ARLINGTON — In 2011 athletes at Arlington and Lakewood high schools competed in a variety of sports with several teams moving on to post-season play. The following are some of the sports stories from 2011.

Arlington basketball advances to Regionals

The Eagles had a 19-point fourth quarter lead on Kamiak in the District 1 playoffs before Kamiak switched to man defense and scored 14 straight inside of five minutes left in the game, but the Eagles held on to win 65-55. Arlington faced Newport in the District championship for the chance to play Kentridge in the 4A Regional playoffs. The Eagles rallied from a five-point deficit with less than two minutes left to complete the comeback and win 56-51 in front of a standing room only crowd.

Arlington took a 10-4 lead against Kentridge before Charger star guard Gary Bell took over and scored six straight points to tie the game at 10 and went 6 of 8 from three-point range to lift Kentridge to 88-63 win.

Lakewood girls basketball defies expectation, reaches Districts

Lakewood’s girls were predicted to finish last of the eight teams in Cascade Conference, but they went 8-6 in the conference and 9-12 overall to take third place. The Cougars started out 5-5 after beating Granite Falls and moving into a tie with the Tigers for third place. Lakewood pulled into a tie for second place in the conference just three games later, against Coupeville, and made the playoffs.

Burlington-Edison sent the Cougars to the consolation bracket in first round of Districts, 75-27, before Mount Baker ousted the Cougars, 48-27, in the Cougars’ first consolation game.

Eagle softball makes State Tournament

Arlington softball was determined to reach the 4A State Tournament after coming within a game of a state berth in 2010. The Eagles returned with new coach Lonnie Hicks, a former manager at Western Washington University and Edmonds Community College. Hicks said the 2011 team had the ability to get where they wanted to be in the new season, and the team proved him right. Sophomore pitcher Veronica Ladines impressed and senior Kailee Basher returned to strengthen the Eagles lineup. Arlington beat Kamiak in first round of Districts on May 17, then lost to Jackson later in the day. They defeated Monroe 2-1, then Cascade 1-0 on May 19 in District Tourney consolation bracket. The Eagles lost 6-3 to Tahoma in the first round of the State Tournament and dropped their consolation game against Emerald Ridge.

Lakewood girls golf wins Cascade Conference

Lady Cougar golfers beat King’s by a stroke to win the District Tournament and scored enough points to jump from third to first in the league standings.

Senior Kayley Mizell finished second in the league tourney and second in the league standings for the season. Her record-setting score of 90 points was best league championship score ever for a Lakewood golfer.

Mizell was complemented by senior co-captain Jessica Spears, juniors Kaylee Diggs and Chelsea Blackwood and two sophomores, Hannah Eneix and Nina Forsell.

Washington Rush win seventh straight National Cup championship

Extreme heat in Boise, Idaho could not stop the Rush from winning their seventh consecutive soccer championship that capped a 17-2-2 year and a 13-game win streak. The Rush defense gave up only one goal in games against Rochester FC (6-0), Platinum FC (2-1) and Storm FC (1-0) before the championship game, and only surrendered 14 goals in 21 games all season.

The team included players from Marysville-Pilchuck, Arlington, Jackson, Kamiak, Lake Stevens and Archbishop Murphy high schools, including M-P’s Becca Lentz and Arlington’s Sadie Hitsky.

Lakewood seniors run at State

Senior runners Kris Mugrage and Rachel Cundy advanced to state when Mugrage finished ninth at Districts and Cundy finished eighth.

Mugrage took 24th in the boys 5,000-meter championship race at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. Cundy took 15th.

Arlington football beats M-P

The Eagles picked up 448 total yards in their rivalry game against the Tomahawks at M-PHS on Sept. 23 in which the teams combined for 15 plays of 20 yards or more. The game was 14-7 Arlington after first three minutes of 1st quarter, but the Arlington defense stepped up for a 27-14 lead at the half. Eagle junior Nathan Kehler’s 72-yard fumble return touchdown and Jayden Kira’s touchdown-saving deflection pumped up the Eagles and bolstered the defensive attack.

M-P outgunned Arlington 499 to 488, but Arlington created turnovers that the Eagle offense turned into points. Senior quarterback Blake McPherson had a touchdown pass of 24 yards to Skylor Elgarico and another of 38 yards to senior tight End Bo Brummel. McPherson finished 11 of 21 with 264 yards on the night.

Eagles win Stilly Cup

Arlington’s 59-0 Stilly Cup rout of Stanwood was the Eagles’ second consecutive Stilly Cup win coming off of last year’s 29-14 win. This year’s 59-0 margin of victory was the largest ever in Stilly Cup history. Arlington’s only single-digit yardage plays in first half, of five and nine yards, went for touchdowns. The Eagles allowed 38 rushing yards and zero passing yards in second half while collecting two forced fumbles and three interceptions.

Senior QB Blake McPherson threw six touchdowns, of which senior receiver Colton Hordyk, junior wide receiver Terry Dawn and senior tight end Bo Brummel all caught two, and ran for another. Senior defensive back Derek Sweeney took a Stanwood pass 28 yards the other way for a score.

Lakewood football makes it to State quarterfinals

Cougar football celebrated its first conference championship in 17 years after going 1-6 in the conference in 2009 and 5-2 in 2010. A 6-1 mark and a 26-22 homecoming win against Archbishop Thomas Murphy, the first time the Cougars had ever beaten them, made all the difference as it gave the Cougars the head-to-head tiebreaker when Murphy finished the season with the same record.

Lakewood beat South Whidbey 34-7 in the final game of season to share Cascade Conference championship with ATM. The Cougars took revenge on Burlington-Edison, who had knocked Lakewood out of the playoffs in 2010, trouncing them 55-0 and earning the No. 1 District 1 seed in 2A state tournament. Lakewood beat Lindbergh 43-13 in first round of State to become Lakewood’s first-ever 10-win football team. The dream season came to an end when W.F. West ran over the Cougars 33-18 at Quil Ceda Stadium.

Lakewood girls soccer goes to State

The Lady Cougars can say that they battled the best teams in their playoff run. They finished the season 11-3 in the conference and 15-5-1 for a No. 2 Cascade Conference seed and beat No. 3 seed Anacortes 2-1 in the first round of 2A Districts. They lost 4-1, however, to No. 1 seed and defending champ Sehome but rebounded against No. 2 seed Squalicum for a 2-0 win. They vanquished No. 1 seed Cedarcrest to get to State before being vanquished 2-0 at the hands of eventual State champ Interlake.