District 3, where for art thou? East Idaho "State of Ada" and North Idaho "South Idaho" haters have got to be loving this. Of the seventeen District 3 teams that started play on Thursday, only one (Middleton) is playing for a state championship trophy. Of the six state championship games, four are being played by conference opponents. Dietrich vs Richfield, Kamiah vs Grangeville, Lewiston vs CDA and Clearwater Valley vs Lapwai.
One of the admitted perils of seeding the tournaments, instead of continuing to use the current bracketing system, is the chance that conference opponents could play each other in the first round of the tournament. You tell me: Is it better for conference opponents to meet up in the first round of a seeded tournament or to meet up in the championship game of a non-seeded tournament? No right or wrong answer here...just asking.
Due to a widely-discussed, and hotly-debated, bracket in the 4A division, one of the top two teams in the state was guaranteed to only have a chance at the consolation title no matter what happened. Middleton beat Rigby in the first round and now Middleton is playing for the championship against Wood River and Rigby takes their one-loss season record to the consolation championship against the 6-14 Moscow. This is very bad news for the Bears. Bad news bears. Get it? Nevermind, it's the 5-hour energy talking....
In the 3A's, it will be a battle of North (Timberlake) vs East (Sugar-Salem) after the heavily favored Weiser Wolverines (19-1) went two-and-out.
Perennial 1A tournament favorites, Lapwai Wildcats, make yet another appearance in the big game. They will face their conference rival Clearwater Valley Rams. This should be one of the best games of the tournament in my opinion. Two well-matched teams who know each other very well. I'm excited for this one.
Now...time for my picks.
5A
Consolation -Boise over Capital
3rd Place - Centennial over Highland
Championship - CDA over Lewiston
4A
Consolation - Rigby over Moscow
3rd Place - Twin Falls over Bishop Kelly
Championship - Middleton over Wood River
3A
Consolation - Priest River over Fruitland
3rd Place - Snake River over Marsh Valley
Championship - Timberlake over Sugar-Salem
2A
Consolation - Declo over Soda Springs
3rd Place - West Jefferson over Melba
Championship - Grangeville over Kamiah
1AD1
Consolation - Raft River over Liberty Charter
3rd Place - Challis over Prairie
Championship - Lapwai over Clearwater Valley
1AD2
Consolation - Garden Valley over Summit Academy
3rd Place - North Gem over Mackay
Championship - Richfield over Dietrich
Best Game of the Day Award
Tie - CDA vs Lewiston and Lapwai vs CWV. Too close to call.
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