The Yakima Sundome was not kind to the Pirate basketball teams today.

Both boys and girls lost their opening games in the Sundome Showdown. The Pirate girls never got untracked in a loss to Connell  and the boys got within two points late in the game before losing 42-33 to Zillah.

The Pirate girls are looking forward to a better day against Colville tomorrow before home.

The boys play at 6 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday).

The 23rd annual Rock Tournament was renamed in honor of 2004 Vashon state wrestling champion Robert “Haywire” Bennedsen who died in Afghanistan in July.

In a moving ceremony before the tournament finals a new spotlight was presented in Bennedsen’s honor.

The tournament itself quickly became a tight contest to see who would finish second to Orting. The Cardinals accumulated 250.5 points. Everett took second with 131, followed by Ridgefield, 125, Vashon 123, and Elma 107.

The non-scorers, second wrestlers in a weight class, many from Orting, racked up 105 points.

Orting had nine finalists, including one non-scorer, and took six individual championships.

Three Pirates finished in second place: Dom Stemer, 140 pounds, Alex Sohl, 170, and Vince Jovanovich, 285. Jovanovich provided the most exciting match in the semi-final against Orting’s heavyweight. The pair mostly gave away penalty points the first two rounds, with Jovanovich coming from behind at least twice.

Down by two in the final seconds of regular time, Jovanovich got a reversal to tie 5-5 and sent the match into overtime. With a takedown in OT Jovanovich had the match and the referee let the sequence continue to a pin.

The wrestlers compete in the Lake Stevens Tournament tomorrow.

The Pirate basketball teams are at the Sundome in Yakima today and tomorrow. The girls were down to Connell 19-3 at the end of the first quarter. Boys play at 6 p.m.

Look for lots of green in and around Sparks Stadium in Puyallup this afternoon.

Vashon’s girls are leaving high school at 1:40 p.m. for their 4 p.m. state soccer semi-final game against Overlake. The winner plays the Bush/Lakeside winner for the state 1A championship at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Semi-final losers play for third place at 10 a.m.

I’m expecting a big green Vashon crowd to cheer the Pirates to victory over the Owls.

At the same time my favorite B team, Seattle Lutheran from West Seattle, plays at Sunset Chev Stadium in the B semi-finals.

The two venues are only a few miles apart so if Vashon and SL play at different times tomorrow I will probably catch the SL game too. Of course I hope they are both playing for the championship.

See you in Puyallup today and tomorrow.

Olivia Andrus maneuvers between two Seattle Christian players early in the game.

Vashon’s girls established themselves as one of the top four 1A high school soccer teams in the state with a 2-1 shootout win over Seattle Christian in the state tournament quarter-final yesterday.

Olivia Andrus put Vashon up 1-0 in the 29th minute when she scored through traffic from a Carlyle Scott corner kick. As the ball bounced around in front of the goal mouth Andrus lifted it up and out of reach of the Warrior goalkeeper and two defenders.

Seattle Christian got the equalizer in the 66th minute with a nice combination from the left side and the 1-1 score held through regular time and 10 minutes of overtime.

Larissa Kuhns clears the ball during overtime.

Vashon went first in the shootout, their third shootout in five playoff games. Denise Griffith, Scott, Lena DeGuzman and Andrus all converted their kicks while the Warriors third kicker shot wide off the left post, making the count 4-3 in favor of Vashon for Cat Amick.

Amick took the ball from the referee, gave a light kiss and placed it on the penalty spot. When the whistle blew she calmly placed the ball in the back right corner of the net and the Pirates were in the semi-finals.

Cat Amick takes the kick that sends Vashon to the semi-finals.

Pirates and Warriors split their regular season games, each team winning at home. Vashon is the only 1A team to beat Seattle Christian this season.

Vashon plays the winner of today’s Seattle Academy v Overlake quarterfinal at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19 at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. The winner of that game plays at 2 p.m. Saturday at Sparks for the state championship. The semi-final losers play at 10 a.m. for third and fourth.

Vashon’s followers have consistently out-cheered the opposition during the playoffs and I expect to see a big Vashon crowd at the Friday and Saturday games. Plan to call in sick with the green flu if your employer is not a Pirate fan.

Llira McEachern, 20, congratulates Olivia Andrus for her goal against Montesano.

Back when the grandparents of current Pirates were teens, a popular folk song started something like this:

“Out here they’ve got a name for things like rain and wind and fire:

“The rain is Bess, the fire’s Joe and they call the wind Mariah.”

