1/13/2021

The new Covid-19 guidelines recently released by the State Department of Health has provided a clearer path to getting back to playing High School sports although there are still several hurdles to get over but the target is in sight. The biggest change is to accomplish the metrics to return to play schools and leagues now only have to deal with 8 Health Regions instead of 39 counties plus the State Department of Health. The Regions are by geography so in many cases some teams in a league are now in a different Region.

This is an attempt to pool as much of the information together as possible. Below we go by Region and include each league and what it looks like, we will continue to update this information as we receive it.

North Health Region (Whatcom, Skagit & San Juan Counties) (WIAA District 1)

NWC
The 16 school league will remain the same except Lakewood located in Snohomish County will play in the WESCO in the Puget Sound Health Region.
NW 2B/1B
8 schools in this league will lose Chimacum who is in the Northwest Health Region and will move into the Olympic League. Darrington is in the Puget Sound Health Region and may move to another league.
NW 1B
This is a 10 school league dominated by private schools. 7 of them are in Snohomish County and the Puget Sound Health Region while Lopez, Lummi Nation and Orcas Christian are all in the North Health Region. Those 3 schools would be the ones subject to move if there are any changes.

Puget Sound Health Region (Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties) (WIAA Districts 1,2 & 3)

Wesco
There are 21 schools all within the boundaries of the Puget Sound Health Region and they will allow Lakewood who normally plays in the Northwest League to participate in the Wesco.
Kingco
There are 24 schools in the league and all reside within the Puget Sound Health Region, no expected changes. League officials are targeting a March 1 start date for their Fall sports schedule.
Metro
18 schools and all are in the Puget Sound Health Region except Bainbridge who are in the Northwest Region and is the one that could be shifting to the Olympic league.
Emerald Sound
This 14 school league has several private schools and all are in the Puget Sound Health Region except South Whidbey. South Whidbey is in the West Health Region and would be the one that may be moving.
SeaTac
There are 13 schools in this league and 10 are in the Puget Sound Health Region. Schools that may be considering a move would include Crosspoint Academy and Quilcene both in the Northwest Health District and Pope John Paul II High School is in Lacey the West Health Region.
NPSL
All 14 schools are in the Puget Sound Health Region
SPSL 4A
8 of the 10 schools are in the Puget Sound Health Region. Olympia is in the West Region and will play in the 3A SSC league in the West Health Region. South Kitsap is in the Northwest Health Region and is set to play in the Olympic League. Gig Harbor and Peninsula will be moving into the SPSL 4A from the SSC 3A as they are in the Puget Sound Health Region.
PCL
All 7 schools are in the Puget Sound Health Region and no changes are expected.
SPSL 2A
All 9 schools are in the Puget Sound Health Region and so far no changes.
Nisqually
2 of the 9 schools will not play in this league the other 7 are in the Puget Sound Health Region. Klahowya and Port Townsend are both in the Northwest Health Region and will play in the Olympic league.

Northwest Health Region (Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap & Mason Counties) (WIAA Districts 1,3,4)

Olympic
There are 7 schools in this league and all are in the Northwest Health Region so none will move, however they are adding several schools moving in including South Kitsap, Central Kitsap, Klahowya, Chimacum, Port Townsend, Shelton and possibly Bainbridge.
N Olympic
All 4 schools are in the Northwest Region and no changes are expected.

West Health Region (Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pacific & Lewis Counties) (WIAA Districts 3 & 4)

SSC
The SSC will be the South Sound Conference South (SSCS) with 6 teams all in the West Health Region. 3A SSC members Capital, North Thurston, Timberline, River Ridge and Yelm will be joined by 4A Olympia from the SPSL 4A. Peninsula and Gig Harbor will play in the SPSL 4A league and Central Kitsap in the Kitsap league.
Evco 2A

6 of the 7 schools are in the West Health Region only Shelton is outside and they are going to play in the Olympic league in the Northwest Health Region.
Evco 1A
4 of the 5 schools are in the West Health Region with Eatonville in the Puget Sound Health Region leaving the Cruisers as the only team who may move to another league.
Central 2B
11 schools are set to play at this time despite Kalama, Stevenson, Toutle Lake and Wahkiakum all being in the Southwest Health Region. Pe Ell and Will
Pacific 2B
The 8 schools in this league have 5 in the West Health Region and 3 schools in 3 different regions. Chief Leschi is in the Puget Sound, Forks in the Northwest and Ilwaco in the Southwest making this possibly the most difficult league in the state to keep together.
Coastal 1B
6 of the 7 schools are in the West Health Region only Mary M Knight resides in the Northwest Health Region and would be the one to move if they need to.

