League-only schedules? For high school sports seeking return, it’s not that simple

The latest push to bring back high school sports in Washington by Feb. 1 presents an additional challenge for some leagues in the South Sound. The Class 3A South Sound Conference, for example, has eight member schools.

Those schools are spread out across three different counties: Gig Harbor and Peninsula high schools are in Pierce County; Capital, North Thurston, River Ridge, Timberline and Yelm are located in Thurston County, while Central Kitsap is in Kitsap County. With the state’s new ‘Healthy Washington’ plan, certain schools and counties could be cleared to play before others, depending on their progress with the newly established metrics.

It’s an added layer of confusion for leagues to deal with.

With additional information scheduled for release by the WIAA on Jan. 11, Peninsula athletic director Ross Filkins, also the school’s football coach, says that the SSC may elect to run an independent, league-only schedule, or search to compete with nearby schools that are “on board” with local guidelines.

“We’re in a situation right now where we may need to look at closer schools that are within our regions,” Filkins said. “Again, no firm decisions have been made. But the clock is ticking. We know (that) we’re going to have to get a plan together.

“At this point, we do need to anticipate that the traditional fall sports can begin as soon as Feb. 1.”

Other obstacles arise with the WIAA’s regional placements of schools within the South Sound Conference, including transportation needs. Considering the distance between some campuses -- Yelm and Central Kitsap high schools, for example, are separated by some 65 road miles apart -- there’s rising doubt that some programs may be unable to accommodate longer trips.

Though no firm decision has been made on whether the South Sound Conference will decide to follow the WIAA’s directive, the option to take on a locally-ran schedule opens up the opportunity to extend the season beyond seven weeks.

“If you go into your own local control, you’re essentially letting the WIAA know that you’re not necessarily going to follow their model, and also are not planning on any postseason that the WIAA may be able to support,” Filkins said. “We’re not the only ones that are dealing with the enormity of this change. … The great thing is that [athletic directors] across the state are networking. We’re helping each other through this, and we’re going to find opportunities for our kids to participate and not allow this to become a burden.”

Capital High School (Olympia) athletic director Steve Taylor said that the conference is also considering divisional play within the conference. Each division would represent a region, meaning Capital and the four other high schools within Thurston County would compete with one another, schools in Pierce County would compete with one another, and so on.

Electing for divisional play prevents the potential for an opponent to be ineligible; either the entire division has met their benchmark, or none of them have.

It’s somewhat of an insurance policy that only improves the odds of high school athletics this school year for the league’s teams in Thurston County, though it creates scheduling additional questions for Gig Harbor, Peninsula and Central Kitsap.

“Once we got divided into three different regions, you’re not only relying on the county that the school is in, but you’re relying on two or three other counties also,” Taylor said. “The WIAA has stated that they’re going to approve any reasonable plan. We feel like this is pretty reasonable.”

The decision to follow the WIAA’s proposed plan for season one does not mean that the South Sound Conference couldn’t elect for local control beyond the first season of play, when indoor athletics are expected to commence. That’s at least the understanding of the SSC, Filkins says.

Typical postseason play -- a full-on, extended state tournament, for example -- is currently off the table from the WIAA, regardless of the SSC’s decision to run their season locally.

For Peninsula football, specifically, its attempt to return to the state tournament will have to wait an additional year.

That doesn’t mean their players aren’t excited to get on the field.

“The student-athletes that we’ve had showing up to our strength and conditioning workouts this past week… I think they clearly recognize that this new plan does give us a much clearer path forward to resuming competition,” Filkins said. “There’s a tremendous amount of excitement now that we can pin a prospective date on beginning. It’s bringing a lot of hope and encouragement that is much needed.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "League-only schedules? For high school sports seeking return, it’s not that simple."