State Bound...

For all of the players, coaches and fans of the Broncos and Tigercats let me say congratulations and I certainly hope that you play your very best basketball of this season starting Thursday.

When it comes to high school sports, more often than not, especially at the small school level, if you had success in the fall there is a good chance you will have success in the winter.

Did you know that two state champions from the fall are matched up against each other, while the two runners up play the next game?

That would be the LRS Broncos (2B football) and the NWC Crusaders (2B soccer).

The game that follows features Morton-White Pass (football second place) and St. George’s (soccer second place). One more item to nibble on while you’re reading this, both of the second place teams were favored to win the championship but came up a bit short.

If you look at teams around the state you can easily conclude that some schools have success in certain sports but not all of them. For instance, there are schools that have had success in football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, track, golf or baseball. You seldom see a dominant school in several sports for an extended period of time. Fans have a tendency to dictate some of that.

At the college level think about how dominant Alabama is, but when have they done the same thing in basketball? All of the glory goes to the football program and they live off of that all year long, that is until spring football rolls around and then the fall campaign starts it all over again.

When a school has quality athletes, you hope those kids understand that great teams come around only so often. And as good as you may think you are there is always someone a bit quicker, more athletic and has the determination to make your life miserable in a game situation, just because they want victory as much if not more than you. Obviously great athleticism will only take you so far. Hard work, dedication and determination may get you over the hump. Not unlike life itself.

The NE 2B league has had great success so far this 2012-13 school year. The LRS Broncos were football champions, NWC Crusaders were No. 1 in soccer and the Reardan Indian girls’ captured a third straight championship under the tutelage of former Bronco standout Brittany Kubik. I happen to believe the St. George’s Dragons and Reardan girls have to be favored to win 2B basketball titles. I haven’t seen a team better than these two squads this year, that’s for sure. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t mind seeing an upset but these two teams have few if any weaknesses.

I’ll be there all three days cheering on the Broncos and hoping for the best. I love my small town basketball and always will. I can’t imagine ever missing this tournament, unless of course I was on my deathbed and even then I would hope someone would make arrangements for getting me to the arena.

When it comes to the 1B tournament, it looks like the Southeast District has had a tough path to cross just in league. That tough schedule should help the LWK Tigercats and Pomeroy Pirates in their quest for a championship. Another game between these teams would be worth the drive from anywhere. Always lurking around the corner is a Sunnyside Christian Knight team who are a fixture at this tournament. They are well coached and always seem to have solid basketball athletes.

On the girls’ side, I would say that it will once again be the Colton Wildcats. They press and push and their game is well suited for a three-day tournament against lackluster competition. The game that I would really like to see is the Reardan girls versus the Colton girls. Why that game hasn’t been scheduled is beyond me. That would be another one worth the price of admission at double the price.

We have a lot to cheer about this state tournament. I hope you stick around and watch more than just your team play this week.

I’ll be cheering for the Broncos and Tigercats and would love either of them to play for the championship because we have great kids in these small towns that are very deserving of the gold ball!