Photo Credit: Hannah Eugster
Senior Haniteli Lousi waiting to get into the game.
January 6, 2012
Ricky Lang
The Washington Boys Basketball team opened MVAL league play with an exciting 67-57 victory against American on Wednesday, Jan. 4. The game went into double overtime before a winner could be decided.
The lead changed hands countless times in the first three quarters with both teams playing extremely well. With 2.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Huskies led 50-46 and American had two free-throws. The Eagles made the first free-throw but intentionally missed the second and dished the ball to Connor Tse, who drained a clutch three-pointer to tie the game at 50-50 just as time expired. The American fans erupted and even ran out onto the floor to celebrate the unlikely comeback.
However, Washington did not let this change of momentum psych them out. With time running out in the first overtime period, Washington Senior Pierce Romero stole the ball and attempted to dunk. But, the play was called back because American had intentionally fouled. Senior Matt Songponnopachon then headed to the line and sank two free-throws to tie the game at 54 all and send the game into double overtime. Now it was the Washington crowd’s turn to cheer. The Huskies dominated the second overtime thanks to a technical foul on the hot-headed American head coach, the muscle of Haniteli Lousi, and the scoring machine Matt Songponnopachon, who was a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line and ended the night with 22 points. The final score was 67-57 in favor of the Huskies.
“It felt great just to get the W. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us tonight,” senior Pierce Romero (18 points on the night) said after the game.
The chaotic overtime win makes Washington 1-0 in MVAL league play and 4-11 on the season. The Huskies have a bye on Friday, Jan. 6 but resume play at home on Wednesday, Jan. 11 against Newark Memorial.
Photo Credit: Iris Chan
Sophomores pose in their ninja costumes.
November 4, 2011
Anmol Mathur
Photo Credit: Amanda Sabeh
Coleana Mount studying for her last vocabulary test for the quarter.
November 3, 2011
Amanda Sabeh
November is here and we are about three weeks away from Thanksgiving Break. You know what that means Huskies, first quarter is coming to an end. As teachers are occupied getting ready to update our grades, some students are quite anxious to see their results. Seeing the aftermath of all your vocation being put into a letter that judges your academic knowledge, can be a bit frightful for some. Junior Sahra Taeb said, “First quarter went by so fast! I have to admit, I’m pretty nervous to get my progress report.” She’s not the only one, many students are still trying to bear the thought that before long their parents/guardians are going to see how well, or how poorly they are doing with their academics. However, as terrifying as receiving a progress report can be, some students remain very tranquil with the ending of first quarter. Junior Alissa Ceja has a positive attitude towards this occasion as she said, “Good! Let it end!”
Photo Credit: Amanda Sabeh
Senior boys take part in the cross dress dance during the Senior spirit skit, "Spirit Wars".
November 2, 2011
Amanda Sabeh
“Out of all the skits we’ve had this year, this one was the best and went the smoothest,” said senior Kate High. It has been Husky tradition for the past 10 years for Senior boys to cross dress during their last skit at our school. As some of you former students may know, some teachers had quite a controversy with class of 2011’s cross dressing segment, feeling it was inappropriate. However, this year class of 2012 proved them different. Senior boys still managed to partake in the cross dressing tradition while keeping it appropriate and entertaining. Paris was not afraid to pull the plug if seniors abused their skit privileges, although she was very confident that they got the message. Ms. Paris said, “I haven’t seen a class so respectful in the last 5 to 6 years. Their skit could not have been more tasteful, it was fantastic!”
Photo Credit: Pro Image Studios
Water polo players watch the ball carefully during a game.
November 2, 2011
Sai Vanam
Boys’ Water Polo JV and Varsity teams both proved to stay undefeated in their regular season league games. Varsity won with 17-5 against Newark Memorial High School and JV beat them by 10-2. The varsity record so far is 9-0 for league. Due to complications with the Washington swimming pool, Senior Night was relocated to Newark Memorial High School. Twelve seniors were honored: Parker Knight, Brady Knight, Daniel Tsay, Noah McFerran, Brock Leibhardt, Josh Christy, Grant Perry, Armand King, Elias Mendez, Mitchell Youhanna, Blayke Barrientos, and Ryan Aspacio. At first, the game turned out to be very competitive and the score was tied at 3-3 in the first quarter. Senior Parker Knight attributed their slow start to “a lack of warm –ups for our Huskies.” He continued to say that “Our defense held up in the starting, but our offense wasn’t productive.”
