(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

Springdale will play a 1B football schedule this year and remain an Independent within leagues and classification, although considered technically a 2B school. (File photo)

Former AD Dodge moves to position at Liberty…

Kyle Dodge has resigned his positions as athletic director and wrestling coach at Mary Walker High School in Springdale and has been hired as the athletic director of the Liberty School District in Spangle.

“Liberty started phoning me back in May when they learned that their athletic director was resigning at the end of the school year,” said Dodge. “I accepted the job because Liberty is a strong athletic contender in the 2B ranks, while Springdale will probably be dropping to the 1B classification soon because of its steadily decreasing enrollment. And, I live in Spokane, so it is a shorter drive for me to go to Liberty than it was to drive up to Springdale.”

According to Dodge, Springdale will continue to play an independent sports schedule through the 2019-20 school year. The Chargers will play eight-man football against 1B teams and a mixed schedule against 1B and 2B teams in other sports.

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(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Kaden Krouse is turning heads as fullback, getting some “among the top fantasy football high school players in the state.”

Chewelah being touted a top 4 team if they can survive regular season schedule…

Chewelah hasn’t played a football game this year but they’re already getting respect from the west side of the mountains. The 2B football team made the widest improvement out of nearly any team last year when they made an emergency drop down from the 1A classification. Going from a 1-2 win team from previous years, the Cougars advanced to the State 2B quarterfinals. 

The Lewis County-based “Let’s Take About It” produced by the Chronicle in Centralia brought members of the WIAA seeding committee to talk about what teams they were watching.  

“Chewelah is a team I would absolutely put in the final four,” Ryland Spencer, writer for Cascadia Preps and 247Sports said. Spencer is a member of the WIAA 2B seeding committee.

While the podcast largely focused on the west side, Stevens County got plenty of love when trying to figure out what this fall’s postseason might look like. Chewelah recently released its football schedule and it is … very difficult … a point not lost on the seeding committee. More

(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

The Spokane Northstars sent some love over the Chataqua weekend, sporting these wristbands in honor of the Mike Carpenter Memorial Tournament. (Courtesy photo)

LOOKING FORWARD: Legion squad looking to soar in district tourney…

AAA American Legion teams need to have a full stable of starting pitchers and a bullpen full of relief pitchers when they compete in a tournament in which they play five or six games over a four-day weekend. Some teams are able to fortify their roster with enough chuckers to fill the schedule through Sunday’s final games. Some may not, depending on how many games they have to play.

The Spokane Northstars came up short in Kennewick last Sunday. They had to remove Carl Oman’s catcher’s gear and put him on the mound to finish that afternoon’s final game. Hopefully, Oman will be able to continue wearing his mask, chest protector, and shin guards this weekend when area AAA teams meet for the district championship.

Spokane’s six AAA American Legion teams will gather at Jackson Field on the Shadle Park High School campus to decide the district’s four entries into the upcoming state tournament. The Northstars have been seeded fourth in the four-day event and will open play on Friday evening at 5 p.m. against the Mt. Spokane Wild, a team they have defeated twice during the league season.

Considering all of the tournaments the Northstars have competed in this summer in Oregon, Montana and Washington, they should have the experience to earn one of those four tickets to the state finale. That is, if pitching can hold up through Sunday. More

(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

Jake Jeanneret celebrates a run against Mead during AA Legion action. (Brandon Hansen photo)

BATS CONTINUE TO BE HOT: 49ers look like they’ve struck gold heading into postseason…

Exhausted Chewelah bats did not get their second wind until the sixth inning at Colville on Friday. After thumping 33 hits in wins over Cheney and Mead earlier in the week, fatigued Niner bats recuperated through the first five innings against the Indians. By that time, the home team had built a 7-0 lead, leaving Chewelah only two at-bats to close the gap, which they almost accomplished.

The Niners scored five runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to narrow the Colville lead to 9-8, but they left the tying and go-ahead runs on the base as the late rally fell short.

“We were just one hit away from winning at Colville,” said Coach Tom Skok. “We had runners on base. We just didn’t get the hit we needed.
“Everything seems to be coming together at just the right time for us. Both our pitching and hitting have really improved.” More