Game ejections in Washington rose ~25% in 2022-23. Fall sports in '23-24 had ~250 ejections by mid-Nov. Most were behavior-based.
WIAA is alarmed by "extreme behavior" at HS events. Leaders believe new referee body-camera program is a step toward change.
2 fake knees and all, it's Year 38 as an Oregon HS varsity football official for the man I call dad.
Becoming a HS/college official was the easiest call he has ever made. He loves the game, but more importantly, he does it for the kids.
YOUR kids.
Congrats, pops!
“Together, we stand against discrimination.”
Battle Ground and Skyview players come together before first pitch at Monday’s 4A GSHL baseball game at Propstra Stadium.
Congratulations to Woodland senior Tyler Flanagan, who broke his father, Glen’s, 30-year single-season rushing record in the first half tonight vs. Mark Morris. Photo courtesy of Richie Harsh.
Some news: Tonight was my final assignment for a while. Next week, I'm off to Honduras for 2 months to teach children and adults in a rural pueblo with educational challenges and extreme poverty.
See everybody again in February for the basketball playoffs.
Hear from Cassidy Gardner and Allie Corral, teammate and friends for years. Two pretty emotional players postgame — from immediately afterward in celebration to exiting the locker room.
🚨Hockinson football coach Rick Steele has just announced he’s retiring after 16 years with Hockinson and 36 coaching football.
- 112-54 W-L record
- 10 outright/shared league titles
- 2 state championship rings
If the past year of triumph and tragedy have shown the Union Titans anything, it’s that the 2018 4A champs need each other.
Same goes for head coach Rory Rosenbach, who coaches his first game Friday since daughter Gabby died in a fatal car accident.
🏈 Story coming Friday.
COMING FRIDAY 🏈: For 30 years, Glen Flanagan’s held Woodland’s single-season rushing record from an all-state season in ‘88.
The player closing in on the record is his only son,
@tyler_flanagan
, in a remarkable senior football season as a first-year
@WHSBEAVERS
quarterback.
Some personal news — I’ll be taking charge of the education beat at
@thecolumbian
while high school sports continue to be on pause.
I start mid-November.
(a thread)
Before
@BadolatoJacques
became a
@NevadaFootball
signee, Jacques Vambel Ilunga ate 1 meal a day & trekked for water living in a Congolese orphanage. He spent 3 years on adoption lists.
Years in Africa fuel his drive to succeed. So does the love in Camas.
🚨 It’s official 🚨
Columbia River High School’s student body overwhelmingly votes Rapids to be the school’s new mascot, effective immediately.
The chieftain name was retired in September by VPS school board.
(Official logo/design currently TBD. This is a mock-up ⬇️)
▪️He’s named after a murdered uncle
▪️A gang shooting killed his pregnant sister
▪️His dad was last sentenced last week for attempted murder
🏀 3A GSHL MVP Mario Herring has found a home and success through hoops at Evergreen amid trying times.
Long before studying playbooks and dissecting film, WR Tobias Merriweather read sheet music as a first-chair trombonist.
What makes
@TM5IVE
a prized recruit for Notre Dame? Unmatched length and athleticism, but also a drive that goes beyond football.
🏈
Woodland’s double-levy failure in April led the district to cut bus transportation for all HS athletic teams. Beaver athletes have had to find their own rides to games.
Woodland to Clarkston is 360 miles.
Get these kids a charter bus!
🚨 Bracket Release 🚨
The 2A bracket is set for the 2023 WIAA/Gesa Credit Union State Football Championships presented by the
@Seahawks
🏈🏆
Tournament Central:
Little has changed about Lincoln Victor since quarterbacking Union to the 2018 4A state title.
The well-spoken admired leader became a 2-year captain at WSU, and had a starring role at WR in 2023.
In his NFL Draft prep, one thing still remains: a chip.
Final - Hockinson 53, West Valley 30
Hawks advance to their first 2A state title game in program history next weekend at the Tacoma Dome against Tumwater
FINAL: Hockinson 27, Liberty 24.
Hawks score 20 unanswered points to defeat the Patriots and return to the 2A state championship game next Saturday.
#wafbscores
#360preps
*Some news* My time covering schools and education in Clark County has come to an end. I’ve rejoined
@thecolumbian
’s sports team full-time.
Our new education reporter starts soon.
🧵 (1/3)
State championship football coach Rory Rosenbach has resigned at Union and is returning to his hometown.
Rosenbach has accepted the athletic director job at 4A Glacier Peak HS in Snohomish County.
