11/5/2023
(Renton, WA) Following the district crossover games on Saturday meant Sunday was bracket day at the WIAA. The 6 football selection committees convened to discuss their classification and figure out where3 each team fits in their bracket. All 6 classifications hold tournaments with 1B and 2B classifications having 12 team tournaments which means seeds 1-4 will have a 1st round bye. 1A, 2A, 3A nd 4A all have 16 team brackets with seeds 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15 and so on.
Dates
1st round dates will be played on either Friday, Nov 10 or Saturday, Nov 11. Higher seeds get to host but day and times for most have not yet been determined. The quarterfinals will be played on November 17 and 18, all 12 semi-final games will be played on Saturday Nov 25 and the 1B, 1A and 3A Championship games at Husky Stadium will be on Friday Dec 1 while the 2B, 2A and 4A Title games will be on Saturday, Dec 2.
4A Bracket
Defending Champion is Lake Stevens who defeated Kennedy Catholic and both are back in with Lake Stevens the #2 seed and the Lancers in at #10. The top seed is Graham-Kapowsin the 2021 State Champs and the Eagles were in the semi-finals last year. The Eagles bounced back with an undefeated season in the difficult SPSL 4A league that advanced 4 teams into the state tournament. Curtis, Emerald Ridge and Sumner all advanced. Camas is the 3 seed and Skyview is #5 not bad for a 4-team league. Eastlake won the Kingco with a 9-1 record is the #4 seed. Their only loss was to Lake Stevens by 8 points in a non-league match-up. The top team from east of the mountains is Kamiakin at #6.Kamiakin finished 7-1 in league play tied with Chiawana and Kennewick (Kennewick is 3A). Chiawana got in as the 9 seed and Richland upset Eastmont to get in as the 16 seed.
3A Bracket
The 3A defending Champions are back to defend their title and the 3A committee also thinks they are the team to beat making the Yelm Tornados the #1 seed. Yelm beat Eastside Catholic last year on one of the most spectacular plays maybe ever in all of Washington football history. The Crusaders are back in the tournament but with a pair of losses on the season are the 4 seed. 10-0 O’Dea is the 2 seed with Arlington at #3. Kennewick plays in the 4A/3A Big 9 and tied with 4A Kamiakin and 4A Chiawana for the league title and gets in the 3A tournament as the 5 seed. Bellevue who won the Championship 2 years ago made another run last year but fell short is back for another run as the 6 seed.
2A Bracket
Lynden came into this season as the 2-time defending Champs and a long winning streak. The winning streak was snapped i8n their 1st game of the season losing a non-leaguer to 3A Ferndale. They then got beat in the final week of league play by Anacortes in a hard fought game. This dropped the Lions as the early favorite into the tournament as the 5 seed. Anacortes got the 2 seed after finishing 9-0 and NW League Champs. The 1 seed went south to Tumwater who are 10-0 with a big win over last year’s state runner’s up North Kitsap. The Vikings do get the 4 seed with just the 1 loss to Tumwater and #3 is Enumclaw who made it to the semi-finals last season.
1A Bracket
Royal is a 3-time definding Champion and the Knights rolled through the season unblemished again at 9-0 and the committee says until someone can beat them they are #1 and will again take the top seed. There were 6 teams who finished either 10-0 or 6-0. 2 seed Lakeside (9-mile) was 9-0, the 3 seed Lynden Christian is 7-2 with losses to top seed Royal and to 2 seed Lakeside (9-mile) and posted wins over 6 seed Nooksack Valley and #1 2B seed Napavine was enough for the committee to give the4 Lyncs more leverage. 4 seed is 10-0 Cashmere, while undefeateds King’s is #5, Montesano the 7 seed and La Center the 8 seed. Mt Baker who lost to Royal in the title game did not make the tournament.
2B Bracket
The 2B bracket is the 1st of two 12-team tournaments and the top 4 seeds will all get a bye and go directly to the quarter finals. The top 2 from last year are right back where they finished. Napavine the defending Champs knocked off Okanogan last year and that is how they are seeded. Napavine is 9-1 with their lone loss to 1A and 3rd seeded Lynden Christian. The committee didn’t hold that against the Tigers and seeded them in front of #2 and unbeaten Okanogan. #3 is Northwest Christian (Colbert) who finished 10-0 on the year. #4 is the 2021 Champion Onalaska Loggers who have bounced back after getting knocked-out by Okanogan last year in the quarters.
1B Bracket
The 1B bracket is also a 12-team tournament with the top 4 having a bye this week and going straight to the quarterfinals. Last year Liberty Bell ran through everyone and cruised to the Championship over Neah Bay. Liberty Bell has a difficult time filling a regular season schedule as they are basically independent in football. They did finish 8-0 and the committee believed they deserved to hold on to that #1 seed. Wilbur-Creston-Keller picks up the #2 seed with a great season going 10-0. The 3 seed is 9-1 Mossyrock who got to the quarterfinals last year and the 4 seed goes to Liberty Christian who finished 9-0 for the regular season. Neah Bay who was in last year’s title game did make the tournament as the 5 seed.
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