Colfax will be lone local at State 1A

It was a rough weekend for the Northeast A League.

After all was said and done at the district 6/7 regional 1A tournament, the defending state champion Colfax girls will be the only local representation at this year’s state 1A tournament, which begins Wednesday at the SunDome in Yakima.

“I was a little bit shocked I guess when I heard that this morning,” Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher said. “I thought the Lakeside (girls) were going to make it out of there, and that the boys would have some Northeast A representation. We’ve always talked about that, in the past (the Caribou Trail League) has been snubbed. This year was a little bit of a role reversal because usually our league takes most, or all, of the spots.

“On both the boys and the girls’ side some darn good teams are staying home this week.”

The Bulldogs (23-2) will face Seattle Christian (18-5) in Wednesday’s first round at 5:30 p.m.

“I know that they have two twin girls that are their big-time players,” Baerlocher said. “They are both about 6-feet tall, one plays inside and one plays outside. They play a lot of zone, but other than that, we haven’t heard much.”

Baerlocher, whose Bulldogs are three-time defending state champions, says he will take things one game at a time.

“That’s the way we’ve done it every year,” Baerlocher said. “There has always been a lot of hype going in. When I came, we won in 2005 and the next year they wanted to talk about the repeat. But we had new kids so this is really their first chance to truly defend.

“You’re also looking at a different tournament this year – there are three teams that won trophies in last year’s 2A tournament.”

After the realignment, King’s, Chelan and Lynden Christian are now 1A schools, adding a tough element to this year’s tourney.

“It’s really tough to speculate because when you get into the quarterfinals and beyond, there is only going to be good teams left,” Baerlocher said. “I learned not to say anything or complain (about the draw). If you’re going to beat ‘em, you better beat em whatever day you face ‘em.

Baerlocher adds that this is Colfax’s 10h straight appearance at state. The Bulldogs have played in six of the last eight state title games and won four of them.

“I’m happy to be at state and I’m excited about the opportunity these kids have to play again. This is a special group for us, so we’re going to go down and enjoy it and hopefully play some good ball and see what happens.”