The moment the second quarter began, a Husky offense rush occurred. Senior Brock Leibhardt led the offensive charge with seven quick goals. Senior Noah McFerran explained the reason for this by saying “We capitalized on the weaknesses of the other team and used our strengths as advantages.” The Huskies used their quickness and size to weaken Newark’s defensive scheme. They enter NCS as the 7th seed in a tournament with 15 other teams. They hope to use their incredible success in the regular season to motivate them in competitive post season games. They play Foothill High School next Saturday. Earlier in the season, our Huskies trumped the Falcons in a tournament. The 2011 North Coast Championships take place Saturday Nov. 5.
Photo Credit: Danielle Petroff
Dilon Butcher (12) walks off the field holding his helmet.
October 6, 2011
Cyril Sambrano
Washington kicks off the season with a loss against Irvington on Friday, Sept. 30, 2011. Washington’s starting quarterback, junior Kyle Malpede, missed the second half due to a concussion and is expected to be out for about a month. The back up quarterback, Brandon Sewell, threw for ninety-eight yards, including a sixty-five yard touchdown pass to junior Andrew Llanos in the third quarter. The Huskies went into the fourth quarter with a 33-23 lead over the Vikings. Irvington started their comeback with less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Their first touchdown in the quarter occurred with 3:39 left on a one-yard touchdown run. With only fifteen seconds left, the Vikings scored their second one-yard touchdown run to finish off a fourteen point fourth quarter and end the game a the score 33-37. Senior Defensive captain Ali Saleh said, “It’s a very crucial point in our season. Our next game can make or break us.” Washington and Kennedy will face off each looking for their first win on Friday, October 7, 2011 at 7 p.m. Both sporting matching records of 0-5.
Photo Credit: Mazher Ahmed
Madison Jeong (11) returns a serve while Alice Pham (11) stands ready at the net during Washington's girls' tennis game against Newark Memorial on Sept. 22, 2011.
September 28, 2011
Cyril Sambrano
Photo Credit: Ninon Becquart
Guarav Desai (11) asks Ayesha Ruprell (11) to Winter Ball.
December 9, 2010
Ninon Becquart
During a certain week of December, flowers are in abundance at Washington. Boys, both brave and bold, carry around bouquets until the girls are proudly clutching them in their arms. It’s the same with posters. They’re seen all around campus, and held by girls and boys. All the posters have two words in common followed by a question mark: “Winter Ball”. I decided to ask Huskies about the creative ways they found to ask their dream date to Winter Ball.
For example, Grant Perry, a junior, put goldfish on his date’s porch and had signs that said, “Of all of the fish in the sea, will you go to Winter Ball with me?” He then gave her roses, and she, fortunately for him, said yes.
Sammy Steadman, another junior, was very surprised when she was asked.
“So it was our sixth month anniversary and he was taking me to dinner,” she explained.
Her boyfriend, Nick Ravenscroft, a senior, wanted to take her somewhere nice for their anniversary, while Steadman simply wanted to go to Panera Bread. He finally agreed to go, but warned her that they couldn’t leave for twenty minutes in order to raise his girlfriend’s suspicions. However, nothing happened at Panera, but while walking back to his car, he mentioned that he had problems with his car. In order to make the bad luck seem real, Ravenscroft figured out how to make it seem his car was going haywire by purposely taking his foot off the clutch, which made his car break down at random places while they drove back to his home.
“I was getting hecka freaked out!” Steadman exclaimed. It only got scarier.
About a mile from his home, Ravenscroft then made the car buck six times, and the radio even changed stations. He told Sammy to stay in the car, opened the car, and waved his hands as if there was smoke. Steadman was nervous and got ready to run out to get her car. That’s when her boyfriend admitted that his car was fine, and revealed a sign that said “Winterball”.
