Big night in the NWC!!!

[NWCSoccer]

It must have been a great season in the NWC when on the last night of the regular season the NWC Overall title, the 3A 1 seed, and the 2A 1 seed are all on the line.

Mt. Vernon @ Ferndale - winner gets 3A 1 seed and conference title.

Sehome @ Bellingham - lots of scenarios in this one for the 2A teams:
1) Either team wins in regulation they are the 1 seed and the loser is the 3 seed - unless squalicum loses to lynden*.
2) Sehome wins in shootout - Sehome is the 1 seed, Bellingham the 2.
3) Bellingham wins in shootout - Bellingham is the 1 seed, and Sehome drops to the 3 - unless squalicum loses to lynden*.
*If Squalicum loses to Lynden in regulation then Bellingham and Sehome will be the 1 & 2 seeds dependent on the outcome of their game. I don't want to list the scenario if Squalicum/Lynden goes to a shootout. It's crazy.

Should be an interesting night. I believe Squalicum will get by Lynden tonight. Lynden has nothing to play for (they cannot change their seeding) and may choose to rest players for districts. Squalicum on the other hand needs the win.

Bellingham vs. Sehome - who knows. This game has been decided by one goal each of the last 5 games! Last years district match-up was a very physical game. A lot will depend on Bellingham's health. If they can get everybody on the field tonight it will be too close to call. If not, Sehome gets the edge.

Awesome season in the NWC this year - congrats to all the teams on an exciting season and best of luck to those moving on.

 

[shs2209]

sehome won 1-0 on nino tursic's goal in the firs half. but...

turned into an ugly game: a huge brawl started between bellingham and sehome when one of the bhs players attacked nino tursic, a few players jumped in and bellingham started throwing punches in front of the huge shs crowd. 2 players were ejected. craziest game i have ever seen. then...

max dewees of sehome was flipped on his head, and while getting carried out of the stadium, he collapsed and was taken away in an ambulance. There are rumors that he should be okay though...

can't wait for districts. WOW, what a game

 

[Redwolfsoccer]

There should have been red cards distributed. How many players will be missing from the 1st District games by each team?

 

[NWCSoccer]

There were 2 red cards issued, one to each player involved. Sehome also received 2 yellows and Bellingham received 1.

Overall a very disapointing display by both teams. I would like to add that I was sitting in front of the "fight" and saw the entire thing. It began over a dispute over a throw in, the BHS player had the ball in his hand, a sehome player slapped it out of his hands and shoved the the BHS player. The BHS player retaliated and both were ejected. What should be noted is that Sehome's bench cleared and ran onto the field...while Bellingham's stayed put. WIAA rules state that is an automatic ejection. No cards were issued, however a video taken by some parents (not sure whom) is being sent to both AD's for review. If the players can be identified they might be ejected as well. That would be a major blow for Sehome as it was their entire bench.

Max Duwees(?) injury was scary and unfortunate. It was also a clean, hard tackle. No foul was whistled on the play and it happend in front of the ref. You always hate to see a player get hurt like that.

Sehome looked good in the first half. It was one of the worst performances I have seen out of Bellingham all season. I hope these two teams don't meet again...this is 2 fights in the last 2 games.

Like I said, a sad, sad display of soccer and sportsmanship by both teams. Lets hope we see better in the future.

 

[EvanderLongoria]

That Nino kid seems to start alot of toruble. When my crossfire team played his whatcom team, after he fouled one of our players, he proceeded to get up and instead of step over our player he stepped ontop of him and got carded, very unsportsmanlike, if it wasnt for our coach a brawl probably would have happened too.

 

[SHS coach]

NWCS. Not the whole Sehome bench cleared and joined in. Only ONE Sehome player left the bench and joined in the fight but that was to protect his friends, understandable but totally not acceptable. Either way the whole seccond half was a joke. Sehome controlled 65% of the first half and it looked like the bellingham players maybe upset. Also i don’t think that you account of the start of the fight is all that accurate. Hopefully there is a video tape and it can be seen.

