Area basketball teams looking good early in season

It was nice to receive positive basketball news for Royal and Wahluke High Schools in the emails over the weekend. I’d gotten tired of using the phrase: off to a show start.

Pete Christensen was first to report in. His Royal boys had started the campaign Saturday with 74-59 win over Goldendale.

It doesn’t matter how Goldendale is or might be. Because of the long football seasons at Royal, early basketball wins are rare.

This victory says these boys are intent on having a winning season and perhaps a post-season. They thought they were going to accomplish that last year.

This Friday, things may get real tough for Royal. The Knights will travel to play a very good Warden team. But no matter what happens Friday, prepare for an exciting season.

The Wahluke boys dropped their first game to Cashmere and had fans saying same old, same old. Then last weekend they erupted for 69-35 and 75-47 victories over Riverside Christian and Cle Elum.

Most impressive for the Warriors is that they have scorers. After three games, Sergio Pineda is averaging 21 points a game, Abraham Olivares 13 and Nathan Buck 11.

Those three boys could provide some warming entertainment on cold winter nights. The 6-3 Pineda could become a star in the SCAC. He picked off 14 rebounds in the Cle Elum game.

The Royal girls started with a loss to Goldendale, 59-54, but they, too, had good news. They came back from a 12-point deficit at halftime to nearly win the game.

The lone basketball team that got off to a slow start was the Wahluke girls. They are having personnel problems, with only seven varsity players available last week. Coach Brock Anderson believes that challenge will be solved.

In pro football, it was painful to watch Seattle on the road the last two weeks. They looked like an old team, and they just may be.

The life-span for great football teams in the NFL, except for New England, seems to be about five years. This team is approaching that mark.

The Seahawks didn’t just lose at Tampa Bay and Green Bay. They were hammered. Russell threw five interceptions and looked slow against the Packers. And he threw into coverage all game.

The Seahawks can get their game back on the last three dates against the Rams at home, the Cardinals at home and the 49ers on the road. But if the standings don’t change, they will get only the playoff opener at home.

And they don’t seem to like the road lately. They bowed out of last year’s post-season at Carolina.