Gardner was selected as the District 4 assistant coach of the year in 2022 by the Washington State Football Coaches Association. He works as an instructional coach at Kelso High School.
Ben Nelson has been hired as head football coach at Hockinson High School.
Nelson takes over for Clint LeCount, who led the Hawks for four seasons.
Nelson served most recently as the offensive coordinator under Mike Woodward at Battle Ground. He previously worked with Woodward at Woodland High School.
Nelson, who is also an assistant girls basketball coach at Woodland, works as a counselor at Hockinson Middle School.
Haywood passes 2,000 points
Brooklynn Haywood reached another milestone in what is on pace to be a record-breaking career.
The Union junior surpassed 2,000 career points early in the Titans’ opening round 4A state tournament game Friday against Woodinville.
Needing six points to reach 2,000, Haywood passed the mark when she banked in a 3-pointer with just over 4:00 left in the first quarter.
Haywood was just getting started. She finished with 38 points as the No. 5 seed Titans lost a hard-fought game 70-66 to the No. 4 seed Falcons.
Beavers approach two milestones
As the Woodland girls basketball team makes the program’s first state trip to the Yakima SunDome since 2006, two milestones could happen for the Beavers.
Sophomore forward Kennedy Bockert is 14 points away from 1,000 for her career. She posted 25 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s 59-28 win over Sultan in the state opening round at Mark Morris High.
Head coach Glen Flanagan is three wins away from 450 career victories. He entered the 2024-25 campaign needing 22 victories to achieve the feat. The Beavers are 19-6 entering Wednesday’s Round-of-12 game against Bainbridge.
