Friday Harbor slipped past Coupeville during the regular season but lost to Kittitas at state. (Julie Wheat photo)
Five team trophies and one state title.
With boys’ soccer leading the charge this weekend, the Northwest 2B/1B League guaranteed it will bring home a fair amount of hardware this fall.
Last weekend featured the state cross country championships, where the Coupeville High School boys finished 8th in 2B, the best team showing for anyone from its seven-team conference.
This weekend the focus turned to soccer, football, and volleyball, with some notable successes for Wolf league rivals.
The Darrington spikers won three of four matches to earn a 5th place trophy at the 1B tourney, polishing off Entiat, Valley Christian, and Almira Coulee Hartline, while losing to just Providence Classical Christian.
Over in the 2B tourney, things were not as nice, as both Mount Vernon Christian and La Conner went two and done.
The Hurricanes fell 3-2 to Toledo and 3-1 to Manson, while the Braves were swept 3-0 by both Onalaska and Okanogan.
In the 2B/1B girls’ soccer royal rumble, MVC fell 3-0 to Freeman and Friday Harbor was bounced 5-0 by Brewster in loser-out first round games.
Things were similar in the world of football, with Friday Harbor nipped 14-13 by undefeated Kittitas in 2B, and Darrington falling 50-24 to Wahkiakum in 1B, ending the seasons for both NWL squads.
The biggest splash of success came in boys’ soccer, however, as the NWL went 4-0 in the first round of the eight-team 2B/1B state tourney, ensuring the semifinals and final November 20-21 won’t feature any outsiders.
Two-time defending state champ Orcas Island beat Auburn Adventist Academy 2-0 and will square off with Friday Harbor, which slid past Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame 1-0.
The other semifinal will feature Mount Vernon Christian, which swatted Mabton 2-1, playing Providence Classical Christian, which upset third-seeded Evergreen Lutheran 1-0.
PCC is part of the NWL for just boys’ soccer, so the Darrington vs. PCC volleyball match mentioned earlier was not a clash of league rivals.
The super-strong showing on the pitch continues a trend, as the NWL, which expands to 10 teams for boys’ action, has dominated since the sport returned to action after the pandemic erased the 2020 season.
This will be the fifth time in the last six seasons that a team from the conference has won the state title, with Orcas (2021, 2024, 2025) and Friday Harbor (2022) previously collecting the top trophy.
With the top four finishers getting hardware, the NWL will have taken 17 of those 24 slots since 2021.
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