By Cali Bagby

With good outside shooters and team speed from players who compete in at least two to three sports year-round, Coach MR Buffum said the Lobos may have a chance to place first in league and go on to state.

“We’ve got some pretty strong guys,” said Buffum. “Our goal is to get a trophy.”

Two years ago, the Lobos were second in the league, and last year they placed third — their goal this year is to come out on top.

Lummi is the hard to beat, notoriously tough team — they have won the league four or five times, Buffum estimates. And Lummi has a high turn out rate of 35 players this season.

This year, the Lopez Lobos have had a turnout of 17 players, with four seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and one freshman with a mix of experiences.

Buffum has coached for 21 years with various sports and ages. He’s coached some of his seniors since they were in sixth grade.

Buffum has about seven players that “know the drills better than he does.”

During training he separates the players to let the more experienced do their training and work on fundamentals with the new guys.

The coach wishes there was a Junior Varsity team to have less experienced players get more time on the court when it comes to game time.

This season’s team also has some pretty big sneakers to fill.

Last year’s senior William Caron was named Northwest 1B League Most Valuable Player. Buffum said they are not replacing Carson with one guy, but with multiple players he has watched grow over his years coaching,

“The seniors are really strong and really getting better,” he said. “They all have pretty good attitudes.”