Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 412 - State Basketball Championship Recap

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 412 - State Basketball Championship Recap · Whatcom Preps Podcast

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Speaker 1: This is Wynnard Christian senior Boyce Robertson, and you're listening
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Speaker 1: to the Walk and Preps podcast with Tyler Anderson. Go Lace,
0:19
Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome to the Gatorade Game Day Podcast with
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Speaker 1: WATKAM Preps. This is episode four hundred and twelve, the
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Speaker 1: basketball State Championship rap up and I am Tyler Anderson
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Speaker 1: of Watkin Preps. I want to give a special thank
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Speaker 1: you to Lyndon Christian senior Boyce Robertson for the intro.
0:38
Speaker 1: Holy cow, what a game he had. And yeah, I'll
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Speaker 1: talk about it a little bit later in the championship game,
0:48
Speaker 1: but it's something that's going to be remembered for a
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Speaker 1: long time. And you know, he's obviously a two time
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Speaker 1: All State wide wide receiver, but his athleticism was sure
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Speaker 1: on display in the state champion chip game against Azilla.
1:02
Speaker 1: Walton Beverage has been a staple in our community for
1:04
Speaker 1: over ninety years and I'm will continue to work harder
1:07
Speaker 1: every day to make the fantastic people of Walton Beverage
1:09
Speaker 1: proud to sponsor youth sports in our community. They deliver
1:12
Speaker 1: superior quality and commitment, and I plan to do the
1:16
Speaker 1: very same. Check out Walton Beverage at Waltonbeverage dot com.
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Speaker 1: We're gonna start off with the girls' basketball brackets and
1:25
Speaker 1: we're gonna start off with the one B bracket, and
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Speaker 1: of course when we talk about girls basketball, the night
1:32
Speaker 1: the scoreboards were brought to you by Edeln Darry from
1:35
Speaker 1: Satisfied Cows to Satisfied Customers. Edeling Derry is my favorite
1:39
Speaker 1: place in Waukin County to get a cold treat. And
1:41
Speaker 1: you can check them out at any of their five
1:43
Speaker 1: stores two in Linden one and Blaine, one in Sue
1:45
Speaker 1: mass and of course the one in Ferndale, where I
1:47
Speaker 1: find myself the most often. You know, after Elimination lost
1:52
Speaker 1: that game to Nia Bay, it took them into Wednesday
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Speaker 1: in the round of twelve where they had a loser
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Speaker 1: out game against my Ira A Cooley Heartline, and you know,
2:03
Speaker 1: going into it, you're thinking it's going to be a
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Speaker 1: close game. It's the eight to nine seed, so why not,
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Speaker 1: and it was. Leming Nation started out great. They were
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Speaker 1: up sixteen to eight after the first quarter. They only
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Speaker 1: scored one point in the entire second quarter, and you
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Speaker 1: know when that happens, you know, going into a half
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Speaker 1: that could really, you know, it can go one or
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Speaker 1: two ways, right, I mean it can it just everything's
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Speaker 1: demoralized or you completely turn around in the second half.
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Speaker 1: They did that. They scored nineteen points in the third quarter,
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Speaker 1: end up winning the game fifty six to forty eight,
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Speaker 1: which was huge because not only does it keep them alive,
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Speaker 1: but it keeps them alive for at least a couple games.
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Speaker 1: So that was that was great. Jema James had twenty
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Speaker 1: points in that game, seven rebounds, five assists, five steals,
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Speaker 1: just so impressive. The game did go into overtime and
2:56
Speaker 1: it was all lumin Nation and overtime who outscored the
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Speaker 1: Warriors eleven to three in that extra period. Yeah, just
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Speaker 1: a really just a really strong game overall. Jordan Reeder
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Speaker 1: had seventeen points and Alina Raebang had twelve points and
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Speaker 1: eight rebounds, so great, great performance by Leimination. So they
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Speaker 1: moved on to the next round where they faced second
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Speaker 1: ranked Garfield Polloose and boy, I thought, I thought they
3:29
Speaker 1: were going to have this one. Garfield Pollue won forty
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Speaker 1: one to thirty three the Vikings and it was a
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Speaker 1: tail of two halves really, I mean it was Lamination
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Speaker 1: was up twenty four to sixteen and at halftime, and
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Speaker 1: then the black Hawks only scored nine points in the
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Speaker 1: entire second half, and there was you know, there was
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Speaker 1: some step that went on. Jordan Reeder got hit pretty hard.
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Speaker 1: She was knocked out of the game late in the
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Speaker 1: first half and did not return this second half, and
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Speaker 1: that was you know, not only does it is it
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Speaker 1: her offense that's gone, but there's a lot of other
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Speaker 1: things that defense, the steals, the quick passing, stuff like that,
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Speaker 1: and the Blackhawks just had to adjust. And and as
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Speaker 1: that was happening, the Vikings just kept scoring, kept scoring,
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Speaker 1: and that that was that. I mean, this was ah man,
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Speaker 1: this was the one that kind of wanted the most
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Speaker 1: because I really thought they had this one. Jema James
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Speaker 1: had another huge game, fifteen points, eight rebounds, five steals,
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Speaker 1: played all thirty two minutes. Lena raybang eight points and
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Speaker 1: five rebounds. But man, you know, with Reader out of
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Speaker 1: the game, and I was, you know, I was just
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Speaker 1: hoping she'd come back and play the next day, which
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Speaker 1: she did, but that was a that was a tough one.
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Speaker 1: In that quarterfinal round, You're going against the second ranked team,
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Speaker 1: You're up you know, almost double digits at the half
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Speaker 1: and it was just it was just a rough second half.
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Speaker 1: So but they're still alive. They go to the consolation
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Speaker 1: around where they have to win to get a trophy,
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Speaker 1: so they face fourth ranked Yakama Tribal and this was
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Speaker 1: this was another close game. And what was cool about
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Speaker 1: this too, is that the Lady Blackhawks don't play a
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Speaker 1: lot of close games throughout the year. I mean, they
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Speaker 1: are in league play, they're just they're just crushing everybody.
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Speaker 1: They play some you know, some tournaments and different things
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Speaker 1: and non league games where they get some more competition.
5:35
Speaker 1: But when you're not used to these these grinds, these
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Speaker 1: really close games, it can be tough. But they showed
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Speaker 1: that they were ready for anything, and in this game
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Speaker 1: they really had to be. The Eagles had a strong
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Speaker 1: push at the end, scoring eleven points in the final quarter,
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Speaker 1: but couldn't pull it out. Elimination wins by three thirty
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Speaker 1: eight to thirty five. Jordan Reeder came back in this game,
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Speaker 1: led them and scoring with thirteen points. Brianna Mattiba grabbed
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Speaker 1: ten rebounds, and Alena ray Bang had nine rebounds. Jimmy
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Speaker 1: James had eight rebounds. Alena Raebang also had eight steals
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Speaker 1: in this game, so a huge complete game for her.
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Speaker 1: The Ray Dennis with a couple of buckets as well.
