Quick hits Quick hits

LOOKING AHEAD

This is the overlap weekend.

Football finishes up with the Gridiron Classic in the Tacoma Dome, and basketball kicks off.

Our local big-school football teams missed out on their chances to play at state, but four area teams will be involved.

For Freeman, Lind-Ritzville, Columbia (Hunters) and LaCrosse-Washtucna, the finals are a culmination of four months of practice, film study and tough games.

All of which is just starting for the winter sports.

Football

State championships

Friday

B-11, 4 p.m.: DeSales (12-1) vs. Lind-Ritzville (12-0)

DeSales has appeared in six championship games since 1996, winning three consecutive times between 1997 and 1999. But the past two years, Reardan of the Northeast B-11 won the title, defeating Lind-Ritzville in 2002 and DeSales last year. As Ritzville alone, the Broncos appeared in the championship game in 1980 and 1981, winning the first year.

3A, 7:30 p.m.: Bellevue (12-0) vs. Ferndale (13-1)

The Wolverines go for an unprecedented fourth consecutive state title in Butch Goncharoff’s fifth year at the school. Ferndale, which routed Kelso 45-6 in the semifinals, tries to pull the upset.

Saturday

1A, 10 a.m.: Freeman (12-0) vs. Royal (13-0)

The top two teams in the classification face off. Royal, which plays in the SCAC, played two non-league games versus 2A schools, routing Medical Lake 41-0 and edging Othello 28-21 to open the season.

B-8, 1 p.m.: Columbia-Hunters (10-1) vs. LaCrosse-Washtucna (11-0)

The Tigercats go for their third consecutive B-8 championship while Columbia, which won two straight B-11 titles in 1987-88 under coach Roy Graffis, tries for its first.

4A, 4 p.m.: Skyline (12-1) vs. Evergreen (Vancouver) (13-0)

This was supposed to be Pasco’s coronation ceremony, but Skyline upset that, and the Bulldogs, in the semifinals. Evergreen, which spent the year looking forward to a rematch with Pasco (the Plainsmen were eliminated last year by the Bulldogs), needs to refocus.

2A, 7:30 p.m.: East Valley-Yakima (13-0) vs. Othello (9-4)

The two CWAC foes face off for the second time. East Valley won the first, 21-14, in the season’s third week.

Basketball

GSL non-league games

Friday

Girls games at 5:45 p.m., boys games at 7:30: East Valley at Central Valley; Cheney at Gonzaga Prep; West Valley at U-Hi; Rogers at Clarkston (girls 6:15, boys 8).

Snohomish at University girls, 5:45; Lewis and Clark girls at Redmond, 7; North Central boys at Sandpoint, 7:30.

Saturday

East-West Classic at Gonzaga University

Hanford vs. Mead boys, 10 a.m.; Franklin vs. Mead girls, 11:30; Kentlake vs. U-Hi girls, 1 p.m.; Evergreen (Vancouver) vs. Gonzaga Prep boys, 4; Lincoln vs. Shadle Park boys, 5:30; Franklin vs. Central Valley boys, 7; Columbia River vs. Ferris boys, 8:30.

Snohomish at Ferris girls, noon; Lewis and Clark girls at Battle Ground, 4; Shadle Park girls at Post Falls, 6 p.m..

Tuesday

Girls games at 5:45 p.m., boys games at 7:30: U-Hi at Gonzaga Prep; Mt. Spokane at Lewis and Clark; Central Valley at Rogers; North Central at West Valley; Clarkston at East Valley (girls 6:15, boys 8).

Boys game at 5:45, girls game at 7:30: Shadle Park at Ferris.

Wrestling

Wednesday

Clarkston at West Valley, 7 p.m.

LOOKING AROUND

The WIAA will present its third Emerald City Kickoff Classic next September and the Greater Spokane League will be well-represented. Gonzaga Prep, which will meet Bellarmine Prep in what has become an annual non-league matchup, was one of eight teams previously announced as participants. But two spots were left open and two weeks ago the WIAA invited Ferris to fill one of them. Saxons’ coach Clarence Hough accepted, although he doesn’t know his team’s opponent.