Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Thursday night thoughts

First off, can I have some of the good luck the Kamiakin football team has had at Lampson Stadium this season?

Two overtime wins over Eastmont and Walla Walla, and now a 15-14 escape over Chiawana that wasn't secured until a doinked 30-yard field goal off the post in the final 90 seconds.

I think I'm going to ask Scott Biglin to buy me a lottery ticket for tonight's Mega Millions drawing.

Second, the CBBN district volleyball bracket is set, and with no upsets on the final night of play, it worked out quite nicely with two ties that were neatly broken by head-to-head play.

Southridge captured the No. 1 overall seed thanks to its four-set win at West Valley and hosts Eastmont -- which swept Moses Lake in the winner-to-districts match -- next Thursday night.

Richland earned the No. 2 seed thanks to its hard-fought four-set win over Walla Walla and now gets to play crossriver rival Kennewick at Dawald.

It's a definite contrast from the team the Bombers vanquished Thursday. Wa-Hi attacked mostly on the outside, while the Lions rely heavily on their middle 1-2 punch of juniors Kelsey Julian and Kaytlyn Coleman. The Bombers swept their first meeting, but the second and third sets were both 28-26, and Richland fans should remember that their team was the only first-round home loser in last year's tournament.

Wa-Hi dropped to the No. 6 seed with the loss and gets to face an Eisenhower team that swept the Blue Devils in Walla Walla a week ago. This time, the match is in Yakima.

"We're the No. 6 seed, and Richland is the 2, but (Thursday's match) just shows you the district tournament could be anyone's to win," said Wa-Hi coach Audra Cummings. "There are no huge gaps among the top teams. We played Ike tough last week, and I think it's a benefit having played them recently. They set their outsides a lot, they're a good serving team, and they play smart volleyball."

The final first-round match pits Wenatchee against defending champion Kamiakin in Kennewick. Throw out the Braves' four-set win over the Panthers earlier this season -- that was before Kamiakin lost senior MB Kristi Beyer for the year to a torn ACL, and Wenatchee has the height to pose problems for the Braves.

Third, congrats to the Richland girls cross country team for winning their fourth consecutive district title. The Bombers continue to show off their depth, putting four runners in the top 10, and that depth should be good enough for them to earn a state berth for a fifth straight year.

The question is whether this is the year Richland finally wins its first regional title. To do that, the Bombers will need their fifth runner to move up in the pack. That's been their undoing the last two years, when Central Valley beat them by three and 11 points, respectively.

The Southridge boys also showed off their pack strength in finishing second to Eisenhower at districts. The Suns also look to ride their pack to a first-ever 4A state berth (they qualified in 3A in 2007), while Kamiakin needs its top guns -- Anthony Armstrong, Evan Fiske and Justin Yoke -- to regain their health in the next eight days or else find itself looking up at the likes of Ferris, Ike, Southridge, Lewis & Clark and Walla Walla -- but amazingly, not Mead, which failed to advance out of Wednesday's GSL district meet on the sixth-place runner tiebreaker vs. University.

That ends a streak of 21 straight years that the Panthers earned a trophy at state.

Finally, here's hoping that Mount Spokane does not have to forfeit its 56-0 win over East Valley last week because an ineligible player was on the field for two snaps at the end of the game.

If the new WIAA rule regarding "innocent" errors not resulting in automatic forfeiture isn't utilized in this instance, then it may as well get thrown out.

Til next time ...