Old Man Winter finally woke up and put the squeeze on the final week of the regular season. Six days of games were melted down to three, but the tape at the finish line has been broken, and the 2024-25 Northwest Conference season is in the books.
Lynden won their first NWC title since 2016 but survived an upset bid by Nooksack Valley to complete an undefeated regular season, and vault into tournament time with a 21-0 record.
Friday night, in front of another huge crowd at Jake Maberry Gymnasium, more than 2,000 fans nearly witnessed the upset of the season. But the Lions held on at the defensive end in the final 18 seconds, and edged the spirited Pioneers, 64-63.
This was an extremely tight game all night and entered the fourth quarter tied at 48-48.
From a 50-50 tie, the Lions ignited the crowd with an 8-0 run for a 58-50 lead with 3:50 left.
But just like they had done all night, the Pioneers again came up with big play, after big play, and closed the Lions lead to 61-59 on a pair of free throws by senior guard, Caden Heutink. On the previous trip, junior guard Cole Coppinger was fouled on a 3-point shot and nailed all three free throws.
After sophomore guard Gordy Bedlington hit a free throw for the Lions with 30 seconds left, his missed second shot was rebounded by senior forward Brant Heppner, who scored to put the Lions up 64-59 with 25 seconds left.
But the Pioneers still weren’t done.
After two free throws by Pioneer senior Corey Olney, the Lions attempted inbounds pass ended up as a turnover to the Pioneers with 18 seconds left.
Down by three, the Pioneers went to Heutink for the tying shot, but it was blocked by the Lions top defender, 6-7 senior, Jack Stapleton. However, Heutink recovered the ball, and the Pioneers called their final timeout with eight seconds left.
From the baseline, the Pioneers could not find Heutink and Olney ended up with a two-point lay-in. The Lions let the clock tick down, and eventually the inbounds pass went to Stapleton, who was fouled with one second on the clock.
Stapleton missed the first free throw, and the Lions called timeout. He then purposely fired the second free throw hard off the front rim, not to allow the Pioneers a chance to throw a long pass.
The Lions do finish the regular season 21-0, with this one-point escape. At this point, 21-0 is no longer part of the equation. Neither is 14-6, or 12-8, or 8-12 for that matter. Everyone is now zero-and-zero.
Before everyone goes to zero-and-zero, however, Friday night in Laurel, there were also some last second fireworks.
With 3:42 to go in the game, Bellingham led Meridian, 73-62. Just over a minute later, the Bayhawks still led 76-68, until Talon Jenkins hit a 3-pointer in transition, followed by a steal and a 3-point play by Jaeger Fyfe.
We then fast forward to Bayhawk junior Joe Harward at the free throw line with eight seconds left, and the game tied at 78-78. Harward hit the second of two free throws to give the Bayhawks the lead.
The Trojans advanced the ball down the right sideline and called timeout in front court with 4.8 seconds left.
Fyfe inbounded to a cutting sophomore guard, Pierce Brzozowski. As Brzozowski’s drive was cut off at the baseline, he found fellow sophomore, Trey Alexander cutting down the lane. He hit Alexander with a perfect pass, and Alexander finished it with a soft four-footer at the buzzer, giving the Trojans an 80-79 win.
The Trojans finished tied for fourth place in the NWC with Sedro-Woolley with 10-5 records. The Trojans finish the regular season 14-6. Bellingham finishes the regular season 6-9 and 8-12.
I’ve been thinking about the league’s coaches in the last couple weeks, trying to figure out who I would have as my coach of the year.
The question is, how to you define “coach of the year?” Is it no more than the team with the best record, who usually has the best player? Is it, who does the most with the talent he has? That’s kind of a back-handed compliment.
While I see positive things in all 16 coaching staffs in the NWC, I have whittled the list down to five. I will explain their, and their team’s accomplishments, and let you decide who you like best. They are listed in alphabetical order by team. Also, let’s acknowledge those very important assistant coaches.
Anthony Wiederkehr II
Lakewood, 11th season.
Staff: Kirk McGillivray, Preston Kruse, Tony Wiederkehr, TJ Rice, Adam Duran
In the nine basketball seasons since the Cougars joined the NWC, Coach Wiederkehr continues to put out some of the most difficult teams to prepare for.
This year, their tallest player is listed at 6-2, with nine players having their height listed beginning with a “5.” Coach Wiederkehr has meshed a system to the players he has. They put as much pressure on you offensively, as they do defensively, and that’s a lot.
They are the solid #2 seed heading into the tightly packed 2A district tournament and finished in the NWC in third place with an 11-4 record. The Cougars are 15-6 on the season, after losing their final game to Lynden Christian, 84-57, on Saturday.
Brian Roper
Lynden, 20th season.
Staff: Mike Elsner, Kent Victor, Blake VanDalen, Brian Heppner, and Rod TenKley.
While Coach Roper’s Lions have won seven state titles in his 20 seasons, this may be his best coaching job yet. With a major roster change in which only two players from last year’s rotation returned, and the only two seniors on the roster, the Lions managed to win every game they’ve played. They have done this with a 3-man guard rotation of two sophomores and a freshman.
Tim Zylstra
Lynden Christian, 5th season
Staff: Brian Sipma, Cody Fransen, Grant Rubbert, Mike Kortus, Grant Dykstra
The Lyncs lost two “fork-lift-forwards” from last year’s team who finished third at the state tournament. Jeremiah Wright and Kaden Stuit, plus Dawson Bouma. The Lyncs have also gone young, with three sophomore starters, and still finished second in the NWC, and in the top group of 1A teams in the state title hunt.
