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There was a time, not so long ago, when the La Conner High School baseball team strung together some magical seasons. Now veteran Braves coaches Jeremiah LeSourd and Andy Otis hope to rekindle that magic within a program that has been sidelined since 2019 due to lack of roster depth and the COVID-19 pandemic. Spring 2022 is a new beginning for the Braves. “Our senior class has played in nine games while in high school,” LeSourd explained, “Normally, the number of games played would be at least 60 entering your senior year. “Giving these k...
The La Conner girls’ basketball team has punched its ticket to the State 2B quarterfinals in Spokane tomorrow morning. But not before taking an early punch from Chief Leschi in a regional round matchup that La Conner won 91-54 at Everett Community College Saturday. The No.1-ranked Lady Braves found themselves trailing Chief Leschi 21-19 at the end of the first quarter. The team from Puyallup did not miss a shot until late in the frame. “I told the girls in the huddle after the first quarter that we had been punched in the face but were abl...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team took care of business in Coupeville last Thursday. As expected, the team (20-1) breezed to the Northwest 2B District title with a dominant 70-19 victory over the hosts, who had placed a distant second to the Lady Braves in the league championship race. La Conner advances to regionals this weekend, a round that will help determine bracket placement for the state Hardwood Classic March 2-5 in Spokane. The team, which has defeated foes from the 1...
To be the best, you need to face the best. That’s something La Conner High School senior wrestler Delaney Cobbs understands after having gone to the mat four times this winter with one of the elite grapplers in state history. Cobbs and Marysville-Pilchuck standout Alivia White, the reigning state champion, were paired again on Saturday in the championship round of the girls’ 190-pound division at Mat Classic XXXIII in Tacoma. White, a junior, completed an undefeated 35-0 season by defeating Cobbs, who had cruised through her side of the sta...
It was a long and winding road that the La Conner Braves took to extend a basketball playoff drive that began in Coupeville last week with post-season wins over Friday Harbor and Auburn Adventist. That road ended at Long Beach, more than 200 miles from home, Sunday. Facing a must-win situation to reach regionals, the Braves were eliminated 76-48 by Ilwaco in a rare Sunday noon tipoff. The Braves began the sojourn with a 48-38 district qualifying win Feb.12 over Friday Harbor. That set up a return trip to Coupeville Feb. 15 to face Auburn...
On a special night, it was still business as usual for the La Conner High School girls’ basketball team at Landy James Gym last Thursday. The state 2B hoop team finished off an undefeated conference campaign with an impressive 87-13 romp past Coupeville following Senior Night festivities. Fans honored Lady Braves seniors Aubrie Sloniker, Juna Swanson, Rachel Cram and Sarah Cook before the hosts ran their NW2B/1B record to 11-0. “The girls came out and took care of business early,” La Conner head coach Scott Novak told the Weekly News after...
It was a win-win night at Landy James Gym Thursday for both the Coupeville and La Conner boys’ basketball teams. The visitors won on the scoreboard, closing out what is probably the program’s first-ever undefeated regular season dating to 1917 with a 79-45 victory over the Braves. La Conner had cause to celebrate, too, despite losing a second NW2B/1B decision. Braves fans had the opportunity to salute the team’s seniors marking their final home appearance. Josh Denton, Cameron Burks, Spencer Olson, Luke Marble, Haydin Dinuis, Myles Sydzi...
Funny the difference a couple days makes. With their season in the balance, the La Conner Braves rebounded Saturday to defeat Friday Harbor 48-38 at Coupeville to advance to a Northwest 2B District Tournament date with Auburn Adventist last night. With the win, the team extended its season while avenging a tough 66-41 loss to Friday Harbor earlier in the week. Senior Miles Sydzik had 12 points to lead the resurgent Braves, who knocked down eight three-pointers while improving to 6-12 overall, including two wins in three games against Friday...
