Episodes

Wrestling @ ASAA State Championships- (Coach Tyler Thompson)

The Valdez state qualifiers took to the mat one last time for the 2018 season at the ASAA State Tournament. The bucs wrestled hard and came out with one State Placer. Jana Allen wrestled back to place 4th at the 235 pound girls division after an early loss in the tournament.

160G Oceana Holt (18-9) place is unknown and scored 4.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Oceana Holt (Valdez) 18-9 won by fall over Emily Hoke (Kotzebue) 8-8 (Fall 1:53)

Quarterfinal – Halle Savage (Unalaska) 12-5 won by fall over Oceana Holt (Valdez) 18-9 (Fall 3:18)

Cons. Round 2 – Desarae Matheny (Lathrop Wrestling) 21-5 won by fall over Oceana Holt (Valdez) 18-9 (Fall 3:56)

235G Jana Allen (13-14) placed 4th and scored 14.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 received a bye () (Bye)

Quarterfinal – Maggie Miller (Mt. Edgecumbe) 5-5 won by fall over Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 (Fall 5:18)

Cons. Round 2 – Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 received a bye () (Bye)

Cons. Round 3 – Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 won by fall over Alizae Brown (Palmer) 6-11 (Fall 0:43)

Cons. Semi – Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 won by fall over Tryston Macar (Mt. Edgecumbe) 3-8 (Fall 3:20)

3rd Place Match – Ashlan Tisega (West Anchorage) 10-2 won by fall over Jana Allen (Valdez) 13-14 (Fall 3:14)

130 Caleb MacPherson (0-8) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Daniel Chakuchin (Bethel High School) 22-13 won by fall over Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-8 (Fall 0:57)

Cons. Round 1 – Noah Andrew (Mt. Edgecumbe) 4-5 won by fall over Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-8 (Fall 2:53)

189 Kyle Henderson (16-10) place is unknown and scored 1.0 team points.

Champ. Round 1 – Ryan Hicks (Homer) 10-10 won by decision over Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 16-10 (Dec 8-6)

Cons. Round 1 – Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 16-10 won by decision over Joshua Takak (Shaktoolik) 4-5 (Dec 8-3)

Cons. Round 2 – Billy Nelson (Kotzebue) 20-7 won by tech fall over Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 16-10 (TF-1.5 4:25 (17-0)

Nordic Ski – (Coach Timi Miner)

We would like to congratulate the following skiers for completing their first ever 2K skate race:

Blake Morrison, Samantha Benda, Anastasia Blake, Aidan Stefanec, Rafe Carruthers, Ezekiel Eskilida, and Patrick O’Neil.

The Valdez High School Ski Team will be hosting open ski races for all community members who wish to participate:

December 22nd is a 4 K skate race

December 29th is a 6 K classic or skate race

and January 5th is a 7 k classic or skate race

All Ski races take place at 11 AM at the Cato Bridge, across from Blueberry Hill.

Varsity Boys Basketball – (Coach Bart Hinkle/Coach Todd Wegner)

The 2018-2019 boys basketball season kicked off in Fairbanks at the 2nd annual West Valley Invitational.  The four team round-robin format included South Anchorage, North Pole, West Valley, and Valdez (the lone 3A team).  Valdez amassed a 3-0 record en route to the championship, with three players (Ike Watson, Logan Heckathorn, and Bennett Hinkle) garnering individual All-Tournament and MVP honors, respectively.

December 13th: vs. South Anchorage

The 2018-2019 Bucs squared off with South Anchorage to start the tournament.  Despite traveling 8 hours on a bus (compared to South’s 45 minute commercial flight), the Bucs outscored the Wolverines 15-9 in the first quarter.  The trend continued throughout, as Valdez won every quarter, culminating in a 72-50 victory. The Buccaneer scoring included 4 players in double digits, led by Logan Heckathorn with 19 points.  Bennett Hinkle contributed 17, Jalen Freeman 16, and Ike Watson 11. The Buccaneer defense forced 21 turnovers – resulting in 26 points, while also holding South Anchorage to 16% shooting (1 of 6) from behind the 3-point arc.

