POULSBO — It’s down to the last matches of the season, and Anthony Lindfors won’t be holding anything back. Lindfors and fellow senior Matt Cordell are representing the North Kitsap Vikings in the 4A Washington State Mat Classic XX Championships in the Tacoma Dome today.
The event started yesterday in double-elimination style matches. The results of those matches weren’t available at press time.
TACOMA — These boys are hungry and it’s almost dinnertime. After a disappointing 70-67 loss to Gig Harbor Friday night, the North Kitsap Vikings came back with a vengeance to defeat Mount Tahoma 57-36 on Saturday.
Friday night’s loss created a loser-out situation in the 4A West Central District tournament for the Vikes, who are but a mere two consecutive wins away from the prize: a berth to the state tournament.
TACOMA — Saturday didn’t unfold the way Kingston wrestling coach Bobby Reece envisioned.
On one hand, the career of a senior came to an unfortunate end. On the other, the Buccaneers got a glimpse at just how bright the future might be.
The Bainbridge Island Golden Eagles have soared their way into the record books. Athletes from Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island combined their hardwood talent to secure two gold medal wins at a recent regional competition in Bremerton. The two teams will move on to the state competition in Wenatchee. The is the first time in about 10 years the team has made it to the state competition.
KINGSTON — Kevin Strozier takes referee taunting to a whole ‘nother level. In his passionate pleas for equality in foul-calling Friday night against Sequim, he stood toe-to-toe with a man in stripes on more than one ocassion. At several points in the game, it looked like the Kingston High head coach was going to be bounced off the court a tad early. He somehow managed to contain his temper long enough to finish the game.
KINGSTON — There’s a saying that the Kingston girls basketball team has heard —repetitively — all season. Good basketball players focus on what they do well and don’t worry about what everyone else does. So says head coach Kevin Strozier, who knows a thing or two about basketball.
KINGSTON — So close, yet so far.
It looked like the Kingston Buccaneers were finally going to get their first elusive win this season over the Olympic Trojans. But even senior Jack Clearman’s stellar 27-point performance wasn’t enough to clinch the victory.
t Girls’ gymnastics team headed to districts. Kitsap News Reports KINGSTON — The Vikaneers’ season isn’t over quite yet. The…
PORT ORCHARD — Only six wrestlers from North Kitsap participated in Saturday’s SK Invitational.
Anthony Lindfors made sure the Vikings didn’t go home without a win.
KINGSTON — If the Kingston varsity girls played like they practiced, they’d have been in some deep, deep trouble Friday night against the Bremerton Knights. Thursday afternoon, the Bucs had one of their “worst practices ever” said Head Coach Kevin Strozier.
POULSBO — Bill Hobaugh is considering holding his pre-game meetings in the trainer’s room to better accommodate his varsity girls basketball team. He’s only half-kidding. The Vikings lost at home against the South Kitsap Wolves Thursday night, 52-35.
Nearly all the starters are injured in one way or another, with ankle and thumb injuries being the most popular afflictions. But these are not the kind of athletes who make excuses for themselves, and Hobaugh is no exception.
PORT ORCHARD — Patience was the word most frequently uttered by South Kitsap boys basketball coach John Callaghan before New Year’s Day.
But when the Wolves opened January with a loss against Bellarmine Prep, he said inexperience no longer was an excuse and it was time for his team to produce.
Perhaps there’s too much chlorine in the pool these days at the North Kitsap Community Pool. Or maybe the North Kitsap/Kingston (NKK) swimmers have been hanging out with each other too much and are starting to share personalities. Whichever the case, it’s working for the 400-relay team of Josh Despard, Justin Roulanaitis, Ryan Eggers and Tyler Rencher, who are going into next week’s district meet with a qualifying time of 4:02, according to head coach Greg Braun.
KINGSTON — Kevin Strozier has a message for teams headed to Kingston High School to play his varsity girls’ basketball team: Welcome to Kingston and you had better be ready to play.
His message to his team? Play hard from start to finish — the game isn’t over until the buzzer screams. Nothing punctuated this more than the Bucs’ at-home 60-33 victory over Fife.
KINGSTON — Aaron Lawrence has David’s size and Goliath’s heart and it shows on the basketball court. The Kingston High School’s varsity boys basketball player, all 5 feet, 5 inches of him, managed to sink 18 points during the Buccaneer’s home 86-48 loss to Fife (Tacoma) on Jan. 8.
And yes, he always plays like that.
KINGSTON — That’s no typo on the Kingston Buccaneers varsity girls’ basketball roster. Sophia Baetz, the 5-foot, 7-inch point guard who led the team’s 58-38 win against Port Angeles on Jan. 4 really is a freshman.
For the 14 weeks bookended by September and December, the 9- to 11-year-olds on the North Kitsap Explosion ’96 team called the soccer field home. And in their home, they reigned supreme. The under-11 boys’ select team finished the season with a dominant first-place rank in the gold-platinum division, taking top honors over teams from Issaquah, Enumclaw, Tacoma, Redmond, Gig Harbor and North Kitsap.
The North Kitsap varsity boys nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Wednesday night as they skimmed by with a 44-42 victory against the Port Angeles Roughriders.
In a contest that afforded no breathing room whatsoever, the Vikings were “kind of doing our own thing. We weren’t really focused on the team concept,” said 6’7’’ senior Taylor Hoffer. “But a win’s a win.”
Fall baseball has wrapped up at universities around the country, allowing the Kitsap BlueJackets to all but finalize the team’s 2008 roster. Matt Acker, BlueJacket’s head coach, will welcome some familiar faces back to the Kitsap Fairgrounds Ballfields and expects some of the names to change before the season begins.
North Kitsap athletes shined in 2007, from dominating the baseball diamond to splashing their way into the high school state swim meets. Above all, it was a year when teamwork prevailed and the seemingly impossible came true.