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Speaker 1: It was a good it was a good team win,
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Speaker 1: and the win put them into the trophy round, which
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Speaker 1: was obviously huge because you go into it as the
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Speaker 1: eight seed and only the top six trophies, so you're overachieving. Uh,
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Speaker 1: they did what they had to do and that was
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Speaker 1: that was really good to see. So they play in
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Speaker 1: the fourth sixth place game, so winner gets fourth, loser
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Speaker 1: play loser gets sixth. And this was tricky because they
6:46
Speaker 1: had to turn It was a quick turnaround where you
6:48
Speaker 1: play at nine to thirty in the morning. They just
6:50
Speaker 1: finished their game at about three thirty in the afternoon
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Speaker 1: the day before, So so that's that's pretty tough. You
6:59
Speaker 1: go against Potero's, who is the seventh ranked team, so
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Speaker 1: another close, you know match up here and Potero's had
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Speaker 1: just beat cross Point Christian. Cross Point Christian beat Lemon
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Speaker 1: Nation in the tri districts, so you're thinking, oh, this
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Speaker 1: is this is gonna be pretty tough. But the Blackhawks
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Speaker 1: find a way to get it done. They take home
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Speaker 1: fourth place in the state, which is amazing. I think
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Speaker 1: that's the tide for their I think it's the second
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Speaker 1: time in school history they had done that, first time
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Speaker 1: in quite a while that they'd done it. They scored
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Speaker 1: twenty points in the third quarter alone. Alena ray Bang
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Speaker 1: eighteen points. She was also eight or nine at the
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Speaker 1: foul line, which was huge. She also had four steals,
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Speaker 1: five rebounds, three assists. Jim and James with double double
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Speaker 1: twelve points and ten rebounds. Brandon Matiba for the second
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Speaker 1: game in a row, pulls down ten rebounds. Jordan Reiders
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Speaker 1: scores twelve points. After the game, you saw a group
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Speaker 1: hug right there at center court between ray Bang, James
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Speaker 1: and Matiba. And you know, I've only covered the Let
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Speaker 1: Me Girls team the last two full seasons, and that
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Speaker 1: trio right there, I mean, that's that's the glue, right
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Speaker 1: that's the core. And that was the last time they'll
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Speaker 1: ever play together. So that was an emotional moment that
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Speaker 1: they were able to share together. They take home fourth place.
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Speaker 1: So much fun. You know, I wasn't there. I watched
8:27
Speaker 1: all the games online when I got back to the
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Speaker 1: hotel room so I could write the stories. And man,
8:34
Speaker 1: it's just such a fun team and I know they got,
8:38
Speaker 1: you know, some good players coming back, obviously, Jim and James,
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Speaker 1: Jordan Reeder, lary A, Dennis Celestine, James, Maine, Mitiba. So
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Speaker 1: they have some players coming back, but it's just that
8:53
Speaker 1: that group, you know, with those seniors and and it's
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Speaker 1: gonna be a different it's gonna be a different team.
8:58
Speaker 1: But I think they can get back to the state
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Speaker 1: tournament again next year and we'll see how it goes.
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Speaker 1: So congratulations elimination Blockhawks. Fourth place in state. Pretty darn awesome.
9:10
Speaker 1: We're gonna go to the Excuse me, I'm still I'm
9:14
Speaker 1: still recovering. You know, it's so weird. I you know,
9:19
Speaker 1: I'm over there and yak, I'm on, I'm covering all
9:22
Speaker 1: these games and stuff, and I'm feeling pretty good. Like
9:25
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is great, this is great. And I
9:28
Speaker 1: realized when I drove back home on Sunday and I
9:31
Speaker 1: just crashed that I was just going off adrenaline. And
9:35
Speaker 1: after a while, I'm going off adrenaline and my body
9:38
Speaker 1: is still recovering. I'm recording this, what is this Tuesday morning?
9:42
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I got my tea here and I'm
9:47
Speaker 1: just trying to get through this and I you know,
9:50
Speaker 1: usually I record this Sunday night. I gave it a
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Speaker 1: few days so I could just relax a little bit.
9:55
Speaker 1: Gotta hurry. It's a quick turnaround because there's already baseball
9:58
Speaker 1: games today, so if they don't get brained. So it's
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Speaker 1: a it's a lot going on. But let's move on
10:03
Speaker 1: to the one A girls State basketball tournament. And the
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Speaker 1: Lenin Christian Links got to go all the way into
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Speaker 1: the quarterfinals based on that win over Bellevue Christian at
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Speaker 1: Lennon High School in the opening round, the regional round,
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Speaker 1: if you will. So the third ranked Lennon Christian Links
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Speaker 1: get to move all the way to the quarterfinals. Like
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Speaker 1: I said, where they faced any right on Wednesday night,
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Speaker 1: And that might have been the game, like out of
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Speaker 1: all the games that I covered, the walking kind of games,
10:32
Speaker 1: that was probably just as a pure game, that was
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Speaker 1: probably the best one. You know, it went into overtime.
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Speaker 1: Uh well, it went into double overtime. I mean it
10:43
Speaker 1: was there were so many moments where you're holding your
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Speaker 1: breath and all these different things. And it's and these
10:51
Speaker 1: two teams played last year, so there's a there's a
10:54
Speaker 1: really good back and forth here. Yeah, and it was
11:00
Speaker 1: it was crazy. Ella Fritz scores twenty points, fourteen of
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Speaker 1: them at the foul line, so she was taking it
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Speaker 1: to the rack quite a bit. She drew ten fouls.
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Speaker 1: She also grabbed twelve rebounds, blocked two shots, had five assists.
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Speaker 1: I mean, she led her team in all those categories.
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Speaker 1: Tyra Dykstra eighteen points. She hit a huge three pointer
11:22
Speaker 1: at the end of regulation and to tie it, I
11:26
Speaker 1: think it tied at fifty to fifty, and then she
11:29
Speaker 1: hit another one in overtime and then had another deep
11:33
Speaker 1: two to kind of put them out ahead. So her
11:36
Speaker 1: shooting was very, very clutch in this game. So that
11:40
Speaker 1: was great. Just de Young, the freshman center, comes up
11:43
Speaker 1: the bench, scores eleven points, grabs seven rebounds, so at
11:48
Speaker 1: Jocelyness ten rebounds, six points. It was a good I
11:53
Speaker 1: mean it was it took everything they had to get
11:56
Speaker 1: that win. And we'll talk about kind of how maybe
12:00
Speaker 1: the repercussions of that challenged them later on in the tournament.
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Speaker 1: That was it wasn't the late late game. It was
12:09
Speaker 1: a late game. It was a seven to fifteen game,
12:11
Speaker 1: but by the time double overtime hits and everything, by
12:15
Speaker 1: the time you're done. It's probably past nine o'clock and
12:19
Speaker 1: they had to turn around and play the next day
12:22
Speaker 1: at nine o'clock. They did have the late game, but
12:25
Speaker 1: you know, Ella and Tyrone and those girls, they played
12:28
Speaker 1: thirty eight minutes. Basically they played almost every minute of
12:30
Speaker 1: the game, counting the two overtimes, so it's basically five
12:38
Speaker 1: full quarters. And in that next game they have to
12:41
Speaker 1: play against Zilla in the semi finals. Zilla, of course
12:45
Speaker 1: went on to win the state championship, so that tells
12:48
Speaker 1: you something right there. But and Lennon Christian kept it close.
12:54
Speaker 1: It was that third quarter that really got them. Zilla
12:57
Speaker 1: started hitting their shots, they're outside shots, and Lenny Christian
13:01
Speaker 1: just just couldn't recover. I think they went on like
13:04
Speaker 1: a seventeen to three run the Leopards did, and that
13:09
Speaker 1: was really really tough and hard to come back from.
13:12
Speaker 1: Tyra Dykstra hit three threes again, scored twenty one points.
13:18
Speaker 1: Ella Fritz had eleven points, justin s I's twelve rebounds
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Speaker 1: and six points. But you know, the legs were weary,
13:26
Speaker 1: especially at the end in the second half. You know,
13:28
Speaker 1: with Zilla doing what they did. Zilla's game the night
13:33
Speaker 1: before was earlier. It wasn't as stressful, so that was
13:38
Speaker 1: a tough one. It knocked Lynn and Christian into the
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Speaker 1: third fifth place game where they played and this was
13:44
Speaker 1: a this was a quick turnaround because they that you know,
13:47
Speaker 1: that game got done at like ten thirty at night,
13:50
Speaker 1: ten forty five something like that. That's a late late game.