The family-first focus Rory Rosenbach created in Union’s championship football program also helps the coach through the kind of pain no football victory could ever offset: losing a child.
“They (the players) are what save you.”
Our Week 1 kickoff story:
Put this quote among the all-time greats. It comes from a kindergartner on my morning visit to Eisenhower Elementary.
“I appreciate your questions, but I need to get back to learning.”
Washougal's Beyonce Bea is voted the Class 2A girls state player of the year.
Six Clark County players named to the Associated Press' all-state basketball teams, released Wednesday:
STORY ➡ 🏀
Capone Johnson’s biggest assist as Heritage’s point guard came from coach Brian Childs.
Johnson is 2,300 miles from his Indiana home and a region that had 12 murders the year he left. Under the Childses’ roof, Johnson is making Vancouver home.
🏀 STORY:
In May 2016, La Center’s Tiffany Chandler lost her teen sister and father by
#suicide
.
Volleyball is Tiffany’s outlet, providing comfort & solace from 3 years of pain & struggles.
But it’s only part of how she and mom began to heal.
🏐 STORY:
Columbia River grad Beau Braden is open about his mental health struggles as a college athlete — dealing with death, finding an identity beyond football.
When he left WSU for Montana seeking playing time, he did it w/ the late Hunter Pearson in mind.
Girls basketball: Evergreen 48, Heritage 36.
Katie Peneueta with a triple-double of 19 points, 14 rebounds, 17 blocks in high school debut for Timberwolves.
10 years ago, a young Lincoln Victor watched an upstart Union team fall to state power Bellevue for the 3A title.
Back in the Tacoma Dome Saturday, the senior wants a title for a program he grew up idolizing and for a school, community he cherishes.
Vancouver School Board unanimously votes to appoint Camas School District superintendent Jeff Snell as VPS’ next superintendent.
Snell spent 15 years in VPS as a teacher, associate principal and principal.
Pending contract negotiations, Snell begins (back) at VPS July 1.
In 1925, tiny Yacolt High School placed third at the state basketball tournament in an era when all schools played for one trophy.
4 years later, the high school closed.
But for one winter, 8 boys brought joy to a small logging town through basketball.
🗞 COMING SUNDAY: 2018 Columbian All-Region 🏈 team
🎥 SNEAK PEEK: What’s on Lincoln Victor’s bucket list?
Who’d play coach Rory Rosenbach if Hollywood made a movie on Union’s 14-0 season?
How does the QB define success?
Have a listen ⬇️
Congratulations to Battle Ground’s Steven Hancock, voted on by fans as our Week 6 prep football athlete of the week.
Steven rushed for a school-record 362 yards on 54 carries (!!!) and scored 6 TDs in last week’s win.
Hear from Steven (surprise, you’re on camera!) ⬇️ 🏈
Time for a fun tweet!
In 1916, Washougal High football played nearly the entire season without a coach. Some evenings, town rancher Billie Wood came to share his knowledge and wisdom with the team.
Washougal went 5-1 that season, including a 121-0 win in its first game.
An absent father, and a mom addicted to drugs led to instability in Devante Clayton’s life. At 16, football and Prairie HS helped Clayton find footing, love and a permanent roof over his head. And he’s helped Prairie get back to the postseason.
Congrats to Prairie’s
@aj_dixson
, voted on by fans as our Week 10 prep football athlete of the week.
AJ totaled more than 450 yards of offense and 6 TDs in last week’s playoff win.
Here’s our inaugural TikTok video, courtesy of
@PrairieFB
.
Congratulations to Camas’ Tyler Forner (
@FornerTyler
), voted by fans as our Week 2 prep football athlete of the week.
Tyler had 2 punt returns for TDs in last week’s win over Hazen.
What characteristics make a good punt returner? Hear from Tyler ⬇️
The 2018-‘19 prep sports year is over.
A big THANK YOU to athletes and coaches: thank you for letting us share your stories all year long, and giving us insight on days like today — YOUR Championship Saturdays.🥇🏆
Doctors told Skyview’s Tyler DeJong in 2016 his leg injury was so severe, he might not return to football.
Not only is DeJong back as an all-league LB, so is Skyview in the 4A state playoffs. Storm plays Woodinville at 4 p.m. Saturday in Bothell.
STORY:
🏀 ALL-REGION BOYS HOOPS 🏀
At one time,
@tannertoolson5
was a 5-6 freshman-team PG at Union nicknamed “Little Bambi.”
