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By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

The Chelan boys team will be here without one of the good guys in the Washington state high school coaching community.

Joe Harris, who coached the Goats to the 1998 Class A championship and to the finals of the 2002 Class 2A tournament, will miss this week's 2A tournament.

Instead of being at the SunDome, Harris will spend championship week at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

According to Chelan principal Brent Morrison, Harris felt a little off last Wednesday and went home sick that day and the next. At a shootaround Saturday prior to the Goats' district title game against Cashmere, he clearly wasn't himself. His wife, Alice, took him to the hospital, where he was ultimately diagnosed with viral encephalitis -- an inflammation of the brain often associated with a viral infection.

The news has hit the tight-knit Chelan community.

"He obviously means a lot to this school and this community," Morrison said.

The early indications are apparently good. Harris has been lucid and conversational with visitors in the critical-care unit, talking about the Goats' prospects in the tournament.

School officials are trying to arrange a hookup, either by cell phone or computer, that will enable Harris to monitor the Goats' games that will be carried on the Chelan radio station KOZI. (Which, unfortunately, doesn't have a strong enough range to be heard in Wenatchee.)

Assistant coach Brian Mayer will serve as the head man for the tournament, and he'll be supported by former longtime assistant Greg Griffiths, who volunteered to come back as an adviser in Harris' absence.

Harris is an accomplished coach, having been part of his 300th career victory early this season. But, more importantly, he's also one of the most likeable and respected coaches in the game, a class act all the way and a truly gentle man. Want proof? Ask around about him at the 2A tournament and you'll see for yourself.

And after you find out what a good guy he is, send a get-well card in the mail. (Central Washington Hospital, Room CC#4, 1201 S. Miller St., Wenatchee, WA 98801.)

LONG SHOTS: You look at their records and wonder how they got here, but the Lakeside boys (12-11) and Meridian girls (10-13) aren't anybody's easy opponent.

Lakeside coach Ron Cox loaded up his schedule with tough nonleague opponents, including several from Idaho, and started out the season 0-5. The early bruises paid off, and over the last two weeks the Eagles -- with a lineup including seven sophomores, four juniors and one lone senior -- have beaten Chewelah (twice), Riverside and towering Medical Lake, all of whom finished above them in the Great Northern League race.

"It's been kind of a wild ride the last two weeks for sure," Cox said. "You're in the middle of it and you're telling kids all year long, 'You need to believe and we're getting better,' and when it happens it's a little bit unbelievable. It's been a fun two weeks."

Like Lakeside, Meridian's girls are also young, with only three seniors in the lineup. Since a four-game losing stretch in midseason in the always tough North Cascades Conference, the Trojans have won six of 10. One of the losses was a 43-39 thriller against unbeaten Blaine, and junior point guard Karla Johnson made a believer out of Borderites coach Patrick Green.

"She's a great shooter," Green said. "You leave this girl open and she's not going to miss."

AROUND THE RIM: When Blaine senior guard Brendan Mulholland was a freshman, the Borderites ran about 35 set plays, and when he moved onto the varsity midway through that year he already had them all down pat. Three years later, it's easy to see why: He's carried a 4.0 GPA all through high school and been accepted by Dartmouth and other hallowed academic havens. ... If the Chelan girls play a physical brand of defense, they probably get it from their coach. Jeff Eller was the head boys coach at Bainbridge from 1997 through 2001. ... Steilacoom's front line of Cody Balogh and Derek Schluter should be hard to block out. Both are offensive tackles who will play football in college, Balogh at Montana and Schluter at Eastern Washington.

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