Montesano comeback falls just short in district-title loss to Fort Vancouver

Published 7:30 am Monday, February 23, 2026

Montesano’s furious comeback attempt fell just short in a 59-55 loss to Fort Vancouver in the 1A District 4 championship game on Saturday at Centralia High School.

The Bulldogs (17-6 overall) struggled in the first half against Fort Vancouver (20-3) as the Trappers sped-up Montesano, causing turnovers and hurried possessions.

Monte led 8-6 on a Krew Messick pull-up jumper with 2:34 to play in the first quarter, but Fort Vancouver would end the period on an 6-0 run, capped by a bucket in the paint from Veniamin Koval to take a 14-8 lead.

The Trappers took a double-digit lead at 25-14 when senior Jaxen Appelt hit a three with 1:41 to play in the first half and led 29-16 a minute later after back-to-back Monte turnovers turned into easy open buckets for the Trappers, capped by a breakaway dunk from Appelt that forced a Monte timeout.

“They are a really athletic team,” Montesano head coach Shaydon Farmer said. “They fly around, they are going to press you, they are going to get in your face and that’s why they have a lot of success. They have the dudes that can just fly around and, obviously, we struggled with that today.”

With Monte trailing 31-20 at the half, Farmer didn’t give any Hollywood-style pep talks at halftime. Instead, he kept it simple.

“I wish there was some magical message. It was just be stronger,” he said. “We weren’t very strong in any aspect of the first half, but we were still right there. … Just be stronger with the ball, stronger without the ball, stronger defensively, rebounding and blocking shots. Stronger in every sense of the word.”

Monte did exactly that in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 32-27 on a 7-0 run capped by a three from senior forward Mason Fry at 5:25.

The Trappers pushed the lead back up to 12 at 41-29 on a layup from their senior leading scorer Leighton Livengood with just under four minutes left in the period.

But Monte kept battling back, cutting the Trappers lead to 44-43 on a drive and layup from junior guard Ryan Weidman with a half-minute to play in the third.

Appelt responded with a three with 10 seconds left to stake Fort Vancouver to a 47-43 lead heading to the final eight minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs stayed within two possessions of the Trappers throughout the fourth quarter as foul problems plagued Fort Vancouver down the stretch, with Koval fouling out and Livengood playing with four fouls.

Monte cut the deficit to a single possession on a Fry free throw with 2:45 left to play and the Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game with a three 30 seconds later.

But a Weidman pass was intercepted by Fort Vancouver’s Isaiah Barajas. Livengood followed with a strong low-post bucket to put Monte in a 55-50 hole with 1:45 remaining.

After a Monte turnover and a Trappers missed shot, Bulldogs junior Caden Grubb scored off a slick interior pass from twin brother Colton Grubb to make it a 55-52 game at 1:04.

Barajas followed by splitting two Monte defenders and converting a layup to make it a 57-52 game with 41 seconds left.

Fry pulled up and hit an elbow three to pull Monte to a single possession at 57-55 with 18 second on the clock.

The Bulldogs were forced to foul and Masamy missed the second of his two free throws.

Monte hurried to the front court and worked the ball around to Colton Grubb, who took a dribble and had a good look at an elbow three. But his shot was long and Fort Vancouver got the rebound and was immediately fouled with 0.9 on the clock.

Appelt made the second of his two free throws to seal the Bulldogs’ fate as the Trappers escaped with a 59-55 victory.

“I thought our passes were a little bit better in the second half, and that’s probably what got us back into the game,” Farmer said of his team’s second-half performance. “We showed that we belonged here and this was no fluke. (Fort Vancouver) is a really good team. They are top 10 for a reason. We could’ve given up and we didn’t. That was a comeback that our kids created themselves. I’m very proud of the way they worked. We get a shot to tie it in the last 20 seconds. Those have gone our way it seems a lot this year. That one didn’t.”

Monte was led by Fry with 21 points while Caden Grubb and Weidman also finished in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs now set their sights on the state tournament, where they received a No. 13 seed and will face No. 12 Wapato in an elimination game at 6 p.m. Friday at Davis High School in Yakima.

Fort Vancouver 14 17 16 12 – 59

Montesano 8 12 23 12 – 55

Scoring: FV – Livengood 21, Appelt 17, Barajas 8, Howard 5, Koval 4, Masamy 4. Montesano – Fry 21, Ca. Grubb 13, Weidman 11, Co. Grubb 7, Messick 3.