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Speaker 1: You got to turn around and play the next day
13:56
Speaker 1: at one pm, and you know, and you know this
14:00
Speaker 1: is your last game no matter what, so it's you know,
14:05
Speaker 1: you're so they're probably going on peri adrenaline at that
14:07
Speaker 1: point as well. They play against Royal And and they
14:15
Speaker 1: started out great. They held Royal to without a field
14:17
Speaker 1: goal until like three minutes into the second quarter or
14:22
Speaker 1: something like that. I mean, it was it was a strong,
14:25
Speaker 1: strong performance early on, so you're thinking, wow, the legs
14:29
Speaker 1: are doing pretty good. But as it wore on, Royle
14:32
Speaker 1: started hitting some outside shots. They're taking to the foul line,
14:36
Speaker 1: they were making their foul shots, they're blocking shots, they're
14:40
Speaker 1: forcing turnovers. The Nu Christian had nineteen turnovers in that game,
14:43
Speaker 1: which is really really uncharacteristic. Tyro Daksha finishes with nineteen points,
14:49
Speaker 1: Ella Fritz with another double double ten points, ten rebounds,
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Speaker 1: Jessica to Young six points, four rebounds, But that was
14:59
Speaker 1: that was that they get fifth place. It's the twenty
15:02
Speaker 1: first tournament in a row where they brought home a trophy,
15:06
Speaker 1: which is just incredible. You start thinking about programs around
15:11
Speaker 1: the state in any sport, and it's hard to come
15:14
Speaker 1: up with one that's that consistently great than the Lennon
15:18
Speaker 1: Christian girls. So they get fifth place on the season.
15:22
Speaker 1: Congratulations to them, Coach Bomber. It's gonna be it's gonna
15:28
Speaker 1: be weird watching them without Ella Fritz, because, like I said,
15:32
Speaker 1: I've only been I've only been really heavily into basketball
15:35
Speaker 1: covering in the last few years, and every time it's
15:39
Speaker 1: every time I see Lindon Christian, she's heavily involved. And
15:42
Speaker 1: so it'll be a different team next year. Obviously, got
15:46
Speaker 1: some good pieces coming back, Tyra Dykstra, Jocelyness Ice, you know,
15:54
Speaker 1: Ellie Pierce handling the ball, just a Young down low.
15:57
Speaker 1: I'm really curious of de Young and s s will
15:59
Speaker 1: both start next year. Kind of like a twin Towers inside,
16:03
Speaker 1: which could cause a lot of problems for other teams.
16:06
Speaker 1: It's nice to kind of have where you can sub
16:08
Speaker 1: in and out though, so you can always have a
16:10
Speaker 1: you know, a girl at six feet in there. It'll be,
16:13
Speaker 1: it'll be. It'll be different next year. They will be
16:17
Speaker 1: still very good and it's probably still the class of the
16:20
Speaker 1: one A Northwest Conference as far as girls basketball goes,
16:23
Speaker 1: so there won't be that much of a drop off.
16:25
Speaker 1: But they just find a way, you know, Coach Barmber
16:28
Speaker 1: always will get things going and it's just such a
16:32
Speaker 1: tremendous program. So congratulations to the Lynden Christian girls. If
16:38
Speaker 1: we go to the two A girls now where Linden
16:40
Speaker 1: lines are went for their third straight championship. They got
16:45
Speaker 1: to move on right into the quarterfinals based on their
16:48
Speaker 1: win against Sila, and they faced deer Park and that
16:51
Speaker 1: was a unique situation because deer Park was second ranked
16:54
Speaker 1: and but what happened is they lost the weekend before
16:57
Speaker 1: to Ellensburg, so they got put into the round of
17:01
Speaker 1: twelve where they faced Mark Morris and handled them. They
17:05
Speaker 1: more than doubled them up. And so then they met
17:10
Speaker 1: Lyndon in the quarter final round, so one versus two,
17:14
Speaker 1: but it was it was all an alliance and that's
17:18
Speaker 1: that was one of those things that even going into
17:20
Speaker 1: the game. It was kind of like, Okay, it's a
17:23
Speaker 1: weird it's kind of hard to shoot there, the backdrops,
17:25
Speaker 1: all that stuff. We've heard all that. You know, it's
17:28
Speaker 1: a little different playing in the sun Dome. Does it
17:31
Speaker 1: give Deer parking advantage because they just played there the
17:34
Speaker 1: day before because they're used to the surroundings and everything,
17:37
Speaker 1: Or is it an advantage for Lennon because they didn't
17:42
Speaker 1: have to play there so they're fresher. So that's kind
17:45
Speaker 1: of a wash. You know. You kind of look at
17:46
Speaker 1: that going I don't know. And after the first quarter
17:49
Speaker 1: it was twelve to eleven. You know, Linnen only had
17:51
Speaker 1: a one point lead, and so you're kind of thinking, okay, this, well,
17:55
Speaker 1: this is one versus too, this is kind of what
17:56
Speaker 1: you expect. Ryan Stefan hit a couple three early. She
18:00
Speaker 1: had ten points at the half, and which was huge
18:04
Speaker 1: for them. You know, he talked to Ted House about
18:08
Speaker 1: big time games and he talks about how sometimes the
18:11
Speaker 1: secondary players come up and have huge moments in these
18:13
Speaker 1: big time games. That's exactly what what Ryan Stephan did.
18:16
Speaker 1: She's averaging four points on the year, she had ten
18:19
Speaker 1: and a half, hit a couple three. She finishes with
18:21
Speaker 1: twelve points and seven rebounds. Finley Partcher fourteen points, seven rebounds,
18:26
Speaker 1: three assists, and Peyton Mills had fourteen rebounds and six points.
18:31
Speaker 1: Is he stepping at eight points off the bench, as
18:33
Speaker 1: did DIGITU Bowler, so a good overall effort. Lexi Hermonts
18:38
Speaker 1: was seven assists in that game as well. Lynnon you
18:42
Speaker 1: know the second, the second quarter or third quarter, fourth quarter,
18:45
Speaker 1: they dominate. They went fifty eight to thirty three to
18:49
Speaker 1: move on to the state semi finals where they faced
18:53
Speaker 1: Clarkston and Man. From what I remember, I think Clarkston's
18:58
Speaker 1: band was pretty good. I mean, obviously Lynn's band is
19:00
Speaker 1: very well known, but I've Clarkston's was fun. I enjoyed
19:05
Speaker 1: listening to different bands I heard. I can't remember which
19:07
Speaker 1: band it was, but it might have been Clarkston. That
19:10
Speaker 1: they played some led Zeppelin songs. I was like, holy cow,
19:13
Speaker 1: this is awesome. So that was really really fun. But
19:19
Speaker 1: in this game was in the semi finals against Clarkston,
19:22
Speaker 1: very it was very close again just like the first game,
19:27
Speaker 1: the quarterfinal game, where they only led by one after
19:30
Speaker 1: a quarter, but this was a little different. Stead of
19:32
Speaker 1: thirteen to twelve, it was five to four after one quarter,
19:36
Speaker 1: so you kind of thought, you know, I don't know
19:38
Speaker 1: that much about Clarkston. Maybe their big thing is just defense,
19:42
Speaker 1: and but it totally changed in the second quarter, and
19:48
Speaker 1: I think Lynnon went on a twenty one to three
19:51
Speaker 1: run kind of in that moment there, and they were
19:55
Speaker 1: up twenty four to nine at the half. So it
19:58
Speaker 1: only given up nine points in the whole first half
20:03
Speaker 1: and then the second half. It was a close third quarter,
20:05
Speaker 1: but they pulled away more. They ended up winning by
20:08
Speaker 1: twenty fifty to thirty. You know that that Linden Lion
20:13
Speaker 1: team is just so dominant. The big thing in this
20:16
Speaker 1: game that stood out was the rebounding. Linen out rebounded
20:21
Speaker 1: Clarkston fifty three to thirty three, and Finley Partcher pulled
20:25
Speaker 1: down twenty two rebounds. Listed as a guard, but obviously
20:30
Speaker 1: she can, you know, do stuff down low. She's just
20:33
Speaker 1: so good at, you know, shooting in crashing the boards
20:38
Speaker 1: and and securing the rebound. A lot of girls will
20:41
Speaker 1: grab it and it kind of knocks out of their hands.
