Northwest Conference Football

The 2019 All Northwest Conference football teams have been announced. Sedro-Woolley senior receiver, Brent VanderVeen, and Lakewood quarterback, Jared Taylor, are this seasons Co-Most Valuable Players.

Coach of the Year honors goes to Dan Teeter of Lakewood.

For the complete list of Sky and Lake Division first teams, and the combined division second team, please see the links below.

The 2019 All Northwest Conference football teams have been announced. Sedro-Woolley senior receiver, Brent VanderVeen, and Lakewood quarterback, Jared Taylor, are this seasons Co-Most Valuable Players.

Coach of the Year honors goes to Dan Teeter of Lakewood.

For the complete list of Sky and Lake Division first teams, and the combined division second team, please see the links below.

This week will mark the end of the regular season for 2A and 3A football teams, while the 1A Merry-Go-Round will finish a week later.

The news of the week in 2A is that Friday’s Lake Division city rivalry between Bellingham and Sehome will not be played. Sehome will be awarded a win by forfeit, as Bellingham will be unable to field a full team.

This week will mark the end of the regular season for 2A and 3A football teams, while the 1A Merry-Go-Round will finish a week later.

The news of the week in 2A is that Friday’s Lake Division city rivalry between Bellingham and Sehome will not be played. Sehome will be awarded a win by forfeit, as Bellingham will be unable to field a full team.

The Lake Division, along with KingCo teams, Liberty and Sammamish, are part of their own RPI system. Sehome will finish with a 3-0 Lake Division record, while Bellingham will finish 0-3.

The top three teams in the Lake/KingCo RPI, will advance to Week 9 playoffs against the fourth, fifth and sixth place teams from the Sky Division.

Sehome currently has the top RPI in their division, however, they could be overtaken by Liberty. The Patriots play in a 3A league, which the RPI accounts for. There is also a District 1/2 agreement that states that if Liberty finishes with a KingCo League record that is above .500, they will earn the top RPI spot. They are currently 2-2 with one game left, at home against Mercer Island.

Sammamish, who also makes their home in the KingCo, is playing their league football games in a lower division of the Metro League. Their games are scored by RPI only. They are not part of the same agreement as Liberty.

RPI standings will not be official until all games have been finalized.

The top three teams in the Sky Division standings will have a bye on Friday, November 1, also known as Week 9. The fourth, fifth and sixth place Sky teams will host the top three from the Lake/KingCo RPI. The winners of those three Week 9 games will advance to Week 10 games against the top three from the Sky Division. There are three allocations to state from District 1/2 this year.

Currently, there is a three-way tie at the top of the Sky Division between Sedro-Woolley, Lakewood and Lynden. If two teams end up tied, that will be broken by head-to-head. If three teams (or more) are tied, the order will be determined by the results of a pre-season draw.

On Friday night, Lynden hosts Blaine, Archbishop Murphy visits Sedro-Woolley, and Lakewood is at Burlington-Edison. If Lynden and Lakewood lose, there would be a four-way tie if Archbishop Murphy beats Sedro Woolley.

If the Cubs and Lions finish tied, the Cubs will be the top seed. Lynden has the head-to-head over Lakewood, and in turn, Lakewood has the tiebreaker over Sedro-Woolley.

The 1A’s have two games left, and a lot can still happen as Lynden Christian and Mt. Baker lead third place Meridian one game.

However, the Lyncs and Mountaineers are finished with each other, and have split their two head-to-head games. If they remain tied for first place, the tie will be broken by a pre-season draw.

The third place team will advance to a play-in game at the fourth place team from the North Sound Conference, on Tuesday, November 5. That winner will play at the North Sound champion, the following Saturday.

Squalicum and Ferndale, playing in the 3A Wesco North, are currently tied for third with 3-2 records, with the Storm holding the head-to-head edge. The Golden Eagles finish the regular season Friday, at home against Stanwood. The Storm will host Oak Harbor on Saturday, at Civic Stadium.

Both teams will then host Week 9 Wesco crossover games against the team that holds the same place in the South Division.

~ Ted House

Compared to 2018, it was a fairly quiet off-season with regards to Northwest Conference football. However, there were a few changes to the 2A Sky and Lake Division alignments.

Compared to 2018, it was a fairly quiet off-season with regards to Northwest Conference football. However, there were a few changes to the 2A Sky and Lake Division alignments.

Blaine, a Lake Division member last year, will now play in the Sky Division. They will join Archbishop Murphy, Burlington-Edison, Lakewood, Lynden, and Sedro-Woolley.

