EVERETT – High school sports events throughout Snohomish County are beginning to look like a good place for old men to sit and grouse about the weather.
The gymnasiums are at least a warm haven in which to swap all those tales concerning weather-induced harrowing driving experiences of late.
There may have been darned little else to talk about at Everett High School Tuesday night where the host Seagulls got buried under a thunderous avalanche of Marysville-Pilchuck 3-pointers and breakaway buckets in the first half of a Western Conference North Division boys basketball game.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
The M-P onslaught produced a 37-point lead by midway into the second quarter and eventually became a 78-27 victory for the Tomahawks (7-2 in division, 11-2 overall) who are ranked No. 9 in the most recent WashingtonPreps.com poll.
Given the unrelenting road conditions of late, perhaps the best news for M-P, and Everett (3-7, 3-11) too for that matter, is that the players all got to exercise basketball skills instead of their electronic gaming acumen on what was yet another snow day for both school districts.
With the seemingly unending spate of snow and ice, local area high school athletes and their coaches must be feeling a little bit like unemployed actors.
At this point they’ll take anything they can get because they really, really need the work.
There were more than 40 high school varsity sports activities scheduled on Tuesday.
Of those events – wrestling, swimming, bowling and basketball – only seven basketball games went on as scheduled.
With both the Everett and Marysville school districts closed, it was a surprise the Seagulls and Tomahawks boys basketball teams got together at all on Tuesday.
“I got a call from Jo Levin (Everett athletic coordinator) about 10:30 this morning,” Everett coach Aaron Nations said. “Jo said ‘If the roads are clear, we’ll play.’”
Nations said the decision was driven by the fact that Marysville is in such close proximity to Everett.
Tuesday’s game only required transporting 30 or so players and staff to an event, as opposed to transporting thousands of students to and from school.
Nations called Brett Lund, a senior tri-captain who runs the Seagulls’ message tree.
“Brett said ‘Excellent, let’s go. Let’s play,’ ” Nations laughed. “They don’t want to practice on those off days, but boy they love to come and play and get after it.”
Nations acknowledged the cancellations and scheduling upheaval is perhaps tougher on coaches than players.
“The hardest part is players get out of the routine,” Nations said. “Most of the guys probably slept in until 10 or noon if not later.”
Snow days mean a kid doesn’t have to get moving by 6 a.m. or perhaps earlier.
“They’ve prepped their bodies for certain things … like two and a half hour practices (after school),” Nations said. “Players start catching up on their sleep, but maybe they’re a little sloppy.”
Coaches, of course, must also tend to the administrative side of their jobs, which is not as difficult when school is in session.
“I can get hold of them a lot easier in school,” Nations said. “I can track them down if I need too.”
So far, Everett has only had to reschedule three of the 14 games they have played and they are right on schedule at this point.
“We’re good, we’re golden,” Nations laughed, although he pointed out that with some Wesco teams trying for 3A district tournament spots and other vying for 4A bids, continuing dismal weather could cause major problems next month if any make-up games still need to be played.
“We might have to go through a play-in game and maybe a seeding game before our (3A) tournament,” Nations said, noting that more cancellations, coupled with that scenario, might leave few open dates available.
Sleeping late apparently had little effect on M-P, which may have played its best game of the season against Everett.
“We didn’t want to sit around today,” said M-P’s Jared Stohl, who led all scorers with 17 points. “It was nice, because I got to sleep in and then have a shoot around (at M-P) before we came down here.”
Nathan Lozeau added 15 for the Tommies, who outscored Everett 30-3 on 3-pointers and committed zero fouls in the first half.
“It’s not that Everett had a bad game,” M-P coach Bary Gould said. “We just played four full quarters and put it all together.”
Last season the Tommies ran a six-man rotation. This time, everyone is getting in on the act.
“We really go 12 deep,” Gould said. “It’s a nice problem to have.”
To its credit, Everett came out and played a solid third quarter despite trailing 43-10 after a first half in which M-P made seven 3-pointers.
“We talked at halftime about playing with pride,” Nations said. “They rained shots down on us early and that’s what a good team does.”
Jake Mattson led Everett with 12 points and got a nice hustle effort out of Rendel Jones off the bench.
“He played with a lot of heart,” Nations said of Jones.
At Everett H.S.
Marysville-Pilchuck23201718-78
Everett28134-27
M-P-Holm 5, Holthenrichs 9, Stohl 17, Moser 6, Lozeau 15, Fridrich 9, Lanphere 5, Thomason 2, Stevens 6, Clark 4. Everett-J. Mattson 12, Jones 5, Whitebear 4, Saftstrom 6. 3-point goals-Holm 1, Stohl 3, Fridrich 3, Lanphere 1, Holtenrichs 1, Lozeau 1, J. Mattson 2. JV result-M-P 42, Everett 40 (OT).
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