High School Boys Basketball: Key brings Lumberjacks to SunDome toting most wins in program history
Break Down the Door– R.A. Long win at Regionals pushes Jeray Key past Kyle Fowler for most wins all-time
Jordan Nailon for BlastZoneMedia.com / blastzonenews@gmail.com
2A Prep Basketball / History
The historians at R.A. Long High School have been busy rewriting the record books this week after the Lumberjacks picked up yet another victory on the hardwood last Saturday in the Regional round of the 2A State Tournament. That triumph over Grandview gave head coach Jeray Key the most wins in program history, passing legendary former sideline prowler Kyle Fowler on his way to the top of the list.
— VIDEO: Highlights from R.A. Long’s 49-38 win over Grandview in the Regional round of the 2A State Tournament, Saturday, Feb. 28, at Kelso High School. / Video by Patrick Durgeloh for Blast Zone Media —
“He’s an awesome coach,” RAL freshman Cash Coates said after helping to shoot the Jacks to another victory. “I know with this win he’s now the all-time leader for wins, which is awesome. He’s a one of a kind guy, really.”
For his part, Key was less enthused to talk about his own accomplishment. He’s been too busy focusing on a State championship all season to talk about much, really.
“I guess it’s pretty cool. I didn’t even put much thought into it this year,” Key said. “I just know that over the last four or five years we’ve gone over twenty wins. It’s hard to do that in any season, so to do that four out of five years is pretty amazing.”
Fowler, who was on hand for the opening round of the state tournament as per usual, finished his tenure in charge of the Jacks with 136 wins. Now, Key has 137 victories and there’s no looking back – and there’s nobody happier to see it happen than Fowler himself.
“To see this program where it is now, especially the last few years where Jeray has it at a very high level, it’s actually rewarding to me,” Fowler said.
It might have happened a little quicker than Fowler expected, but that’s what a 26-game win streak will do. R.A. Long (25-0) hasn’t lost since the State semifinals last season, and is as hot as any team in all the land entering the State quarterfinals Thursday night. That undefeated run to this point in the season has included another 2A Greater St. Helens League championship to go with a District title.
“This year was amazing, obviously,” Fowler said. “Nobody’s done this at R.A. Long.”
— VIDEO: R.A. Long’s Josh Crane sinks a runner in the lane before the halftime buzzer to help the Lumberjacks to a 49-38 win over Grandview in the Regional round of the 2A State Tournament, Saturday, Feb. 28, at Kelso High School. / Video by Jordan Nailon for Blast Zone Media —
Now, the Jacks are trying to improve on last year’s third place finish – which currently stands as a school record high-water mark.
Lumberjack fans of a certain vintage will recall that Fowler’s teams made several captivating runs of their own, including the 2003-04 campaign when R.A. Long defeated the crosstown rivals from Mark Morris for the District title up at St. Martin’s Pavillion.
“The credit I give to him is they were 3A then so they played some tougher teams at times,” Key said. “To have really good seasons in that era you had to be really, really good. And for him to win league titles and win a District title over Mark Morris back in that golden era when they were so good, is really impressive.”
The newspaper clippings detailing the highlights of that season still hang in the trophy case in the foyer of The Lumberdome, and the ink on its pages has faded more than Fowler’s own memory of that day.
Now, when he sees players he used to coach watching from the stands it stands as evidence of the culture he helped to curate during his fiery time in charge of the Jacks.
Fowler has been watching all along. He was watching back when he was a young buck living on 30th Ave. and hanging around the school until he picked up a gig as a ball boy. And Fowler was watching after both his playing days and coaching days were finished, rooting for the Jacks from his perch behind the pep band even during the lean seasons. It still matters to him. It has always mattered to him.
“It’s a lot of years. It’s been a hard run,” Fowler said. “It’s been challenging and then at the same time it’s been very rewarding to hold onto that. And to see them come out, that’s why I love bleeding red and black. I always will.”
Just like Fowler, Key grew up within shouting distance of the school campus. He also grew up watching the Lumberjacks and dreaming of the day it would be his turn to compete for R.A. Long.
“He’s always had a drive,” Fowler said of Key. “His grandpa (Larry Petersen), him and I actually used to play city league basketball together and we were on the same team together and we had a lot of frickin’ fun man. I think he saw that as a kid as well, and I think that’s why we’ve connected.”
Key’s brothers, Dominique Petersen and Kennan Marin, both played for R.A. Long. But that’s where the parallels end, because Key transferred to Mark Morris prior to his freshman season. It’s an inconvenient truth for many R.A. Long fans, but all you have to do is read the All-State banners that hang on the baseline above Natt Court to read Key’s name amongst the rest of the All-Time great Monarchs.
“He went to Mark Morris and we battled against each other quite a bit, even when my son (Luke) was going here,” Fowler said.
Pairing up with his cousin, Jyles Petersen, Key and the Monarchs made it all the way to the State title game – and they were a perennial thorn in R.A. Long’s side. But those bygones are way under the bridge by now, and even Jyles has switched over his wardrobe to red and black to match the Lumberjacks.