Anacortes, a member of the Lake Division in 2018, will not field a varsity football team in 2019. The Lake Division will have four remaining teams: Bellingham, Cedarcrest, Mountlake Terrace, and Sehome.

The Sky Division standings will represent the order of finish for post-season play again this season. While the Lake Division teams will again be paired with 2A Kingco teams, Liberty and Sammamish, and use the RPI system to qualify for the playoffs.

The post-season begins on November 1, also known as, “Week 9,”

The top three finishers in the Sky Division will receive a bye in Week 9. The 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th place teams will meet the top three finishers from the Lake + Kingco (based on RPI), in Week 9, loser out games. Those winners will advance to Week 10, and play the top three teams from the Sky Division.

There are three allocations to state from District 1/2 this year.

~Ted House

The 2018 All Northwest Conference football teams have been announced.

Please see the attachment below for the list of Sky and Lake Division first teams, as well as the combined Sky and Lake Divisioin second team.

The 2018 All Northwest Conference football teams have been announced.

Please see the attachment below for the list of Sky and Lake Division first teams, as well as the combined Sky and Lake Divisioin second team.

By Ted House

The final night of 1A football is on Thursday. Meridian, Mt. Baker, and Lynden Christian have qualified for District 1 crossovers, but the order of the three remains a mystery.

By Ted House

The final night of 1A football is on Thursday. Meridian, Mt. Baker, and Lynden Christian have qualified for District 1 crossovers, but the order of the three remains a mystery.

Meridian will take the outright title if they defeat the Lyncs. If that happens, Mt. Baker will take second place if they beat Nooksack Valley. If the Pioneers knock off the Mounties, then Mt. Baker and LC will tie at 3-3.

What if LC wins at Meridian, and Mt. Baker beats Nooksack? That creates a 3-way tie, in which there will be a draw among those three for the top three spots. There is no loser out in any scenario, so there will not be a mini playoff. Even in a two-way tie, a draw will determine placing and seeds.

The third place team from the NWC will have an extra Tuesday, play-in game on October 30, against the fourth place team from the North Sound Conference. That winner will advance to a Saturday playoff game against the North Sound champion.

Squalicum travels to Snohomish to take on the Panthers, Friday at 7:00pm. Snohomish went 6-0 in the Wesco South. This game is for the top two seeds to the Week 10 3A playoffs. The winner will play the #5 team from the Metro League. The loser will get the #4 from the South Sound Conference.

Ferndale had things fall accordingly last week, and will play Meadowdale, Friday at 8:00pm, at Edmonds Stadium. This is a loser-out contest, while the winner will tackle Eastside Catholic the following week. The Crusaders are the top team in the Metro, and the #1 ranked team in the 3A classification.

In 2A, Lynden, Archbishop Murphy, Burlington-Edison, and Sedro-Woolley have byes this week, and await winners of four other contests being played on Friday.

Lakewood was the fifth place finisher in the Sky Division, so they were combined with the top seven teams, based on RPI, from the Lake Division and the KingCo League. The Cougars were to be matched up with #8-Anacortes. However, the Seahawks have forfeited that game to the Cougars. The Seahawks sighted their athlete’s health as the top priority, as they have suffered several injuries to an already thin roster.

In other 2A games on Friday, (RPI) #7-Cedarcrest travels to #2-Liberty, 7:00pm; #6-Blaine plays #3-Mountlake Terrace, 5:00pm at Edmonds Stadium; #5-Sehome and #4-Bellingham get together for the second week in a row at Civic Field at 7:00pm. These games are loser-out. The winners will advance to Week 10.

Following Friday night’s action, those four winners will be ranked by league coaches, and placed in reverse order against the top four teams from the Sky Division, who have the byes this week. This means that Sky Champion, Lynden will play the fourth-ranked winner from Friday, while Sky #4, Sedro-Woolley, will play the highest ranked winner. Second place, Archbishop Murphy and #3 Burlington-Edison will play against their respective #3 and #2 opponents. Those matchups will be announced late Friday night, or early Saturday morning.

The winners of the Week 10 games will be seeded into the first round of the state tournament, somewhere between #1 and #16 by the 1A/2A Football Seeding Committee. There are three seeding committees this year, who will take on the task of seeding teams for the first round of football state tournaments in all six classifications.

By Ted House

The football playoffs are coming up fast for Northwest Conference teams. The 2A and 3A classifications have one week of regular season games left, while the 1A’s have two more league games in front of them, as they all battle for post-season position.

