Many have wondered how Skyview and Camas, two teams from the same league, got matched up for the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
Well, in a roundabout way, they were not matched up to play each other. They just ended up there through a series of events.
The 4A Greater St. Helens League is District 4 of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4 have an agreement to compete in Week 10 playoff games, with the winners taking predetermined seedings from each district.
Those four districts have a total of 11 berths to state, so there were 22 Week 10 playoff games from those four districts.
The WIAA draws the state bracket before the regular season ends, not knowing which teams will actually earn a district’s seed.
This season, when Skyview played Monroe in Week 10, those teams were playing for the No. 2 seed from District 1. On the state bracket, No. 2 from District 1 was set to travel to the No. 1 seed from District 4. When Camas beat Bethel in Week 10, Camas earned the No. 1 seed from District 4.
As an added twist to this story, there was a trade last year between districts that allowed this scenario to be possible.
The 4A GSHL was supposed to have four entries last year to the Week 10 playoffs and two entries this year. Instead, administrators traded with another district that also had 2/4 entries, giving each district three entries per season.
Had the GSHL not made that trade last year, only Camas and Battle Ground would have advanced to the Week 10 playoffs, leaving Skyview, the No. 3 team from the GSHL, at home.