20:43
Speaker 1: She secures it every single time and she's you're not
20:46
Speaker 1: knocking it out of her hand. So she had twenty
20:48
Speaker 1: one points and twenty two rebounds, three assists, three steals, again,
20:55
Speaker 1: huge huge game lead in all those categories, digitu Bowler
20:59
Speaker 1: again points, second game in a row, four rebounds and
21:05
Speaker 1: Peyton Mills would pulled down eleven boards as well, and
21:09
Speaker 1: just a really good performance by the Linnen Lions to
21:11
Speaker 1: send them into the state championship for the third year
21:14
Speaker 1: in a row. And it was so weird because all
21:17
Speaker 1: I kept hearing for the twenty four hours between the
21:19
Speaker 1: semi finals and the finals game was how good Prosser
21:22
Speaker 1: was up and coming and everything. And it really made
21:26
Speaker 1: me feel like they were kind of the Linden of
21:28
Speaker 1: two years ago, because when Lyndon got to the state
21:31
Speaker 1: championship in twenty twenty four, they were kind of the darlings,
21:36
Speaker 1: you know, everyone was talking about them, young team, fun
21:40
Speaker 1: to watch, and they were going to go against this
21:42
Speaker 1: powerhouse who had seventy five straight wins in Ellensburg and
21:46
Speaker 1: they pulled out the victory. Well, coming into this game,
21:49
Speaker 1: Linden had seventy four straight wins and Prosser was the
21:52
Speaker 1: darling underdog that everyone was talking about. So it kind
21:54
Speaker 1: of had that weird feel to it where, oh my goodness,
21:57
Speaker 1: this is just like two years ago. But early on,
22:04
Speaker 1: you know, Linden started really hot, got off to a
22:08
Speaker 1: great great start, was up nineteen to three after the
22:12
Speaker 1: first quarter. But I tell you what, Prosser hung in there.
22:18
Speaker 1: And you could be down nineteen to three in a
22:19
Speaker 1: state championship game against the top ranked team in the
22:22
Speaker 1: state and really hang your head, and Prosser did not
22:25
Speaker 1: do that. In fact, they outscored London in the next
22:27
Speaker 1: two quarters each and made it a close game. It
22:30
Speaker 1: was actually a three point game at one point in
22:34
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, so Rosser was really really doing everything
22:39
Speaker 1: they could to come back, but Linen made shots when
22:44
Speaker 1: they needed to. Lexi Herman has had a huge game
22:47
Speaker 1: in that championship games, made six out of eight from
22:50
Speaker 1: the four or four from the foul line, seventeen points,
22:53
Speaker 1: nine rebounds, five assists, and five blocks. I mean, she
22:59
Speaker 1: is probably the most underrated player and in the Northwest Conference,
23:03
Speaker 1: and she really showed what she could do in that
23:07
Speaker 1: championship game, which was great to see. Finley Partcher again
23:10
Speaker 1: seventeen points, ten rebounds and another double double for her
23:14
Speaker 1: and for Peyton Mills who had eleven points and ten rebounds.
23:17
Speaker 1: Ayton Mills had a score down low kind of late
23:20
Speaker 1: in the game where she was, you know, just battling
23:25
Speaker 1: through defenders, puts up a shot, makes it, and one
23:28
Speaker 1: she gets fouled, and that was a huge I thought
23:31
Speaker 1: that was a huge turning point, a huge moment to
23:32
Speaker 1: kind of give them a little bit of that breathing room.
23:36
Speaker 1: They end up winning the game by ten, fifty nine
23:39
Speaker 1: to forty nine. So the Linen Lions are your three
23:42
Speaker 1: time state champions, first time in state history where a
23:46
Speaker 1: two to a girls team has won three in a row.
23:50
Speaker 1: And it was just, you know, tears of joy after
23:55
Speaker 1: the game. So many players, so many players did some
23:58
Speaker 1: good things. I mean, res Nihoff came off the she
24:00
Speaker 1: only played seven minutes, but she scored five points, hit
24:02
Speaker 1: a big time three. She hit a lay in shortly
24:06
Speaker 1: after that, and it kind of reminded me of last year.
24:08
Speaker 1: I think she did the same thing. She came off
24:10
Speaker 1: and hit a clutch three. Came off the bench and
24:12
Speaker 1: hit a clutch three. So it's just so cool to
24:14
Speaker 1: see these things all happen. And they're gonna have a
24:20
Speaker 1: different look next year. Obviously, Lyndon lines with six seniors
24:23
Speaker 1: this year, you bring back fin departure, Lexi hermanuts is
24:31
Speaker 1: He Stephen and some of the girls that we didn't
24:34
Speaker 1: see that much of with Charlotte Sama, Aubrey Bessert and
24:38
Speaker 1: Emily Deikstra. So you would imagine those six are going
24:41
Speaker 1: to be heavily involved next year. And we'll see, you know,
24:45
Speaker 1: they always have athletes coming, So I'm not you know,
24:47
Speaker 1: I'm not. I wouldn't be surprised if there's somebody I've
24:49
Speaker 1: never heard of that's gonna be a great player for
24:51
Speaker 1: them next year. So but boy, you know, the pressure
24:57
Speaker 1: was on them. I think they beat off that they
25:00
Speaker 1: did well, and they did a they did a great
25:03
Speaker 1: job and they won the state championship once again, and
25:08
Speaker 1: very very impressive coach Rob Adams, who's you know, a
25:11
Speaker 1: longtime friend of mine, very very proud of him and
25:16
Speaker 1: just just really happy for them. And they get the
25:18
Speaker 1: job done and and it was great. It was great. Prosser.
25:23
Speaker 1: Prosser was something they were. The way they came back,
25:27
Speaker 1: Like I said at the end, uh showed me a
25:30
Speaker 1: ton And it's no surprise why everybody was talking about them.
25:35
Speaker 1: But Linden was just too much. They made two thirds
25:37
Speaker 1: of their shots in the first half and they just
25:40
Speaker 1: they were just so so dominant. You know, such a
25:43
Speaker 1: great team. So congratulations to the Lynnen Lions were winning
25:48
Speaker 1: the state championship third year in a row. That shifted
25:51
Speaker 1: our attention to boys basketball, where again the night the
25:54
Speaker 1: scoreboards were brought to you by Edelin Darry from Satisfied
25:56
Speaker 1: Cows to Satisfied Customers. Edilin Darry is my favorite place
26:00
Speaker 1: in Walkham County to get a cold treat. And the
26:03
Speaker 1: daily recaps were brought to you by Mosseri Construction for
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Speaker 1: the second year in a row. Moss Are Construction is
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Speaker 1: a general contractor specializing in custom homes, remodels, excavation, landscape
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Speaker 1: Visit them online at Mosseriiconstruction dot com. That's Moceri Construction
26:32
Speaker 1: dot com. So we look at boys, We're gonna start
26:35
Speaker 1: off actually here with the two A boys and the
26:40
Speaker 1: two A boys just had the one team that was Linden.
26:43
Speaker 1: Linden the nine seats, so they had to play in
26:45
Speaker 1: game to get here. Which we talked about last week
26:47
Speaker 1: where they beat Franklin Pierce handily seventy four to thirty.
26:51
Speaker 1: And so they were going to play in the round
26:53
Speaker 1: of twelve and then the Lake in the nine o'clock
26:57
Speaker 1: game Wednesday night against eighth seed Renting. And what was
27:03
Speaker 1: interesting about this game was after about five or six
27:10
Speaker 1: minutes there was there there was a time out, and
27:13
Speaker 1: I kind of thought to myself, like, you know, if
27:19
Speaker 1: if the referee and I was talking to some people
27:21
Speaker 1: about this, you know, the referees were kind of letting
27:24
Speaker 1: them play a little bit. It was pretty physical out there.