Mariah and Joe stayed away from yesterday’s first round State girls soccer game but Bess should probably be credited with an assist on Olivia Andrus’ game-winning goal.

The weather at Tumwater Stadium for the game between the Vashon Pirates and the Montesano Bulldogs varied from deluge to downpour to steady rain with occasional light fog drifting through.

In the 12th minute of the game the Bulldogs goalkeeper couldn’t hold on to the dripping wet ball in front of the net. Andrus pushed the loose ball across the goal line before the Montesano defenders could react.

Both teams attacked relentlessly the rest of the game but when the final buzzer sounded some 68-plus minutes later, Andrus’ goal held up to give the Pirates a 1-0 victory.

“That’s a long time to hold your breath,” a game official remarked to a Vashon supporter.

Vashon’s best chance to add an insurance goal came later in the first half when Lena DeGuzman took a free kick from about 30 yards. The ball hit and rolled along the crossbar before dropping out of bounds for a Bulldog free kick.

Vashon goalkeeper Larissa Kuhns saved the Pirates time and again as the Bulldogs controlled much of the second half action. Montesano probably had more shots than Vashon, but couldn’t control the ball close in and many of the shots went wide.

The Pirates win advances them to Friday’s quarter-final round where they will meet Seattle Christian for the third time this season. Vashon is the only 1A team to beat the Warriors this season, in their first meeting at Vashon. Seattle Christian won the return match on the Warriors’ home pitch. Friday’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Foster High School.

The fall season is shaping up to be a good one for the Pirates. Girls soccer and boys cross country look especially strong and football, volleyball and boys tennis are all contenders. Girls cross country has some top runners and could be winning meets if five girls would all run in the same meet.

After destroying Chimacum and Life Christian last week, the futbol girls did a number on Orting yesterday. Orting has league-leading scorer Acacia Johnson with 17 or 19 goals, depending on who is telling it, coming into last night’s game. With Denise Griffith dogging her all game and Courtney Gateman guarding the goal, Johnson was held to one goal. With two goals from Cat Amick, one from Olivia Andrus and a PK from Lena DeGuzman, the Pirates won 4-1, establishing themselves as the team to beat in the Nisqually League.

Courtney Gateman denies Orting ace Acacia Johnson a goal near the end of the first half of Monday's game.

Pirate volleyball has now won four in a row by my count, three league matches. The girls came through last night against Orting, winning 3-2. The last game went to 18-16 for the Vashon victory.

Action from the Sept. 15 volleyball match.

Boys tennis has won some and lost some as coach Jake Dillon rotates the boys into the varsity lineup. My guess is there will be a few Pirates advancing to the spring playoffs.

Three cross country boys, Colin Andrus, Aidan Cyra and Tylor Heit take turns winning races, with a couple more Pirates right on their heels. Savannah Krug usually runs first or second and Maddie Groen is right with Savannah, but so far there have not been five girls all running in the same race. The girls are there and capable of putting together a winning team, but they all need to run at the same time.

And almost everybody probably has been following the football team. They met their match at Cascade Christian last Saturday and will have to bounce back when Orting comes to the Island this Friday. Win or lose, none of the Pirate games have been close this season. Friday’s game should show what the Pirates really have.

Thursday was a good day for Vashon High School teams. Boys tennis beat Northwest Christian 5-0 and girls soccer beat Seattle Christian 4-3.

I don’t have a clue to the relative strength of Nisqually League tennis teams, but opening the season with a sweep of a non-league opponent can’t be bad. The Pirates won every match in straight sets and, from the look of the scores, very decisively.

Looking at the first week of Nisqually League scores for girls soccer, there is a shift of power this year: Orting 5, Charles Wright 0; Vashon 4, Seattle Christian 3; Cascade Christian 3, Life Christian 0.

Cat Amick, in white, challenges a Seattle Christian defender. Amick scored three second-half goals as Vashon came from behind to beat the Warriors 4-3.

Last year Seattle Christian and Charles Wright were virtually unbeatable with Orting and Vashon challenging. On Wednesday the Cardinals knocked the Tarriers off their pedestal with more goals than most teams get against them in two seasons.

On Thursday Vashon gave up quick goals at the start of both halves. With less than a minute gone in the second half the stunned Pirates were down 2-0 to the visiting Warriors. Then Cat Amick went to work. A hat trick from Amick, with Olivia Andrus adding another goal, set the Pirates on the way to the win and got the season off to a great start.

