1A tourney features three strong Northeast District teams -- including two-time defending champ Colfax -- and a tough King's squad

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

As the coach of an erstwhile Class 2A power that came down to the 1A ranks with last spring's reclassification, Kara Moffatt didn't know much about what to expect.

But she quickly found out that world domination was not in the cards.

"Everybody was talking about us going down to 1A and how we wouldn't get a lot of competition. And it was baloney," said Moffatt, whose Lakeside team placed third in last fall's 2A tourney before moving down into the Northeast 1A League.

"Freeman is good, and Colfax is really good, and so is Chewelah, and it's a great league. It was a bunch of hogwash that we were going to cruise through the league."

Instead, the top-ranked Eagles got all of the night-in, night-out competition that prepared them to be just what they are: the tournament favorites ... a role they will have to share, though, with league foes Colfax (the two-time defending 1A champion) and Chewelah, not to mention King's, which has arguably the best player in the 1A ranks in high-flying outside hitter Kelli Tikker.

"I can't imagine that the teams from District 7 (Lakeside, Colfax and Chewelah) aren't the teams to beat," said King's coach Steve Bain, whose 2005 team placed fourth in the 2A tourney.

"Getting to state out of (regional) 6-7 is almost tougher than state. Holy cow -- Lakeside, Colfax and Chewelah had to fight tooth and nail to get to state. It's not a mystery why Colfax has won as many titles as they have (six since 1998 under coach Sue Doering and seven overall).

"I don't know how we're ranked No. 1."

Bain's team was top-ranked as he was speaking late last week, but the Knights did drop to No. 2 -- behind Lakeside, ahead of Colfax and Chewelah -- in the final coaches' poll that came out this week.

If another team is going to prevent that quartet from sweeping into the quarterfinals, it might just be fifth-ranked Lynden Christian, another perennial 2A power that has moved back into the 1A ranks.

The Lyncs come in as a misleading No. 3 out of the Northwest bi-district, the result of having lost to King's in a tough semifinal. That seeding, much lower than the Lyncs' potential and power would suggest, all but guaranteed them a difficult first-round draw, and it did just that: They face Colfax.

"Once I saw the draw, I was very excited that we beat Colfax at regionals, because I thought Colfax had a much tougher row to hoe than we did," said Lakeside's Moffatt, whose team opens with unranked Stevenson.

Should the tournament play out as the rankings might predict, Friday afternoon's quarterfinals could pit Lakeside against a Connell team that captured the SCAC district crown; a showdown between No. 4 Chewelah and No. 6 Zillah; and a King's-Goldendale match, provided the Timberwolves are able to slip past a young but talented Castle Rock squad. Whoever survives the Colfax-Lynden Christian squad would be expected to meet King's in the semifinals.

But, of course, tournaments rarely play out as expected. That's why they play the matches.