27:27
Speaker 1: You know, it's a lot of forms at a lot
27:29
Speaker 1: of pushoffs, different things on both sides of the ball,
27:33
Speaker 1: and and Renton was extremely extremely physical where you could
27:39
Speaker 1: have seen a lot of players where they could have
27:40
Speaker 1: been fouls called, but they weren't being called, and they
27:43
Speaker 1: took advantage of that. I think at the time out
27:45
Speaker 1: they probably said, hey, they're letting us play, so just
27:48
Speaker 1: keep on doing it. It kind of reminded me of like
27:51
Speaker 1: the Legion of Boom Defense. If you guys remember watching
27:55
Speaker 1: the Seahawks back in the day, where they were very
27:58
Speaker 1: physical on the outside, and I think their thought was,
28:01
Speaker 1: they can't call pass interference on every play, so let's
28:05
Speaker 1: just play physical, and that's why they were so good.
28:09
Speaker 1: And it looked it was very similar to that, and
28:11
Speaker 1: Linden had trouble with that. They were they had trouble
28:15
Speaker 1: getting shots up. They shot twenty six and a half
28:18
Speaker 1: percent for the game, made only thirteen to forty nine,
28:22
Speaker 1: five of twenty from three pointers. They only made half
28:24
Speaker 1: their foul shots. It was just, you know, it just
28:29
Speaker 1: it just wasn't working for Lindon. A couple outside shots
28:33
Speaker 1: early by Malachi Canan was kind of keeping them in
28:36
Speaker 1: the game. He finished with three three pointers and eleven points,
28:39
Speaker 1: which tied for the team lead with Spencer Adams, who
28:42
Speaker 1: also had eleven points to go with his nine rebounds.
28:45
Speaker 1: Tid Jorgensen had nine points, eight rebounds, three steals, and
28:50
Speaker 1: a blocked shot, but Renton wins the game forty six
28:55
Speaker 1: to thirty six. Lindon scored just twelve points in the
28:59
Speaker 1: entire second half, and it was just, you know, it
29:04
Speaker 1: was too bad because I really thought that they had
29:07
Speaker 1: a chance in that one. Ranton had some really really
29:10
Speaker 1: good athletes. So Dan Luak was a boy, He was incredible.
29:16
Speaker 1: He just floats to the rim and had a couple
29:19
Speaker 1: of dunks and seventeen points twelve rebounds. And I rarely
29:22
Speaker 1: talk about kids that are not from the county, but
29:24
Speaker 1: he really stood out. And it was, you know, it
29:28
Speaker 1: was just a very strong performance by the RedHawks, and
29:31
Speaker 1: and and Linden was eliminated by virtue of that. So
29:35
Speaker 1: they do not they do not bring home the trophy.
29:38
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't worry about They're Linden, right, They're They're
29:41
Speaker 1: gonna be just fine. They have so many great players
29:44
Speaker 1: and they you know, they there's obviously some big time seniors.
29:51
Speaker 1: They're gonna miss five seniors that are going to be graduating.
29:54
Speaker 1: But we'll see kind of how they do down the line.
29:57
Speaker 1: I think they'll be just fine. Let's go to the
30:01
Speaker 1: one B boys now where Lemon Nation came into it
30:06
Speaker 1: the defending state champions and they were the number one
30:10
Speaker 1: seed again going into this tournament, and which meant and
30:14
Speaker 1: when with their win against Wakayakam at lyndon the Saturday before,
30:18
Speaker 1: that means they go right into the quarterfinals and they
30:21
Speaker 1: were going to host NIA or not host, but they're
30:24
Speaker 1: gonna be the home team against seventh ranked NIA. Bay
30:28
Speaker 1: and you know this the Red Devils. There is a
30:32
Speaker 1: history there, more so probably on the girls side. But
30:36
Speaker 1: I even think I think when and I could be
30:38
Speaker 1: wrong about this, but I think when Lemon Nation won
30:40
Speaker 1: their state championship like ten years ago, eleven years ago.
30:44
Speaker 1: It was against Nia Bay, obviously the big rivalry in
30:47
Speaker 1: football and all sorts of things. But uh, lem Nation,
30:52
Speaker 1: you know, was just you know, they dominated all four quarters,
30:57
Speaker 1: scored forty in the first half thirty and the second
30:59
Speaker 1: half the win seventy to forty eight. A great excuse me, man,
31:05
Speaker 1: excuse me, A great overall performance by a lot of players.
31:10
Speaker 1: I mean they shot fifty six percent from the floor
31:12
Speaker 1: as a team. Jerome Toby with twenty points, five assists,
31:16
Speaker 1: two steals, Chasewait Keller eight for nine, sixteen points, fourteen rebounds,
31:24
Speaker 1: He's a force down low. And then Dyson Edwards had
31:26
Speaker 1: twelve points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals. And what
31:31
Speaker 1: was cool about this was every single player that suited
31:34
Speaker 1: up played in the game and scored in the game.
31:38
Speaker 1: So that was really cool for a Lemon Nation And
31:40
Speaker 1: when you when you think about that, that's another thing
31:43
Speaker 1: to think about if you if you feel like you're
31:45
Speaker 1: gonna have a long run. You gotta rest players because
31:47
Speaker 1: you're gonna play every single day. And so they were
31:50
Speaker 1: able to do that in this game and get other
31:54
Speaker 1: guys in there. Another guys scored as well, so that
31:58
Speaker 1: was pleasant to see. It sent the Elimination Blockhawks into
32:03
Speaker 1: the semi finals where they faced the Sales the Fighting Irish,
32:10
Speaker 1: and this game it was awesome to see, especially in
32:16
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Elimination had like I don't know if
32:19
Speaker 1: it was back to back or if it was like
32:20
Speaker 1: two out of three possessions in a row in the
32:22
Speaker 1: fourth quarter where they had lob dunks to Chase waight Keller,
32:25
Speaker 1: first one from Jerome Toby on a perfect lob and
32:29
Speaker 1: the second one from Dyson Edwards where he put it
32:31
Speaker 1: off the glass. And it's funny because if you listen
32:33
Speaker 1: to the announcer, it's like the layup is missed, but
32:35
Speaker 1: it's followed up by Chase waight Keller. I was like, no, no, no, no,
32:38
Speaker 1: he did that on purpose. He put it right off
32:40
Speaker 1: the glass. Know that Chase waight Keller is trailing right
32:43
Speaker 1: behind him, grabs it with two hands, flashes it down.
32:48
Speaker 1: Awesome game. Awesome game. By elimination. They win seventy four
32:51
Speaker 1: to fifty eight. Dyson Edwards at twenty one points, three assists,
32:57
Speaker 1: five rebounds, Jerome Toby again with twenty points, six assists,
33:01
Speaker 1: two steals, Chase wake Keller seven of nine from the floor,
33:04
Speaker 1: very efficient once again fifteen points, thirteen rebounds, two blocked shots,
33:10
Speaker 1: and Landon Lafontein with ten points hits a couple of
33:13
Speaker 1: three pointers there, and the Blackhawks move on to the
33:18
Speaker 1: state championship game, where they faced again to lay Up Partage,
33:22
Speaker 1: which was crazy because they faced twice in the regular season.
33:26
Speaker 1: They faced for the district championship game, they face each
33:29
Speaker 1: other for the Fry District championship game, and now they're
33:34
Speaker 1: facing each other for the state championship game. And it's
33:36
Speaker 1: a huge rivalry. I went to two of them. I
33:38
Speaker 1: went to both the games that were at lemin Nation,
33:40
Speaker 1: the regular season game and I think the district championship game,
33:45
Speaker 1: so I was at both of those. You know, they
33:49
Speaker 1: really it's a great, great rivalry. It's a respectful rivalry.
33:54
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of booing and different things, and
33:56
Speaker 1: it gets really heated. And they were all pretty close
33:59
Speaker 1: games and Talala was actually up at halftime here, but
34:05
Speaker 1: Lemon Nation was able to come back in the second half.
34:10
Speaker 1: And you know the year before it was a big
34:13
Speaker 1: steal by Jerome Toby that won the state championship game.