*A lot* has changed in his prep career.
Now, our All-Region player of the year is putting basketball on hold to serve others. ⬇️
Vancouver native, King’s Way Christian grad Damon Casetta-Stubbs will start for
@EverettAquaSox
Tuesday in Hillsboro v.
@HillsboroHops
. Damon is in his 2nd year in the Mariners org., and is 3-0 with a 3.95 ERA in Everett. Also appeared in 11 games between Modesto/West Virginia.
New Columbia River football coach DeWayne Patterson (
@spatmn
) has something cookin' for the fall and beyond as the Rapids' coach.
He'll put his own touch on the program, but added, " a lot of alumni are going to see the old River."
What mark has
@BeyonceBea5
left on
#Washougal
? Her stats, accolades, accomplishments speak loudly, but Bea hopes she and her teammates set a new trend that Washougal is a girls basketball town.
Bea is our All-Region girls 🏀 player of the year.
STORY:
Kate Kadrmas once loved XC but found fast stardom in hurdles. She leaves as a 3A state champion and heads off to
#Nebraska
as ... a heptathlete.
The Mountain View senior is our All-Region girls track & field athlete of the year.
STORY + All-Region team
2 years removed from winning his 3rd WIAA state golf title for Fort Vancouver, Spencer Tibbits will play at next week's U.S. Open Championship in Pebble Beach.
Tibbits qualified w/rounds of 67-70, and 11 birdies on the day.
🔗
Always great catching up with
@LincolnVic5
! The uncertainty of college football looms daily, but it hasn’t hindered his preparation for what he hopes to be a big sophomore year at receiver for
@HawaiiFootball
.
The wait is over! 🏈🥳
Football is back, and it feels like fall out here!
I’m here at Union — the defending 4A state champs — coming off its first state title in program history. Titans, in addition to Heritage, have new on-campus turfed fields. Titans on the grass today, tho.
He’s explosive. He’s dynamic. He’s Athletic.
Lightning? Yep, he’s that, too.
Union’s QB struck all the time in Titans’ championship season. And he’s The Columbian’s All-Region 🏈 player of the year
Story + 24-player All-Region team ⬇️
Columbia River names Travis Drake as its new boys basketball coach, per AD Nick Davies.
Drake, currently Laurin MS principal in BG schools, becomes the school’s fourth boys basketball coach (school opened in 1962).
He replaces longtime coach David Long (485 wins).
Trevor Milton has been in Mountain View’s baseball program all 4 years, but teammates, coaches — and Milton — say he’s a new player.
A new-found dedication has Milton finding his role with the undefeated Thunder, winning 6-5 Wednesday.
STORY ⚾️ ➡️
FINAL: Camas 3, Auburn Mountainview 1.
For the first time since 2011, the Papermakers are state bound. Camas plays in Saturday’s bidistrict semifinals.
So much happened in
#Prairie
’s season-defining win streak that
@KameronOsborn6
is proud of. The PG played perhaps his biggest role in his final HS season and it led to big things for Prairie.
Osborn is our All-Region boys 🏀 player of the year. STORY:
Union 🏀 coach Blake Conley said he’s never had a player make as big a jump so fast as Tanner Toolson. His game’s grown just as fast as his height.
Toolson’s father, ex-NBA player and 11-year pro, says his son is a more complete player than he was at 17.
Woodland’s double-levy failure in April led the district to cut bus transportation for all HS athletic teams. Beaver athletes have had to find their own rides to games.
Woodland to Clarkston is 360 miles.
Get these kids a charter bus!
What a game. What a finish.
The ending wasn't what
#Prairie
hoped for, losing in OT to an unbeaten Marysville-Pilchuck team in Friday's 3A state playoff game, but in a year of big moments, HC Mike Peck said 2019 was "incredible."
STORY from Marysville:
As a first-year starting QB,
#Woodland
’s Tyler Flanagan has 1,244 rushing yards (8.03 yards per carry) in 7 games — and sits 339 yards from breaking his dad’s single-season record set 30 years ago.
Our Week 8 prep football feature story + video 🏈:
Prairie’s Brooke Walling gives thanks everyday to dad for making her stick to the game she now loves. Walling repeats as All-Region girls basketball player of the year. Story + video
🏈 A school-record 73 points.
🏈 10 touchdowns.
🏈 1 state playoff berth.
What a game.
#Prairie
's magical season continues with a performance to remember and earns its first state playoff berth since '92.
STORY + video highlights/player interviews 🏈