2/25/2026
Now that the 1B State Tournament brackets have been released and the schedules are set, let’s take a look at who’s in and who’s out, comparing the teams from last year to this year and other notable points of interest.
Let’s get started!
1B Girls Tournament
Link to 2026 tournament bracket
Link to 2025 tournament bracket
Last year’s Trophy winners
Champion (1) Neah Bay
2nd (3) Garfield-Palouse
3rd (5) Wellpinit
4th (10) Oakesdale
5th (2) Waterville-Mansfield
6th (8) Pateros
Last year’s top 8 seeds
1. Neah Bay
2. Waterville-Mansfield
3. Garfield-Palouse
4. Yakama Tribal
5. Wellpinit
6. Inchelium
7. Pe Ell
8. Pateros
This year’s top 8 seeds
1. Neah Bay
2. Garfield-Palouse
3. Waterville-Mansfield
4. Yakama Tribal
5. Oakesdale
6. Crosspoint Christian
7. Pateros
8. Lummi Nation
Last year’s best underdogs
Two double digit underdogs got into the quarterfinals with #10 Oakesdale leading the way. The Nighthawks have a long history when they were Tekoa-Oakesdale and have split to be just Oakesdale for the last 3 years. Last year they completed their 3rd straight trip to Trophy day coming away with their 3rd straight 4th place trophy. The Nighthawks took out #7 Pe Ell in the round of 12 then lost to #1 Neah Bay and eventual state champs 51-36 before bouncing back with a loser out win over #11 Sunnyside Christian and then beating #8 Pateros for the 4th place finish.
#11 Sunnyside Christian also made a similar run with a win in the round of 12 over #6 Inchelium before dropping a semifinal to #5 Wellpinit 48-42. Then losing on Friday to Oakesdale 37-24.
This year’s underdogs to watch
Our first underdog to keep an eye on are the 10 seeded Pe Ell Trojans. Last year they were the 7 seed and lost their regional then lost on opening day to #10 Oakesdale to have their season come to an end. The Trojans won the Columbia league and finished 16-7 on the year and finished the season with a 14 game winning streak which means they were 2-7 when they got started winning. Their losses were also to the ultra deep Central 2B league of Adna, Toledo, Rainier and Onalaska along with the defending Champs Neah Bay and 6 seed Crosspoint and 1A Rochester and 1A Montesano so they were challenged in their non-league games for sure.
#8 Lummi Nation is another worth a watch especially in the Regional round where they face top seed Neah Bay. The one time they faced off the Blackhawks lost at Neah Bay 42-38. If they can pull the upset Friday night against Neah Bay at University of Puget Sound that may springboard them to a deep run in Spokane.
The 1B is also one of two tournaments with the 3A that are 20 team tournaments and on Tuesday night there were 4 play-in games between the 13-20 seeds. You may think this is simply a consolation round to give teams an extra game and they have no shot at advancing.
Last year both the Garfield and Bellevue girls teams not only won their games they went home with trophies. In fact, #19 Garfield got to the semi-finals and lost to the eventual state champions Central Valley 51-49. The Bulldogs ended up with the 5th place trophy losing to North Thurston in the 3rd place game, becoming the highest seed ever in WIAA history to win a trophy.
#17 Bellevue would have been that team if not for Garfield. The Wolverines lost in the quarters then came back to beat #5 Seattle Prep then knocked off #7 Kennewick for the 4th place trophy. So, let’s not dismiss the Tuesday night scores just yet.
The teams that advanced in their first loser out game were #13 Pomeroy, #14 Taholah, #15 Valley Christian and #16 Muckleshoot Tribal. No upsets as seeds 17-20 were all knocked out. Let’s see if any of these teams can catch fire, the worst mistake by any opponents will be to overlook any team based on their seed at this point.
Last year’s best Favorites
The top 3 seeds all proved to be worthy of their seeds with top seed Neah Bay not disappointing beating the 3, 5, 8 and 10 seeds on their way to the Championship. 2nd seed Waterville-Mansfield was upended pretty good in the semifinals by #3 Garfield-Palouse then fell short to 5 seed Wellpinit for 3rd place to settle for 5th. And the 3 seeded Garfield-Palouse Vikings rolled into the State title game and gave Neah Bay all they wanted before falling short 46-36 to take 2nd.
This year’s best chance Favorites
Can anyone stop Neah Bay? No doubt they will be a difficult defending champ to knock off but Garfield-Palouse is back finishing 22-2 for the season and ended the year on a 15-game winning streak. They lost to an out of state team and to Neah Bay in a mid-December game. The Vikings will want to finish what they started last year.
#3 Waterville-Mansfield is a team that finished season with a trophy but finished with two losses. The Shockers no doubt remember that and want to rectify that and will be interesting to see if they can turn the tables.
#4 Yakama Tribal is making their 4th State appearance and looking to bring home their 1st trophy. The Eagles had a great season and finished winning 4 of their last 5 games. They are looking like a team ready to make a run and get to Trophy day this year.