By Ted House

The football playoffs are coming up fast for Northwest Conference teams. The 2A and 3A classifications have one week of regular season games left, while the 1A’s have two more league games in front of them, as they all battle for post-season position.

In 2A, the Lynden Lions (4-0, 7-0), have won the Sky Division championship, and will receive a first round bye. The Lions have a non-league game this Friday, at home against Vancouver College.

The other four spots in the Sky will be settled this Friday as Sedro-Woolley (1-2) plays at Archbishop Murphy (2-1), and Burlington-Edison (1-2) goes to Lakewood (0-3).

Archbishop Murphy can clinch second place with a win over Sedro-Woolley. The Cubs can grab second place with a win over the Wildcats, combined with a Lakewood win over the Tigers.

There are also two scenarios in which there could be a three-way tie for 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, or for 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th. Since there is no loser out situation, a three-way tie would not constitute a mid-week mini playoff. Instead, there will be a draw held ahead of time that will seed teams in any three-way tie situation. Ties between two teams will go to the head-to-head winner.

The top four teams in the Sky Division will have Week 9 byes. The fifth place team will be the #1 seed for Week 9 games against the Lake Division. Those teams, along with Liberty and Sammamish, will be ranked for Week 9 play by RPI. The current RPI football rankings for those teams can be found on the Northwest Conference football page.

There are some important games in the Lake Division this week. RPI leader Bellingham (4-0, 5-2), takes on rival and #4 RPI, Sehome (3-1, 4-3). Mountlake Terrace, the current #2, (3-1, 4-3), finishes at Cedarcrest (1-3, 3-4). Liberty (3-1, 5-2), of the KingCo League, and the #3 RPI, ends their regular season at 3A Mercer Island.

Seven of the eight teams in the RPI standings will play in Week 9 games. The fifth place team from the Sky will be the #1 seed in Week 9, followed by the top seven in the RPI. Four 2A teams will qualify for the state round of 16.

In 3A, Squalicum is currently tied for first place with Oak Harbor at 4-1 in the Wesco North standings. The Storm and the Wildcats will break that tie, as they go head-to-head this Friday night in Oak Harbor. The winner will play the South Division champion the following week. The loser will also play the corresponding South Division team.

The top three teams in the North will play crossover games against the top three from the South in Week 9. Those teams will represent the top six seeds from the Wesco into Week 10 Quad District action.

The seventh representative from the Wesco will be the winner of the game between North and South 4^th place teams. Ferndale (2-3), is currently in fifth place in the Wesco North. They can take over fourth place if they beat Stanwood (0-5) this Friday, combined with an Arlington win over Marysville-Pilchuck (3-2). The Golden Eagles hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over M-P.

The 1A’s still have two league games to play. The top three advance to the District 1 playoffs against the North Sound Conference. However, the third place team will play in a Tuesday play-in game against the North Sound’s fourth place team. Three will qualify for state.

Meridian and Mt. Baker, both 3-1, play at Tisdale Field on Friday. The Mountaineers won the first meeting 41-20. Lynden Christian (2-2) will clinch no worse than third place with a win over Nooksack Valley (0-4) on Friday.

By Ted House

With four allocations to state in 2018, the following will be the outline for the 2A football playoffs for Districts 1&2:

The top four teams in the Sky Division, based on final standings (no RPI), will receive a bye in Week 9 (Oct. 26).

The fifth place team in the Sky Division, will be the highest seed in the Week 9 Playoffs.

By Ted House

With four allocations to state in 2018, the following will be the outline for the 2A football playoffs for Districts 1&2:

The top four teams in the Sky Division, based on final standings (no RPI), will receive a bye in Week 9 (Oct. 26).

The fifth place team in the Sky Division, will be the highest seed in the Week 9 Playoffs.

The top 7 teams in the RPI (Lake Division & KingCo teams) will join Sky #5 in four Loser Out games on October 26. The 2A football post-season bracket has the matchups.

The winners of the four Week 9 games will advance to Week 10 (November 2), where they will be seeded into games against the top four teams from the Sky Division that had the bye in Week 9.

The seeding for the Week 9 winners will be completed using a polling system of league coaches who teams qualified for the post-season. They will be seeded 1-4, and placed in reverse order. This means that the top team from the Sky Division will play the 4^th seeded team of the Week 9 winners.

Week 10 matchups will be available early morning, Saturday, October 27.