The success of the Northwest Conference continues, despite yearly changes. There were several changes this past off season.
The biggest roster change happened in Anacortes, where 17-year head coach and 1995 AHS grad, Brett Senff, stepped down.
After three seasons hovering around .500, Senff built the program into a Northwest Conference power. In the 18-year lifetime of the NWC, the Seahawks have the third best winning percentage, behind only Lynden and Mount Vernon.
In his 17 seasons, the Seahawks were 159-60 (.726) in conference games, and 277-131 (.679) overall. The Seahawks made the state tournament nine times, taking second place in 2013 and 2015. Senff led the Seahawks to 20 wins or more seven times and won three outright NWC championships.
Junior Varsity Coach Aaron Yost, a former player under Senff, will take over the program. Yost is an AHS grad, and a senior starter on the team that took second place in the state in 2013.
Also, in Anacortes, high scoring Davis Fogle, who averaged 31.4 points per game for the Seahawks last season, as well as being named the league’s Co-Player of the Year, transferred to Arizona to finish his high school career.
Despite those changes, the cupboard will not be bare in the city where Burl Ives once called home.
At Squalicum, David Dunham takes over the head coaching position vacated by Tyler Hannigan, who led the Storm for three seasons.
Dunham comes from the University of Idaho staff, after spending seven seasons as an assistant at Western Washington University, and three seasons with Whatcom Community College, according to the Cascadia Daily News.
The Storm finished in the middle of the NWC last season with a 7-8 record. They were 9-12 on the season, and did not have any seniors on last year’s roster.
In Blaine, head coach Nate Sullivan stepped down after two seasons, culminating in a 23-25 record and a third-place finish at the 2023 1A state tournament.
Athletic Director Chas Kok takes over head basketball coaching duties for the Borderites. Kok was the head coach at Burlington-Edison for five seasons, through 2021-22. In the 2019-20 season, the Tigers took the NWC title with a perfect 13-0 record. His teams were 72-37 in five seasons.
As far as coaching tenure, two NWC coaches will be entering their 20th season with their respective teams. Meridian’s Shane Stacey and Lynden’s Brian Roper have that distinction. I guess Coach Stacey would win the tiebreaker as Dean of NWC Coaches, as he coached the Trojan girls’ team prior to moving to the boy’s side.
Brad McKay will be entering his 12th season at Bellingham, and Anthony Wiederkehr II will be coaching his 11th season at Lakewood.
Mount Vernon head coach Brett Farrar will be coaching his 13th season in the conference. It will be his third season with the Bulldogs after six seasons at Sedro-Woolley and four seasons at Blaine.
Classification changes are where things get interesting, and confusing.
Sedro-Woolley has moved from the 2A to the 3A classification, joining Oak Harbor, Mount Vernon and Ferndale. That leaves seven NWC teams in the 2A classification.
Further depletion of the 2A class in District 1 was the departure of Cedarcrest from the Wesco League to the 2A KingCo League in District 2. Losing teams does not bode well for your state allocations, as seen a few years ago when the “southern” end of 1A’s left in a mass exodus for District 2.
However, Cedarcrest was replaced by Marysville-Pilchuck, who dropped from 3A to 2A. They join Archbishop Murphy as the two 2A schools in the Wesco. The final count reveals that the 2A classification dropped from ten schools to nine. It looks like there will be just two state allocations from District 1 in the 2A classification, again this year.
But the rotation should give them three allocations in 2025-26.
As football has gone to an expanded format of 32 teams for Week 10 playoffs, (the week before the state round of 16), maybe this will be a path forward for other sports in the years to come.
Remember, when it comes to RPI standings later in the season, there are two different RPI’s that you need to know about, for 2A and 3A teams in District 1. I have to keep differentiating between the two because this is the toughest part for fans to be aware of, as descriptions are hard to find. But here they are:
The first is the District RPI. Because the NWC and the Wesco are leagues with multi classifications, an RPI formula is used for league games to set up an order of standings for both classifications. Those standings seed teams in their respective district tournaments. Its formula gives teams a slight up-tic if you beat a team of a higher classification.
The one that gets the most play is the State RPI. That one really is not much more than a talking point throughout the season and may (or may not) be used by state seeding committees to seed teams who have qualified for state tournaments.
The State RPI uses a completely different formula than the District 1 RPI. The State RPI is based on your winning percentage, your opponent’s winning percentage, and the winning percentage of the opponents of your opponent's. It does not factor in extra points for beating someone from a different classification. It should not be taken too seriously, especially early in the season. It is mostly a tool for committees to use. It does not guarantee you a spot in the state tournament. You always have to qualify for state through your own district tournament.
I am happy to say that I have secured my friend, Arpy Iguy, for the second year in a row. He will make timely appearances during the season to, again, update us on his RPI findings. Hopefully I can afford his potato chip tab.
If you are looking for the first games of the season, look at the weekend after Thanksgiving. There are a few jamborees and games listed, but also pay attention to the state football brackets over the next few weeks as well. If your football team plays on, that will most likely delay the start of your basketball season.
~ Ted House
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