By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
A couple of weeks ago, an Arlington-Kamiak football playoff matchup seemed almost a certainty. Now those teams hope they see each other a week from today.
If so, that means they’ve won in the first round of the state playoffs and have continued on in a bizarre bracket that has all three Wesco qualifiers in the same half of the 16-team lineup.
The three Wesco coaches believe the teams should have been separated. Instead, only two of the three teams could possibly make it the semifinals, and one to the title game.
“Someone screwed up,” Arlington coach John Boitano said. “I don’t know if they weren’t paying attention or what, but it just doesn’t make any sense.”
Boitano and Kamiak coach Dan Mack began preparing for each other two weeks ago when it appeared the teams would play each other in one of Tuesday’s Wesco qualifying games. But when Cascade upset Snohomish on the last day of the regular season, the Panthers slid out of the playoffs and moved Arlington into a game against Mariner.
“We have some film on them, and I’m sure they have some on us,” said Boitano, whose team beat Mariner 14-7.
So for better or worse, Mack and Boitano might be breaking out that film if both teams win tonight’s first-round games.
Another bracket oddity has Wesco No. 1 seed Lake Stevens playing Bethel – a team that has been ranked second in the state Associated Press poll all year – in the first round. Wesco No. 2 seed Kamiak has a more favorable matchup with eighth-ranked Olympia, while Arlington will play perennial power Kentwood.
“I’m not complaining” Lake Steven coach Ken Collins said. “You’ve got to play them all sooner or later, and that’s what the WIAA will always tell you. But at the same time, I don’t understand the wisdom behind it.”
According to the WIAA, travel concerns are the main reason the brackets are more geographically aligned in sports such as football and soccer than they are in basketball, where there is a concerted effort to split up same-league teams during the draw.
The WIAA draw criteria keeps District No. 1’s or teams from the same conference from playing in the first round when possible. Bethel is the No. 5 team from a combination of Districts 4 and 5 based on a rotating schedule. The WIAA determines how many berths each district (or combination of districts) receives, then lets the districts determine how those slots are filled. The WIAA makes no effort to form a balanced bracket.
Cindy Adsit, a WIAA assistant executive director, said other methods have been discussed by WIAA staff along with school athletic directors and coaches, but a more effective method has proved evasive.
“No one can ever agree on how it should be done,” Adsit said. “You can’t use rankings because not all the teams from some sports are ranked. And we’ve found that when teams get to state, those ranking don’t mean anything.”
To meet the criteria, some teams have to be placed in certain spots in the bracket to separate top seeds. Then names are drawn out of a bowl.
The three Wesco coaches think that process is a little strange. They would rather be separated, they say, because part of the fun of a state tournament is playing unfamiliar teams. Wesco teams also suddenly become big fans of Wesco playoff teams because they want the conference to prove its strength in the postseason.
Boitano said he won’t complain too much. The other half-bracket is loaded with several tough Eastern Washington teams, including defending champion Pasco. Wesco teams haven’t had much success playing east of the mountains.
“Teams that go over there usually don’t come back.” Boitano said.
Kamiak’s biggest concern with Olympia is that Bears will have had a full week to prepare. Kamiak beat Mount Vernon 28-21 in a Wesco qualifying game Tuesday. Kamiak running back Justin Washington says the loss of a couple of days of practice “shouldn’t be a factor at all” for the Knights.
“I think we’ll take it to ‘em,” Washington said.
Olympia uses a variation of a wing-T offense that Kamiak has been highly successful against in recent years. Mariner, Everett and Cascade – among others – use a wing-T offense. Kamiak, which plays Olympia tonight at Goddard Stadium, hasn’t lost to a wing-T team in over three years.
Collins knows his team faces an uphill battle against Bethel tonight at Everett Memorial Stadium. The Braves lost to Pasco in last season’s title game after defeating Kamiak in a semifinal, and might be even better this year.
The Vikings will be aided by the return of leading rusher Justin Balunsat, who has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle.
“It’s going to be the toughest game of the year for us, no question about it,” Collins said. “I think we can beat Bethel, but we can’t make stupid turnovers or penalties if we’re going to do it. We’re not going in there thinking we can’t win. We all believe we can.”
Tonight’s Arlington-Kentwood game at Kent’s French Field will be a matchup of teams with diverse offenses. Both quarterbacks – Kevin “Spike” McCormack for the Eagles and Kentwood’s Carl Bonnell – have thrown for more than 1,200 yards and will likely be playing college football next year.
“We both do a lot of different things, kind of like Kamiak,” Boitano said. “We think that’s the key to winning in the playoffs. It should be a good game.”
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