34:17
Speaker 1: It kind of was again in this case where he
34:20
Speaker 1: gets a steal late and it kind of helps secure
34:24
Speaker 1: because he gets fouled, they go to the line and
34:27
Speaker 1: they ice it from there. He finishes with twenty six points,
34:30
Speaker 1: seven rebounds, three assists, four steals. There's not many players
34:37
Speaker 1: that I've seen that are like Jerome Toby and it's
34:40
Speaker 1: sad that that was it. I really hope he's going
34:42
Speaker 1: to be playing somewhere at the next level. I don't
34:46
Speaker 1: care if he's five eight. A kid can play anywhere.
34:50
Speaker 1: He is just so quick with everything and he can
34:58
Speaker 1: make his foul shots, you can hit the outside shot,
35:01
Speaker 1: great defender, So I'm just really happy for him. Two
35:05
Speaker 1: times state champion, Dyson Edwards had twelve points in the game,
35:09
Speaker 1: six rebounds and land in La Fontein in another big
35:13
Speaker 1: game with eleven points and hit three three pointers. And
35:19
Speaker 1: I think, you know, he had a big game last
35:20
Speaker 1: year in the state championship too, so he comes up
35:22
Speaker 1: big in the biggest of moments Chase wait Keller fourteen
35:25
Speaker 1: rebounds and five blocks and two steals, so getting it
35:29
Speaker 1: done down low to go with his seven points and
35:33
Speaker 1: limination back to back state champions. So so proud of
35:37
Speaker 1: him and a really cool thing that Cascadia Daily is
35:40
Speaker 1: doing where you know, I was told about it before
35:43
Speaker 1: the season even started, where Nick Zeller Sing and Finn
35:48
Speaker 1: I don't remember. I don't know Finn's last name, but
35:50
Speaker 1: they both work for Cascadia Daily, where they were like,
35:54
Speaker 1: we're going to do a documentary this year about the
35:56
Speaker 1: elimination Blackhawks. I was like, that's awesome, and so they
35:59
Speaker 1: were out a ton of games doing video. They went
36:02
Speaker 1: to players homes, went to practices, lots of interviews and stuff,
36:08
Speaker 1: and there's already a trailer out for it, so I
36:12
Speaker 1: suggest you check that out because and how cool is
36:16
Speaker 1: it that they win it again and they were there
36:18
Speaker 1: to document everything. So I'm really excited for when that
36:21
Speaker 1: comes out. It's gonna be it's gonna be fantastic, and uh,
36:27
Speaker 1: it's kind of the icing on the cake for this
36:29
Speaker 1: elimination team where you know, this year, I think the
36:32
Speaker 1: target was on them and they took care of business.
36:35
Speaker 1: They beat delay that parentage five times. That is incredible
36:39
Speaker 1: to do that against the second best team in the States,
36:41
Speaker 1: so that really showed that they were the best team.
36:44
Speaker 1: They faced a couple of four A schools this year
36:46
Speaker 1: and beat them both. You know, they're one B. I mean,
36:51
Speaker 1: they got they got what one hundred and twenty kids
36:55
Speaker 1: in their entire school, and the teams that are beating
36:58
Speaker 1: have almost three thousand kids. I mean, it's an incredible story,
37:03
Speaker 1: incredible accomplishment. So happy for coach Toby as well, one
37:07
Speaker 1: of the nicest people, not just nicest people in sports,
37:11
Speaker 1: but just nicest people overall that you'll ever meet. And
37:14
Speaker 1: uh yeah, really really happy for them. And it's just
37:20
Speaker 1: a tremendous performance. Great great kids love going out there
37:25
Speaker 1: and watching them play. It's it's the team unity is
37:28
Speaker 1: fantastic and uh yeah, I'm so glad that it all
37:35
Speaker 1: kind of came together for them. And you know, in
37:39
Speaker 1: the back of my mind, I was like there was
37:41
Speaker 1: never any doubt. They're just they're they're that good. But
37:43
Speaker 1: it's it's hard. I mean, once you get there, everybody's
37:45
Speaker 1: going for that gold ball and and for them to
37:48
Speaker 1: get it, it's just a really really cool deal. For them,
37:52
Speaker 1: so really really happy for them, and congratulations to the
37:56
Speaker 1: elimination Blackhawks on your Thursday championship. Second in a row.
38:01
Speaker 1: We're gonna go over to the one A bracket where
38:04
Speaker 1: we had a couple teams here and starting on Wednesday,
38:08
Speaker 1: Nuksack Valley in town there as the sixteen seed. They
38:12
Speaker 1: upset Fort Vancouver, so they got to take a little
38:15
Speaker 1: trip to Yakama where they were going to face Seattle
38:18
Speaker 1: Christian in that opening round, that round of twelve game,
38:23
Speaker 1: and you know, it was it was. It was tough
38:28
Speaker 1: for them, and they got down early. I don't know
38:32
Speaker 1: if the bright lights got them or what, but they
38:34
Speaker 1: were down nineteen to nine after the first quarter. And
38:39
Speaker 1: I think that I think they went into it with
38:42
Speaker 1: the right attitude, like, hey, like we have we have
38:45
Speaker 1: nothing to prove, there's no pressure on us, so just
38:48
Speaker 1: play loose. I don't know if they were too loose.
38:51
Speaker 1: I don't know if they were too tight. I just
38:53
Speaker 1: think that, you know, Seattle Christians just played extremely well.
38:56
Speaker 1: I mean they had four different players in double figures.
39:00
Speaker 1: They had a big kid who was really good. He
39:02
Speaker 1: had sixteen rebounds. He was he was hard for them
39:05
Speaker 1: to handle. Nuksack Valley doesn't really have like a true center,
39:12
Speaker 1: you know, they just have a lot of really good
39:15
Speaker 1: athletes that are six three sixty four And I don't
39:19
Speaker 1: know if that hurt them, but I just think getting
39:21
Speaker 1: there was really really impressive. You get to Yakama with
39:25
Speaker 1: a losing record and they fought really hard. Owen Wickers
39:30
Speaker 1: had a tremendous game, seventeen points to finish out his career.
39:34
Speaker 1: This is a kid that you know, played sparingly as
39:36
Speaker 1: a sophomore, even kind of sparingly as a junior, and
39:39
Speaker 1: becomes kind of the face of this team as a senior,
39:42
Speaker 1: which is really cool to see him and Jade Anderson together.
39:45
Speaker 1: Jade Anderson had eight points, Cool Coppture at six points.
39:49
Speaker 1: But they were just overmatched by Seattle Christians. So final
39:54
Speaker 1: score there was seventy eight to forty four and Nuksack
39:58
Speaker 1: Valley Pioneers and their season and that was that. So
40:03
Speaker 1: it was you know, you go all the way there,
40:05
Speaker 1: you play one game and you're done. But I think
40:06
Speaker 1: that the experience was huge. I think it can really
40:09
Speaker 1: help going into next year, especially if they make it
40:12
Speaker 1: back again, where these underclassmen that'll be that'll be coming back.
40:18
Speaker 1: They're gonna remember kind of what it was like to
40:21
Speaker 1: be there. They'll have that field, they won't have to
40:23
Speaker 1: they won't have that wow moment. So I think that
40:25
Speaker 1: could really help uh Linden and Christian. Because of their
40:28
Speaker 1: winover she Land, they got to move all the way
40:30
Speaker 1: already into the quarterfinal round where they faced Seattle Christian
40:34
Speaker 1: who beat Nuksak Valley in their quarterfinal game. That was
40:38
Speaker 1: a two o'clock in the afternoon game and this was
40:40
Speaker 1: all Linden Christian. And again this is this could be
40:43
Speaker 1: that rest against rust type thing where the rest really
40:48
Speaker 1: really helped them. Gunnar Dykstra twenty seven points. He was
40:51
Speaker 1: six of nine from three point land. That was a huge,
40:55
Speaker 1: huge thing for them. Caden Veldman three for three, boy
40:58
Speaker 1: he could not miss, three for three from deep, twenty
41:01
Speaker 1: one points, ten rebounds. He had a tremendous game as well.
