Winlock Cuts District 4 1A Nets

Angel Sanchez, Tyler Hertz (#3), Nathan Booth (#21) Jordan Davis (#20) and rest of the District 1A Champions hold up the trophy on Friday night.

Winlock Cardinals basketball:

Effective, vigilant, astute, keen, brisk, striking, capable, athletic.

Ready for State.

Finding adjectives to describe the play of the Winlock Cardinals on Friday night was more difficult than the time they had dispatching Castle Rock 65-42 in the SWWA 1A District Championship game.

Winlock's floor leader Tyler Hertz (#3 in white) had 12 assists on the night.

Looking for THE source of success was almost as difficult. There was big Jake Brown who had 24 points, seven rebounds and several assists. There was the sparkling leadership of Tyler Hertz who scattered 12 assists. Finally, there was the lunch pail twins Nathan Booth and Jordan Davis. Booth accounted for 19 points, generally within the paint and 6 rebounds while Davis quietly produced a double-double with 10 rebounds and 11 points. He also had three assists.

Jake Brown (#24) and the rest of the Winlock defense held Rock big man Zack Gehring (#5) to just 10 points on the night.

A long paragraph only covered the offense. Winlock’s extended defense allowed only one Rocket three pointer and the inside game gave up only 10 points to Rocket big man Zack Gehring. The occasional Rocket score usually resulted from individual athleticism by Chris Tinnney, Steven Horsley, Kyle Karnofski and Dustin Hamilton.

“We came out hitting on all cylinders,” said a pleased Winlock Head Coach Gary Viggers Sr. about their start to finish domination. The Cardinals jumped out to a 9-2 lead and were never behind.

Only three times did the Rockets even score consecutive baskets to make up any ground on the Cards. Down 39-25 in the 3rd quarter . Gehring sank a 6 foot fade-away followed 30 seconds later by Steven Horsley drive through the key.

While Winlock was deliberate, Castle Rock frequently pushed the ball in transition, having only limited success.

It was Winlock that kept applying the pressure with run, after run. The most crushing was a 10-0 run in the 4th quarter that took the score to 63-38.

“You could tell that we wanted it”, said Viggers. “We packed a pair of scissors with us”

During the 1st quarter, Winlock scored 8 of its points when Hertz found Brown roaming the baseline without proper homage. In fact, much can be said about the play of Jake Brown; As a rebounder, a prolific scorer and a defender. It was the team that made Brown this evening.

“It was our best game as a team,” he said when asked if this was his best game of the year.

Perhaps no moment marked the night better than when Hertz found Brown with a perfectly executed ally-oop dunk that grabbed the loudest cheer and extended murmur. This wasn’t a lower echelon team that the boys could play with before the coach replaced them with subs. This was a rival and a good one at that. A team that blew them out in this same game a year ago, 52-32. This wasn’t about revenge. This was about momentum. Something to pack-up for a trip to Yakima.

Both teams now head to the WIAA State Tournament, but only one has a pair of nets and the District IV trophy.

Retiring Winlock Coach Gary Vigger's Sr. makes use of the scissors he brought to W.F. West on Friday night.

Cardinals 65 Rockets 42

CASTLE ROCK 42-Mike Murry 3, Chris Tinney 4, Zack Gehring 10, Steven Horsley 7, Kyle King 0, Travis Johnson 0, Brad Williamson 0, Kyle Karnofski 8, Dustin Hamilton 6, Cameron Erdlebrock 0, Sam Reebs 0

WINLOCK 65-Tyler Hertz 5, Collin Kuppers 0, Tyler Diamond 2, Mike Kent 4, Angel Sanchez 0, Jordan Davis 11, Nathan Booth 19, Nick Hoven 0, Tyler McCarthy 0, Jake Brown 24, Matt Hoven 0, Bryson Coleman 0

Castle Rock 12 10 13 7-42
Winlock 19 16 14 16-65

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

Brown Finishes Tough Mountaineers

The Winlock Cardinals went on an 11-3 run in the last 3:15 to nail down a 44-34 SWW 1A Evergreen Conference win over a scrappy visiting Rainier team.

6’9” Winlock Senior post Jake Brown was responsible for seven of the final 11 points as the Cards salted the game away. “They were starting to panic because we came out strong “ Brown said of the 4th quarter run by the Cardinals.

