Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014 -Mason County Journal- Page B-1
Owls start
season with
new coach
page B-3
Bulldogs
play first
match
page B-6
Shelton senior running back Jake
Mason County Cup.
Henry works his way upfield Friday
Journal photo by Emily Hanson
at Highclimber Stadium during the
h
She~ton overcomes late
tie, tops North Mason
By EMILY HANSON
emily@masoncoun com
It came down to the final few min-
utes Friday night, but the Highclimb-
ers came out on top.
With less than half of the fourth
quarter remaining, the Shelton foot-
ball team found itself tied 21-21 with
the North Mason Bulldogs in the
third annual Mason County Cup at
Highclimber Stadium.
On the Highclimbers' final scor-
ing drive of the game, Shelton junior
fullback Tanner Rhodes rushed 5
yards into the end zone to break the
tie with 5:16 left to play. With a PAT
from sophomore .Cody Bragg sailing
through the posts, Shelton won 28-21
in the season-opener for both teams.
"We had a lot more hype and we
wanted that cup," Shelton senior run-
ning back Jake Henry said,
Henry led the Highclimber of-
fense, amassing 160 yards on 33 car-
ries. He scored the first touchdown of
the night on an 8-yard rush.
The Highclimbers also had touch-
downs from junior Colton Paller and
junior fullback Zane Vanderwal.
Paller returned the second half open-
ing kickoff for a 78-yard touchdown.
Vanderwal rushed for eight yards
on two carries with one touchdown.
He scored on a goal-line stand with
7:43 remaining in the first half.
"I thought we were in it for basi-
cally the whole game," North Mason
quarterback Matt Becker said. "We
just had a couple of mistakes. Tying
the game definitely pumped the team
up, but Shelton just wanted it more."
Becker was 4-for-7 for 67 yards
with two touchdown -- both to senior
wide receiver Daniel Burggraaf, who
also rushed for 37 yards on 10 carries.
The Bulldogs' lone rushing touch-
down came from senior running back
Tyler Grewell on a 5-yard sprint to
the end zone with 5:31 left in the third
quarter.
"As typical of this time of year,
there were good things but some
things to work on, too," Shelton head
coach Matt Hinkle said. '%Ve're obvi-
ously happy with the outcome and
how the kids competed."
Hinkle said the Highclimbers of-
fense held onto the ball, knew its as-
signments and played with confidence.
see CUP, page B-6
FLY ON THE SIDELINE
unty
the North Mason Bulldogs pre-
nted the Mason County Cup tro-
to the Shelton Highclimbers on
Friday night, there were smiles all around.
We're getting this back next year, the
Bulldogs announced shortly before the
Highclimbers erupted
into cheers, celebrating
Shelton's 28-21 home vic-
tory against North Mason
in the third year of the
rivalry game.
Shelten players hoist-
ed the trophy high above
their heads and then I
noticed something.
Although they'd lost, By EMILY
the Bulldogs were still HANSON
smiling.
And players from both teams were
hugging one another, shaking hands and
laughing.
To me, seeing this was like watching
one combined team, that just happened to
be wearing different jerseys.
That's what makes this game so special.
Yes, the Mason County Cup is a rivalry
game designed to get the county excited
about both teams.
Yes, both teams want to win the game,
take the trophy and brag about the victory
for the following 12 months.
But at the root of the game is sports-
manship, camaraderie and even friendship.
Throughout the contest, I saw no
animosity. No unnecessary roughness, no
trash talk, no spite.
I saw two teams playing for sake of win-
ning, but not playing with the thought that
winning was all that mattered.
One moment in particular that sticks
out to me happened in the second half
when a Bulldogs player went down with
what I st spect was a leg cramp.
Shelton senior Brian Nault approached
his opponent, to either help him stand or to
help with the cramp. That's not something
I see at every game.
I asked Nault about it after the game,
and he said he just wanted to help the
Bulldogs player.
That's a prime example of what this
game should be teaching everyone: At the
end of the day, win or lose, these are high
school athletes and it's just a game.
The boys should have fun and respect
one another. That's what's most important.
Contract changes from one,
year to two-year agreement
By EMILY HANSON
emily@masoncoun com
The Shelton Athletic and Ac-
tivities Association (SAAA) and
the Shelton School District fin-
ished "non-stress" negotiations
last month, coming to agree-
ment on a two-year contract.
'W~e've always been told the
pay-to-play fee and our budgets
were non-negotiable because
they're not part of our contract,
but we've always brought them
up as issues because the stress
our kids are under financially af-
fects us as coaches," SAAA rep-
resentative Chad ¥oungquist
said last week. '%Ve've become
fundraising teams instead of
coaches sometimes."
This year, the school dis-
trict started negotiations by
informing the SAAA that the
pay-to-play fee had been elimi-
nated by the school board and
by raising the athletic depart-
ment budget.
"The school board decided
to pay for officials out of the
district's general fund instead
of ASB, so that will relieve
fundraising," district Execu-
tive Director of Finance Bren-
da Trogstad said.
She described the contract
negotiations as simple and basic.
"I think removing the pay-
to-play fee was really appreci-
ated," Superintendent Wayne
Massie said. "They've been
advocating for that. It was a
real positive piece. Now, they
don't have to do so much fund-
raising and can focus energies
more on kids."
Massie added that the dis-
trict feels all students should
have the opportunity to turn
out for a sport if they want to.
"It's our job to try to elimi-
nate those barriers," he said.
The contract affects about
140 SAAA members and in-
cludes athletic coaches at the
middle, junior high and high
schools and club and activities
advisors. Human Resources
Specialist Darlene Eichhorn
said about 31 members are
responsible for more than one
activity or sport.
Youngquist said the biggest
change in this year's contract
was Title IX adjustments.
"Cheer and dance coaches
were paid significantly lower
than a lot of schools in the area
pay," he said. "They're getting
closer to being on par with oth-
er programs now."
The district raised the base
salary for all SAAA members
with this contract.
"When the economy was
good before 2008, we were paid
significantly lower than other
school districts and that's about
the time the district was going
to cut programs, so the SAAA
decided to take pay cuts,"
Youngquist said. "Our pay has
been restored since then."
see CONTRACT, page B-5
