Do-or-die for many area teams as district playoffs wind down

Big-school soccer and volleyball teams from the Tri-Cities and Spokane began to clash last week to extend their seasons.

Now, they’ll get a chance to etch their campaigns into the record books.

Adding a few football games into the mix, all state berths in the MCC-GSL regional playoffs will be nabbed by Saturday.

The football fun begins with a play-in to the state-wide Week 10 playoffs, as MCC No. 2 Kennewick (3-6) gets a road matchup with GSL No. 2 Shadle Park (3-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Joe Albi Stadium, with the winner taking on 2016 state runner-up O’Dea (7-1) on Saturday in Seattle. After losing five straight games to open MCC play, Kennewick closed its season with wins over Southridge and Pasco to move past the Suns and into the playoff.

Top MCC 3A squad Kamiakin (8-1) is already in the Week 10 playoffs, and will host Lakes (6-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lampson Stadium. In the 4A winner-to-state crossovers on Friday, MCC No. 3 Hanford (5-4) plays at GSL champ Central Valley (7-1), and No. 2 seeds Chiawana (7-2) and Gonzaga Prep (7-2) also battle in Spokane. Richland (9-0), meanwhile, will host the winner of a Tuesday playoff between Mead (4-5), Lewis and Clark (4-5), and University (5-4), Friday at Edgar Brown (could be moved to Saturday).

3A/4A Soccer

While the 3A MCC clubs dominated their Spokane counterparts last week, the 4A teams are up against the ropes.

Chiawana (12-5) will host Richland (13-5) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a loser-out game of the 4A regional, after the teams split their regular season series. The winner faces the Lewis and Clark-Mead winner on Saturday in a winner-to-state, loser out game.

Meanwhile, Kamiakin will look to extend its perfect season to a 17th game against Southridge (6-11) in the all-MCC 3A championship match, at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lampson. Kennewick (3-14), still alive after beating Rogers 2-0 in the first round, will try to stave off elimination on the road against GSL No. 1 seed Mt. Spokane (6-8-1) at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

3A/4A Volleyball

Two MCC squads will get title shots Saturday, as upstart Kamiakin (6-11) plays at GSL No. 1 seed Mt. Spokane (12-3) at noon in the 3A championship (winner to state), and MCC champ Richland (16-0) travels to GSL champ Mead (13-0) at 3 p.m. for 4A supremacy (both to state).

Looking to stave off elimination in the 4A bracket is Walla Walla (12-5), which must beat Central Valley (8-10) at 11 a.m. Saturday, then the University-Gonzaga Prep winner at 5 p.m. to do so. Both of those games will be at Mead.

After getting upset by Kamiakin on Saturday, top MCC 3A seed Kennewick (9-6) must beat visiting Rogers (2-11) at 6 p.m. Thursday, then win two more games Saturday at Mt. Spokane High School to reach state. Southridge (5-11) faces the same road, but will play at Shadle Park (6-9) on Thursday.

This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Do-or-die for many area teams as district playoffs wind down."