It’s the prep postseason: my favorite time of the year.
And I mean that literally and sarcastically.
The literal part comes from the excitement of postseason competition. It gets athletes and fans fired up.
The sarcastic part of it comes from my job of trying to let you, the fans, know when and where these postseason games will be played.
Take football for example. After the regular season ended Friday, everyone wanted to know who, when and where their favorite team would be playing this weekend in the playoffs.
Columbian reporter Paul Valencia did a good job of working the phones, and we got most of our answers.
• Camas will host Monroe at 7 p.m. Friday.
• Union will travel to Issaquah at 7 p.m. Friday.
• Skyview will travel to Curtis at 7 p.m. Friday.
• Mountain View will host Mountlake Terrace at 7 p.m. Saturday.
• La Center will host Elma at 7 p.m. Friday.
• Woodland will host Rochester at 7 p.m. Friday
And then there’s Columbia River. We know who the Chieftains will play (Cleveland of Seattle). We know where they will play (Seattle Memorial Stadium). We know what day they will play (Saturday). We just don’t know a time.
And it’s not River’s fault. And it’s not Cleveland’s fault. Seattle Memorial Stadium will be used by several teams this weekend, so the actual kickoffs were still being negotiated between several schools.
We hope to get final word today.
Oh yeah! And I forgot to mention the tiebreaker.
Washougal, Hockinson and Aberdeen will play in a three-team Kansas Plan tiebreaker at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Kelso. The team that prevails on Tuesday will face top-ranked Tumwater on Saturday.
Sheesh!
Well, at least we don’t have those ridiculous Tuesday playoff games that they used to have about a decade ago.
Volleyball
4A DISTRICT: Battle Ground plays at Skyview at 7 p.m. today in a loser-out match. The winner plays at Union, 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Tuesday’s winner plays at Camas on Wednesday for the district title. The top three teams advance to the bi-district tournament at Kentwood High School on Friday and Saturday.
3A DISTRICT: The 3A tournament will be held at Columbia River High School. Kelso plays Mountain View at 7 p.m. today in a loser-out match. The winner faces Prairie at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and that winner faces River at 7 p.m. in the district final. The top three teams advance to the bi-district tournament Friday and Saturday at Auburn Mountainview High School.
2A DISTRICT: Ridgefield is the lone Clark County team in this tournament. The Spudders open against Black Hills on Thursday at Black Hills High. The tournament concludes on Saturday.
1A DISTRICT: The tournament is held at Hoquiam and Castle Rock. Seton Catholic opens with an elimination match against Rochester at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Castle Rock. The winner faces Kalama in a first-round match at 5:30 p.m. The other first-round match in Castle Rock features La Center vs. Hoquiam. In Hoquiam, Woodland plays Tenino and King’s Way Christian meets Montesano in a first-round match. The tournament concludes on Saturday.
For more specific details, see The Columbian’s high school sports blog at blogs.columbian.com/high-school-sports.
Girls soccer
4A BI-DISTRICT: This event used to be a one-day event in which teams play one game to determine state berths. But this year, the leagues wanted to protect the league champions. So Camas, the 4A GSHL champion, will face Curtis on Thursday in the opening game of a four-team playoff for state seeding.
Union and Skyview both need to win games Thursday and Saturday to reach state. Union’s first game is Thursday against Auburn Riverside or Todd Beamer at McKenzie Stadium. Skyview plays Puyallup at Auburn Riverside on Thursday.
3A BI-DISTRICT: The 3A bi-district works differently than the 4A. Columbia River, the 3A GSHL champion, is not assured of a state berth, like Camas is at 4A. The Chieftains will face the No. 2 team from the SPSL/Seamount leagues on Thursday at Kiggins Bowl. The winner gets a state berth. The loser gets another shot to clinch a state berth on Saturday. Mountain View must win two games to reach state. Prairie must win three games, starting with a district playoff against Kelso on Tuesday at Kiggins Bowl.
2A DISTRICT: The 2A GSHL went 3-0 against the 2A Evergreen Conference in the first round of the district tournament. That leaves Mark Morris to play at Ridgefield on Tuesday for a berth to state. Hockinson plays at Black Hills for the other state berth. Tuesday’s loser will need to win two more games on Thursday and Saturday to reach state.
1A DISTRICT: Seton Catholic plays at White Salmon on Tuesday in a loser-out match. The winner faces Rochester on Thursday at Kalama in one of the two semifinals. Woodland will play Castle Rock or Elma in the other semifinal at Kalama. The championship match is Saturday at Kalama, as well as the match for the third seed to state.
For more specific information, see The Columbian’s prep blog at blogs.columbian.com/high-school-sports
