Determining the Evergreen Conference champ has been a revolving door for the last five seasons. Outside of the COVID-19 impacted year, the top-three teams in the league have been in some order W.F. West, Tumwater and Black Hills.
With fewer teams in the league since Rochester went down a classification, those same three may wind up in the similar spots.
But could the order flip again?
After Tumwater claimed back-to-back titles in 2021-22 and 22-23, W.F. West took the throne behind last winter with an 11-1 mark. Black Hills hasn’t finished first since the 2019-20 campaign.
The Wolves return the majority of their starting lineup, paced by James Morgan and the Morrill brothers Quinton and Talon. That unit played together over the summer, and alongside Peyton Faught, won a summer tournament in Las Vegas.
Coach Jeff Gallagher’s team is off to a 2-1 start ignited by 3-point shooting, which he stated he’s never seen a team shoot more 3s in his two-plus decades at Black Hills. Morgan is Black Hills’ post player at 6-foot-3.
After another setback in the opening round of state, the round before Yakima, W.F. West is searching for a go-to scoring option with all-area guard and EvCo MVP Tyler Klatush gone. Coach Chris White is hopeful the core of Gage Brumfield, Grady Westlund, Ross Kelley and Carlos Vallejo – debuting for the Bearcats on the hardwood after transferring from Centralia – can continue the momentum they established on the gridiron.
Tumwater won the boys division of the Hub City Classic early in the summer. It doesn’t open the season until next Friday, December 13 against 1A state qualifier Tenino. First team all-league pick Clay Morgan graduated, but it was guard Sahara Anthony II that led the Thunderbirds this summer.
Centralia may have one of the tallest players in the league in David Daarud. The Tigers turned out well over 25 kids program-wide under first year coach Jordan Roberts, who played in the EvCo as a prep.