Fowler knows Key (and Jyles) would have been natural Lumberjacks, and he believes his old foe is coming around to see what he missed out on by taking his talents across the lake during his prep playing days.
“He actually last year said, ‘Hey, I would have loved to have been a Lumberjack, too,’” Fowler said. “He understands now that we’re kind of like the step kid – like Oregon and Oregon State or Washington and Washington State, the same type of feeling, so you always have a little chip on your shoulder.”
When Key first joined the coaching staff at R.A. Long he was serving under the direction of Rally Wallace. Eventually, Key and Wallace wound up as co-head coaches for the Lumberjacks over the course of three seasons. For the record, the 30 or so wins accumulated during that season officially belong to Wallace and do not count toward the all-time record. But those early days on the sideline together bonded Key and “The Big Fella”, and now they are reunited on the bench together with Wallace working as an assistant and specializing on coaching R.A. Long’s post players.
“As much as people thought (being co-head coaches) was a weird deal, really in our eyes it wasn’t,” Key said. “I was just young and wanted to help. There was no hard feeling between the two of us… It was nice to have him come back and work with our bigs because he was a great player in his day.”
According to Fowler, that ability to commit to a home and gracefully handle transitions of power has been essential to helping the Lumberjacks become one of the State’s perennial elite programs. This day in age, both of those traits are easier to preach than to practice. And all the winning is another thing entirely.
“I have a lot of buddies in the state who talk about them, and talk about R.A. Long,” Fowler said. “I look at it and Rally took over for me and had a few really good seasons and did a great job with the administrative part and driving them. And then Jeray just kept on going. I always thought he would leave, but he just stayed right here.”
Speaking of coaches who did or didn’t stay, that’s a bit of a sore spot for Fowler. After he retired the floor at The Lumberdome was revamped and renamed in honor of former head coach Joe Moses – who won most of his games as head coach at Mark Morris. Safe to say Fowler hopes there’s not a similar turn in the cards for Key someday and he appreciates being included in the program – even climbing the ladder to help cut down the District net at each opportunity as a matter of tradition.
“I love Joe Moses. He’s a wonderful coach and a wonderful man, but the problem is that (decision) was all about money. He had more wins overall, but not more at R.A. Long,” Fowler said. “So that means a lot to me to have Jeray come in and make that real and the acknowledgment of it. It’s kind of been swept under the rug because I became a Hall of Famer (at RAL), but that’s because of what I did here, not necessarily from when I coached here.”
That bond between Key and Fowler was put on full display when Key interrupted our interview in order to exchange hugs. At that time, Key was one win away from tying the all-time wins record, and Fowler was doing what he does best by boisterously rooting him on.
“We’re cool. He’s always been a cool guy to me. He’s always supportive. He’s always around,” Key said. “It’s a tradition and we want to keep this thing going at R.A. Long. Anyone who’s been a coach or a player, we just want to keep them together.”
Key even has a favorite memory from watching Fowler during his coaching days, and it comes from the Civil War at The Lumberdome during that aforementioned 2003-04 season when a hard foul on the baseline led to a confrontation at mid court and at least one water bottle tossed from the MM student section that struck Fowler in the head.
“Probably being at a Civil War and (Fowler) and Bakamus meeting up at half court face to face,” Key recalled. “I’m thinking, these guys are crazy! Words were all exchanged and they were just frothing at the mouth.”
And even the R.A. Long players who don’t have memories of Fowler raising a ruckus at The Lumberdome have come to appreciate the history of the program – and the unique leadership of Key in an era of lowered expectations for student athletes.
“Without our coaches we definitely wouldn’t be where we are,” RAL senior Cam Newsome said. “And the players; our chemistry is just so good.”
Josh Crane, the 2A GSHL MVP this season, agreed with Newsome’s assessment – and then some.
“To me, as much as I can say it’s about the players and what we do on the court, I really feel like it starts with the coaching staff and Jeray Key himself,” Crane said. “He’s a really good coach. He prepares us. He holds us accountable, off the court — on the court. He just turns us all into good men.”
Up Next
R.A. Long (25-0) will play No. 8 ranked Renton (15-13) at the Yakima Valley SunDome in the State quarterfinals, Thursday, at 9 p.m.
A victory would advance the Lumberjacks to play either No. 5 Tumwater or No. 6 Anacortes in the semifinals on Friday at 9 p.m.. A loss would drop the Jacks into a loser-out contest against one of the same two teams in the consolation bracket on Friday at 2 p.m.
Coach Said What?
“This is huge for Coach Bakamus’ coaching tree and the culture and everything he established, but Jeray also coached a Roots team in our first or second season and the moment I saw him I knew he was going to be phenomenal, so I am not surprised whatsoever. He holds a very high standard there.”
– Josh Wilson, Tumwater head coach / former MM Monarch.
