Buccaneers of Spokane win regional Pop Warner title
The Buccaneers of Spokane capped an unbeaten season by winning the Pop Warner Pacific Northwest Division III football championship at the Midget (12- to 14-year-olds) level in Santa Clara, Calif., last weekend.
The Buccaneers, who won a third straight Inland Northwest League championship, defeated the Salinas Cardinals 12-6 for the PNW title to finish 9-0. A year ago, the Bucs lost 34-6 to Half Moon Bay, Calif., in the championship game.
Spokane opened a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, then had to weather a Salinas comeback. The Cardinals scored on a tipped pass in the fourth quarter, and drove to the Bucs’ 20, but Spokane came up with a quarterback sack on third down as time ran out.
Tim Babcock coaches the team of North Side players, assisted by Cory Babcock and Chris Zirkle. The players: Aaron Smart, Jordan Wertman, Adam Campasino, Blake Sherrer, Jake Hoffman, Jacob Griffith, Keagan Hall, Ryan Hauenstein, Andrew Rizzi, Doran Porter, Trevor Rowe, Nate Salinas, Cameron Babcock, Alex vanVlymen, Brandon Pravitz, Ryan Burnett, Jordan Howland, Blake Erno, D.J. Shafer.
In the Pacific Northwest Junior Midget (10-12) title game, the North Central Indians of Spokane lost 32-19 to the Mountain View, Calif., Marauders.
•Two Inland Northwest Junior Pee Wee Pop Warner teams beat Corvallis opponents in Oregon Bowl games earlier this month in Corvallis, Ore.
The Panthers beat the Cowboys 30-0 to cap an 8-1-0 season. The Cheney Blackhawks beat the Cardinals 40-20 to finish 8-0-1.
College scene
Jessie DePell of Freeman, a 6-foot junior wing at Montana Tech, was the Frontier Conference women’s basketball player of the week last week. She averaged 18.5 points, four rebounds and two assists in two wins.
•T.J. Conley, Idaho’s senior punter, was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team with a 3.6 grade-point average in civil engineering.
•Amy Small, a Washington State senior from Pullman, was honorable mention on the Pac-10 Conference All-Academic team in volleyball with a 3.08 GPA.
•Men’s basketball player David Riley and swimmer Natalie Turner of Whitworth were named Northwest Conference student-athletes of the week last week.
Riley was named MVP of the Johns Hopkins Blue Jay Invitational and scored a tournament-record 34 points in the first-round win. Turner was the only woman to win three individual events at the Northwest Invitational and led Whitworth to the team championship.
Go-karts
Andrew Zimmer, a senior at Gonzaga Prep, finished fourth in the 30-kart Semi-Pro ICC Shifter Kart Supernational in Las Vegas last Sunday.
The annual event drew more than 400 drivers from around the world. IndyCar driver Arie Luyendyk Jr. was among the drivers from eight countries who started the Semi-Pro ICC.
Zimmer, who ran a partial schedule in the Inland Northwest Super Stock Association late model series in 2008, will be back in the series in 2009 and hopes to also drive in the IMCA Canadian Modified Series.
Swimming
Washington State has signed four women for its swimming team, Cougars coach Erica Quam announced.
Slated to join the Cougars are Olivia Alva, an All-American free-styler from Lafayette, Calif.; Jenna Bekker from South Africa; Evelina Bieleckaite, an all-around swimmer who competed for Lithuania in the Baltic States Championships; and Shelbi Luchini from Rodeo, Calif., a high school teammate of Alva’s, and a relay All-American.
Tennis
Chelsea Patton of Boise, third in the Idaho 5A championships, and Ryann Warner from Colorado Springs, Colo., fifth in her state’s 5A championships as a junior after placing third as a sophomore, have signed letters of intent with Eastern Washington, Eagles women’s coach Darren Haworth announced.