Northeast A League sporting new look this season
Brian Dunn goes into the 2006-07 high school football season with a distinct advantage. He’s just not exactly happy about it.
Dunn’s Lakeside Eagles from Nine Mile Falls drop down from the Great Northern League, where they finished third a year ago with a respectable 7-3 season record, to the Northeast A League under the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s reclassification effort.
Lakeside and Chewelah both move down under the new classification, joining Colfax, Freeman, Kettle Falls and Newport in the expanded Northeast A League. Cheney, Clarkston and West Valley from the Greater Spokane League drop down to the Class 2A GNL.
“I don’t think the WIAA did anyone any favors,” Dunn said. “I’ve talked to people all across the state and no one is happy about this (realignment). I don’t think it’s fair that we, with 430 kids, have to play Colfax with 200. That’s just not right. But, wherever they draw the line, someone is going to be unhappy.
“The last time we did this I was down at Naches High School. When we sat down and took a look at it, we said that no one should have to play anyone twice their size. We’ve gotten away from that, and to me, that’s wrong. But I don’t know what the answer is, either.”
For football, a sport in which numbers play a critical role in success, the size disparity is stark. Dunn had more than 100 athletes out for football and will continue to field three separate teams: a varsity, junior varsity and freshman squad.
In contrast, Colfax coach Mike Morgan has 34 and Newport coach Tim Jurgens welcomed 35.
Freeman and Kettle Falls both turned out more than 50 players for football and Chewelah coach Jim Fisk, Dunn’s former offensive coordinator at Lakeside, has more than 70.
For his part, Mike Morgan is pragmatic.
“In every league, someone’s got to be the big dog and someone has to be the little dog,” he said. “We’ll do the best we can.”
Despite holding a significant advantage in numbers, Dunn is reluctant to accept the role of league favorite.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a drop off (from the GNL),” he said. “I see the Northeast A League being very competitive this year – it’s going to be a nice, balanced league. I certainly don’t expect to come in and run away from people. I still see Freeman as the team to beat. They’re the defending champs and (coach) Jim Wood runs a great program out there.”
Freeman is the four-time defending league champion. A year ago the Scotties put together an 8-3 season, losing to two-time defending state champion Royal, 35-14, in the state quarterfinals, and the team returns its quarterback, senior two-year starter Andrew Dresback, and starting tailback, senior Chad Davis.
The only Northeast A League teams Lakeside has played in the past five seasons are Chewelah and Newport, the former a GNL league rival and the latter a former GNL member be dropping to the NEA.
“I don’t know enough about this new league to know if it’s a good move or a bad move,” Dunn said. “It is what it is. I have some familiarity, but not much, and that scares me because I’m the kind of guy who likes to know everything.”
Chewelah, on the other hand, knocked off Freeman, 22-20, but lost to Kettle Falls in nonleague games last year.
Lakeside finished last season with a 7-3 record. The Eagles fumbled five times and lost by two points at Colville and lost by a single point to eventual state champion Pullman.
All the unknowns that come along with a change of leagues bothers Dunn, and even the things he knows and understands don’t provide much solace.
“I know one thing: I have three starters coming back,” Dunn laughed. “Where does that put me? I don’t know. If we were still in the GNL, I know where that would put me.
“I look around the league and I don’t see a weak sister, which always worries me. Maybe it’s us.”