“I thought he was going to do something to my house,” Steadman recalls. She said yes, and admires her boyfriend’s creativity.
However, just simply asking verbally can be a surprise like when Mary Chan, a freshman, was asked to Winter Ball.
“I was surprised,” Mary says, “I didn’t see it coming. He just came out and asked.”
Mary was eating lunch with her friend when he asked her. Fortunately for her date, she accepted to go with him. She believes that the best way to ask someone to Winter Ball is by doing something special and sweet.
She comments, “I wish he did something more special and different.”
Others were too shy to ask, but were simply excited that others are attending Winter Ball. Nico Belingheri, a junior who currently does not attend Washington, received a guest pass from her best friend. She jumped at the chance to see all of her old friends again. At the last second, the girl she liked was transferred to Washington, so Nico got the chance to tell her crush that she was going to the dance, and she is now her unofficial date. This made Nico very happy, though she didn’t actually ask her, because of feeling shy.
Huskies, regardless if they’re upperclassmen or lowerclassmen, all had creative ideas for asking their dates to Winter Ball. Most guys asked girls, though girls definitely asked guys, and girls even asked other girls. (As well as boys asking boys). Winter Ball was a chance for Huskies to really demonstrate their creativity this year.
Photo Credit: Rosie Chu
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November 8, 2010
Ninon Becquart
On November 7th, 2010, Washington High School hosted the regional cheer competition held by the United Spirit Association (USA). Washington cheerleaders performed at 10:15 AM in the Small Varsity Show Novice division and competed against Notre Dame, Los Altos, Saratoga, American and Wilcox. However, many other teams were competing as well, with 81 teams competing in total in over 35 divisions. The event itself lasted from 9 AM to 4 PM, and the judging for the first third of the divisions began at 11 a.m. During this judging, Washington cheerleaders as well as other teams awaited the judges’ decisions and sat anxiously in the center of the gym.
Washington cheerleaders performed the same routine that they had at their Santa Cruz competition earlier in the year; it was performed without dropping any stunts and set to the music of “O.M.G.” by Usher and Will.i.am and “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Like the Santa Cruz competition, the routine won them first place.
Although the team performed without any mistakes, cheerleader Jenna Bettencourt fainted immediately after the performance and had to be carried off by teammates. Other injuries included a cheerleader who suffered a sprain ankle and one that had suffered a hairline fracture earlier that week. Despite these obstacles, the Huskies managed to snatch another first place plaque to add to their collection.
Photo Credit: http://whshatchet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/football-BLK.jpg
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November 11, 2009
Yama Hazeer
The varsity football team lost its homecoming game by the final score of 10-28. Not only was it a homecoming loss, but the loss also gave the Pop Gould trophy to the James Logan Colts.
The Pop Gould trophy is a competition founded by J.V. Gould between rival schools James Logan and WHS. Every year the trophy is awarded to the winner of the Washington-Logan football game.
“I think our defense played well all night, but our offense struggled,” senior and captain David Ross said.
The Huskies held the Colts to only a field goal on their first drive, but turned the ball over which resulted in a touchdown for Logan. In the second quarter, WHS forced a fumble and took the ball deep into the field. Senior Josh Wilson kicked a field goal to make the score 10-3 during halftime.
After the half, the Colts scored quickly to make it a 15 point difference. The Huskies scored a touchdown off a two yard run from Ross, to make the score 18-10 in the third quarter.
“I don’t think we played as hard as we can,” senior Khalled Hassan said. “I’ve seen us make amazing plays. What lost us the game was pretty much lack of effort.”
WHS looked like they were ready to make a comeback, but colt receiver, Toni Pole caught a 78 yard touchdown reception to seal the win for Logan.
“I thought we played well with an exception to a few blown coverages and dropped passes,” senior Tanner King said.
Ross insisted that his injured elbow was not the reason for the team’s offensive struggles.
“We could have played a lot better on offense,” Ross said. “My elbow is good enough to play. I am getting surgery after the season.”
This was the first loss for Washington in league play. They are now second place in the Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL) behind Logan.
“In order to win in the playoffs we need to play a perfect game and everyone needs to execute their responsibilities,” King said.
