Following up on our Friday report about West Seattle High School senior Gabby Carufel swimming the 100-meter backstroke at this weekend’s 3A state tournament: She finished second, with a time of 58.24. So what’s next? We asked her mom Danette Carufel, who replied that Gabby “swims for King Aquatic Club as well as high school. She will continue to swim for them and plans to swim in college. Which college is yet to be determined.”

(Photo courtesy Jeanne Flohr)
9:40 PM: Just in from southwestern Washington, thanks to Mike Jensen – Seattle Lutheran High School has won its first game in the state 1B football tournament, beating Naselle 44-22. Though the official bracket‘s not filled in yet, the Saints’ opponent next week – location TBA – will be Neah Bay, which beat Clallam Bay tonight, 68-0.

ADDED SATURDAY MORNING: Kristen Okabayashi (SLHS mom and Hope Lutheran principal) reports, “JJ Young scored 4 touchdowns and passed to Isaiah Dowding-Albrecht for another, Brandon Lulow scored one more.”

Congratulations and good luck to another West Seattle High School student athlete – senior Gabby Carufel “will be competing at the WIAA 3A State Swimming Championships this weekend [starting at 2 pm today]. At Metros, she got 3rd in the 100 back with a time of 58.76 and 4th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.55, both State qualifying times! Last weekend she took first at Districts in the 100 back.” (Thanks to Gabby’s proud mom Danette Carufel for the report and the photo.)

This is a big time of year for many high-school seniors – decisions about college. For three West Seattle High School seniors, that brought a ceremony on Thursday afternoon:

Three star student-athletes at WSHS gathered with their coaches, family, and friends for a “Signing Day” event. From left above are Lydia Giomi, who’ll play basketball at the University of Oregon, with Coach Sonya Elliott; Morgan McCullough, who’ll play baseball at Oregon, with Coach Velko Vitalich; and Gabby Wenn, who’ll play softball at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, with Coach Trevor Leopold, who’s also WSHS’s athletic director. It was a big photo-op moment for proud parents and other supporters:

Each coach offered words of tribute.

(WSB photo from last February)
Of Giomi, who was on Coach Elliott’s state-tournament team last school year (after which the coach left WSHS): How much she meant to her teammates each year, and how she thanked the coach after each practice.

(Photo by Caryn Johnson, from last April)
Of McCullough, who was on the USA Baseball 18U national team that won a world title in September, Coach Vitalich said he was proud of that and amazed by how many schools called to ask about him.

(WSB photo from last May)
Of Wenn, a member of Coach Leopold’s state-tournament team last spring, he noted how much her pitching intimidated other teams, and recalled her perfect game. (At Villanova, as at WSHS, she’ll be a Wildcat.)

These three have one last high-school season ahead – so you’ll hear more about them in the months to come.

Thanks to Kristin for the update on West Seattle High School golfers’ postseason results. She sent the photo and report on two golfers headed to state competition:

WSHS Wildcats Bailey Fuentes and Zach Gibson finished 3rd and 10th at the KingCo/Metro District Tournament to move on to the 3A Boys State Golf Tournament at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane on May 24 and 25, 2016. Pictured with Coach Velko Vitalich are the team members who competed in the district tournament. From left, Bailey, Alex Nguyen, Tony Flores, Zach.

Congratulations to the Seattle Lutheran High School athletes who have received All-League honors. The school’s announcement:

Seattle Lutheran High School has ten students who were named to SeaTac 1B League All-League teams.

The Saints’ football coach, Anthony Stordahl, was voted almost unanimously as the Coach of the Year for the 1B league. (There was one vote for another coach which came from, you guessed it, Coach Stordahl!) We are proud of our coach and assistant coaches, who put in many hours of work with our football team. Thank you, coaches!

Football – 1st Team Offense: Isaiah Dowding-Albrecht ‘17 Quarterback; Nick Lidstrom ‘16 Offensive Line; Brandon Lulow ‘16 Running Back; JJ Young ‘17 Running Back

Football 1st Team Defense: Jacob Fay ‘16 Defensive Line,

Football 2nd Team: Eric Bauman ‘16 Defensive Line

Volleyball: Abbi Sanders ‘16

Girls Soccer – 1st Team: Taylor Stordahl ‘16

Girls Soccer – 2nd Team: Macey Crooks ‘16 and Emma Figgins ‘17

P.S. If you missed it in the update to our story on SLHS’s postseason football game last Saturday, the team’s state-tournament play begins this Friday night (November 13th) on the road at Naselle in southwest Washington, 7 pm.

