In the back of a closet at Ocosta High School there were some old blazers. Bright red, two buttons, with a black patch near the left breast pocket with OCOSTA sewn over the depiction of a wildcat. The jackets screamed glee club more than basketball team, but boys basketball coach Jason Quinby pulled them out of storage last year and asked the team if they wanted to wear them.
“They used to wear them back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and Quinby found them and asked if we wanted to wear them and we said, ‘Sure,’ so now wherever we go it is what we wear, khakis and blazers,” said 6-foot-6 senior Connor Pegg. “It’s classy.”
Along with dusting off a few old blazers, the players have bought into Quinby’s system of hard work and fast play, which has brought back another tradition to Ocosta — winning. After watching their season end on an 86-37 loss to eventual state champion Morton/White Pass in the regional round last year, the Wildcat players vowed to put in the work to get back. Ocosta participated in camps and even a summer league at Tumwater High School in June.
Blood, sweat and tears in the offseason turned into the best record in school history. Ocosta finished 19-1 through the regular season and battled to a fourth-place finish at the District IV 2B Tournament. The hard work has earned the Wildcats another shot at making it to the state tournament for the first time since those blazers were in style in 1971. On Saturday, Ocosta travels to Mount Vernon High School to take on Friday Harbor at 2 p.m.
“It has been fun,” Quinby said. “It’s been a lot of hard work to be honest with you. I felt we had something special going into the offseason, and it took a lot of work in the offseason to grow and figure out who were going to be the leaders because we lost a good senior class last year. Once that molded, it was just how hard can we push these guys. How hard could we work in practice and could we meet the potential that was there. They worked extremely hard and we pushed them harder than any group I’ve had yet.”
On Tuesday, I headed to Westport to see firsthand the sweat equity that the Wildcats were putting in. In my first 10 minutes in the gym, I witnessed a horrendous version of ‘Happy Birthday’ and a pantsing. Not exactly the work ethic I had heard about, but the magic happened when Quinby blew his whistle. The group came to attention and began to run the offense with near precision. Try and get this group to line up for a photo and it may take 30 minutes; try and get them to run a press and it takes about three seconds.
“If somebody on the outside was to hear how these guys joke with each other, you might think that they hate each other, but it is a very unique group,” Quinby said. “They are pretty loose and we allow that as long as when it is time to work hard and focus they do that.”
After a big win, the whole team may pack game consoles over to Peter Samuelson’s house and play NBA 2K15 until 7 a.m. However, when it comes to pushing buttons on the actual court, Quinby is in command.
“He keeps it loose,” said Samuelson, a 6-foot-1 senior. “He never yells at us unless we really mess up, but as soon as practice starts he is serious and we have to do exactly what he says. He can be fun, but we also listen to him.”
For Quinby, a 2002 Ocosta grad, his connection with his players can be seen right on his face, literally. He is currently three weeks into a playoff beard, just like most of his players.
It will take more than a little facial hair to get them a victory against Friday Harbor. The Wolverines have a roster with five players that are 6-foot-3 or taller and are led by 6-foot wing Luke Stromberg, who scored 22 points in their district championship game against La Conner. It will be a matchup of size for Friday Harbor against the speed of Ocosta.
Pegg is the only Ocosta player over 6-foot-1 and the two leading scorers for the Wildcats are 5-foot-10 senior guard Anthony Juarez, who averages 12 points, and 5-foot-6 sophomore Zach Allton, who averages 10.4 points. Along with Pegg’s 9.1 points a contest, senior Kyle Bambauer adds another 10 points.
The Wildcats play at breakneck speed at times, stealing the ball and laying it in before a certain sports reporter can even mark it down on his pad. They are fun to watch, and that is by design, but their style has been effective and with one goal in mind.
“It was intentional to find a style that people would enjoy coming to watch and I’m an Ocosta guy, and it was one of my missions when I started coaching to get people back involved in our sports teams,” Quinby said. “I wanted to get people to come watch the kids play and to do that we had to talk about what it looks like to be a winner and it was more than just how you carry yourself out on the basketball court. It was how you carry yourself in public.”
From their ‘midnight madness’ practice and sleepover at the gym to start the season until now the focus has been on Spokane.
“Coach has been preaching since I was a freshman that he wants to get to state and we want to get to Spokane,” Juarez said. “We think that if we get to Spokane this whole place will be deserted and they will go to Spokane with us.”
Well, here is to hoping the Wildcats get to show off those blazers for at least two more days this season.