41:07
Speaker 1: Dawston Heinz was look was kind of quiet this one.
41:09
Speaker 1: Nine points, but he did the other things eight rebounds,
41:11
Speaker 1: three assists. Boyce Robertson had eight points and three assists
41:16
Speaker 1: as well a couple of steals. And Lindon Christian wins
41:20
Speaker 1: eighty four to fifty six, just a pretty, you know,
41:25
Speaker 1: pretty dominant performance, shot almost fifty percent from the field,
41:29
Speaker 1: and you know, their largest lead was thirty four points.
41:32
Speaker 1: It was, it was. It was Lennon Christian's game, and
41:37
Speaker 1: they were on a mission winning that game in the
41:39
Speaker 1: quarterfinals to send them into the semi finals against the Kings. Knights,
41:44
Speaker 1: and this was this was kind of a lot of
41:46
Speaker 1: back and forth because Lenny Christian was up seven to
41:48
Speaker 1: zero early, Kings goes on a nineteen to three run,
41:52
Speaker 1: Lindy Christian comes back. Lenny Christian was actually down I
41:55
Speaker 1: think by seven at halftime. And this was a tough
42:03
Speaker 1: one because I was trying to make my way over
42:05
Speaker 1: from the girls game that I was covering, so I
42:09
Speaker 1: was kind of late to the table, so I got
42:10
Speaker 1: there kind of late in the first quarter and trying
42:12
Speaker 1: to find a spot. And they can get a little
42:14
Speaker 1: hectic down there at media row. I was watching the
42:17
Speaker 1: game film back and I could see me pacing around,
42:19
Speaker 1: walking back and forth. I'm like, oh man, what a loser.
42:23
Speaker 1: That guy with his pink shirt trying to find a
42:24
Speaker 1: place to sit. But the thing about this game is
42:27
Speaker 1: Lennon Christian and Kings. I mean how many times have
42:29
Speaker 1: they faced in the playoffs, sometimes in the state championship game,
42:34
Speaker 1: and so they always seem to do battle in these
42:38
Speaker 1: extremely meaningful games. And Dawson Heintz had a huge He
42:42
Speaker 1: started off the fourth quarter by scoring the first eight
42:44
Speaker 1: points for his team. He ends up with twenty four points,
42:46
Speaker 1: five rebounds, four assists. Gunnard Dykstra had twelve boys. Robertson
42:51
Speaker 1: and Kane Veldman each as well had twelve and together
42:56
Speaker 1: Robertson and Velveman went three for three from the three
42:58
Speaker 1: point line. I don't think I could be wrong. I
43:02
Speaker 1: gotta check this now because I'm really curious. Yeah, I
43:04
Speaker 1: don't think Kayden Veldman missed a three pointer in the
43:07
Speaker 1: entire tournament. I think he was six for six, which
43:09
Speaker 1: is incredible. And even in the stat leaders, like he
43:13
Speaker 1: wasn't in the top five to three point shooting all
43:16
Speaker 1: year and he ended the year like second or something
43:20
Speaker 1: like that. He shot right up the list. And it's
43:24
Speaker 1: a really great overall player and kind of how Lexi
43:27
Speaker 1: Hermanuz is probably the most underrated girls player in Walkam County.
43:30
Speaker 1: I think Caiden Veldman is the most underrated boys player
43:33
Speaker 1: in Walkham County. So yeah, they pick up they pick
43:37
Speaker 1: up the win here. It wasn't super easy. It was
43:40
Speaker 1: sixty three to fifty four. I thought Kings matched up
43:43
Speaker 1: with them very very well, but there was just no
43:46
Speaker 1: stopping Dawson Heinz basically, I mean ten for eighteen from
43:51
Speaker 1: the from the field, twenty four points. Like I said, great,
43:55
Speaker 1: great performance, which sent them into the championship game against
43:58
Speaker 1: undefeated and top ranked z Villa. And this was like
44:01
Speaker 1: deja vu because Elena, Christian and Zilla just played the
44:04
Speaker 1: day before in a girls game, so I had like
44:07
Speaker 1: the same crowds behind me and in front of me,
44:10
Speaker 1: and so that was kind of unique. But and this
44:15
Speaker 1: game coming into it, I'd seen Zilla the last couple
44:19
Speaker 1: of years in the state playoffs, and you know, they
44:22
Speaker 1: won the championship a couple of years ago, and and
44:26
Speaker 1: I just thought, I remember they had this kid, Decker Vandergraph,
44:30
Speaker 1: which sounds like he should play playing for Lynn and Christian,
44:34
Speaker 1: but I remember watching him and he was just taking
44:36
Speaker 1: over a couple of years ago, and I was I
44:38
Speaker 1: looked him up and I saw that he was just
44:40
Speaker 1: a sophomore, and I thought, oh my goodness, that guy.
44:43
Speaker 1: Hey guys. He just looked like a grown man. And
44:46
Speaker 1: uh so, of course, you know when I saw that
44:49
Speaker 1: they were number one ranked team here, I was like, oh,
44:51
Speaker 1: that's right. They got that vandograph kid that's a senior.
44:54
Speaker 1: Now they're probably just dominating everybody. They were undefeated, score
45:00
Speaker 1: over eighty points fifteen times this year or something like that,
45:05
Speaker 1: and Lindy Christian decides, we're gonna put our best athlete
45:10
Speaker 1: on him. So they take Boyce Robertson and they just say,
45:14
Speaker 1: you just cover him the whole game. And I tell
45:16
Speaker 1: you what that did. It that won them the game decor.
45:22
Speaker 1: Vandergraft scored four points in the first half and that
45:25
Speaker 1: was that. That was all he did. And the rebounding
45:30
Speaker 1: was amazing. They had more than twice as many rebounds
45:33
Speaker 1: Lenny Christian did than Zilla. It was annihilation from the
45:37
Speaker 1: beginning to the end. I mean, it was defense and rebounding.
45:41
Speaker 1: That's that is exactly what it was. Boyce Robertson had
45:46
Speaker 1: eight offensive rebounds. Lindy Christian as a team had twenty
45:49
Speaker 1: four offensive rebounds offensive rebounds. Zilla had twenty four total rebounds.
45:55
Speaker 1: It was incredible what they were able to do, and
46:00
Speaker 1: with relative ease. I mean, it was just and when
46:04
Speaker 1: I look back at it, I think, you know, the
46:06
Speaker 1: gaming against Kings was much closer, and I think I
46:09
Speaker 1: think it was just a bad matchup for Zilla, like
46:12
Speaker 1: they just don't. Zilla is big and kind of lumbering
46:15
Speaker 1: and physical, and Lenni Christian is just so fast that
46:18
Speaker 1: I think that Zilla just couldn't keep up with them.
46:21
Speaker 1: Kings is more like Lenin Christian outside, shooting fast, and
46:27
Speaker 1: so that was a you know, a better matchup for
46:30
Speaker 1: Kings and a harder matchup for Lyndon Christian. But they
46:33
Speaker 1: took care of Zilla. I mean they destroyed him sixty
46:38
Speaker 1: one to forty two. And that doesn't even really feel like,
46:42
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was the score was not
46:47
Speaker 1: an indicative I mean it was. It was worse than that,
46:50
Speaker 1: it felt like. And I think it was just because
46:52
Speaker 1: right off the get go, I mean, after the first quarter,
46:55
Speaker 1: I looked over to Ted House and I said, I
46:56
Speaker 1: think Lennon Christian's playing as good as they can possibly
46:58
Speaker 1: play right now. And that never changed, Like that was
47:03
Speaker 1: they just kept playing like that. And the defense that
47:06
Speaker 1: Boyce Robertson played was unbelievable. He did hit another big
47:11
Speaker 1: three ends up with thirteen points and ten rebounds and
47:14
Speaker 1: two steals, but his his man and man defense on
47:17
Speaker 1: Decker Vandergraft was immense. Dawson Heinz goes for eighteen points,
47:22
Speaker 1: seven rebounds, three assists, Gunnar Dykshra fifteen points, six rebounds,
47:28
Speaker 1: and Cayden Veldman again two for two from the three
47:30
Speaker 1: point line ten points, eleven rebounds. Such an impressive team.