ORIGINAL SATURDAY NIGHT REPORT: After another postseason win today, the Seattle Lutheran High School football team is waiting to find out who and where they play next. This afternoon at the King’s High School stadium in Shoreline, the Saints faced the Washington School for the Deaf (from Vancouver), winning 52-12.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

#3 is junior Isaiah Dowding-Albrecht, who ran back the game’s opening kickoff for the first touchdown. Two of his teammates scored two TD’s – senior Brandon Lulow, #22:

And junior JJ Young, #23, the second one on a 92-yard run.

Other Saints TDs were from senior Hawkins Ehret and sophomore Joe Meehan. The Terriers’ two touchdowns were toward the end of the first half and the end of the game; they have a very mobile backfield, and while those players could move the ball back and forth, they had trouble getting up the field. We should know by tomorrow who the Saints will play next, and we’ll update this story.

SIDE NOTE: Seattle Lutheran got some regional recognition this week, with the Seattle Times reporting on how their excellent season followed heartbreaking loss.

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: The date/location aren’t posted yet, but looks like SLHS will play Naselle next as the postseason continues.

ADDED MONDAY NIGHT: The game will be at Naselle (in southwestern Washington), 7 pm Friday.

As the World Series goes into the 12th inning of Game 5, we have a photo to share from Game 4 last night: The USA Baseball 18U national team, including West Seattle High School senior Morgan McCullough (in the middle of the front row, #5). We reported two months ago on his role in the team’s world-title win in Japan. They were honored last night at CitiField in New York, before the Mets and Royals started their game. (Thanks to Cami MacNamara for sharing the photo from Morgan’s mom Jane McCullough!)

Congratulations to six West Seattle High School volleyball players for All-League honors, announced last night at the Metro League 3A tournament:

(Photo courtesy Staci Stringer)
From left are 2nd Team honoree, junior Georgia “Lala” Proctor; 1st Team honoree, senior Lexi Ioane; and All-League MVP senior Lydia Giomi. Also honored, head coach Staci Stringer reports, were senior Gabby Sarver (1st Team) as well as senior Alexus Peterson and junior Bella Babb (both Honorable Mention).

The honors came at the end of a long day and long night of play Saturday at the Chief Sealth International High School Gym, which began with WSHS facing CSIHS at 9 am:

(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
The Wildcats beat the Seahawks in the loser-out match, 3-1. Then in the afternoon, WSHS faced Bainbridge, battling for the final slot in the district tournament, and emerged victorious, as Coach Stringer reports:

Our 3 pm game against Bainbridge Island was up there next to our win against Ballard as one of the best matches we’ve played all season! We went 5 games – 20-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-16, 15-4. It was a great day of volleyball, and seeing our team fight hard for every last point was so fun to watch. They never let up, and as a coach, I couldn’t have asked for more. We took 9th place, for a spot at the District tournament. We play on Thursday, November 5th, at 5:30 at Juanita HS against Bishop Blanchet.

The other participants in the league and district tournaments are listed here.

After two consecutive weeks of playing each other – first on the schedule, second in the postseason – Chief Sealth International High School and West Seattle High School went their separate ways Friday night.

After beating the Wildcats last week, the Seahawks were back at Memorial Stadium, but this time they went home with the loss, 45-6, as opponent Seattle Prep advanced in the postseason. Sealth was on the board first, 6-0, but from there, it was all Prep.

Meantime, at Southwest Athletic Complex on Friday night, WSHS hosted Garfield. The Bulldogs got the win, 49-17.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

Next stop for the Shorewood Christian High School girls’ volleyball team is Tacoma, where SeaTac League tournament play continues Thursday morning following this victory last night.

Athletic Director Claudia Diama Rose sent word of the Lions‘ match last night vs. Northwest Yeshiva HS, played in West Seattle at the Salvation Army gym in South Delridge.

Shorewood, coached by Jesse Vanderveer and Jennifer Reed, won Tuesday night’s match in three consecutive games.

They play Thursday at Evergreen Lutheran in Tacoma, starting with a 9 am game against Puget Sound Advent. See the brackets here (you’ll notice that another local school, Seattle Lutheran, is in the tournament too).

The SC roster: #7 Natalie Billharz (lone senior), #4 Sarai Appert, #3 Misgana Mengesha, #5 Rosie Young, #13 Maddy Bir, #8 Shelaine Lorenz, #14 Kyra Goodspeed, #10 Lily Turner, #12 Alice Liu, #15 Amanda Tong.

Thanks to Kristin Gibson for the photo and report:

Four members of the WSHS Varsity boys’ golf team qualified for the 3A Metro/King Co. District tournament after competing in the Metro League Golf Championship last week. Tony Flores, Bailey Fuentes, Alex Nguyen and Zach Gibson finished in the top 39 to earn a place to compete Tuesday at Riverbend Golf Complex in Kent. Zach Gibson medaled for the Wildcats with a 6th-place finish and a two-round total of 149.

