[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- 2005 Class 1A state tournament ]

Napavine -- Kaut 1-7 3-4 5, Diehl 1-10 0-1 2, Carns 1-11 8-12 10, Ridley 0-4 2-3 2, R. McNelly 0-2 0-0 0, May 0-2 0-0 0, Hylton 0-0 0-0 0, Winslow 1-3 1-3 3, Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, A. McNelly 0-1 0-0 0, Richardson 1-1 0-1 2, Hipp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 5-42 14-24 24.

Colfax -- Teade 0-4 1-2 1, Lazzarini 0-0 0-0 0, Harazin 4-13 7-10 17, Largent 0-2 0-0 0, Markley 0-1 3-4 3, Burns 0-0 0-0 0, Mellor 2-3 0-2 4, Arthur 0-0 0-0 0, Doering 0-1 0-0 0, Dennison 4-7 1-2 9, Bruya 0-2 2-2 2, Shaw 1-5 2-2 5. Totals 11-38 16-24 41.

Napavine

Colfax

3-point goals--N 0-15 (Wilson 0-1, A. McNelly 0-1, Kaut 0-2, Ridley 0-2, R. McNelly 0-2, May 0-2, Winslow 0-2, Carns 0-3), C 3-8 (Harazin 2-3, Shaw 1-1, Teade 0-2, Bruya 0-2). Rebounds--N 40 (Diehl 17, Kaut 7), C 36 (Dennison 8, Teade 6, Mellor 6). Assists--N 1, C 4. Steals--N 3 (Kaut 2), C 14 (Teade 4, Harazin 4). Blocked shots--N 2, C 2. Fouled out --Kaut. Total fouls--N 24, C 21. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--N 21, C 18.

Even the most optimistic of Colfax rooters would have had difficulty envisioning this: yet another trip to the 1A girls title game, their fifth in the past seven years — last summer.

So many players were shuttling between basketball, volleyball and softball tournaments that the lineup didn’t look the same from one game to the next.

Coach Cory Baerlocher was more blunt. “We got drubbed. A lot,” he said. “I had seventh- and eighth-graders playing a lot of the time because I couldn’t get everybody to play. I kept thinking, wait until I get all the varsity team together.”

Well, the Bulldogs are very much together these days, though largely a motley collection of freshmen and sophomores that only vaguely resembles last year’s championship team. They spent Friday’s semifinals making a good Napavine team — one that had lost just once all season — look like just another victim of another Colfax juggernaut. The 41-24 final score wasn’t as one-sided as last year’s 43-18 semifinal rout between the same two teams ... but it wasn’t that far off, either.

“You know, a lot of people were saying, ‘Hey,you got a lot of young kids, this’ll be a great experience for them,’” Baerlocher said, with an expression that said How ridiculous is THAT.

The players’ preseason team goal was to place in the top four at state, which might be a lofty expectation considering their relative inexperience — but seemed perfectly reasonable to them.

“Our freshmen have the tools to get it done,” said Dennison, whose nine points and eight rebounds were arguably the Bulldogs’ second-best line of the day behind the 17 points, five rebounds and four steals of one of those freshmen, point guard Jordan Harazin.

“Our coach told us on the way here today that if we played our game, we’d be in the championship game.”

Harazin’s heady performance was one big reason why. Although she committed six turnovers, five of them came late in the game when the issue had long been decided. And contrary to what people in Napavine might believe, no, she isn’t really 22 years old and a former college player.

“I’m only 14,” she said with a self-conscious grin when that concept was posed. She, in fact, had 14-year-old nerves about playing Napavine, which had spent all of the season at or near the top of the state polls.

“I kept hearing good things about Napavine,” she said. “Angie really helped me. She told me I can do it, that I could do the job. And that we have nothing to lose. We really had nothing to lose.”

Actually, the Bulldogs — 22-5 in state-tourney play going into Saturday’s 7 p.m. championship game against Freeman — haven’t figured out how to do that anyway. Lose, that is.