(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Colville takes down 3A North Central in doubleheader…

The baseball season finally got underway for the Colville Indians on Saturday, when they played a pair of games against the North Central Indians in Pomeroy and notched their first two wins of the year.

In the first game, the offenses needed a couple innings before getting going when broke out in a big way on the way to a 9-4 win. Colville’s hitters put up two in the 3rd inning, three in the 4th, and four in the 5th. All the while, pitcher Trey Wilson kept the North Central bats at bay, striking out five while pitching four scoreless innings.

The 9-0 lead was never in danger, despite a late push by North Central with three runs in the 6th and another in the 7th. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Chewelah players were surprised to see green grass in Clarkston on Saturday. (Sawyer Bardwell photo)

Deer Park sweeps Chewelah in season opener…

(But lets just be happy the baseball team was able to actually play baseball) 

Much like the Seattle Mariners opening the MLB season in Japan, Chewelah started its season with a “traveling” series by traveling with former NEA League foe Deer Park down to Clarkston on Saturday. The Stags came away with a doubleheader sweep of the Cougars in the first game action they have seen since practices began four weeks ago by scores of 1-0 and 9-1.  More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Alyssa Walser is competing this weekend at the US Gymnastics state tournament in Kennewick. (Courtesy photo)

Chewelah’s Alyssa Walser competing at US Gymnastics state tourney for tenth straight year…

For Alyssa Walser, March 30 will see the culmination of her gymnastics career. The Chewelah student has been involved in the sport since she was eight-years old and has been to the U.S. Gymnastics state tournament for 10 straight years, winning 11 medals.

She’s coming off a second place finish in the floor routine and will be one of the most experienced competitors on the floor. Walser is probably one of the few gymnasts that can lay the smackdown as well as she is also a Chewelah wrestler as well. Walser started wrestling and gymnastics at roughly the same time with her older brothers getting into the sport as Mat Cats. She wanted to follow in their footsteps. Her mother Leia also got her into gymnastics, practicing up in Colville and the payoff has been learning commitment, perseverance and performing under pressure.

Six months after starting gymnastics, she was invited to be on the competitive team. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Chewelah wrestlers will take to the home mat this weekend. (Brandon Hansen photo)

Hundreds of area youth wrestlers will be in Chewelah this weekend for Mat Cats tournament at JJSHS…

The quest for a state championship begins in the youth ranks and for decades, the Mat Cats program has introduced the rough and tumble sport of wrestling to Chewelah’s youth. During the youth wrestling season, many towns host annual tournaments that bring kids from all over to do battle and this weekend will be our turn to host the masses.

Pein-Lynch Gym at JJHS becomes a literal madhouse as hundreds of wrestlers take to two mats. This Saturday, March 23 beginning at 9:30 a.m., the annual Mat Cats tournament becomes one of the busiest events at the school and brings hundreds of people from outside Chewelah. For the Mat Cats parents, it means a lot of work to pull off this event which is completely a volunteer function. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Jacob Newsom was nice enough to pose with this replica EWU helmet, because the Independent editor is nerdy enough and an alumni so of course he has a replica EWU helmet. (Brandon Hansen photo)

Colville’s Jacob Newsom goes Division-I, part of EWU 2019 recruiting class…

Having a national title-level college football program like Eastern Washington University just down the road is something special and even moreso when local kids can get recruited by the Eagles.

EWU has been home to the likes of Chewelah greats Greg Belzer, Jess Trampush, Keith Garner and more, while even retired Eagle football coaches like Dick Zornes end up here in Chewelah. There is a strong connected between Stevens County and the “Harvard of the West Plains.”

That connection extends up to Colville, where 1A state champion Indians are sending defensive lineman Jacob Newsom to the next level. Newsom was part of the 2019 recruiting class for the EWU Eagles, deciding in February he wanted to play college ball there. More

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Lady Rangers play tomorrow at 9 a.m…

Selkirk’s win on Wednesday meant a matchup with the number one seed Colton Wildcats in the state 1B championships at the Spokane Arena Thursday morning, looking for a major upset.

The Rangers had a steep hill to climb even before the game started against a team that lost just two games all season long, and came in rated as the tenth best girls program at all levels in the state by Maxpreps.com. That hill became even steeper right from the get-go, ending in a 68-16 defeat.

Selkirk’s offense sputtered against a stifling Wildcats defense, making just two field goals in the first half on their way to just 8 points total in the half. On the flip side, Colton made nearly 50% of their field goals over that same time en route to 26 points in the first quarter alone and a 38-8 halftime lead. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Couch leads Lady Rangers with 27 points…

The Selkirk girls faced their second straight win or go home matchup, this time in the first round of the state 1B championships, and once again came out on top, defeating the higher seeded Taholah Chitwhins 62-49 to advance.

The 15th-seeded Rangers raced out to a quick first quarter lead and built on that through the first half as their defense clamped down on the Chitwhins to take a 30-18 lead at the half. The Ranger defense held Taholah to under 29% shooting during that time, including just 1-8 on three point attempts. More

(STAFF REPORTS/Chewelah Independent)

Hornets finish season 17-9…

Inchelium marched into their first round, loser-out matchup at the state 1B championships against Sunnyside Christian fresh off a convincing regional win and looking to keep that momentum going, but came away with a disappointing loss to the higher seeded Knights 62-41.

The Hornets started the game out strong, taking an early 16-14 lead after the first quarter. That’s when the offense went cold for the Hornets, as they finished the half shooting just under 27% on both three-point attempts and overall field goals. The Knights offense struggled as well, but managed to be just a bit better, hitting over 31% from three and 34% overall in the half on their way to taking a 28-22 halftime lead.
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(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Jaron Baldwin was a force for the Cougars this year. (File photo)

Junior was a powerful scoring threat for the Cougars all season…

The Chewelah Cougars moved down to the NE 2B League for 2018 and with the classification change, there were few favors done in terms of degree of difficulty. Jaron Baldwin, however, looked like a star for most of the season, scoring 316 points in 26 games this year.

“Going into this year, I expected to struggle a little bit early on knowing our whole team has basically never had varsity experience prior to this year and I knew we’d soon become comfortable at the varsity level,” Baldwin said.

His prediction was true to form as Chewelah started out 3-5 and hovered around .500 for most of the season. The latter part of the year, however, the Cougars went on a run, winning six out of seven before bowing out of the district tournament just two wins away from regionals with a 13-12 record.

The 5’6” 155-pound junior averaged 12.2 points per game and was deadly from the three-point line, hitting 41 three-pointers for the Cougars.
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