A Mid-Season Look at the District IV 1A and 2B Favorites

Now that we are beginning the league Season, some stories are starting to write themselves. One of my favorites (Napavine Boys) has an uphill climb while two others are standing tall. The excitement is just beginning so put on your seat belts and get read for a wild ride in the various District IV leagues.

Follow these links for discussion about the Evergreen Boys 1A and the Trico 1A. Castle Rock had a key victory over Ridgefield to confuse the discussion, but the return of Kalama’s Brandon Walker still gives the Chinooks the advantage.

Central 2B Boys

Napavine is smarting from two losses this week that shows the depth of the Central 2B Boys. Mossyrock applied a box and one defense to essentially deny Napavine’s Blake Anthony the ball. It worked and Mossyrock ran away with the home victory. On Saturday night, Toutle Lake’s starless team had too many weapons for the Tigers to overcome. With Mossyrock’s 47-44 home victory over Toutle Lake in their pocket, the 2B Central is theirs to lose. The caveat of course is that they must visit both Toutle Lake and Napavine later in the season. Great for my upcoming calendar!

Pacific 2B Boys

Naselle took the first big opportunity and cashed it in with a 60-57 victory over South Bend last week. They are unbeaten in conference and their lone loss comes to a larger (756 student, a 2A Washington equivalent) Astoria, Oregon school. South Bend will host Naselle again on February 3rd. Their only other loss was to thus far undefeated 1A Onalaska.

Central 2B Girls

The Napavine girls made a big statement this week by defeating Mossyrock at the Lady Viking’s gym. Those two teams look like the class of the Central 2B with Wahkiakum and Adna lurking in the distance. Mossyrock will travel to Adna this week, but mark February 9th on you calendar if you like high quality girls basketball as the Vikings visit Napavine.

Remember that Mossyrock and Napavine both fit well in with the areas best 1A schools in the area. Both Mossyrock and Napavine already have victories over Onalaska.

Pacific 2B Girls

To be honest, the Girls on the coast are going to have a tough time matching up with the big four of the Central . Raymond has played the toughest schedule of all, sampling the best basketball teams of the area. They lost to both Onalaska and Toledo, but defeated a tough Rainier team at the Napavine 1A/2B Challenge and Northwest Christian. Northwest Christian of Lacey is 7-2 and has been less than dominant. They split with Pe Ell in a home and home series and defeated South Bend. Of course one of their two losses was to Raymond. North Beach looks like a distant third in this division.

Evergreen 1A Girls

The Evergreen 1A girls heart is in Toledo. The Lady Indians put themselves in the driver’s seat with a big win over Winlock in late December and then a hard fought win over Rainier last week. In this league, it is never easy, but Toledo is making it look that way. In second is Onalaska which faces Toledo on January 20th. The Lady Loggers have two non-league losses to neighboring Napavine and Mossyrock from the 2B Central. They took care of Winlock this week, but Montesano, Rainier and Forks are all solid opponents in a very competitive league.

Trico 1A Girls

La Center appears to be the class of the Trico with big wins over 2A Washougal and large margins of victory most of the time. The Lady Rocket of Castle Rock has a similar resume with wins of Rochester and Knappa of Oregon. La Center and Castle Rock will meet for the first time on January 27th. Ilwaco’s One loss to impressive 2B Raymond also makes them look like a contender. Ilwaco will visit Castle Rock this Friday to clear up that picture a little.