Good luck to them next week! Sports reports are always welcome at editor@westseattleblog.com.

9:02 PM THURSDAY: Another football game of note tonight – score’s in from Memorial Stadium downtown: Chief Sealth International High School 18, West Seattle High School 13. That means the Seahawks move on to the playoffs; we’re awaiting word of their next game.

8:35 AM FRIDAY: In today’s CSIHS Daily Bulletin, athletic director Ernest Policarpio notes, “Chief Sealth will be playing either Blanchet or Prep next week in the playoffs.” (Those two schools play tonight @ 7 pm at West Seattle Stadium.)

Less than a week after their Huling Bowl faceoff (WSB photo/video coverage here), West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International HS meet again tomorrow, at the start of the prep postseason. The game’s at 4:30 pm Thursday at Memorial Stadium downtown.

Two notes about Seattle Lutheran High School (WSB sponsor) – its Oktoberfest Auction benefit is tonight, starting at 5:30 pm at the school gym (4100 SW Genesee). And the Saints’ football team won on the road last night – 34-20 at Rainier Christian HS (thanks to Mike Jensen for the score report) – they’re 4-2 for the season so far. Next up, a home game against Quilcene next Saturday (October 24th) at West Seattle Stadium, 1:30 pm.

(Added: WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
10:05 PM FRIDAY: For the first time since 2011 – the West Seattle High School Wildcats take the trophy at the annual Huling Bowl game vs. Chief Sealth International High School. The final score at Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood: WSHS 29, CSIHS 6. This was also homecoming and Senior Night for the Wildcats.

ADDED 6:25 AM SATURDAY: Top staff from both schools, including principals Ruth Medsker of WSHS (below left) and Aida Fraser-Hammer of CSIHS (below right), were at the grill for the pre-game barbecue:

Great turnout in the stands:

The WSHS fans included a group with members of the West Seattle Class of 1996, getting ready for their 20th reunion next year (with a Facebook page set up already):

Now, as for the football:

The first quarter was a long one. The Wildcats got on the scoreboard with just under five minutes left, with #3 Nate Pryor scoring the TD less than a minute after an interception. A WSHS field goal with 2:30 left in the first quarter brought the score to 9-0.

The Seahawks made an impressive defensive stand with just under seven minutes left in the second quarter, when a pass brought the Wildcats to first and goal, but the TD was denied, with plays including a sack by Sealth’s Sam Tino. Finally, WSHS kicked a field goal, and it was 12-0 at 5:04 left in the half. The next few minutes saw multiple turnovers, and the score remained WSHS 12, Sealth 0 at halftime.

First TD of the second half, at 9:42 left in the third quarter, was WSHS #18 Carter Golgart to Pryor. 19-0 is where the third quarter ended, and the game was already more than two hours old.

Golgart himself scored the Wildcats’ last TD at 10:25 left in the game.

#33 Joe Merlino kicked the point after, taking it to 26-0. Then a field goal for WSHS, and the score was 29-0 until Sealth started threatening in the final two minutes or so.

The Seahawks’ #11 Daron Camacho had a big run, then a TD with :15 on the clock, and that was the final score – 29-6. The Tom Burggraff-coached Wildcats’ trophy celebration followed, with #85 Andrew Burggraff and #17 Gabe Gangon hoisting it as our video begins:

That was the last regular-season game for WSHS and CSIHS. What happens next, we’re told, depends on the outcome of tonight’s Garfield-Rainier Beach game – there’s a chance Sealth and WSHS could face off again at the postseason’s start.

P.S. Lots of pink last night for breast-cancer awareness – socks for players, pom-poms and bows for cheerleaders:

For new arrivals … here’s our 2012 report with the backstory on why the annual crosstown-rivalry game is called the Huling Bowl.

At Southwest Athletic Complex on Friday night, Chief Sealth International High School‘s homecoming game vs. Ingraham ended in a 1-point loss, 13-12. But before we get to the details, an update on a frightening incident that stopped the game for a while just before the end of the first half:

Sealth senior Andrew Leota was down for about 20 minutes before being taken to a medic unit. Both teams and their cheer squads made a line to the ambulance and applauded as the stretcher went by.

While injuries are not uncommon at football games, many already had a nearby tragedy on their mind, the death of Evergreen player Kenney Bui after an injury in Burien a week earlier, so that gave this even more gravity. This injury, however, did not appear to be major. Sealth athletic director Ernest Policarpio told us that Andrew thought he “took a helmet to his lower back” and was doing better as he was taken to the hospital for evaluation. The game eventually resumed and the first half was finished. We will be checking on his condition.

Here’s the rest of the story from the game:

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