Southwest Health Region (Cowlitz, Clark, Wahkiakum, Skamania & Klickitat Counties) (WIAA District 4 & 5)

GSHL 4A/3A
All 9 schools are squarely in the Southwest Health Region and no changes are anticipated.
GSHL 2A
The 9 schools in this league are all in the Southwest Health Region with no changes pending.
Trico
The 5 schools are all in the Southwest Health Region and no changes are expected.
Columbia Valley
8 schools are in this league with 5 in the Southwest Health Region. Pe Ell, Mossyrock and Willapa Valley are all in the West Health Region.
Columbia Gorge
These 5 schools in this league Bickleton, Glenwood, Klickitat, Trout Lake and Wishram all play in a league with Oregon schools and falls under the OIAA.

South Central Health Region (Kittitas, Yakima, Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla & Columbia Counties) (WIAA Districts 5 & 9)

EWAC
There are 13 schools in the EWAC but 2 are out of the South Central Health Region. Goldendale is in the Southwest Health Region and Warden is in the North Central Health Region.
CWAC
7 schools in the CWAC but 2 are in other Health Regions. Ephrata is in the North Central Health Region and Othello is located in the East Health Region. Those 2 schools would be the ones to most likely shift to another league.
SCAC
There are 10 schools in the SCAC but 8 in the South Central Health Region. Royal and Wahluke are both in the North Central Health Region and will play in their 4-county wide 28 team league.
Big 9
There are 7 schools in the Big 9 and 3 are in the North Central Health Region, Eastmont, Moses Lake and Wenatchee are all playing in the North Central Health Region.
Mid-Columbia
9 schools all based in the South Central Health Region except for Hermiston, Oregon. Hermiston has been competing across the border due to a lack of like sized schools in their geographic area in an agreement with the OIAA, however, whether or not they will be able to cross state lines is the question.

North Central Health Region (Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas & Grant Counties) (WIAA District 6)

Big 9; Caribou Trail & CWB Leagues
The entire North Central Health Region will work as one large 4-county league. Scheduling is underway with a start date of February 22 for the first practices for Fall sports. There are a total of 28 schools and include: 4A Eastmont, Moses Lake, Wenatchee; 2A Ephrata; 1A Cascade (Leavenworth), Cashmere, Chelan, Omak, Quincy, Royal, Wahluke 2B; Brewster, Bridgeport, Lake Roosevelt, Liberty Bell, Manson, Okanogan, Oroville, Tonasket, Warden 1B; Almira-Coulee-Hartline, Cascade Christian, Entiat, Moses Lake Christian, Pateros, Soap Lake, Waterville-Mansfield and Wilson Creek.

East Health Region (Ferry, Stevens, Pend Orielle, Spokane, Lincoln, Adams, Garfield, Whitman & Asotin Counties) (WIAA Districts 7, 8 & 9)

Greater Spokane
All 15 teams are in the East Health Region and all should be good to go when they meet their metrics.
Northeast 1A
All 7 schools are in the East Region and can move forward when they are allowed.
Northeast 2B
The 11 schools are all in the East Health Region.
Northeast 1B
There are 16 schools in the Northeast 1B league and 15 of them are in the East Health Region. Only Almira-Coulee-Hartline is not and A-C-H will play in the 4-county North Central Health Region league.
Southeast 1B
3 of the 11 schools are not in the East Health Region and may be shifting to other leagues. Kahlotus, Prescott and Touchet are all in the South Central Health Region.

 

 

 

 

By paulb

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