MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Arlington always seems to win this time of year.
The Eagles’ seniors don’t know anything else.
For the fourth consecutive season Arlington is headed to the Tacoma Dome. The Eagles, ranked No. 3 in the final Associated Press 3A poll of the season, defeated No. 6 Bishop Blanchet 49-30 Saturday evening in a regional game at Mountlake Terrace High School.
“I’m just so proud of it,” said Arlington head coach Joe Marsh. “What can you say? These kids don’t know anything else but going to Tacoma and that is a great thing. I’m just so happy for them. These seniors have worked so hard. They’ve had so much success. But we know if we don’t get there this year it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow. … It’s just been an awesome year and they’ve had an awesome career and they’re not done yet.”
Bishop Blanchet (23-3) is a familiar foe for Arlington (23-1). The Braves defeated the Eagles 67-44 in a state quarterfinal last year. Arlington, which suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday to Lynnwood in the district championship game, fared much better against Blanchet this time.
“I had an assistant coach watch (last year’s game against Blanchet). I couldn’t watch it after the Lynnwood game because I couldn’t stand that much pain in a 24-hour period,” Marsh said. “We watched it and talked about it. … We just wanted to make sure that we took care of the little things.”
Arlington senior Gracie Castaneda did all she could to ensure the Eagles’ season continued. The 5-foot-8 senior guard finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“Gracie just has a way of stepping up this time of year,” Marsh said. “Yesterday in practice she had that look in her eye and I’m like, ‘OK, Gracie’s going to have another one.’ She just came out tonight and got layups late when we needed buckets, she plays great defense. She’s a skinny little thing in there that goes in and battles, gets 10 rebounds. She’s been doing it for three years now.”
Jayla Russ and Sarah Shortt added nine points apiece. Russ left the game for a few minutes in the fourth quarter before returning and sinking a 3-pointer to help Arlington start to pull away.
“I’m so happy about how we played together,” Russ said. “I’m just so happy. There’s a lot of adrenaline right now.”
In an effort to improve their rebounding, the Eagles practiced against the Arlington boys C-team this week in practice. The plan paid off, with the much-taller Bishop Blanchet squad only out-rebounding Arlington by two, 28 to 26.
“We talked about that a lot this week. Our main focus was rebounding,” Castaneda said. “They killed us on the boards last year at state and that was one of the biggest reasons why they beat us by so much. We played against the freshman boys so we could feel the physicality of what it would be like in this game.”
Star junior Jadyn Bush, a focal point for the Arlington defense, led the Braves with 18 points. No other Blanchet player scored more than four.
Arlington will find out its next opponent at a draw at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association office Sunday afternoon. The Eagles are one of three Wesco 3A teams, including Lynnwood and Edmonds-Woodway, that will represent Snohomish County at next weekend’s 3A girls state tournament.
“It’s amazing. I have chills,” said Arlington senior Serafina Balderas. “We got a really tough matchup. Blanchet is an amazing team. They got us last year at state and our seniors now that we wanted to get back to the Dome. It’s amazing. Before the game we came together and said, ‘This is our time.’”
At Mountlake Terrace H.S.
Arlington 6 14 12 17 —49
Bishop Blanchet 8 6 7 9 —30
Arlington—Gracie Castaneda 16, Serafina Balderas 2, Sarah Shortt 9, Sevi Bielser 6, Peyton Brown 3, Olivia Larson 0, Emma Janousek 0, Abby Anderson 4, Jayla Russ 9, Tahlia Miears 0. Bishop Blanchet—Kylie Kaplan 0, Molly Dixon 2, Lily DiPietro 4, Taylor Chambers 3, Ella DiPietro 0, Annie Maher 0, Jadyn Bush 18, Lee Erickson 0, Jillese Bush 0, Bella Kemp 3. Records—Arlington 23-1 overall. Bishop Blanchet 23-3.
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