Logan Heckathorn, Kyler LaBonte, and Ike Watson successfully drew offensive fouls.

December 14th: vs. North Pole

After a good-ish (?) nights sleep in an auxiliary gym with lights that stayed on the entire night, the Bucs came out intent on shooting the lights out – jumping out to a 22-6 lead over North Pole.  Valdez continued to outpace North Pole every quarter (never allowing more than 8 points in a quarter) en route to an 86-28 victory. All 12 rostered Bucs logged minutes in the game. The Bucs were led offensively by Bennett Hinkle (with 19) and Logan Heckathorn (17).  Ike Watson and Jimmy Chavez contributed 12 and 8 points, respectively.

The Bucs corralled 19 offensive rebounds, while holding the Patriots to 2 of their own.

December 15th:  vs. West Valley

Saturday night’s tilt with West Valley was highly hyped, and well attended.  Aurora Conference foes Delta, Monroe, Galena, and Hutchison were in the crowd to watch the matchup.  Despite beginning the game with free throws via a technical (thanks to a sub-par dunking performance by the West Valley Wolfpack during warmups), the Bucs got off to a slow start.  Unforced turnovers and foul trouble contributed to the Bucs falling behind by 7 during the first half. Douglas Cummins and Owen Chadwick provided a spark of energy and defensive intensity to lead the Bucs back to a 33-28 lead going into the half.

From there, the Bucs settled in and took control of the game – led by point guard Jalen Freeman.  Freeman drained 5 of 8 shots from behind the arc, notching 21 points and 6 assists in the 68-56 victory.

Bennett Hinkle drew 2 offensive fouls, with Owen Chadwick recording one.

Notes:

Statistics and video footage are compiled by Justin Prax and Clay Woodgate.

The Bucs host the Glennallen Panthers this Friday and Saturday (December 21st and 22nd) for a pair of Endowment Games.

JV Girls Basketball_- (Coach Jodi Arnold/Coach Joe Robison)

The JV girls traveled to Fairbanks for a few early season games this past weekend.  Games were played at Lathrop on Thursday, at North Pole on Friday, and at West Valley on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday vs. Lathrop:

The JV girls lost to Lathrop 50 – 35 on Thursday.  After a long bus ride, the girls played hard, but wore out down the stretch.  The Lady Bucs were led in scoring by Reese King with 12 points and Jillian Fleming with 8 points.

Friday vs. North Pole

The girls traveled to play North Pole Friday afternoon.  The Lady Bucanneers took advantage of a depleted North Pole team and won by a score of 50 – 2.  The scoring for Valdez was spread out nicely, as they were led by Jillian Fleming, Jade Holmes, and Macy Hansen with 8 points apiece.

Saturday vs. West Valley

The JV girls took on 4A West Valley on Saturday afternoon.  Sloppy play cost the Buccaneers in a 44 – 30 loss.  The Bucs were led in scoring by Ally Seiber and Macy Hansen, with 6 points each.

Coach’s Comments:

“This was a great early season experience for our girls.  We were able to play a lot of girls, and get a good look at what we are doing well and what we need to really work on moving forward.  While we did some good things, there were several things we learned that we need to really get back to work on.  It will be a tremendous learning experience for us moving forward.”

JV Boys Basketball – (Coach Lee Chadwick)

We played our first games of the season this week on our trip to Fairbanks.  Leaving at 6 a.m. on Thursday, we arrived in Fairbanks and immediately traveled to play Lathrop.  Within 20 minutes of the long bus ride, we were tipping off against a much older and more experienced team. Predictably, we came out flat and lethargic, dropping quickly behind by about 20.  Ultimately, we lost by about 45 points.

The second day, we traveled to North Pole. We put together a much better defensive effort in that game, winning with a score of 49-26. On the offensive end, almost all players contributed points to the effort, with Austin Crawford and Aiden McAtee leading the scoring.

