The La Conner Braves football team was scary good at Lummi on Halloween night.

While there was nothing tricky about the La Conner attack, which featured a steady diet of running back Yandel Rosales-Rojas, the result was a treat for Braves fans who weathered rainy and gusty conditions all game.

Rosales-Rojas, a sophomore who displays a rare blend of power and speed, ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns in leading La Conner to a 37-18 triumph in the team’s season finale.

“It was a brawl,” first-year Braves head coach Kirk Melton said of the hard-hitting contest, which saw La Conner close out the campaign with a 6-2 record and notch its fourth straight win.

There will be no post-season for the Braves, however. For the second consecutive fall, La Conner — with a small Class 2B student enrollment — played an independent, non-league eight-man football schedule. La Conner will attempt to secure a waiver allowing the Braves to play in a 1B eight-man league in the future.

There is much to celebrate, though. The Braves, employing a relentless ground-and-pound run game, averaged more than 32 points per game and saw Rosales-Rojas amass 1,583 total rushing yards and 24 TDs.

At Lummi, Rosales-Rojas found the end zone twice before halftime, including a 32-yard scoring jaunt that gave the Braves a 22-6 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

La Conner quarterback Keaton Bailey added another 86 yards rushing, highlighted by touchdown scampers of 28 and 21 yards.

Duron Clark and Benny Allen, who alternated in the Braves backfield, combined for 58 yards.

Clark’s 27 yards included a three-yard TD blast in the final stanza that extended the La Conner lead to 36-18 ahead of Max Page’s conversion kick. Allen, meanwhile, scored on a two-point conversion after the Rosales-Rojas early second quarter touchdown romp.

La Conner was able to control the line of scrimmage throughout, thanks to solid play by the Braves offensive line.

Defensively, La Conner created two impactful turnovers. Clark forced a fumble and Brent Bobb intercepted a pass with both takeaways leading to Braves scores.

Bailey topped La Conner with nine tackles. Clark and Rosales-Rojas each had seven tackles. Austin McClure, Chas James, Gabe Joe-Thomas, Page, Allen, and Bobb also racked up solo stops.

Girls’ soccer

On the soccer pitch, the La Conner girls’ team blanked Orcas Island 8-0 last Tuesday before dropping an 8-3 decision Thursday to perennial power Mount Vernon Christian. Maicy Bowles scored twice and Faith Jenkins once in the match with Mount Vernon Christian, which improved to 10-4-1 overall. La Conner entered its Nov. 3 non-league test at Evergreen Lutheran with a 7-6-1 record.

Boys’ soccer

The La Conner boys’ soccer team wrapped up its season with a 4-1 setback at Coupeville Thursday. The Braves, who finished 4-9-1, had forged a 1-1 first half tie in the Coupeville match on a Kale Navarrete Higgins penalty kick before Edmund Wilson scored twice and Sage Arends once for the hosts.

La Conner goalkeeper Kamien Lopez kept the score close with repeated saves on Coupeville shot attempts.

Volleyball

The Braves volleyball squad had its four-match winning streak snapped at home Wednesday by 3A non-conference foe Sedro-Woolley. La Conner extended the visitors to four sets before falling 19-25, 25-20, 18-25, 23-25 in a hard-fought clash.

Maeve McCormick had 18 digs, 18 kills, and a block for the Braves. Nora McCormick filled the La Conner stat sheet with seven kills, seven digs, three assists, three service aces and a block.

Mia Delage, returning to action from an off-season knee injury, contributed 12 assists, six digs, a block and an ace.

Braves libero Addie Keller, a recent Skagit Valley Herald Athlete of the Week award recipient, had 21 digs and an ace.

Reese Bird totaled 14 assists, 13 digs, two kills and a pair of aces. Rory Bird collected two digs, two aces and a kill.

Julia Nelson chipped in one kill and an ace, Madi Larson delivered three kills and a dig, Isabelle Villard registered four digs, and Isla Jones had a dig for the La Conner spikers, who were 15-6-1 going into their Tuesday date at Mount Vernon Christian.        

Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.