La Conner High School wrestlers Delaney Cobbs and Kaliana Bill have grabbed spots in the Washington State Mat Classic at Tacoma this week. Cobbs was runner-up in the 190-pound weight class of the Northwest Regional Girls’ Wrestling Tournament in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday while Bill qualified for the Tacoma brackets by placing fifth in the 155-pound division. Cobbs lost only to undefeated No. 1 seed Alivia White of Marysville-Pilchuck in the Regional 190s title round match. The senior, 20-3 on the campaign, has suffered her only three defeats th...
The Waterfront Café has long been hosting a wide range of benefit events for La Conner area residents, from the annual free Thanksgiving Day community feast to a dinner and auction fundraiser for an elderly local couple last Friday. It was only fitting, then, that café owners Guy and Marla Vallee would honor another group of champions – the reigning La Conner High School state 2B volleyball title winners – with a Jan. 29 dinner celebration. Members of the public were...
La Conner High School alum Dean Swanson has been around long enough to know about the school’s basketball history. He also keeps tabs on current holidays. The two intersected last Tuesday when the Lady Braves basketball team posted a 63-42 statement win at 2A Burlington-Edison before a large and masked crowd that packed the gym just days after a two-week COVID-19-related spectator pause was lifted. “Today starts the Chinese New Year of the Tiger,” Swanson said immediately afterward. “But not tonight.” La Conner, the No. 2 ranked 2B team in W...
A standout La Conner high school wrestler went a long distance to spend a short time on the mat last weekend. But that was a good thing in terms of Delaney Cobbs preparing for big matches ahead. Cobbs, a senior wrestling on a co-op basis with the Burlington-Edison High School girls’ program, captured top honors in her weight class at a two-day invitational meet in Othello. She pinned four opponents in a combined time under four minutes to win the 190-pound weight division championship. It was a...
Good things are well worth the wait. Just ask La Conner High School boys’ head basketball coach C.J. Woods. Woods, eyeing his team’s Jan. 25 NW2B matchup at Friday Harbor since the start of the season, saw his patience rewarded with a tense 54-51 road win over his high school alma mater. With the hard-fought triumph, the Braves improved to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in conference standings. For Woods, whose Friday Harbor teammate, Collin Williamson, is a member of the Wolverines’ coaching staff, the outcome could hardly have been sweeter. “It was a h...
There was no letdown for La Conner after its big mid-week girls’ hoops win at Skyline. The Lady Braves posted a pair of 50-plus point triumphs when they returned to conference action with road dates Friday at Orcas Island and Saturday at Mount Vernon Christian. La Conner (17-1 overall; 8-0 in league) defeated Orcas 88-29 and downed MVC 88-31, completing a stretch of four straight victories away from home in just five days. “It was our fourth game of the week – all away games and three long road trips – but the girls came out and...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team is willing to play anyone, anytime, anywhere. For the 2B Lady Braves, that meant a rare Wednesday night tipoff opposite 4A Skyline in Sammamish last week. Despite the unusual game night, a first-time opponent from a large urban school district and suburban King County location, the result was much the same as other scores La Conner has posted enroute to a 15-1 overall mark and 8-0 conference record. The team easily defeated Skyline 71-42 one night after routing NW2B rival Friday Harbor 105-23, a...
The La Conner Braves had momentum going into weekend conference hoops action at Orcas Island and Mount Vernon Christian, having won a 54-51 thriller against the Wolverines at Friday Harbor Jan. 25. But momentum, in sports, can be a fleeting thing and the team found themselves on the reverse side of the equation opposite Orcas Friday night. The Vikings hard-fought 55-51 victory broke a virtual tie with La Conner for third place in NW2B/1B standings. They held on, withstanding a 16-4 fourth quarter Braves rally. “Orcas played well against u...
La Conner schools are big on tradition. And the district’s newest tradition promises to be among the most significant in school history. The bright blue image of an eagle bearing an interlocking L and C, created by Swinomish artist Jeanette Quintasket, was introduced during the Jan. 24 school board meeting as the new La Conner Braves mascot. The colorful icon reflects regional Coast Salish artistic imagery and replaces prior Braves graphics that for decades depicted Hollywoodish Plains I...
