ACH boys lose in 1B title game

SPOKANE - The harsh reality starting setting in with two minutes left in the 1B state championship game Saturday night at the Spokane Arena when Almira/Coulee-Hartline boys coach Graham Grindy started pulling his starters off the floor in order to get the younger guys some playing time.

The previously unbeaten Warriors were down by 16, but it was in their DNA to fight to the bitter end. Like the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII or the 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats, the ACH Warriors (25-1) could only watch as their perfect season slipped away on the biggest stage.

The Neah Bay Red Devils (22-3) scored 44 points in the second half to win the Class 1B state championship 73-48. The trophy with the big ball on it heads west.

“I’m just heartbroken for our seniors because it’s their last game,” said Grindy, who started building his program four years ago with guys like Dallas Isaak, Dawson Dormaier and Logan Bohnet. “They were great leaders and they’re passing down the right message, the right work ethic to my younger guys. They’re going to come right in and we’re going to get back here.”

Winning with dignity has been easy for a team with 25 straight wins, but the true test of their character came on a night when they did not. The Warriors fought through the tears, the disappointment, the hole in the soul that said we were 20 minutes away from a historic moment. They posed with the second-place trophy, hugged friends and family that were there in support. They gathered their stuff and made their way through the hallway under the stands to locker room No. 1 where their private thoughts were contained within the walls.

“I guarantee our guys wouldn’t trade our team for anything in the world. We love each other … we’re a brotherhood,” said sophomore Payton Nielsen, who finished with 12 rebounds and six points. “We just lost, but I wouldn’t have wanted to play this game with anyone else. We’re all big boys and we’ll take what we get, but we’re all champions in each other’s hearts.”

Dormaier was a freshman coming up when Grindy got the boys varsity job. They’ve built some special with parts of three small Central Washington towns.

“I’m blessed with the season we had. My freshman year, no one would have ever thought we’d play at the state tournament,” he said. “We proved a lot of people wrong and to come this far and experience this. We’re family and I’m proud to be a part of it and what the team has accomplished.”

As for the game itself, it started going south from the opening whistle. The Warriors committed eight of their game-high 18 turnovers in the first eight minutes and Neah Bay fed off the insecurity of a team desperately searching for the game that got them to the big stage.

Isaak, who finished with 18 points, found his stroke from 3-point range and led the uphill charge back into the game. ACH chipped away and drew to within 25-24 with a little over a minute remaining in the first half. The Red Devils put together a 4-0 run to take a 29-24 lead at the intermission, but the Warriors were back in the game after trailing by as many as 12 in the first quarter.

“It was very uncharacteristic of who we are to turn the ball over like that,” Grindy said. “Even though we were undefeated, you need everything to go your way when your behind if you’re even going to have a chance. I felt good at half, but then we got back down to double digits again. I think you can come back from double digits once in a game, but not twice.”

The Warriors committed four straight turnovers to open the third quarter and Peah Bay ran it back up to 50-31. From that point on, it was like trying to sweep back the ocean with a whisk broom.

“It was a great season. I never once said, ’OK guys we’re going to go undefeated and play for the state title. That’s a goal you would never say out loud,” Grindy said. “So to have the opportunity is special.”