First league title in eight years

The Spartan boys’ basketball team celebrates the school’s first WesCo 4A North Division championship since 2002. The squad finished the 2009-2010 regular season with a 14-2 league mark and will play a district home game at Stanwood High tomorrow night, Wed., Feb. 17 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Feeding off the energy produced by an active senior night crowd, the Stanwood Spartan basketball squad (14-2 in league, 14-6 overall) built a 22-10 first-quarter lead and then cruised to a solid 84-51 victory over visiting Cascade in their regular-season finale Thursday night.

That win secured a WesCo 4A North co-championship with Lake Stevens and a No. 1 seed into the 4A District I playoffs beginning this coming Wed., Feb. 17. The first-round encounter will feature the Sparts against either North No. 5 seed Arlington or South No. 4 seed Edmonds- Woodway on Stanwood’s court beginning with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

PHOTO BY JOHN GALBREATH | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS Win or lose, Stanwood will play next on Sat., Feb. 20, at Jackson High School in the double elimination tournament. Specific details about district tournament play can be obtained by calling the SHS athletic director’s office at 629- 1322.

Thursday night belonged to the seniors. With all eight of them scoring at least two points, the Sparts, led by Kale Schmidt’s career high 31 points, hustled on both ends of the hardwoods to overwhelm the Bruins and provide the local cagers with their first league title since the 2001- 2002 campaign and their 11th consecutive victory.

“These seniors have been the heart of our program all season long,” coach Zach Ward observed. “I’m so proud of them and the passion they’ve shown, especially in the second half of the season.”

Following coach Ward’s game plan to a T, the Spartans used a nettlesome defense to create numerous transition baskets, including a pair of thundering, two-handed dunks by Schmidt.

“The kids used excellent defense to produce points on the other end of the court,” said Ward. “All in all it was an awesome effort out there, and we just want to use that momentum to carry through the district tournament beginning Wednesday night.”

Even when a fast break wasn’t in the offering, sharp passing produced open opportunities that were more often than not converted. Stanwood’s basketeers sank 11 3-pointers, five by Schmidt and three by fellow senior Drew Haugstad (15 points), while shooting 31-for-52 (59%) overall from the field.

Zack Johnson, who was honored during pre-game ceremonies for going over the 1,000-point mark in his career against Oak Harbor on Feb. 5, added nine points to the cause but only shot five times from the field, making four of them. Johnson was the first Spartan to score 1,000 points since Ryan Appleby, the school’s all-time scoring leader with 1,724 counters. He also contributed nine rebounds to add to his more than 700 collected career caroms.

Besides the aforementioned trio, Ryan Jamieson (8 points), Ryan Schroyer (6), Brock Reinecke (3), Austin Cook (3), Jordan Youngren (3), Michael Mc- Cune (2), Jordan Taylor (2) and Trevin Harris (2) all contributed offensively.

The Spartans gained the No.1 seeding due to its record against Snohomish, the North’s No. 4 team. Stanwood and Lake Stevens – who had beaten one another in division play -- each defeated Cascade (North No. 3) twice but the Vikings split the season series with the Panthers while the Spartan five had beaten them both times they years

played.

The stage for this division title was set by Stanwood’s 57-54 victory over the Snohomish Panthers earlier in the week. Behind 20-15 after a quarter’s play, the Spartans generated a lengthy run that evolved into a never-to-be-relinquished 39-27 lead by halftime.

Fueling that scoring flurry were baskets by six different locals — Austin Cook, Drew Haugstad, Kale Schmidt, Zack Johnson, Jordan Taylor and Ryan Schroyer.

Seventeen of the team’s 24 conversions on the night came from assists, thereby confirming this group’s commitment to playing team ball.

When Snohomish made an attempt to overcome Stanwood’s lead in the fourth period, several local players rose to the occasion to prevent that from happening. From the foul line, Austin Cook found Ryan Schroyer along the baseline for a banker. Then Cook swished a two-pointer of his own just before Schroyer drew a charging foul against his Panther opponent.

Taking down an offensive rebound following a Spartan miss at the free throw line, Zack Johnson found Kale Schmidt, who provided Stanwood with a somewhat comfortable 57- 49 lead with 29 seconds to go. Snohomish did score the final five points of the contest, including a trey at the buzzer, but Zach Ward’s charges had put themselves in position to capture their first league crown in eight seasons.

Scorers for the Sparts were Haugstad 15, Schmidt 13, Cook 8, Schroyer 6, Johnson 6, McCune 4, Reinecke 3 and Taylor 2.