‘Throne’ future undecided
If there’s any way to save it, the great Golden Throne game will not be flushed.
Resurrected four years ago when the Eagles joined the Greater Spokane League, the annual high school spirit game between East Valley and West Valley has become an annual rite – rivaling such games as “The Stinky Sneaker,” “The Rubber Chicken,” and the “Groovy Shoes.” The only difference will be, if the game is to continue, it will have to become a nonleague game for both schools.
This year’s games – girls and boys – will be played Friday night at East Valley, complete with the student, faculty and community involvement that has become its hallmark. Joe Kostecka, athletic director at East Valley, and Wayne McKnight, his counterpart at West Valley, hope it won’t be the finale.
“We want to continue it,” Kostecka said. “It’s just going to depend on what kind of GSL schedule we come up with.”
The rub enters the equation next year, when West Valley drops down from class 3A to class 2A to join the Great Northern League.
Next year’s GSL schedule is still undecided, but there is a chance there will be no room on any team’s schedule for a nonleague game.
“We’re going to be an 11-team league, so the simplest way to schedule it would be to schedule every other team home and away,” Kostecka said. “But there could be a problem there, too. Next year the state Class 4A tournament moves up a week, so that would force everyone to either play two league games over the Christmas break or play two weeks with three league games – Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
“The coaches have to decide what they want to do. I know a lot of coaches who like to get a couple nonleague games in there to see how their team looks.
Once the coaches decide, it goes to the athletic directors and then to the principals, so it will be a while before we get things completely figured out.”
If there is no room on the East Valley schedule, it is unlikely West Valley will try to force a spirit series with a GNL rival.
“We tried to have a rivalry game with Cheney for a couple years – the “Flying Feather Game,” McKnight said. “That really didn’t work all that well. You can’t force a rivalry. In a lot of ways, it has to come from the kids.
“This has been such a great rivalry with East Valley. We’re neighbors and it’s just been a natural fit.”
The game regularly fills the East Valley gym and threatened to burst the seams on West Valley’s tiny bandbox. If the game continues next year, the Eagles will play host in a brand new gym that rivals East Valley in size.
“We sure hope we can keep this going,” McKnight said. “It just gets everyone so involved and excited. It’s a good thing and you don’t like to see good things go away.”