On Saturday we met West Valley in our final game of the weekend. With a sizable and raucous crowd, it was a tense game with the lead see-sawing back and forth. Ultimately we prevailed at a score of 49-45. This game was fun to watch with great defensive teamwork and rebounding led by solid play by Hayden Howard. Offensively we shared the ball well, finding open men and open shots. Austin, Julius Bauss, and Tate Chadwick led the scoring for Valdez in this contest.

It was exciting to see the players improve so much in just a couple of games. We look forward to working hard this coming week in preparation for our first home games.

Valdez Buccaneer singers and Ann Norris at the Valdez Community Christmas Show

This Weekends Events (December 21 & 22):

Basketball-

Friday, Dec. 21:  Home Games vs Glennallen @ High School Gym

4:00 pm JV Boys

5:30 pm JV Girls

7:00 pm Varsity Boys

8:30 pm Varsity Girls

Saturday, Dec. 22: Home Games vs Glennallen @ High School Gym

10:00 am JV Girls

11:30 am JV Boys

 1:00 pm Varsity Girls

 2:30 pm Varsity Boys

Nordic Ski-

Saturday, Dec. 22:  4 K skate race at 11:00 am at the Cato Bridge, across from Blueberry Hill

Wrestling

Submitted by Tyler C-Thompson

ASAA Denali Results for Valdez

The Valdez Buccaneers took to the mat this weekend with their sights set on the state tournament. The Bucs had five wrestlers, Oceana Holt, Jana Allen, Caleb MacPherson, and Dustin Woods make it to the finals.

The following Wrestlers managed to place in the top three in the Denali Conf.:

• Oceana Holt: 2nd (State Qualifier)

• Jana Allen: 2nd (State Qualifier)

• Caleb MacPherson: 2nd (State Qualifier)

• Connor Britt: 3rd

• Dustin Woods: 2nd (Injury Default during Finals match)

• Kyle Henderson: 3rd

160G

Oceana Holt (17-7) placed 2nd.

• Champ. Round 1 – Oceana Holt (Valdez) 17-7 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Oceana Holt (Valdez) 17-7 received a bye () (Bye)

• Semifinal – Oceana Holt (Valdez) 17-7 won by fall over Kristy Massey (North Pole Patriots ) 6-5 (Fall 1:10)

• 1st Place Match – Desarae Matheny (Lathrop Wrestling) 17-3 won by fall over Oceana Holt (Valdez) 17-7 (Fall 3:06)

• 2nd Place Match – Oceana Holt (Valdez) 17-7 won by rule over Kristy Massey (North Pole Patriots ) 6-5 (RULE)

235G

Jana Allen (11-12) placed 2nd.

• Champ. Round 1 – Jana Allen (Valdez) 11-12 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Jana Allen (Valdez) 11-12 received a bye () (Bye)

• Semifinal – Jana Allen (Valdez) 11-12 won by fall over Sandra Santos (Lathrop Wrestling) 5-8 (Fall 2:48)

• 1st Place Match – Debranna Bealer (Eielson) 17-13 won by fall over Jana Allen (Valdez) 11-12 (Fall 2:48)

• 2nd Place Match – Jana Allen (Valdez) 11-12 won by rule over Sandra Santos (Lathrop Wrestling) 5-8 (RULE)

130

Caleb MacPherson (0-6) placed 2nd and scored 10.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-6 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-6 received a bye () (Bye)

• Semifinal – Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-6 received a bye () (Bye)

• 1st Place Match – Keegan St. Amand (Glennallen) 6-23 won by decision over Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-6 (Dec 15-14)

• 2nd Place Match – Caleb MacPherson (Valdez) 0-6 won by rule over () (RULE)

140

Connor Britt (3-6) placed 3rd and scored 14.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Colton Slatter (Susitna Valley Jr/Sr High School) 10-9 won by fall over Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 (Fall 2:00)

• Cons. Round 2 – Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 received a bye () (Bye)

