QUILCENE — Quilcene beat Neah Bay 3-0 in the 1B Tri-District Tournament to qualify for the State 1B Tournament to be held Nov. 9 at the Sun Dome in Yakima.
Quilcene will play in the Tri-District semifinals against Puget Sound Adventist, but by making it to the semis, the Rangers have already qualified for state.
Three Olympic Peninsula schools — Quilcene, Neah Bay and Clallam Bay — are still alive for the state 1B tournament, but only two out of three can move on to state.
Neah Bay won a play-in game earlier Monday, beating Shoreline Christian 3-1. Also in the tournament, Clallam Bay suffered a close 3-2 loss Monday to Mount Rainier Christian at Crescent High School.
In today’s matches at Mount Vernon Christian High School, Quilcene will play at 1:45 p.m. If the Rangers win, they will play the winner of Mount Rainier Lutheran and Rainier Christian. The Rangers’ (16-1) lone loss of the year was a close 3-2 defeat at the hands of Rainier Christian in the Sea-Tac 1B Tournament championship game last week.
Rainier Christian is 14-2 itself (one of those two losses came early in the season to the Rangers) and it’s possible Quilcene will face Rainier Christian for a third time for the district championship.
Meanwhile, both Neah Bay and Clallam Bay continue in the consolation bracket today. Neah Bay will play Lopez, while Clallam Bay plays Providence Classical Christian, with both matches beginning at noon.
Those are loser-out matches, so if either the Red Devils or Bruins lose, their seasons are over. If they win, the schools would play in the consolation bracket semifinals at 3:30 p.m. If they continue winning, they play in the consolation bracket championship at 5:15 p.m. for the opportunity to move on to the state 1B Tournament. Only the winner of the consolation bracket moves on. There’s a possibility that Clallam Bay and Neah Bay will play each other in that championship match for the opportunity to move on to state.
