Six teams gear up for spring break – this might be a record. Mercer Island is heading to Connecticut, and will face Xavier, Joel Barlow (a school, not an individual), and Wilton. Issaquah travels to the Austin, Texas area where they will meet Westlake, Vandergrift, and Austin HS. Bellevue will head to Virginia, where they will meet storied programs in Langley, St.Stephens-St.Agnes, and Dominion HS. Newport is in the Denver, Colorado, area, and will face Cherokee Trail, Smoky Hill, and Chatfield. Tahoma flees the rain to sunny Arizona and will face Chaparral and Desert Vista. In Skyline’s case, this marks the first time ever that a Washington team has traveled to Maryland, a storied hotbed area if there ever was one, to play. They will face Towson HS and Gerstell Academy.

Every team should have a good set of matchups – but who has the hardest? Based on last year’s Laxpower.com computer rankings for the out of state teams, and this year’s power rankings for Washington teams, it breaks down as follows (a 100 point scale is used):

Tahoma 92, Opponents 89 +3

Bellevue 96, Opponents 94 +2

Mercer Island 97.01, Opponents 96.9 +.02

Skyline 89, Opponents 90 -1

Issaquah 91, Opponents 95 -4

Newport 79, Opponents 93 -13

So far it looks like Tahoma should have the easiest time, while Newport should have the hardest. Of course we hope our teams always win, but it will be interesting to see how close the numbers follow reality.

Stay tuned to walax.com and the Sunday Stroll, we will be watching and reporting on our Washingtonian teams making us proud!

The week that was….

Around the league a number of notable games took place. We are still far from the playoffs, but there is a lot brewing already -

In D-II Central-South, Camas took down King’s Way in a one-goal game, and took the conference lead. Last year’s teammates have become very close competition for each other. The Central-South should provide us with a lot of excitement in the future, as the area only promises to expand, and the quality of play is relatively high. Few programs upon splitting have been able to create two teams as competitive as this.

Eastside Catholic met Jesuit of Oregon in Portland and delivered a very convincing performance, winning 18-5. So far, Washington teams have performed very well against Oregon teams, winning most of these interstate matchups. Eastside Catholic has yet to lose and owns a commanding lead in D-I Metro.

Auburn-Riverside met Issaquah, and Issaquah got their motor running early for spring break, leading 7-0 at halftime, and ending in an 11-3 victory. This game played mostly according to type – the thought is that outside of the Metro, no other conference has teams that can compete with the top level of the KingCo conference. Perhaps this is a trend, but let us not forget about Tahoma’s performance against Mercer Island – 10-6 in a loss to what is right now an undefeated team, and number one in the state. So far this is the closest anyone has come to MI. We think that this says that the top level of every conference can play with each other, and that the second half of the season and playoffs both should give us many exciting games.

Best upcoming matchups

D-I:

4/9: Issaquah @ Austin Westlake (TX) – The Westlake Chapparals are 9-5 on the season, and 6-0 in their division. A great test for Issaquah!

4/10: Bellevue @ Langley (VA) – Langley’s Saxons hold a record 4 state titles in Virginia. They will meet the Wolverines in what promises to be a great game.

4/12: Mercer Island @ Wilton (CT) – For Wilton, this is early season – it will be their 2^nd game of the year. They will meet a Mercer Island team that has quickly shaped up to mid-season form.

D-II:

4/7: O’Dea @ Meadowdale: O’Dea has played progressively better and are searching for their third win, while Meadowdale looks for their second.

4/8: Seattle Prep @ Shorecrest: Best of Wesco/NW D-II meets a solid D-I Metro conference team.

4/8: Wenatchee @ Richland: D-II East meets D-II Central-South.

Anything we missed? Got some good comments or questions for us? EMAIL: [email protected]