Southeast 1B: Liberty Christian still the team to beat

When Liberty Christian loses a class of seniors, other coaches then have to worry about the next class to step up.

The Patriots won the Southeast 1B league last season before losing to Neah Bay in the title game.

“They lost some, but they have their core athletes back,” Garfield- Palouse coach Willy Woltering said of Liberty Christian. “They will be awfully hard to beat.”

Touchet finished second in the league last year, followed by Woltering’s Vikings.

“Touchet lost some good kids to graduation, but they have a lot of numbers. They will probably reload,” Woltering said. “I foresee Colton and Pomeroy improving. They will be good, too. We will be in there somewhere.”

LaCrosse- Washtucna will not field a team this year, Woltering said.

“They went from feast to famine pretty quickly,” he said. “Their numbers are really down. The attendance of their school is just plummeting.”

Woltering said Dayton will be competive. However, he said the school is not playoff eligible because its attendance numbers are too high for 1B. “They will be considered a non-league game,” he said.

Colton coach Clark Vining said he returns senior QB Carter Dahmen and productive WRs Brady Chadwick and Cameron Bean. “We will have just two seniors after having just four last season,” Vining said. “We have some real good talent at the younger levels.”

Woltering said his team’s offense will depend on the maturation of two new offensive guards. Sophomore Travis Knauff moved to the line from running back and Eli Hawkins will play at the other guard position as a freshman.

“So far, they are doing really good,” Woltering said. “But they are going to have to step up.” He doesn’t know what to expect from St. John-Endicott.

“Their two best players last year were seniors,” he said. “They have good numbers. But I’m not sure how good they will be.”