Cheer
Valdez Cheerleaders Aurora Conference Champions
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Valdez Cheerleaders participated in the Aurora Conference Cheer Competition on Friday. They took 1st place for the Cheer Competition & 1st for the Game Day Competition. They were judged by their halftime routine, creativity in dance, jumps, tumbling skills and sideline cheers. Their routine was a collaboration from last year’s routine that was never performed because of the cancellation of the 2020 Aurora tournament. The Cheerleaders would like to give special shout out and thanks to our Lady Buccaneers for cheering them on during the Cheer competition.
They cheered back to back games since Thursday for both the Buccaneers and Lady Buccaneers. They managed to stay loud and proud through the entire weekend.
Saturday’s games they stepped it up and promoted great sportsmanship and had fun by sharing the halftime floor with both Delta Cheer and Hutchinson Cheer.
Valdez and Hutchinson Cheerleaders
2021 Valdez Cheerleaders:
Caedance Leadbetter, Marcedes Taylor, Anna Agcaoili, Paris Pennington, Alina
Kockentiet, Anika Palomar. Coached by Keristyn Weber
Varsity Boys Basketball
Aurora Conference Regional Tournament [March 11th-13th]
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Buccaneers traveled to North Pole on Thursday, March 11th, to compete in the Aurora Conference Regional Tournament, which was technically hosted by the Eielson Ravens but was occurring at North Pole High School due to current visitor restrictions on Eielson Air Force Base.
The Bucs entered the tournament as the #2 seed, earning them a bye and a 5:45pm semi-final faceoff against the Hawks (either the Hutchison Hawks or Galena Hawks, who squared off in the 10:45am game).
The ~330 mile trek north on the Richardson Highway proved to be fraught with hazards and, at times, treacherous driving conditions. Traffic was relatively light, save for a small army of DOT plows working to clear the heavy snow drifts much of the way between Glennallen and Delta. With the roads reduced to about 1 ½ lanes, and a strict timeline, the anxiety levels of the coaches driving the transit vans were relatively high. Arriving at Delta never felt so good.
Prior to arrival at North Pole, the Bucs learned they would be facing the Hutchison Hawks for the fourth time this season, and second time in a span of 6 days.
Thursday, 5:45 Semi-Final: Valdez Buccaneers 53, Hutchison Hawks 46
As it turns out, the drive was not the only stressful part of Thursday. The Bucs, who had
recently steamrolled the Hawks 72-48 at their place, found themselves in a battle throughout the contest. Hutchison’s game plan was evident early on: slow the game down, thereby limiting the Buccaneer possessions, and transition points that led to the blowout the week prior.
In such a game, limiting turnovers and executing efficiently is essential. The Bucs performed adequately in the first quarter, building a slim 15-14 lead, but could only manage 5 points in the second quarter – allowing Hutch to take a 23-20 lead into the intermission. The Hawks maintained their lead, extending it to 7 points on a few occasions in the third quarter, until the Bucs went on a 7-0 run to end the third and close the margin to one (33-34) entering the final stanza. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bucs took the lead and never relinquished it. They outscored the Hawks 20-12 in the fourth en route to a 53-46 victory.
Hunter Mathews paved the way for the Bucs with 15 points. He also earned a front page Sports section photo (above the fold!) and interview for his efforts. Payton Gage and Dennis Mott each netted 9 points, as seven Bucs contributed in the scoring column.
The win set up a championship matchup on Friday night against the Monroe Catholic Rams, whom the Bucs had been embarrassed by (28-83) the previous Saturday night.
Friday, 6:00 Championship: Valdez Buccaneers 35, Monroe Catholic Rams 56
At first glance of the final score, one might assume this was yet another dominant, runaway performance by the Rams. But, while the margin did ultimately end up 21 points, the game was more closely contested than the final might indicate.
Whereas the Bucs were passive and intimidated the week before, they came out the aggressors and better team in the first quarter – leading much of it and only trailing by one (11-10) entering the second. The Rams continued to build upon that lead throughout the rest of the game, but the Bucs showed great pride and resilience as they gave a great team effort throughout. There was no letup or defeatist attitudes in the losing cause. That would prove to be a valuable trait the following day.
Five Buccaneers scored, none of them in double figures. Bryce Tucker and Payton Gage
chipped in 9 points apiece.
The loss bumped the Buccaneers to the 2nd place game, on Saturday afternoon, against the Delta Huskies / Hutchison Hawks victor.
Saturday, 2:15 Second Place game: Valdez Buccaneers 61, Delta Junction Huskies 46
While Coach Cronk’s illustrious head of hair may be the object of a certain staff members envy, it may not be long for this world should he have to coach many more games like the one that occurred Saturday.
