The Mustangs played the baseball game for Noah. They lost both. And days later, they lost their coach.

The Northport Mustangs, the team representing the town of about 300 people in northern Stevens County, moved forward in the state playoffs last month by beating Riverside Christian High School on May 20 to advance to the quarterfinals of the State 1B baseball tournament to take on Naselle High School.

The night before the game on May 24, the team ordered some pizzas, and coach Don Baribault, who doubles as the Northport School District superintendent, took the team bus to get them, said Erik Stark, who is Northport High School’s athletic director.

“Some of the kids had never seen the ocean,” Stark said. “They swung by the beach” at Long Beach, and some of the players got into the water.

Tragedy unfolds

The detour unraveled in moments.

Noah Heberling, a 15-year-old from Kettle Falls, got carried out by large waves in the cold water.

“He kind of got tossed around,” said Stark, who was not there but relayed the details of what happened. “A couple of the other kids went out to get him.”

The other players reached Noah, who held on to them as they worked their way back to the beach. Noah then turned and saw a big wave coming and apparently let go so he could plug his nose as the wave hit, Stark said.

“They lost contact,” he said. “The coaches went in after him.”

The coaches were Baribault and Noah’s father, Ronnie Heberling. Noah was bobbing, being pulled out to sea, and the cold water began to drain the energy from the coaches trying to reach him, Stark said.

“Don went out, and I think he made contact with Noah. But both of them had succumbed to hypothermia and weren’t functioning,” he said.

Help summoned

A local bystander instantly recognized the danger and called 911, Stark said.

That rescue call was made about 8 p.m. Pacific County surf rescue crew members raced to the scene on a Jet Ski.

They were able to pull Baribault and Ronnie Heberling to shore, but Noah’s body has yet to be found, Stark said.

“That’s our prayer now,” that Noah’s body is found “for closure,” Stark said.

But the tragedy continued.

“Don was struggling on the beach. They took him to the hospital. Then he was flown to a Portland hospital,” Stark said. “That’s where he succumbed.”

Baribault died “peacefully and surrounded by his family on May 26,” according to the statement shared by Northport School District.

But before that second blow struck, the team had a decision to make.

Playing in honor of Noah

Noah drowned on Friday, May 23. The game against Naselle was scheduled for 1 p.m. the next day.

“The kids met with the adults, who asked, ‘What do you want to do: Go home or go play this game?’ They said Noah wouldn’t want them to quit, so they played the game,” Stark said as he cried. “They did it to honor their fallen comrade.”

The Mustangs fell in the quarterfinals game 25-4.

“I wasn’t there. But I have a feeling it was pretty hard for them,” he said.

When the players returned to Northport, the locals came out to support the fallen Mustangs and Noah’s family.

“That Sunday night, after Noah had passed, they had a candlelight vigil on the baseball field,” Stark said. “We had over 200 people. We only have 300 people in our whole town. So, it was a big deal.”

Since the vigil, Noah’s aunt, Marci Bair, set up a GoFundMe page to help the family. As of June 4, some $47,376 had been donated.

“I just want to thank everybody who has reposted and donated to Denise and Ronnie,” Marcy Bair wrote on the page. “It is a beautiful thing to see how many people care and have helped at this time filled with grief, pain and the loss of such an awesome Grandson.

“Noah was a gentleman, kind, caring, smart and talented,” Bair continued. “Noah will be in our hearts forever and our love for him will never fade.”

Victim’s son

The double tragedy has even further victims. Don Baribault’s son, senior Dawson Baribault, was the winning pitcher in the win over Riverside Christian.

He allowed only one run on three hits and struck out 13 batters. He pitched a complete game for the Mustangs’ 8-1 win on May 20.

A three-time league MVP, Dawson Baribault was scheduled to pitch against Naselle. But he was with his father at the hospital and missed the game, Stark said.

Dawson Baribault is scheduled to graduate with his classmates June 6.

For the rest of the students, school officials have brought in counselors and have given plenty of latitude for kids to take time to deal with their losses.

“I think the high school has been impacted the most,” Stark said. “There’s been a lot of talking and sharing stories. In English class, they are reading a play to take their minds off of it.”

The town recently lost a teacher to cancer and a 5-year-old boy to an accident in the past, but the level of pain from Noah’s drowning and attempted rescue has rocked the Mustang family like nothing else, Stark said.

“I think it’s the worst of the worst,” Stark said. “Just the fact that you lose two at once, with one who literally died trying to save a kid.”