• Cons. Round 3 – Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 won by fall over Luther Walker (Nenana) 0-2 (Fall 4:47)

• Cons. Semi – Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 won by fall over Pavel Maslovtsov (Delta Junction) 7-10 (Fall 3:18)

• 3rd Place Match – Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 won by decision over Colton Slatter (Susitna Valley Jr/Sr High School) 10-9 (Dec 11-10)

• 2nd Place Match – Adam Jockusch (Eielson) 6-1 won by tech fall over Connor Britt (Valdez) 3-6 (TF-1.5 3:40 (15-0))

152

Rafael Alfaro (1-12) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Rafael Alfaro (Valdez) 1-12 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Aeron Mills (Delta Junction) 12-7 won by fall over Rafael Alfaro (Valdez) 1-12 (Fall 1:45)

• Cons. Round 2 – Rafael Alfaro (Valdez) 1-12 received a bye () (Bye)

• Cons. Round 3 – Ronald Waska (Galena) 6-7 won by fall over Rafael Alfaro (Valdez) 1-12 (Fall 4:30)

160

Dustin Woods (6-8) placed 2nd and scored 17.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Dustin Woods (Valdez) 6-8 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Dustin Woods (Valdez) 6-8 won by fall over Devon Hodges (Delta Junction) 8-6 (Fall 2:26)

• Semifinal – Dustin Woods (Valdez) 6-8 won by fall over Stephen Hunt (Delta Junction) 8-8 (Fall 4:56)

• 1st Place Match – Matt Gregory (Glennallen) 15-8 won by injury default over Dustin Woods (Valdez) 6-8 (Inj. 0:45)

• 2nd Place Match – Brayden Grorud (Eielson) 20-19 won by forfeit over Dustin Woods (Valdez) 6-8 (For.)

189

Kyle Henderson (15-8) placed 3rd and scored 17.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 – Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 received a bye () (Bye)

• Quarterfinal – Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 won by major decision over Andrew Holman (Hutchinson) 4-12 (MD 16-2)

• Semifinal – Nephi Tidwell (Eielson) 32-8 won by decision over Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 (Dec 10-4)

• Cons. Semi – Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 won by fall over Colton Guptil (Hutchinson) 5-13 (Fall 1:38)

• 3rd Place Match – Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 won by fall over David Johnston (Susitna Valley Jr/Sr High School) 3-9 (Fall 3:15)

• 2nd Place Match – Nephi Tidwell (Eielson) 32-8 won by rule over Kyle Henderson (Valdez) 15-8 (RULE)

Rifle

Submitted by Coach Hedman

     

The VHS Rifle Team competed in the MAC (Middle Alaska Conference) Contest, their last match of the season, on December 7th and 8th. The Valdez Bucs joined teams from West Valley, Hutch, Lathrop, and Delta.

On December 7th the team competed in a Standing 60 shot Air Rifle match- and had a strong showing with a total team score of 2127 points with 48 center shots. Tiffany Larcom shot a personal best of 574 points with 28 center shots. She also earned the first place position for individuals for that day.

On December 8th, the team shot in a 3×20 (three positions, 20 shots each position) match. The team scored a total of 2216 points with 84 center shots. Tiffany Larcom earned the second place position for individuals. The VHS team took third place overall in the competition. The hosts of the match recognized the Buccaneers for their strong showing during their first season as a high school rifle team.

Coach Larcom, Coach Hedman, and the Valdez High School Rifle team thanks Valdez City Schools and the Valdez community for their support and help in making our first season a success. We look forward to next year’s season.

 

Upcoming Events for the Week of December 10-16, 2018

 

* Boys Varsity Basketball @ West Valley Tournament in Fairbanks Dec. 13-15.

* Valdez J.V. Boys @ J.V. Girls @ Lathrop, North Pole and West Valley Dec. 13-15.

* Volleyball Awards Banquet @ 6:00 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10th, VHS Cafetorium.

* VHS Winter Concert Tuesday, December 11th @ 7:00 p.m. in the VHS Cafetorium.