47:38
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people and I probably
47:41
Speaker 1: are in on this camp, looked at the Lynnen Christian
47:44
Speaker 1: team this year and said, well, they're really really good,
47:49
Speaker 1: but next year they're gonna be state champs. I think
47:51
Speaker 1: that was just kind of the thought because so many
47:53
Speaker 1: great juniors on the team, and they erased all doubt
47:59
Speaker 1: with everybody. No, our goal is to win the state
48:02
Speaker 1: championship every single year, and by golly, they did it,
48:07
Speaker 1: and good for them. Fifty years the fiftieth anniversary of
48:13
Speaker 1: Lenny Christian winning their first ever state championship in any sport,
48:18
Speaker 1: So it was fifty years in one day different, so
48:22
Speaker 1: really really cool. The nineteen seventy six state champions and
48:27
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six state champs now all together. I think
48:29
Speaker 1: they know I don't even know how many they've won
48:31
Speaker 1: nine boys state championships. I don't know on the girls side,
48:35
Speaker 1: fourteen something like that, but really really cool. You know,
48:39
Speaker 1: Glenn Dykesterra, the star of the nineteen seventy six team,
48:42
Speaker 1: and now his grandson, Gunnard Dykstra. You know, I saw
48:46
Speaker 1: a great picture of them together and Glenn's holding up
48:50
Speaker 1: five zero, like fiftieth anniversary. Someday I want to meet
48:56
Speaker 1: Glenn Dykster. I've never met him. Be fun to just
49:00
Speaker 1: talk basketball with him and kind of how basketball was
49:02
Speaker 1: back then, and you know, and I know that there's
49:08
Speaker 1: been so many Dykstra since then with sons and daughters
49:11
Speaker 1: and grandkids and and that have done some great things
49:14
Speaker 1: and and he's kind of the first, you know, and
49:17
Speaker 1: uh so it would be really fun to talk basketball
49:20
Speaker 1: with him and and and just and just meet him someday.
49:23
Speaker 1: And it's it's it's it's unique because you know a
49:26
Speaker 1: lot of people listening are probably like, well, that's kind
49:28
Speaker 1: of weird, but I I think that for me and
49:31
Speaker 1: the people that know me and understand this, but like,
49:35
Speaker 1: you know, for you guys to go and meet you know,
49:40
Speaker 1: I don't know a Grify junior Steve Largin or Gary
49:44
Speaker 1: Payton would be like me meeting Glenn Dykstra, like I
49:49
Speaker 1: love high school sports so much, you know, And it
49:55
Speaker 1: was great. I mean, I love the history. I thought
49:57
Speaker 1: it was awesome that you know, where I'm sitting in
50:00
Speaker 1: press row, I'm looking straight across and there's Luke Ridd
50:02
Speaker 1: and I are sitting on the bench. You know, It's
50:04
Speaker 1: like that's Walkham County Royalty right there, and it's just
50:08
Speaker 1: a it's such a cool I just love the history.
50:12
Speaker 1: I think it's fantastic and I'm so lucky that I
50:16
Speaker 1: found my passion and I'm able to share it. And yeah,
50:22
Speaker 1: it's something that I'll never take for granted. And there's
50:24
Speaker 1: so many people that helped me this weekend. Michayla Sparks,
50:31
Speaker 1: my intern, came down for Friday and Saturday to take
50:33
Speaker 1: pictures and and thank you so much as to her,
50:38
Speaker 1: as well as Damon Brulin, who's known as you know,
50:41
Speaker 1: one of the best officials in Walkham County. He's down
50:44
Speaker 1: there working the event, as you know, he's grading officials,
50:47
Speaker 1: doing different things, but he also took pictures for me
50:49
Speaker 1: on Wednesday and Thursday. He didn't have to do that
50:54
Speaker 1: but he offered to and it really really helped me out.
50:57
Speaker 1: So I'm not having to run around to get pictures
50:58
Speaker 1: come back load them while I'm trying to write. You know,
51:03
Speaker 1: so many people coming up and saying hi. You know
51:06
Speaker 1: Mark Holloman, you know, saying hi. I mean I haven't
51:09
Speaker 1: seen him for a while, and you know he's walking
51:11
Speaker 1: County Royalty as well, and seeing the radio guys there,
51:14
Speaker 1: and you know the media guys with Zen Hill from
51:17
Speaker 1: the Lynden Tribune and Ted House and of course Jim Carberry.
51:21
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just we're really lucky in Walkam County.
51:25
Speaker 1: These are these are pillars, you know. I mean you
51:29
Speaker 1: talk about Jim Carberry and Ted House, these guys have
51:32
Speaker 1: I want to say, like you would say like these
51:34
Speaker 1: guys have written the book. No, they have actually written
51:36
Speaker 1: books like about the history of Walkom County high school
51:39
Speaker 1: football or not high school football, high school basketball with
51:43
Speaker 1: you know Lindon specifically, and and it's a really I'm
51:49
Speaker 1: just so glad that I'm able to be shoulder to
51:51
Speaker 1: shoulder with those guys because those are the guys I
51:55
Speaker 1: look up to, and you know, they don't they don't
52:01
Speaker 1: look at me and think oh he's got weird colors on.
52:04
Speaker 1: They look at me as we're glad you're doing this,
52:07
Speaker 1: because we can't do this forever. So it's a lot
52:10
Speaker 1: of fun. And so congratulations to Lynn and Christian Lynx
52:14
Speaker 1: for winning the state championship, doing it in a huge
52:18
Speaker 1: way against undefeated Zilla, the top ranked Leopards, which was
52:21
Speaker 1: just great, great, great to see and Zilla, i mean, Zilla,
52:25
Speaker 1: what travels five miles to go to the sun Dome.
52:28
Speaker 1: You know they're playing in their backyard. I mean, it's
52:30
Speaker 1: just all those things. When you think about all those
52:32
Speaker 1: things combined, it's a really really cool deal for the
52:34
Speaker 1: Links and for Walkham County. Man, thank you so much
52:40
Speaker 1: to my sponsors again, Mossari Construction, Acceleration Driving School and
52:44
Speaker 1: Lyndon Edeline Derry and of course Walton Beverage. And again
52:49
Speaker 1: very much thank you to everybody in the community that
52:52
Speaker 1: went down to Yakmah and helped me out in so
52:56
Speaker 1: many different ways. And it was just then this week
53:00
Speaker 1: I'm still recovering and I've realized that I have to
53:06
Speaker 1: take a few days off every once in a while
53:08
Speaker 1: to recover. So so that's why this podcast is coming
53:13
Speaker 1: out a little bit late. As is the PEPSI Play
53:15
Speaker 1: of the Week. But we'll be talking to you actually
53:18
Speaker 1: in a few days because I'm going to be doing
53:20
Speaker 1: previews for Fast Pitch and Baseball, so be on the
53:24
Speaker 1: lookout for that. Those will be coming out probably this
53:28
Speaker 1: weekend or maybe early next maybe Monday morning, and I'm
53:33
Speaker 1: not sure which one will be first yet, but still
53:35
Speaker 1: waiting on some responses, trying to get the rosters for
53:38
Speaker 1: the team's all set so I can so I can
53:41
Speaker 1: talk about what I know what I'm talking about hopefully,
53:43
Speaker 1: and we'll jump right into spring sports. So that's gonna
53:47
Speaker 1: be great. Thank you so much, everybody. You've been listening
53:51
Speaker 1: to the Gatorade Game Day podcast with Block Up Preps.
53:53
Speaker 1: This haspent episode four hundred and twelve the basketball State
53:57
Speaker 1: Championship in front of I am Tyler Anderson Walking Preps.
54:01
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you in a few days, yeah,