Falcons finish fall sports with solid performances

Before we get started on basketball and wrestling — first practice begins on Monday — it’s time to take a look back at the just-completed fall sports season at South Whidbey High School.

Before we get started on basketball and wrestling — first practice begins on Monday — it’s time to take a look back at the just-completed fall sports season at South Whidbey High School.

The girls cross country team, and Jason Fitz, made it to state finals while the girls soccer team celebrated a winning season.

Jason Craig will probably qualify for tennis finals in March, the football team won three games and the Falcon volleyball made great strides re-building for next year.

TENNIS

The results of voting for the Cascade Conference was announced Wednesday and senior Jason Craig was voted first team all-conference.

“Evidently he made a great impression on the other coaches in the conference,” Falcons tennis coach Tom Kramer said. “It was a great effort on Jason’s part and a very nice honor to end the season.”

In March, Craig will learn if he has qualified for state finals held at the University of Washington.

SOCCER

The girls made it to the second round of playoffs, losing Nov. 4 to arch-rival Archbishop Murphy 2-0 on a wind-swept field in Mount Vernon.

But their overall 11-9 winning record was a high point for Falcon sports.

Junior Grace Itaya was leading scorer, with 20 goals and seven assists. Kelsey Kimmel had 10 assists and seven goals. Before a knee injury ended her season, sophomore Karissa Thomas had five goals, and two assists.

Forward Annie Doran made four goals, sweeper Lauren Sandri had two and two assists, Laura Barrow had two goals.

Also contributing scores during the season were Anna Lennon, Shannon Craig, Emily Grove, Rachel Harris and Megan Larmore.

Senior goalie Amelia Cave allowed 31 goals on 185 attempts; Evann Sawers-Rouse allowed four goals on 32 attempts and Natasha Kamps allowed a single goal on four attempts.

VOLLEYBALL

It was a mixed year for volleyball, as the Falcons 7-8 record shows.

The girls lost a fairly accomplished group of seniors in June, so Falcons volleyball coach Tim Durbin promoted several girls up from junior varsity. He hopes the shifts will pay off big time next year.

“We have a solid group of underclassmen returning for next year,” Durbin said. “Allison Wood, Lindsey Newman and Nichol Zalewski should provide some great leadership since they all started most of this year.”

“We’ll need to find a couple other players to work hard and step into some big roles,” he added.

Chelsey Backus ended the season with 285 assists, 49 kills, 52 digs and 37 aces.

Lindsey Newman was the best passer with a 1.75 rating, 63 kills and 96 digs.

Caitilynn Larmore had 103 kills, 44 digs and 21 aces. Freshman Allison Wood made 76 kills, 61 digs and 27 stuff blocks. Courtney Dettrich had 86 digs and Katie Lint made 53 kills

CROSS COUNTRY

After winning the Cascade Conference championship and placing third among 2A schools in District 1, the South Whidbey girls team made it to state finals in Pasco Nov. 4. The Falcons finished in sixth place out of 16 teams at Sun Willows golf course.

Coach Doug Fulton was hoping for a better finish, but expects to take the girls team there again next year (and every year thereafter), spearheaded by Erica Johnson, Caroline Habel, Courtney and Cassie Bosman, Jean Koelblinger and Jennifer Gemkow.

Individually, Jason Fitz ran for the Falcon boys at state, finishing in 63rd.

FOOTBALL

A 3-7 record may not be anything to shout about, but the Falcons improved on last year (0-11) and set the tone for next based on stellar performances on both sides of the line.

Running back Rob Knight had 264 carries for 1,452 yards (an average of 5.5-yards per carry) and seven touchdowns plus three two-point conversions. Knight ran for over 200 yards in three games and over 100 yards in five games.

“He was 70 percent of our offense this year,” Falcons football coach Mark Hodson said.

Final stats for running back Rob Boenish and quarterback Danny Parra will be available when all-conference numbers are assigned.

It should be noted that Hunter Hawkins, not Hunter Rawls, made the next-to-last touchdown for the Falcons against Mount Baker on Nov. 3.

On defense, 449 total tackles were made from 30 different players, 38 tackles for a loss, 17 quarterback sacks, 32 fumbles caused and 29 recovered and five interceptions.

Tackle and sack leader James Jones had 52 tackles and nine assists, eight QB sacks, four tackles for a loss, four fumbles caused and two recovered.

Defensive end Kyle Hoch had 45 tackles and 15 assists equals 60 total tackles plus six tackles for a loss and two QB sacks.

Levi Sawyers came in at number three with 41 tackles and 13 assists three fumbles caused and two recovered and an interception.

Hunter Hawkins, Nick Tenuta, David Monel and Matt Long were all singled out by defensive coordinator Damian Greene for their outstanding contributions.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.