Winlock Passes the Kalama Test

It was test time for the Kalama Chinooks at the Southwest Washington 1A District Tournament at Castle Rock on Wednesday night. Could they apply what they learned in two previous meetings with powerful Winlock and play the role of spoiler?

Winlock was the winner of 61-30 and 59-45 contests in the home and home, pre-season series. Geography has a funny way of catching up to teams that think they have seen the last of each other.

This time, Kalama almost found the secret but fell just short as the Cardinals held on to a 31-28 first round victory.

The question is how do you prepare for a team that runs 6’5, 6’6” and 6’9” when your two giants are 6’4”?

Viggers didn’t notice anything different in Kalama from the two previous meetings back in December. “We watched film and didn’t notice any changes”, he noted before the game. Viggers was wrong and Kalama Coach Jody Stemkoski was playing coy.

Stemkoski had similar sentiments. “We already played them twice, we didn’t practice anything different”.

Kalama Guard Brandon Walker let out the secret after the game. “We wanted to control the tempo. Don’t let them have the ball," he shared. “They can’t score if they don’t have the ball. We needed to slow the game down and box out. Back in December, we were running all over the place.”

Kalama clearly struggled early with Winlock’s long arms and tall frames as they employed a 1-3-1 defense that resulted in several traps and turnovers as the Cardinals took an early 5-2 lead. The Chinooks however, found the three ball mid-way through the 1st . Brandon Walker hit two while Brandon Chiodo sank one early to score 9 of the Chinooks 11 1st quarter points.

After the flurry of threes by Kalama, Winlock employed quick 5’7” guard Nick Hoven to pressure the Chinook ball handlers and shooters in the front court. Kalama’s last three occurred just 1:23 into the second

“We had to do something,” contributed Viggers after the game. The strategy with Hoven was a success.

In the 3rd quarter, Brandon Walker continued dumping threes as he hit two more but 6’2” Winlock point guard Tyler Hertz found away to bite into the Chinook zone. With his play down low, Hertz maneuvered for a 6 points and forced a foul on Pollock. He finished the night with 10 points.

The 4th quarter featured more defense, a couple of turnover and missed shots before Pollock broke into the Cardinal zone and was fouled by the Cardinal’s Jordan Davis and earned an old fashioned three point play to tie the game at 28.

That was the last of the Kalama scoring.

“We rebounded fairly well and did a pretty good job of not giving them too many second opportunities, observed the Kalama Coach. “I told the kids if they hung in in the end and make the plays they needed to w would get the opportunity to make the play. We just happened to have a turnover.

“We had opportunities to win and we just have to regroup from here, added Stemkowski.

Winlock will now face a quick Stevenson team in the second round while Kalama will play Rainier in a loser-out game.

Cardinals 31, Chinooks 28
KALAMA ( 28) — Brandon Walker 12, Robby Sanders 4, Ryan Chiodo 3, Jordan Wall Matt Pollock 4, Brandon Osterlund, Logan Kallwick, William Colberg, Logan Nelson 5, Jacob Neiman, Jonathon Pittard, Austin Hauser
WINLOCK ( 31) — Nathan Booth 5, Jake Brown 13, Jordan Davi 3, Tyler Diamond Tyler Hertz 10, Mike Kent , Tyler McCarthy Angel Sanchez, Nick Hoven , Collin Kuppers, Bryson Coleman, Nick Hoven, Phillip Smerek,
Kalama 11 7 6 4— 31
Winlock 10 6 10 5—28