The Bellingham Squaly game also almost had a fight but the ref was a good ref and stepped in and handled things. The refs poorly handled the situation and the game. Hopefully this can just be over for both teams and we can carry on with districts but sadly I think its not over.

I do hope that both teams meet up again but maybe next year. There will still be alot of feelings if it happens this year. Its sad like you said and i do hope we see better in the future. I will note however that the Bellingham guys did show a classy level of sportsmanship after the game. Thanks for all your quality input on NWC soccer.
This post was edited on 5/5 9:21 AM by SHS coach

 

[Rainmaker2112]

According to the Bellingham Herald...

"..a fight started between Bellingham's Nick Rader and Sehome's Garrett Dorough. Both teams rushed into the mix. Both players were issued red cards and ejected, leaving each team with 10 to a side and a high tension the rest of the way."

This has always been a heated rivalry. This game combined with last year's game where there were numerous cards and Bellingham's big scorer's leg was broken in a scrum for the ball, seems to make this even more of a bitter feud.

The coach and players should have been carded for leaving the bench area at the time of the infractions and not after the fact. Of course, it depends on whether the fight took place near the Sehome bench area and if players were getting up to see what was going on, rather than joining the fight. I doubt that cards will be given after the fact, unless players are clearly shown trying to join the fight. We'll see.

 

[SHS coach]

The fight was on the far side of the feild from the benches. Hopefully this can just get behind us all and move on to districts on Saturday. Both bellingham and Sehome are seated very well.

 

[NWCSoccer]

I think regardless of who started the fight, the mere fact that there was ANOTHER fight in this rivalry is disapointing. Regardless of how it happened or started, both teams know better. It was a shame to see it happen because I felt (and I am just one fan) that while Sehome was strong in the first half - Bellingham was starting to get a rythm in the second half until the fight. I agree with SHS coach that after the fight the second half was a joke. I also agree that the referee let the game get out of hand.

Bellingham and Sehome both have good seeds and should look to do well. Sehome seems to be coming into form, while Bellingham lately has not looked their best. Hopefully we can get 4 teams from the NWC to 2A state.

 

[LW-Observer]

Don't count out the teams from the CC. There are some good teams in this conference ATM, Cedarcrest, Lakewood, who will give the NWC all they can handle. Lakewood is returning champion and don't count them out because of there record. They are alot better than there record show. Should be some great soccer games this weekend. Have fun and play fair. Go Cascade Conference let's bring home the district title back to the CC.

 

[shs2209]

by the way, only bellingham players threw punches. 2 of there players sucker punched 2 sehome players.

 

[Lakewood02]

I believe Lakewood will repeat the season they had in 2007. We had an off season and lost our first district game against Sehome but ended up Going to the Quarter finals in state. Lakewood steps up in district, With Evander Ochoa back in form and Lakewood history these next couple games are gonna be good.

 

[Rainmaker2112]

Let's hope that the games refereed at other CC sites are not the hatchet-job that the ones at the Coupeville-Nooksack Valley game did today. The refs were clueless about the game, called the most one-sided game I've seen in twelve years of active involvement with the game. Penalty kick awarded when the foul happened two yards outside the box (evidenced by the slide and cleat marks), a non-penalty call when a Nooksack play was dragged down in the box and denied a chance at goal and the kicker was when the goalie was kicked while down on the ground on two occasions while in control of the ball. That young man is having x-rays being done on a probably fractured arm!

The game is over and Coupeville was playing well without the help, but the hack job only assisted them along the way. It's too bad, but when it would be better for the kids to call their own fouls then it has to an atrocious job by those who are supposed to follow the 12 Laws, with the 12th being saftety.

Oh and it can't look good for the possible conflict of interest angle when a Coupeville player jumps in the car and leaves with the head referee after the game was over, eh?