FERNDALE - Jake Schroeder has his senior year of baseball at Ferndale only a month away and has already signed a scholarship offer to pitch for Washington State next year, but he's not ready to close the book on his basketball career just yet.
"It's my senior year, and I just want to live it up," Schroeder said. "I want to enjoy everything as long as I can."
The 6-foot-7 post put off getting ready for the baseball season for at least four more days with an unforgettable second half in a Class 3A Northwest District Tournament elimination game on Friday, Feb. 10, against visiting Everett. Schroeder out-rebounded the Seagulls himself in the game's final 16 minutes - when he ripped down 14 of his game-high 18 boards - and scored 14 of his game-high 21 points after halftime in a 56-45 victory in a battle that got quite chippy down the stretch.
"Maybe we play a little better with our backs against the wall," said Schroeder's teammate in the post, Daniel Canzater, who turned in a 14-point, five-rebound effort of his own. "We just play like there is no tomorrow."
Thanks in large part to the dominance of Schroeder and Canzater down low, there will be another tomorrow for the Golden Eagles (16-7) on Tuesday, Feb. 14, when they'll host Oak Harbor in another elimination game. The Wildcats lost 54-37 to Glacier Peak in the district semifinals on Friday.
The winner of Tuesday's game still will have to survive two more elimination games to earn the district's No. 2 seed and advance to state.
As difficult as that sounds, Ferndale probably wouldn't find itself in that position without the spirited play of Schroeder in the second half.
"I played a little soft in the first half," Schroeder said. "In the second half, I came out and tried to play hard off the boards."
After grabbing four rebounds in the first half, he seemed to snare just about everything that bounced off the rim in the second. At one point with less than a minute to play in the game, Schroeder was out-rebounding the Seagulls 14-6 in the second half. Everett closed the gap to 14-10 by the end of the game, but was still out-rebounded 40-23 by all the Golden Eagles in the game.
"He's just a warhorse for us," Ferndale coach Monte Walton said. "The last four or five games, he's just been carrying us. He and Daniel Canzater are really big and really physical, and they can create a very good mismatch for us inside."
Canzater said part of the reason for the duo's success is the way that he and Schroeder work together in the paint.
"If one of us misses something rebounding, the other one is there," Canzater said. "Same thing on defense. We complete each other."
Though Everett has a pair of talented young sophomore post players in Jace Chacon and Cortez Carr, they were not capable of matching up with the bigger, more experienced Schroeder and Canzater in the second half on Friday. Chacon led the Seagulls with 15 points and six rebounds, but was held to one point in the fourth quarter, when Ferndale was able to put the game away.
Ferndale led 39-30 entering the fourth quarter thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Aiden Sands after Chad Hunt tipped out a rebound to him in the closing seconds of the third. But Everett slowly worked its way back into the game, twice cutting the Golden Eagles' lead to four points on buckets from Carr and Reece Hoiby midway through the third quarter.
But just when it looked like Ferndale's chance of advancing might be in danger, Jake Frost hit a pull-up jumper and was fouled. He converted the 3-point play to make it 48-41 with 2:50 to play.
After a defensive stop and a rebound by - you guessed it - Schroeder, the big man was fouled at the other end with 2:35 to play. He hit both his free throws to stretch the advantage back to nine points.
Ferndale continued to hold the Seagulls to one missed shot on its next four possessions and converted 6 of 10 free throws in the game's final 1:20 to put it away.
"I told the guys at halftime we needed to get our bigs going right at 'em," Walton said. "And that's exactly what we did. Our big guys played real aggressive in the second half. ... Both guys were scoring and feeding each other. They work the high-low really well, and you saw that again tonight."
Frost, who came off the bench, joined Schroeder and Canzater in double figures with 11 points, while Everett's Gabe Woods hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, as well.
Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2271.
FERNDALE 56, EVERETT 45
Everett 10 12 8 15 - 45
Ferndale 8 17 14 17 - 56
Everett: Steven Tran 2, Reece Hoiby 4, Unikque Thibou 6, Jace Chacon 15, Cortez Carr 6, Will Richardson 1, Cal Knapp 0, Gabe Woods 11, Sam Arends 0, Shawn Franklin 0. Team totals: 16-46 10-19 45.
Ferndale: Aiden Sands 6, Kendall Kelly 0, Jacob Frost 11, Cody Mason 4, Joseph Riley 0, Chad Hunt 0, David Vanegas-Lytle 0, Watson George 0, Conor Ford 0, Caleb Rodriguez 0, Jake Schroeder 21, Daniel Canzater 14. Team totals: 17-40 19-27 46.
3-ptg: Everett 3 (Woods 3), Ferndale 3 (Sands 2). Rebounds: Everett 23 (Chacon 6), Ferndale 40 (Schroeder 18). Assists: Everett 3 (Hoiby 3), Ferndale 6 (Ford 4). Fouls: Everett 19 (Thibou fouled out), Ferndale 15). Turnovers: Everett 8, Ferndale 16.
