‘A coach on the floor.’ Annie Wright’s Harshman is TNT’s All-Area Player of the Year
With the biggest game of their lives on the line, Jeremiah Harshman’s teammates handed him the reins to a state-championship takeover: “This is your game right here.”
It’s easy to believe in the heartbeat of Annie Wright’s starting five.
Harshman selflessly insists: “My teammates got us to the state championship,” he told The News Tribune on Sunday, just like he told them when tip-off arrived. “It was all due to them.”
But Annie Wright put trust in its star on the biggest stage. The South Sound’s premier point guard lifted the Gators back to the title game — so why not deliver again?
“After I heard that? I (told myself) — you’re good,” Harshman recalled Sunday.
Not only good — Harshman was the 1A championship game’s best player. The quintessential point guard controlled the pace, directed traffic and ignited Annie Wright with a wide-open trey on the opening possession. He led all scorers with 20 points at the Yakima Valley SunDome on March 8, adding nine rebounds and four assists in a win that etched the Gators into state history books: No. 1 Annie Wright 59, No. 3 Lynden Christian 46.
Harshman smiled. “I had to have one good game up there.”
The 1A state tournament MVP hoisted the golden basketball, and Annie Wright reached the summit for the first time in just the fifth year of the program’s existence. For Harshman, reality hasn’t set in.
“The feeling is unmatched,” he said. “It didn’t feel real. Still to this day, it doesn’t feel real that we won a state championship.
“We finally got it done.”
The senior guard was “a coach on the floor,” Gators head coach Dominique Williams said, a true leader and floor general considered one of the state’s smoothest scorers. The 2024 TNT All-Area first-teamer followed his sensational junior campaign with a state championship, WIBCA 1A Player of the Year nod, and two MVP awards.
Now, Harshman is The News Tribune’s All-Area Player of the Year.
“It’s all due to the work,” he said. “And like I said, my teammates. They really put me in position to succeed this year.”
Harshman averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists throughout Annie Wright’s (23-2) championship run. He outworked other players before outplaying them, flashing a basketball IQ beyond his years and two-way skill set that rivaled the Northwest’s best guards.
Pick your favorite from Harshman’s list of season highlights. In a season-opening shocker last November, he directed 1A-Annie Wright over eventual 3A state champion Rainier Beach on the road, 74-70. In December, he drilled a dramatic, stepback buzzer-beater from distance to surprise Oregon’s 6A-Central Catholic for third place at Portland State’s prestigious Les Schwab Invitational. Or, of course, the MVP-caliber performance in Yakima.
“Our team has just been locked in all season,” Harshman said. “We’ve just been really focused. It was evident throughout the state tournament that we had a goal set, and I’m glad we accomplished it.
“We trusted each other. From Martin (Kaupanger) all the way down to the last guy on the bench. We just all trusted we could get something done, and we believed in each other that everyone would do their job.”
They were fueled by heartbreak. Annie Wright fell to Zillah in last year’s 1A championship on a last-gasp game-winner, a down-to-the-wire finish that slipped through the Gators’ fingertips. The Gators still assert that this year’s crown could — and should — be their second.
Their star point guard returned with TNT All-Area wing Martin Kaupanger, friends and teammates since sixth grade, alongside four-year Gators guard Reggie Lester. Annie Wright added 6-foot-6 Tenino transfer Noah Schow, forming the area’s best starting five before embarking on a revenge tour.
“(They were) loyal to each other,” Williams said. “Nowadays, these kids are on social media. You see a whole bunch of kids just transferring, transferring, transferring, trying to find the next best thing for themselves.
“I just told them, ‘If you guys stay loyal to each other and just keep working hard, you guys are bound to win.’”
It’s what Harshman will be remembered as in the halls of Annie Wright — a winner.
“I’m going to do whatever the team needs to win,” he said. “There’s no feeling like (winning).”
College offers are next, a surprisingly quiet recruiting cycle for one of the South Sound’s premier guards. Williams knows they’re coming.
“(Jeremiah) deserves everything coming his way,” Williams said. “He had a great senior season. Can’t get much better than what he’s had as far as accolades, but he’s worked hard for it. I feel like when he makes a decision, it’ll be the right one for him and his family.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
