March Sports Report

Author’s note: This sports section has information as of February 12th. To get more updated information about Bush athletics, you can go to BushBlazersAthletics.com. For more information on sports, you can go to ESPN.com. 

Welcome, Blazers, to the first Sports Report of the 2025 school year! In this sports report, I’ll give a recap of the Bush basketball season, preview the spring season, and go over the NFL season and other national storylines.

Boys’ Basketball: The Boys’ varsity basketball team is currently 9-8 with a 5-7 conference record. Heading into the Emerald Sound tournament they were the fifth seed and went on the road to take on the fourth seeded Northwest. That game ended up being a thriller won by the Blazers, 71-69. This means Bush will move on to the next round for an away matchup against number one seeded King’s on February 18th. The Junior Varsity team finished 5-11 with a 4-10 conference record.

Girls’ Basketball: The Girls’ varsity basketball team has been a powerhouse all season and is on a ten-game winning streak. This has set them up for the playoffs tremendously well, as they find themselves as the third seed in the Emerald Sound Conference. In the first round of the ESC playoffs, they dominated Eastside Prep 51-22, setting them up for a road matchup against second seeded Cedar Park Christian on February 18th. It has been an incredibly successful season for the Bush basketball program.

Spring Sports: With the Winter Sports season winding down, it’s time to shift our focus to the spring season. For Boys’ Soccer, the varsity program is coming off of a ten-win, four-loss, and five-tie season. The team, led by head coach Marcelino Dumpit, finished as the Emerald Sound Conference champions and the 11th ranked team in 1A. There is high roster turnover from last year. With the three all-conference Blazers from the class of ‘24 graduated, many new contributors will need to step up. The track season will begin led by coach Ray Wells Jr, with Girls’ tennis and golf starting in the spring as well.

Super Bowl: The NFL season came to a close with an emphatic Super Bowl victory for the Philadelphia Eagles. They came into the big game as a slight underdog against reigning back-to-back champions the Kansas City Chiefs. The game was viewed as a battle between greatness and overall talent, as the Chiefs had been viewed as a team trying to fulfill their legacy, while the Eagles had slowly built up a superteam in the background. From the moment the game started, one could see the difference in talent. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes faced constant pressure from the Eagles’ pass and rookie cornerbacks Cooper Dejean and Quinyon Mitchell locked down Chiefs receivers. The Eagles were expected to rely on their Offensive Player running back Saquon Barkley, however, they used quarterback Jalen Hurts and receivers AJ Brown and Devonta Smith to complete deep passes, and the Eagles led a balanced attack. The game was never competitive, with the Eagles jumping out to a 34-0 lead. After a few garbage time touchdowns, the final score was 40-22. Jalen Hurts won Super Bowl MVP, and the Eagles got revenge after the Chiefs had beat them in the Super Bowl just two years earlier. 

Other NFL News: In the rest of the NFL, we saw a thrilling playoff bracket, with the biggest story being the breakout of the Washington Commanders, led by rookie sensation Jayden Daniels, who brought Washington to the Conference championship. The Seattle Seahawks finished 10-7 and were the first team out of the playoffs. While being the first team out is never where you want to be, it was nonetheless a successful first year for the Mike Macdonald regime. They will head into the offseason trying to fix their broken offensive line. This offseason, some of the biggest storylines will be where breakout quarterback Sam Darnold signs, and if superstar Myles Garrett will be traded, as he has formally requested a trade from the Browns. In the draft, generational talent Travis Hunter can play both cornerback and wide receiver, so it will be interesting to see where he plays on the NFL level.

NBA News: The NBA all-star weekend just came to a close in San Francisco. Some highlights were Mac Mcclung getting his third dunk contest victory in a row and Tyler Herro winning the Three Point contest. Overall, the biggest recent news in the NBA was the blockbuster trade of global phenom Luka Dončić, who was traded from the Mavericks to the Lakers. This trade came out of nowhere and supposedly stemmed from conditioning concerns for the 25-year-old Dončić, however, this trade will still transform the Lakers team now and in the future. Other key players on the move were point guard De'Aaron Fox going to the Spurs, Brandon Ingram to the Raptors, and Jimmy Butler to the Warriors. Currently, the Cavaliers and Thunder are the two number one seeds in their conferences, each with a record of 44-10. This year, the Western Conference is extremely strong, with two-thirds of the teams with winning records coming from the West. Currently, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the odds-on favorite to win MVP.

MLB Preview: The MLB offseason is winding down and it has been a quiet one for the Mariners. They will hope that their current infrastructure and new manager Dan Willson can finally find some improvement. In the rest of the MLB, some offseason storylines were megadeals signed by Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki for the Mets and Dodgers, respectively, and the Oakland Athletics finalizing their move to Las Vegas. Currently, the favorite to win the World Series is the Dodgers, followed by the Yankees and Mets.