Wenatchee. La Conner, the tourney’s sole 2B entrant, placed second in the Silver bracket and was 10th overall after playing on better than even terms with programs such as Grandview, Eastmont, Chelan, and host Wenatchee. “This was a true test for us,” Lady Braves head coach Suzanne Marbl...
In life, there’s often a choice between style and substance. In soccer, it can be both. The La Conner High Lady Braves, unbeaten in nine conference starts going into their Senior Night home match with Orcas at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, are a case in point. The team has embraced a new style under first-year La Conner head coach Christian Warman while maintaining the winning tradition fostered by longtime former Lady Braves mentor Amy Freeto, who stepped down earlier this year after having molded the program into a regular State title contender. ...
Homecoming is typically the time to rekindle favorite memories. That being the case, the La Conner High football team treated alumni and fans to a win on Friday that won’t soon be forgotten. La Conner remained unbeaten with a near perfect 54-0 NW2B triumph over Friday Harbor — thus sweeping their two-game season series — before a large and supportive Homecoming crowd gathered at Whittaker Field. With its fifth straight lopsided victory, La Conner has now outscored foes 274-20 g...
Darrington was sharp in the early going, but league leading La Conner proved a cut above the Lady Loggers during key NW2B net action last week. The Lady Braves, who remained unbeaten in conference play, edged Darrington 25-17, 25-9, 25-15, a straight-sets triumph that was tougher than the match score indicates, according to La Conner head coach Suzanne Marble. “We had a slow start,” she noted afterward, “and Darrington was playing the best I have seen this year. They didn’t let much drop in the first set.” The Lady Braves eventually pulled aw...
Win some, lose some. But even when they lose — which is quite rare these days — the La Conner High Lady Braves still end up winning. The La Conner volleyball team split two key matches last week, defeating NW2B rival Friday Harbor in straight-sets after having dropped a tough five-set verdict at 4A Woodinville earlier in the week. The Lady Braves fell behind early against Woodinville, losing 25-12 and 25-22 to open the match. La Conner stormed back to win the third and fourth sets by respective 25-17 and 25-18 margins before...
The fast and furious La Conner Braves finally met a stop unit able to make them step on the brakes. At least temporarily. It was unbeaten La Conner’s own defense, so no hard feel-ings. Just hard hitting. La Conner, which has outscored foes in four lopsided early season grid triumphs, held a Blue-White scrimmage Friday when a previously scheduled eight-man exhibition with NW2B rival Orcas fell through. Judging from the intensity at Whittaker Field, there was no letdown. Quite the opposite, actually. “The kids were pretty excited about it,” Brave...
Neither time nor tide waits for no one. Further proof came during a 60-0 La Conner High grid rout of Concrete on Friday when a Luna eclipse forced a rare running clock from the second period on. La Conner star Budda Luna ran for two touchdowns and passed for another pair of scores as the Braves posted a surprisingly easy triumph over their longtime NW2B rivals. Luna and the Braves bolted to a commanding 38-point lead before the break, causing game officials to waive time stoppages in order to keep the final score somewhat within reason. The...
