Nea Trio Gets Down To Business Kettle Falls, Freeman And Colfax Will Be Getting To See A Lot Of Each Other

When the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association added a fifth classification, the Northeast A was left out in the cold.

The old eight-team league was whittled down to three.

But Kettle Falls, Freeman and Colfax officials didn’t complain, at least not much or for long. Instead, they went out and fought for survival.

“I think the (reason for reclassification) is great,” Freeman coach John Custer said. “No one plays anyone twice its (enrollment) size. Even though it left us out in the cold, you do what is right and that was right for most of the schools. We’ll be all right.”

So now we have the K-F-C League or Small Dog League (for two Bulldogs and a Scottie), and in football they’ll play each other home and away during the season.

The trio that banded together has to hope familiarity doesn’t breed contempt.

“I think it’s OK,” Custer said. “It’s particularly OK for the three schools that happen to be in it. We’re really comfortable with those two schools.”

Doug Curtis, the Colfax coach, said the players haven’t been concerned with the small league.

“It’s weird, they haven’t talked about it much,” he said. “We’re taking it one week at a time. They’ve been talking about that first game quite a bit; Lakeside and Colfax have a good rivalry.

“It’s going to be kind of different playing everybody twice. I’ve never done that. If you win the first game it may be a little tougher to motivate them. If you lose the first game it won’t be as tough to get them motivated.”

The NEA was granted a playoff berth, but Freeman and Kettle Falls voted to split it into halves, allowing the second-place team to participate in the postseason. Now the top two in the NEA will play Tuesday play-in games with another league, similar to the Greater Spokane League and Big Nine.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo