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State B: It only gets tougher

The audience at the State B Tournament draw at the Doubletree Hotel included a contingent from Northwest Christian that was a bit shocked to draw Willapa Valley. (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)
J.D. Larson Staff writer
The audience at the State B Tournament draw at the Doubletree Hotel included a contingent from Northwest Christian that was a bit shocked to draw Willapa Valley. (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)

After Sunday morning’s final State B draw, it became apparent the only real benefit to winning a district championship is the chance to cut down nets.

In the boys draw, Toutle Lake and Northwest Christian picked up top seeds from difficult districts, and were rewarded with first-round matchups with the top two ranked teams in the state.

The girls side saw the bottom half of the bracket end up with three district champs – Sprague-Harrington, La Salle and Mossyrock – that just also happen to be the top three ranked teams in the state.

There are interesting matchups every year, but the last draw certainly didn’t disappoint.

With top-ranked Willapa Valley (22-2) and second-ranked Republic (23-3) losing in their district tournaments and coming in as No. 2 seeds, that meant there would be a pair of very unlucky top seeds.

Northwest Christian (23-3), coming off the District 7 title, drew Valley in what will be the marquee first-round game, a 4 p.m. rematch of Valley’s 55-39 win in the semifinals last year.

“Willapa Valley is a very tough team, and then if you get past there, you get St. John,” NWC head coach Ray Ricks said. “Some of the top teams are right in our bracket, so the nice thing is you’re battle-tested and ready.”

The winner of that game gets the winner of another great first-round matchup, Southeast District champion St. John-Endicott (21-3) against the defending state champion, Sunnyside Christian (20-4).

That leaves an SJ-E team making its first trip since 2002 playing a team returning a few players from a state titlist.

“You know, we played Colfax twice this year and did pretty well,” Eagles head coach Mike Tollett said. “So as far as playing up to competition, we did real well. So I think that they’ll get up for the game, which I’m hoping.”

In the other two first-round games on the bottom half of the bracket, Neah Bay (21-1) faces Moses Lake Christian (19-5) and Tekoa-Oakesdale (18-8), which had to win two loser-out games to get in, faces the Tri-District champion, first-time entrant Lummi (22-4) of Bellingham.

Republic (23-3) will open Wednesday’s action with a 9 a.m. game against Toutle Lake (21-3), which upset Willapa Valley to win the Southwest District championship.

“This year, I think, is pretty wide open,” said Republic coach John Gianukakis, whose Tigers have finished first and fifth the last two years. “I’d rather not play at 9 o’clock in the morning, but I like the way our bracket looks.”

The winner of that game plays the winner of Tacoma Baptist (20-6) and Central Regional champion Riverside Christian (21-3). Wilbur-Creston (15-12) is also in the top half of the bracket and will face Southeast District runner-up Liberty Christian (18-7), with the winner facing the Morton (18-7)/Mt. Vernon Christian (19-5) winner.

On the girls side – which included a redraw after Curlew was mistakenly left off the list of No. 1 seeds – undefeated Northeast District champion Sprague-Harrington (26-0) faces Southwest District runner-up Toutle Lake (20-4) at 4 p.m.

If the Falcons win, they will face third-ranked La Salle (21-2), the Central Regional champion, which played Freeman tough earlier in the year.

Inchelium (23-5), making its first state tournament appearance since the second State B girls tournament in 1979, also appears in the bottom half and drew second-ranked Mossyrock (23-1), the Southwest District champion.

“Oh yeah, it’s going to be tough,” Inchelium coach Rob Seymour said. “It’s going to be an experience for the coaching staff and for the players. If we come out and play, we’ll be fine.”

The Inchelium-Mossyrock winner plays the winner of Dayton (21-5) and Shoreline Christian (24-2).

In the top half, Southeast District champion St. John-Endicott (18-6) drew Tri-District third-place finisher King’s West (18-6) at 10:30 a.m., with the winner playing the winner of Clallam Bay (11-11) and Waterville (15-9).

Curlew (22-3) plays at noon against the third-place team out of the Central Regional, Pateros (22-3), with the winner advancing into a quarterfinal against either Sunnyside Christian (18-6) or Tri-District champion Evergreen Lutheran (21-3).