Tri-Cities high school athletes gear up for competition for first time in a year

Athletic directors from various leagues got together this week to revise schedules again after a move to Phase 2 and a heap of snow fell on the region.

Last week, the state announced that the South Central region that was staying in Phase 1 of Washington’s Roadmap to Recovery while the rest of the state was advancing to Phase 2.

Obviously, the news was tough for those with restaurants, gyms and churches. But it was also pretty hard to hear for the region’s numerous high school athletes, who have been hoping to compete in games and events for months now.

“Just stared into the heartbroken eyes of 50 young men and told them, due to no fault of their own, they can’t play their first football game,” as one high school coach tweeted out.

However, that bad news was short lived until Sunday, when Gov. Jay Inslee announced that a hospital in the region had made a reporting error in the data. When the statistics were retabulated, our region was advancing to Phase 2.

But because of all of the snow that has dumped over the past few days it is impossible to start previously scheduled contests and field availability has been a problem as well.

Now, as they say, it’s game on.

The new schedules will be posted on schools’ athletic websites this coming week. Here is a quick synopsis of what’s going on with our region’s schools:

▪ Mid-Columbia Conference (Class 4A and 3A).

Everything has been moved back by a week. Girls soccer was supposed to begin Feb. 16, and volleyball was slated to start Feb. 18.

But now those sports will start Feb. 23.

Football, which was supposed to begin Feb. 20, is pushed back to Feb. 26. Schedules have been redone. That’s because Hermiston football is back in with the MCC.

The Bulldogs were stuck between a rock and a hard place a few weeks ago when neither Inslee nor Oregon Gov. Kate Brown would allow Hermiston to either hold football contests or travel to the Tri-Cities.

But last week, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association convinced the state that traveling to Hermiston for sports was considered essential; and Brown’s office also gave Oregon schools the go-ahead to start sports.

The problem is that Hermiston’s girls soccer and volleyball teams already put together a schedule of contests with other Oregon schools. So they’ll stick with that.

The Bulldogs football team — which is in the second week of quarantine because of a small COVID outbreak on the team a few weeks ago — will play with MCC teams.

So will Hermiston’s cross country team.

▪ Sunnyside. The Grizzlies are still Class 4A and normally play in the Big Nine Conference

But the Big Nine split up for this year, since Sunnyside, Davis, Eisenhower and West Valley are all in the same region, but Moses Lake, Eastmont and Wenatchee are not.

The Sunnyside football team is set for a jamboree at West Valley of Yakima on Feb. 27, then plays host to West Valley on March 5.

The Grizzlies’ girls soccer and volleyball teams each open play March 2.

▪ Class 2A (Grandview, Othello and Prosser)

Reclassification has pared the Central Washington Athletic Conference from 10 schools down to seven, and three of those — Grandview, Othello and Prosser — are in our region.

Grandview and Prosser, both based in the South Central Region, will begin football games Feb. 19.

Prosser will start girls soccer and volleyball play Feb. 16, while Grandview volleyball begins Feb. 17 and girls soccer on Feb. 18.

Othello is in a different region, and for this year will hook up with the Greater Spokane League schools — opening volleyball on Feb. 18, football (at Pullman) on Feb. 27, and girls soccer on March 2.

▪ Class 1A

College Place, Connell and Kiona-Benton will compete among South Central Athletic Conference members in the South Central region.

Football games or jamborees begin Feb. 20, as do girls soccer matches. But volleyball starts Feb. 18.

Other SCAC members Royal and Wahluke are in another region, and they’ll be playing against schools such as Manson, Ephrata, Okanogan and Brewster.

That also means we probably won’t get a big Connell vs. Royal football game this year.

▪ Class 2B

River View drops down from 1A to 2B this year, joining Columbia-Burbank, Mabton, Tri-Cities Prep and Walla Walla Valley Academy.

Warden would normally be in this league too, after playing in the 1A SCAC last year.

But the Cougars have a similar scenario like Royal and Wahluke and will be playing against schools in another region for this year.

Meanwhile, Columbia-Burbank, Mabton, River View and TC Prep begin football Feb. 27.

Mabton and Columbia-Burbank will play girls soccer in a combined SCAC/EWAC league, with play starting Feb. 22. It will be a first-year program for Burbank.

Mabton and TC Prep begin cross country Feb. 25.

And Mabton, River View, TC Prep and Walla Walla Valley Academy start EWAC volleyball play Feb. 23. Columbia-Burbank starts Feb. 27.

▪ Class 1B

Local schools include Liberty Christian of Richland, DeSales of Walla Walla, Touchet and Sunnyside Christian.

Schedules have been unavailable.

Rush has another tryout

The Tri-City Rush indoor football team will hold its next round of tryouts on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Elite Athletics Training Facility in Kennewick.

Tryouts will be noon to 3 p.m., and the event is online registration only. Pre-registration is open at tricityrush.com.

Deadline to register is Feb. 19. Cost is $70, and players must bring a mask to be COVID-19 compliant.

Brandon Tate, the Rush owner/head coach, said he’s excited to get back out and evaluate more talent as the team’s prepares for its American West Football Conference opener in May.

“We have athletes traveling in, and high-profile athletes locally, that are going to get their chance to show why they deserve a pot on limited training camp roster,” Tate said. “Everyone’s dream is to get paid to play football.”

Tryouts will be held in a combine-type of format. Drills will include the 40-yard dash, short shuttle, broad jump and L drill. Athletes also will perform in individual position drills, group position drills and team drills.

Tryouts will be run inside and outside the building, so players must bring football cleats as well as basketball-style running shoes.

Participants will receive a Tri-City Rush tryout t-shirt. For more information, call 509-386-9315, or email info@tricityrush.com.