In the two previous matchups against the Huskies (in Delta), the Bucs jumped out to early leads, withstood a Husky comeback in the second half, and won by double figures. Delta was having none of it this time. While the Buccaneers scored the ball at a reasonable rate in the first quarter (18 points), they did not convert on a handful of other easy baskets, and were unable to stop the Huskies from scoring. The high pick-and-roll action by the Huskies, and their relentless offensive rebounding, caused the Bucs fits and resulted in a small first quarter lead (18-13) that became a slim halftime deficit (32-30). The deficit was reduced from 6 to 2 in the closing seconds of the half when Bryce Tucker sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and then converted on one of two free throws after a technical foul was assessed against a Delta defender.
The third quarter saw each team score 13 points. However, the Huskies scored the bulk of their points early and built up a 13 point advantage midway through the third quarter. At that point it would have been easy for the Buccaneers to collapse, turn on one another, or lose confidence. Instead, the players on the bench displayed a tremendous amount of energy and encouragement for those on the court. This resulted in the Bucs unleashing 12 minutes of basketball the likes of which, judging from their faces, Delta had not seen before.
It all began on the defensive end, where the Bucs switched to a half-court press that befuddled the Huskies, forcing them into turnovers or quick shots. Offensively, the Bucs found their rhythm with a few easy baskets in transition, some tough interior points, and timely outside shooting. When it was all said and done, the Bucs had rained down a torrent of pressure and turned a 13 point deficit into a 15 point advantage (a 28 point swing in under 12 minutes)! The impressive turnaround was capped by a fourth quarter that saw the Bucs outscore the Huskies 18-1 to secure their berth to the State Tournament.
Both Bryce Tucker and Payton Gage registered season-high scoring totals in the effort. Tucker was the high scorer for the game with 25 points, including 5 three pointers, while Gage registered 16 points.
All-Conference Team:
All-Conference selections are based upon regular season conference performance (not
necessarily the Regional Tournament) and are voted on by opposing coaches. The Valdez Buccaneers had three members voted to the All-Conference Team this year:
#1 – Bryce Tucker
#2 – Payton Gage
#42- Dennis Mott
All-Sport Team:
Each team in the Aurora Conference is tasked with identifying a member of their team that exhibits positive attitude on and off the court as well as excellent sportsmanship. The representative from the Valdez Buccaneers was:
# 21 Anthony Kelley (he’s usually smiling underneath that mask)
Notes:
● Due to technical difficulties, in-depth statistics for the Regional Tournaments were not
available at the time of this re-cap.
● The Buccaneers await final ASAA determination as to where they are seeded or who
they play in the State Tournament. The brackets should be finalized by Tuesday (16th).
● The State Tournament is being held at a variety of venues in the Valley, March 25th-
27th.
Varsity Girls Basketball
Girls Aurora Conference Basketball Tournament
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – This weekend the Buccaneers traveled to North Pole for the Aurora Conference tournament. Coming in as the 2nd seed, the Buccaneers played Hutchison on Thursday night for a semi-final match. The Hutchison height advantage paired with an early morning 8-hour bus ride contributed to a sluggish start ending the first half with the Bucs leading by 8. Righting the ship for the second half, however, the girls quickly pulled away and won the game by a score of 58-41. Reese King led the scoring effort with 18, followed by Ambrosia Woodgate with 10. Alyvia Askren and Lily Brown chipped in 8
each.
Friday night, the girls squared off against the Monroe Rams for the championship. Meeting the Rams for the 4th time this season, the girls fought hard, dropping back by only 3 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter the score stayed pretty even, until a 2-minute burst of turnovers leading to easy Monroe buckets. By half time the
Bucs trailed by a score of 41-27 but the game still felt in reach. However, a rough 3rd
quarter shooting spree of only 2 makes on 19 attempts spelled disaster for the
Buccaneers. The Rams went on to win the game by a score of 71 – 25.
Saturday, the Buccaneers faced Hutchison for the right to attend the ASAA State
Championship tournament as the #2 seed from Aurora Conference. In this 5th and final
confrontation with the Hawks, the girls quickly dominated the game and easily took 2nd
place. Kylie Fletcher-Gilbert led the scoring with 17.
Reese King, Kylie Fletcher-Gilbert, Ambrosia Woodgate, and Carsyn Hinkle were
recognized as 2021 Aurora All-Conference team members. Katarina Turner received
the Aurora Conference All-Sport Award.
The Bucs will next attend the ASAA State Championship Tournament in Palmer in 2
weeks. Our opponent and game time are still to be determined.