Vashon goalkeeper Courtney Gateman runs toward the victory celebration as the final whistle sounds on her first varsity start.

After last Friday’s football game at Chelan, the fall sports season begins in earnest today.

Girls soccer opens at 5 p.m. today with a home game against perennial power Seattle Christian. Nothing like jumping in with both feet. Saturday the Pirate girls travel to Overlake for varsity and JV games.

Boys tennis heads to Northwest Christian while volleyball and cross country have a few more days to prepare for their first competition.

The football team hosts Lakeside tomorrow in the Pirates’ home opener. I can almost taste the booster burgers already.

Monday, Sept. 13, is Tarrier-fest on the Vashon campus. Charles Wright sends girls soccer, boys tennis and volleyball teams to the Island to challenge the Pirates.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, cross country hosts Life Christian and Cascade Christian. The course is on the school campus and finishes in the stadium.

Check the high school website for all the sports schedules and remember schedules sometimes change, especially early in the season as the schools in the league cope with transportation and eligibility issues. http://www.vashonsd.org/index.php?/district2/vhs-sports/ has all the latest varsity and JV schedules.

The calendar may say “Summer” and the weather persons are predicting 90 degrees in the next few days, but it really is time to think Fall sports.

Signups for Vashon High School Fall sports begin next week, Aug. 17 through Aug. 23.

Football practice starts Aug. 18 and the other sports start Aug. 23. Athletes must have all paper work and fees paid before they can practice with the team, and missed practices the first two weeks can mean delayed eligibility and missing early competitions. The school office will be open starting Aug. 17. Check the school web site for hours. All the necessary forms are available on the web site.

Football coach Clay Eastly is optimistic about the coming season and urged me to make the trip to Chelan for the Sept. 3 season opener. Chelan was beaten in last year’s state semi-final by champion Connell. Eastly says this year’s Pirates will be a match for the Goats. The trip might be worth it just to see the only high school I know of whose fight song is to the tune of “Anchors Aweigh.”

Cross country coach Kevin Ross is excited about the boys team this year, with a lot of returning veterans and some incoming freshmen and transfer students. The harriers open with a home meet Sept. 16.

There is a chance Vashon could host the Nisqually League Meet in October. With the 2A schools moving to another league, the regular season meets will be a good indication of the team’s strength against 1A schools when regional and state meets come up.

Girls soccer lost a lot of strong players to graduation, but there are some strong players coming up from last years JV and, I’m told, a good group of freshmen.

I’ve retired from coaching so I hope to get to competitions for all the Pirate teams and get some good photos this Fall.

Robert Bennedsen was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Vashon Island has lost one of her best.

I remember Robert as an outstanding athlete, a state champion wrestler and record-setting football player, as well as one of the best young people I have ever met.

Among my memories of Robert is a running joke we had about my never showing his face in photos in The Beachcomber. Since he wrestled and played football, most of the action pictures I had of him showed a face-plant on a muddy football field or his face buried in an opposing wrestler’s back.

Robert was also a Fire District Explorer, and from what I heard, one of the best there also.

I remember when Robert was credited with saving a pumper truck from serious damage. While preparing to hook the hose to a hydrant at a restaurant fire, He found gravel someone had apparently put in the hydrant. Had he not checked before hooking up the hose, the gravel would have destroyed the pump.

At a Pirate football game at North Mason I was taking pictures and trying to take notes on the game at the same time. Around the end of the first half I checked back through my notes to see if I was getting a cross section of the Pirate players and I realized that almost of the pictures were of Robert. That was the night he ran for more than 400 yards, still one of the top five games for all classifications in the state.

Robert was made an honorary member of the Othello High School wrestling team at the State Tournament one year.

Halfway through the championship round Othello and Mt. Baker were the only teams with a chance to win the State Championship. All the Othello wrestlers were done and a win by Mt. Baker’s last competitor would give the Mountaineers the title. But the Mt. Baker wrestler had to defeat Vashon’s Robert Bennedsen.

Every Vashon, Othello and Mt. Baker fan was watching the mat. When Robert won, the Vashon and Othello fans exploded. At the awards ceremony the Othello team dragged Robert into their state championship team picture.

I read that the family has suggested that memorials go toward improving the high school football field. That would be a fitting memorial and lasting legacy for this outstanding Islander.