MIKE MAYNARD

Frank’s free kick lifts Royal past King’s in state opener

ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (14-2-1) defeated the King's Knights 1-0 Tuesday in the first round of the 1A State Girls Soccer tournament, the first state playoff win in Head Coach Jens Jensen's tenure. "This is our third time getting into state, and each time in the first round we got blown out," he said. "This year the whole goal was to get us a game that we could win, and I didn't know when I watched (King's) on film. Their goalkeeper is spectacular, and so I didn't know how it was going to shake out. But Maggie (Frank) comes up with an absolute wonder strike on a free kick to win us the game. It's awesome, this is a huge, huge deal for us."

State success concludes Mavs' XC season

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks cross country teams concluded the 2026 season with a strong performance at the 2026 4A State Cross Country Championships on Saturday. The boys took 15th as a team while the girls placed 9th, putting a nice finish to a successful season. "It was absolutely high quality," Head Coach Larry Dagnon said. "The teams were all extremely fast. I think we did very well, actually all things considered. We're 20 seconds faster per mile for the boys than we were last year, and the girls were, I think, 40 seconds faster almost per mile than they were last year. They showed market improvement. The boys didn't show it via their placing, but they sure were better than they were the year prior."

Moses Lake lands 18 All-League selections, claims six major Big 9 awards

MOSES LAKE — In the wake of their district win over Kentwood to advance to the 4A state tournament, the Moses Lake Mavericks football team also brought in a slew of Big 9 All-League honors for their play on the field this season. "I was going in there preparing for a little bit more of an argument on some of my guys, but the league came together and gave us our props a lot easier than I thought they would, and so I was really happy to see that," Head Coach Kyler Haneberg said. Across all three phases of football, the Mavericks earned 18 All-League selections, seven of which were unanimous selections. Additionally, Moses Lake brought home several individual accolades. Elijah Burns won league MVP, Nolan Decubber won Offensive MVP, John Rainey won his second straight Defensive MVP and the Mavericks front line earned Offensive Line of the Year with Reese Porter earning Lineman of the Year. Lastly, Haneberg was named Coach of the Year in his first season as the head coach.

State dreams alive

Eight Basin teams set for postseason runs

MOSES LAKE — State tournament season is finally here in the Basin, as several local sports teams have punched their ticket to the big dance. Eight teams from six schools are vying for a shot at their respective state championship trophies in the coming weeks.

Knights defeated in district championship

ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (14-2-1) suffered a tough 2-0 loss to the Cashmere Bulldogs in the 1A Girls Soccer District Championship on Saturday. Though they're still state bound, it doesn't make the loss easier to digest. "Unfortunately, we didn't play tough enough, early enough," Head Coach Jens Jensen said. "There's a few things there where you can look at that game and say, okay, hey, congratulations to them. They played tough. They played very physical right from the beginning. The referee allowed it, now you need to figure out how to match that."

ACH Warriors run wild in state-clinching rout

COULEE CITY — The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors (10-0) have punched their ticket to the 1B state tournament after earning a shutout win over Touchet 56-0 on Friday.

‘Somos uno’

Wahluke advances to state tournament

ROYAL CITY — ‘Somos uno,’ the Wahluke Warriors (9-7) chanted after defeating the Lakeside Eagles 3-0 Saturday to punch their ticket to the 1A state tournament for the second straight season.

State-bound Mavericks earn slew of big 9 honors

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks cross country team made their presence known on this year's Big 9 All-League honors. "It was just a special season for them," Head Coach Larry Dagnon said. "Sometimes you get just the right group that blends well together, and they work well off of each other in workouts and races and this was one of those times."

South Central Athletic Conference honors announced

MOSES LAKE — The South Central Athletic Conference has announced its All-League honors for cross country, football, girls soccer and volleyball. Many local Basin athletes from Royal and Wahluke were well represented after a long season of competition. See below where your favorite athletes landed.

'Playoff Paisley' strikes twice as Huskies top Selah, earn home crossover

SELAH — The Othello Huskies (6-7) defeated the Selah Vikings 2-0 in the consolation round of the District 5 2A Girls Soccer Tournament, earning themselves home field advantage in the District 5/6 2A Girls Soccer Crossover on Saturday. “The Ellensburg game was tough for them,” Head Coach Victor Quiroz said. “They were in it, and today they're like, ‘Hey, we have to win it, we have to host.’ They were saying, ‘How cool would it be if we qualified for state at home?’ And they showed today that they were the better team.” The Huskies took the attack right to Selah from the opening kick, booting the ball deep into their side of the field. The Vikings showed poise in the opening minutes as both teams engaged in a tug-of-war for possession.