Shane Stacy, 20th season
Meridian
Staff: Rob Gray, Landon Prosch, Jordan Veenstra, Dane Beck
The Trojans will have their best finish in the NWC since the league’s first full season of 16 teams in 2021-22. They beat all three 3A schools. They won five games in a row to finish season, and five of their last six NWC road games.
Coach Stacy gas built this years’ team around the shooting accuracy of Talon Jenkins and Jaeger Fyfe. Another team with very young guards. Sophomore’s Piercr Brzozowski, Trey Alexander, Gabe Galbraith have grown as the team has grown this season. The young guards have had to negotiate the combination defenses that opponents throw at the Trojans to keep a handle on Jenkins and Fyfe.
Kevin Kesti, 1st season
Sedro-Woolley
Staff: Jesse Howell, Dylan Scheib, Brent Schiefelbein
Coach Kesti has stepped in and elevated the Cubs program in his first season. The Cubs will finish tied for fourth place with a 10-5 record, and their highest league finish in ten years. A second half push against Lynden seemed to propel the Cubs to a six-game win streak, which started with a win at Lakewood.
Coach Kesti has league’s leading scorer, 6-4 junior, Ethan DeJong, who nets 27 points per game, but does it without dominating the ball. The Cubs team play, and versatility makes them a tough match-up, with Isaac Johnson, Cliff Tadema, and Logan Roth.
There are many terrific head coaches and assistant coaches in the NWC, which makes it the league that it is.
Another group that deserves some attention is our game officials.
Everyone knows of the extreme shortage of officials. These guys and gals work several times a week, and usually more than one game on any night. I get to many games, sometimes six nights a week. I see so many of the same faces that I think I know these people on a middle name basis.
This week, I spoke to one of the state best officials in football and basketball, Damon Bruland. He tells me that varsity officials work up to four nights a week, and always multiple games on any night. That’s eight games a week, and we just finished the tenth week of the season!
These numbers were backed up by Damon’s father, Ray Bruland, a long time official in our area. He is one of those who gets about eight games a week.
All of our referee’s surely deserve a round of applause and big “thank you” for the efforts and professionalism, as they are surely stretched to the limits.
With yesterday’s end to the regular season, we got to the point we’ve all been waiting for. District tournaments begin this week.
In the 1A classification, boys and girls will start with their #5 versus #4 play-in game on Monday. #5 Blaine will play at #4 Mount Baker in a boys and girls double-header beginning at 5:15pm with the girls match up, with the boys to follow at 7:00pm.
The winners, in both cases, will then play at Lynden Christian on Wednesday in the first round. The LC boys and girls are both #1 seeds. There will be a double-header at Lynden Christian, with the girls game starting at 5:30pm, and the boys scheduled for 7:15pm.
Also, on Wednesday, we have the matchups with the #3 seeds playing at the #2 seeds. This one takes some planning and travel. They are the same teams but reversed in their order between the girls and the boys.
The girls game will be #3 Meridian at #2 Nooksack Valley on Wednesday, at 5:00pm. The boys game will be #3 Nooksack Valley at #2 Meridian, Wednesday, at 7:30pm.
After that, both tournaments move to Lynden High School on Saturday, February 15. That day will determine the two champions. The games for second place, also at LHS, will be the following Tuesday, February 18.
The top two finishers will play in the District 1/2 Crossover games against the fourth and fifth place teams from the District 2 tournament, with state tournament berths on the line. Those games will be Saturday, February 22, at Kings High School.
The 2A tournaments will send two of their nine teams to regionals. The boys 2A tournament will begin with the #9 seed, Marysville-Pilchuck traveling to #8 Sehome, on Tuesday, in a loser-out game. The winner will play at #1 Lynden, in a quarterfinal game on Thursday.
There will be three more quarterfinal games, played at home sites on Thursday. #7 Archbishop Murphy at #2 Lakewood; #6 Bellingham at #3 Burlington-Edison; #5 Squalicum at #4 Anacortes. All games start at 7:00pm, with the exception of the game at Burlington, which will start at 6:00pm.
The girls 2A tournament starts with the play-in game with #9 Marysville-Pilchuck at #8 Bellingham. The winner will play at #1 Lynden on Wednesday, at 7:00pm. Also on Wednesday, #5 Anacortes at #4 Squalicum; #6 Lakewood at #3 Burlington-Edison; #7 Sehome at #2 Archbishop Murphy. All games are at 7:00pm, with the exception of the game at Burlington, which will start at 6:00pm.
In the 3A district tournaments, the 12 teams will be seeded by a committee. Five teams qualify from the Wesco South, four from the Wesco North, and three from the NWC. Brackets were not completed by press time, but here is where NWC teams stand.
In boys RPI standings, Sedro-Woolley was #5, Ferndale #8, and Mount Vernon #9. It does not guarantee that will be their seed. The top four seeds have first round bye’s and will host second round games. Teams seeded 5-8 will host first round games against teams seeded 9-12.
On the girls side, Mount Vernon finished as the #4 seed, with Ferndale #8, and Sedro-Woolley at #10. Again, this may or may not be their actual seed, depending on how the committee sets them up.
First and second round games for 3A girls will be Wednesday and Friday. First and second round games for 3A boys will be on Thursday and Saturday. The 3A tournaments will send four teams to regionals.
A tip of the cap for teams continuing their seasons this week. What you have accomplished got you to this point, but now it’s re-boot time. All six tournaments will be competitive, and a tight squeeze to get through to the other side.
Everyone is 0-0.
~ Ted House
Comments