Biggest surprises!
Who’s the most surprising they are in?
#6 Crosspoint is making their 19th state tournament so it may be strange to think of them as a surprise to get in but they have just 2 trophies a 4th and 5th place in their trophy case. The Wildcats would love to make a deep run and show the other top seeds they are here for a reason. It will be fun to see how this edition of the Crosspoint team finishes.
Who’s the most surprising they are out?
A little surprised to always see a team that’s seeded in the top 8 not get in the tournament at all the final year and we have two from last season. Wellpinit and Inchelium both were top 8 seeds and neither team got through districts. Wellpinit lost a heartbreaker in a winner to state, loser out to Pomeroy 50-48 last Friday.
Hornets also lost last weekend in a win and your in game against Oakesdale to have their season come to an end.
Final Thoughts and Predictions
There are many great storylines in this tournament with who could it be to knock off the 3-time defending Champions Neah Bay. There are many cases that can be made for multiple teams but the one thing that seems to be the most likely is if someone does beat the Red Devils it will likely be in the Championship team. Neah Bay does not rest on their laurels and they play a very tough regular season schedule.
Their losses are to a very good Central 2B school in Adna at a holiday tournament and to 3A Mercer Island. They beat multiple higher classification schools and many of the seeded 1B teams including Garfield-Palouse, Waterville-Mansfield, Pateros, Lummi Nation and Pe Ell.
It’s going to take a perfect effort to take the State Championship away from Neah Bay.
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1B Boys Tournament
Link to 2026 tournament bracket
Link to 2025 tournament bracket
Last year’s Trophy winners
Champion (2) Lummi Nation
2nd (1) Almira-Coulee-Hartline
3rd (4) DeSales
4th (6) Tulalip Heritage
5th (5) Neah Bay
6th (3) Willapa Valley
Last year’s top 8 seeds
1. Almira-Coulee-Hartline
2. Lummi Nation
3. Willapa Valley
4. DeSales
5. Neah Bay
6. Tulalip Heritage
7. Moses Lake Covenent Christian
8. Ocosta
This year’s top 8 seeds
1. Lummi Nation
2. Almira-Coulee-Hartline
3. Tulalip Heritage
4. DeSales
5. Moses Lake/Covenant Chr
6. Liberty Christian
7. Neah Bay
8. Wahkiakum
Last year’s best underdogs
The underdogs did not do well last year. There were no upsets in the top 8. See Last year’s best favorites below.
This year’s underdogs to watch
So let’s see if the seeding committee can keep their perfect record going here in 2026. Some underdogs on our watch list would include 12 seed Touchet who are making their first ever state tournament appearance. The Indians finished strong on a 4 game win streak to get into the tournament including a final win over Selkirk 62-53. Touchet has a 15-8 record heading into regionals.
And as we laid out in the 1B girls the boys play-in games were played Tuesday night. There was one upset when #17 Columbia Adventist pulled out a win over #16 Concordia Christian 57-56. #13 Summit Classical Christian, #14 Garfield-Palouse and #15 Wellpinit all won.
Two teams stick out to us here for possible surprise runs. Garfield-Palouse has a deep pedigree with 15 State tournament trophies with 2 Championships in their trophy case. Their recent success is limited but they did get back to the state tournament last year after several misses and now they are back in the regional round.
Wellpinit is just a year removed from winning their 2nd straight State Championship and were in the tournament last year but did not place. Both teams worth seeing if they can be that unexpected high seed to make a move.
Last year’s best Favorites
The 1b boys seeding committee hit a grand slam with the top 6 seeds all winning trophies and the 2 teams eliminated on Friday were the 7 and 8 seeds. So it was a perfect final 8. The big “miss” was #2 Lummi Nation’s 3 point, 53-50 win over #1 Almira-Coulee-Hartline.
The big “miss” (lot’s of sarcasm here) was #5 Neah Bay beating #3 Willapa Valley in the quarters 50-44. Just a fantastic job by the 1B seeders!
This year’s best chance Favorites
This is a wide open tournament with last year’s champs at the 1 seed in Lummi Nation. The question is will last year’s 1 seed, Almira-Coulee-Hartline turn the tables on the Blackhawks and repeat the 2 over the 1?
Biggest surprises!
Who’s the most surprising they are out?
Probably Ocosta who were the 8 seed last year and they just fell short losing on the final day of the District last weekend to Columbia Adventist.
And #15 Wellpinit is in but was close to not making after winning it all in 2022 and 2023 and getting to Spokane last year but getting knocked out on day 2.
Final Thoughts and Predictions
Can someone penetrate the top 2? They look like another strong duo but it feels like there is a dark horse just waiting to emerge in this one. DeSales has three straight 3rd place trophies and no question getting restless about getting to the Championship game and just may be their year.
Tulalip Heritage feels like they are starting a run here off their 4th place finish last year And seeds 5-8 all can make a case to make a run. The bigger question is there an overlooked sleeping giant down in the double digit seeds?
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