Enumclaw Narrowly Slips Past Resilient Cascade Christian

Enumclaw Narrowly Slips Past Resilient Cascade Christian
By Steven Dion

The Sterling Athletics Christmas Classic started with an interesting matchup between a large public school and a small Christian school. Coach Kellen Hall’s Enumclaw squad entered this contest with a significant size advantage in addition to experience as the Hornets six seniors outnumber Cascade Christian’s one. However, the Cougars from the Puyallup Valley led by Jerry Williams were prepared to go toe-to-toe with their SPSL opponent.

Enumclaw established their dominance quickly as the opening tip resulted in an outlet pass and a score in mere seconds. Hornet forward Zac Webb outscored the entire Cougar roster in the first quarter as he notched 10 of his 20 points in the opening frame. The Cougs seemed to take a collective deep breath going into the second quarter because the tides began to change. Jordan Tveter continued to have the hot hand as three more jumpers fell for the junior. The vastly undersized CCHS squad surprisingly started to win the rebounding battle. After an identical second quarter output, the Hornets led 26-19 at the break.

Cascade Christian returned to the floor with the “bend-don’t-break” mentality which kept Enumclaw within reach. The Cougars accepted the underdog role with open arms by out-hustling the Hornets and forcing them to cough up the ball. EHS countered with aggressive play, but translated to numerous player-control fouls. Despite Enumclaw’s scoring woes, they held an eight point lead into the fourth quarter. CCHS started to shoot threes; this is when the hoop grew to the size of a swimming pool for the Cougars. After the first two dropped, people entered the Kennedy gym as if by magnetic force because Enumclaw’s lead was shrinking. Another pair of threes fell through and the Cascade Christian sideline erupted as they trailed by a single point. This is when Enumclaw seniors Drake Rademacher and Bryce Peterson said enough is enough. The Hornet duo demanded the ball and forced their way to the bucket and drew fouls. The Hornets were able to weather the storm and escape with a 52-44 win.

Top Performer:
Enumclaw
Zac Webb – 20 pts (4/5 FT’s)