ARLINGTON — Every once in a while, I have to be told — either by family or friends — that I get to watch sports for a living.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sports fan. The fact is, most of my time away from this job involves reading about sports, writing about sports or just watching it on television. But, with every passing year, I become more convinced that whatever your job is, it always ends up feeling like work.
Ironically, for as big of a part that sports are in my life, a game/match/meet would have to be pretty special for me to actually want to pay to see it. The Catch 22 is that I’d almost want to know how it ended before I paid to watch it — but then if I knew the ending, why would I watch it?
That being said, for the rest of the time I am reminded of how different my job is when I see something special.
When something comes down to the wire, or a team accomplishes a rare feat — those moments are guaranteed to happen every year, but the frequency and quantity are what’s in doubt.
After spending a week thinking about which games I would have paid to see this year, I could come up with nearly 20, which is a good number for someone who sees them four or five nights a week and made the decision already knowing what happened.
Unfortunately, after spending all day writing a list, I’m going to narrow my choices down to just five. There are a number of close calls, but these five stood out in my mind when I decided to write this.
So without further ado,here they are:
5. Arlington 76, Snohomish 34
Usually it’s a close result that leaves spectators coming away saying, “That was a good game.” But sometimes you see something that you aren’t sure you’re going to see again — or at least in the next decade.
The Eagles accomplished such a feat in the final four minutes of the first quarter and first four minutes of the second quarter against Snohomish by scoring 30 consecutive points.
A lot of things have to go just right for a 30-0 run, and in more than five years covering basketball, I’ve never seen one.
4. Archbishop Murphy 35, Lakewood 28
In easily the most enjoyable football game I saw all season, Lakewood threw out all the stops against the eventual state runner-up. Just about every trick play netted a big gain for Lakewood, which used a flea-flicker, hook-and-ladder and three onside kicks.
Lakewood actually trailed 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but coach Dan Teeter’s boys scored on a 38-yard pass, recovered an onside kick, scored again and recovered a fumble to give them one final chance to score with 35 seconds remaining.
I don’t see a number of games go down to the final drive. Even fewer have all of that trickery lead up to it — and even fewer than that decide which team earned the Cascade Conference title.
3. Arlington 35, Jackson 30
While Arlington did go on to beat Jackson more handily, 42-21, to take the Western Conference title, the more entertaining game between the two took place a month and a half earlier.
In a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the season, the shorthanded Eagles made a statement by hanging on to defeat Jackson.
The win wasn’t as surprising as the manner in which the Eagles accomplished it. Leading their attack with halfback Riley Cobb, who had his coming out party, rushing for 203 yards. Also Skylor Elgarico had a pair of crucial interceptions.
2. Lakewood 1, Archbishop Murphy 0
Even without a second trip to state and the school’s first conference title, a win over Archbishop Murphy would have been enough to call 2010 the most successful season in Lakewood girls soccer history. The Lady Cougars, however, had two. The first has to be the more epic of the two battles, as Lakewood was outshot 14-5 and the game went through two overtime periods and into a shootout. Lakewood keeper Miranda Head stopped a pair of PK’s to help snap ATM’s 32-match win streak.
Later in the season, the Cougars scored just their third goal ever on the Wildcats to help sweep them in the regular season.
1. Arlington 61, Marysville-Pilchuck 58
Win or lose, a double-overtime game has to be one of the better contests of the year.
The Eagles came out on top of this one after giving up a 10-point lead in the first quarter. Arlington needed a pair of clutch 3-pointers by Tanner Goheen in the fourth quarter to stay in the game, and even led with seconds remaining in the first overtime.
Marysville had a chance to win the game with no time remaining in the first extra frame, but made just one of two free throw attempts.
Arlington then took the lead for good on Eric Carlson’s short jumper with seconds remaining in the second OT. There were five lead changes in the final four minutes of regulation.