The Price was right for the La Conner Braves against Darrington Thursday night. As in right on the mark. Team scoring leader Isaiah Price scored 32 points – 21 in the second half – to pace the Braves in a convincing 62-35 league triumph at Landy James Gym. Price drained three perimeter treys after the break and might have done even more damage if the game was not stopped early after an official collapsed on the court in the fourth quarter. “It sounds like he’s going to be oka...
There are victories, defeats and moral victories. The latter was the case for the La Conner Braves Friday night, Jan. 21, when they lost a hard-fought 59-49 non-conference boys’ hoops decision to 2A Sedro-Woolley at Landy James Gym. “It was a good game,” first year head coach C.J. Woods told the Weekly News afterward. “We had a chance to win.” Indeed, the 2B Braves truly had a shot to knock off their larger school foe. La Conner (4-8 overall; 2-3 in NW2B/1B play) trailed just 39-33 entering the final stanza on the strength of strong post play...
The powerhouse La Conner High School girls’ basketball team (13-1 overall) is becoming as much a threat to the electric grid as extreme winter weather. The explosive Lady Braves are threatening to short out scoreboards in area gyms with their frenzied point production of late, having broken the century mark in successive matchups with NW2B/1B foes this month. The team followed up a 104-14 rout of Concrete earlier in January with a 108-18 romp over Darrington last Thursday. Between those lopsided triumphs, they defeated 1A programs Klahowya a...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team did not plan on losing Friday night. Then again, the Lady Braves had not planned on facing undefeated 4A Eastlake on the road, either. The team’s regularly scheduled Jan. 14 tipoff with nearby 1B rival Mount Vernon Christian was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols and the open date was filled with a trip to the Sammamish Plateau and a Hoosiers-type matchup with the Lady Wolves. “We needed to pick up a non-league game for a game that wasn’t played over Christmas break, so we traveled to Eastlake s...
Some would say the La Conner High School girls’ basketball team has the sport down to a science. Count veteran head coach Scott Novak among them. “The chemistry on our team is unbelievable,” Novak insisted to the Weekly News following a convincing 70-29 non-conference home win over 1A Klahowya of Silverdale last Tuesday night, Jan 11. Indeed, the Lady Braves showcased all the elements of a championship caliber club in easily defeating their fifth larger school foe of the campaign. Four players, led by junior post Ellie Marble, finished in do...
Though idle for two weeks beforehand, the unbeaten La Conner High School girls’ basketball team had no trouble shaking off the rust at Coupeville last Tuesday, Jan 4. La Conner returned to action showing machine-like precision in its half-court offense while also scoring repeatedly off its high-octane transition game enroute to a convincing 69-13 NW2B road triumph. With icy road conditions having nixed a much-anticipated Dec. 30 matchup with 4A Kamiak, La Conner was revved up for this tipoff. “This was our first game in two weeks and we pla...
It was a good news, bad news kind of night for Braves boy basketball at Coupeville last Tuesday. The good news is La Conner held unbeaten Coupeville, ranked No. 4 in state 2B boys’ polls, to nearly 20 points under their per game scoring average. The bad news is the Braves still found themselves on the short end of a 54-29 conference verdict Jan. 4, falling to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in NW2B play, La Conner played the Wolves on equal terms over the final three quarters but couldn’t overcome an early 27-2 Coupeville run fueled by three-point spe...
Concrete took a novel approach to slow down La Conner’s vaunted transition game during NW2B girls’ hoop action at Landy James Gym Saturday night. The visitors kept two players at the defensive end of the floor, only bringing three potential scorers across midcourt to run their offensive sets. The ploy did little to change the game’s anticipated storyline. Far from it, actually. Even with two full-time defenders Concrete saw La Conner blister the nets at a 58 percent (45 of 77) clip. The victors converted nine of 23 attempts beyond the trey...