Scoring in this game came slowly with a first quarter advantage of 11 to 6 for Winlock. There were plenty of opportunities, but Winlock shot for just 35% in the first half. Rainier’s 6’5” Senior Bradon Franklin scored from underneath to tie the game at 14 with 1:11 to go befor the break. At 50 seconds, Jordan Davis hit the only three of the night for the Cardinals to take the 17-14 advantage into the locker room.

Franklin scored the first bucket of the 2nd half then Rainier’s 5’10’ shooter Jacob Fox hit a three to tie the game at 19 after a Jordan Davis bucket. The Cardinal’s Tyler Diamond grabbed a rebound and scored a put-back before the Jordan Davis show began.

The 3rd quarter featured a scoring drought of nearly four and a half minutes after Tyler Diamond scored two of his six points and grabbed one of his 11 rebounds. “He played great,“ said Winlock Head Coach Gary Viggers Sr. “We told him all along that is going to happen. They are always going to put their weakest guy on him. You have got to really work hard and be prepared.”

Winlock's Jordan Davis shoots a free throw early in the game. Davis finsihed with 16 points and half of those came in a 70 second period during the 3rd quarter.

When the drought came to an end, the weather-maker was Davis, Jordan Davis. In a 71 second period, the Winlock Senior had two steals and 8 points to power a 10-0 Winlock run that gave the Cardinals a 29-19 lead at the end of three quarters.

Rainier's Jacob Fox (#4) finished the game with 13 points, most of which were from beyond the arc.

Early in the 4th quarter, the Mountaineers rode back, with Franklin working for two, Fox hitting two threes and Kyle North scored on a transition steal to even the score at 29 with about six minutes to go. While it was Davis in the 3rd, Jake Brown took the game over with about four minutes to go. He put an exclamation monster jam with 45 seconds to go.

Winlock's Jake Brown was named the "Player of the Game" by Comcast Sports who were on hand broadcasting the game for distribution on Varsity Sports.

Tyler Hertz had five assist for Winlock while Brown had 5 blocks. Hertz and Junior MikeKent also had three steals for the Cardinals.

It wasn’t a thing of beauty for the 4th ranked Cardinals, and you almost saw relief on Viggers face. “We were just a little too keyed up,“ he explained. “We were standing around watching each other when they shot and that is what we went over at half time. We got to play our basketball“.

More Winlock basketball will be played at Montesano on Monday where the Carinals (10-1, 4-0) will play the Bulldogs. Rainier (6-3, 3-1) will visit neighboring Tenino on Monday.

Rainier 6 8 5 15-34
Winlock 11 6 12 15-44

RAINIER-Chris Ashby 2, Brandon Eygabroad 4, Brandon Franklin 9, Mitchell McComb 0, Kevin McCrea 0, Kyle North 6, Alex Proffitt 0, Tyler Schaff 0, Matt Tietjen 0, Kevin Volesky 0, Jacob Fox 13, Dalton Delio 0
WINLOCK-Nathan Booth 5, Jake Brown 15, Jordan Davis 16, Tyler Diamond 6, Tyler Hertz 2, Tyler McCarthy 0, Angel Sanchez 0, Nick Hoven 0, Mike Kent 0, Bryson Coleman 0, Collin Kupers 0

Division 4 1A Game of the Week-Onalaska at Winlock

So, I will get my first look at the Napavine Boys and Girls tonight as they host Columbia Adventist. The game of the week has to be a match-up between Onalaska and Winlock on Thursday.

Winlock of course is off to a 6-1 record and Forks tonight. The regional press, myself included, has been all over them. Little unassuming Onalaska will come to Winlock most likely unbeaten (barring disaster tonight in Tenino).

Coach Dennis Bower has the Loggers playing as well as can be expected with a rough, physical defense with a combination of quickness, depth and sharp shooting from the outside (Cody Naillon, Brady Stanley and Dalton Richey) along with some good strong rebounding with the associated put-backs on the inside (Jeff Swett). Remember that one of the two regular season losses that the Cardinals took last year was the home match against the Loggers.

The most telling victory the Loggers have on the young season is against Napavine. Many of those players were still lining-up for football in early December, but the Tigers have been impressive enough to handle other teams of notoriety.

While Winlock can be confident, smaller teams give them problems. Kalama spread the floor and had success as did Fortuna, California who has given them their only defeat on the season. Many Northern California observers were stunned by that loss after watching the Cards dominate a far more impressive Del Norte team.

The Cardinal’s Jake Brown should be efficient with the Logger inside game, but the rest of the Onalaska athletes could be a challenge for Winlock.