Changes after WIAA counts end 1B net travels for Colfax

A Bi-County sports scheduling format which has resulted in hundreds of bus miles and several non-competitive games will be off the board this year when the school sports season cranks up next month. The change is the result of a two-year adjustment in classification assignments after school enrollment counts by the WIAA.

The result of the new assignments means that Colfax volleyball and basketball teams will no longer hit the road to play teams in the 1B division. Beside the miles, the schedule often led to lop-sided scores that netted disappointment for teams on each end of the numbers.

Colfax girls basketball coach Corey Baerlocher is one of the coaches who welcomes the change. The end result should be a stronger run of games during the regular season which can help teams prepare for the playoff parts of their season.

Colfax teams will no longer play Odessa, Wilbur/Creston, Almira/ Coulee/Hartline and Sprague/Harrington teams. For the last two years, one-game matchups with the 1B clubs were booked into schedules along with home-and-home games against the 2B teams who would continue into the Bi-County playoff rounds.

Colfax Athletic Director Mike Morgan said the WIAA counts and the changes in classification prior to this year led to dissolution of the Panorama League which also had 2B clubs in District Seven.

St. Georges and Mary Walker of Springdale, two teams still in the 2B, have moved to the Bi-County league. The league has also picked up Kettle Falls, which dropped down from the A division.

Those three teams join Colfax, Davenport, Reardan, Northwest Christian, Liberty and Lind/Ritzville in the Bi-County 2B League. That means each league member has eight league foes so a home-and-home schedule for basketball will consume 16 of the dates in the regular league season which is set at 20 games.

Baerlocher said Freeman and Lakeside from the A division have been booked for two of the four remaining open dates on the Colfax schedule. The other two game dates will be the holiday visit to the SunDome Shoot-out in Yakima.

Volleyball Coach Sue Doering said she also looks forward to a stronger league run without the long trips to play 1B schools. Some of the smaller schools have strong V-net programs, and the matchups netted competitive nights. Other times the matchups were not too productive for either side.

Doering’s net team will again make weekend stops at Okanogan and Spokane Crossover tournaments. She also has Freeman, Newport and Lakeside teams booked as non-leaguers.

The Bi-County 2B matches will include Saturday dates with three teams rotating matches at one location. For example, Colfax and Kettle Falls will travel from opposite ends of the league to play matches with the Crusaders and each other at Northwest Christian. Colfax on Oct. 30 will host Davenport and St. George’s.

Unlike the roundball sports, football teams didn’t participate in the Bi-Countgy 2B -1B format for the last two years because 1B schools play eight-man football.

However, the consolidation of 2B schools into the Bi-County means Colfax will pick up Springdale and Kettle as league foes. St. Georges, the other Bi-County newcomer, doesn’t play football.

DeSales which will host Colfax in the season opener Sept. 10 and Lakeside, which will be here Oct. 8, are the two non-league foes on a schedule which will include six league games beginning with Davenport’s visit to Colfax for the first home game here Sept. 17.

One other change in the Bi-County will be the merger of Sprague/ Lamont with Lind/Ritzville. The change bumps up the population count for Lind/Ritzville but not enough put the Broncos into the A classifications.

Sprague athletes will travel to Ritzville and Lind after the Sprague/Harrington combination dissolved early this year. Harrington has now combined with Odessa for the upcoming year in the 1B campaign.