WIAA sets state football tournament first-round matchups

The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) announced the seedings and first-round matchups for the state football tournaments on Sunday.

This is the first year the WIAA used committees to seed the 16 qualifying teams instead of relying on a preset bracket developed before the season. First-round games will be played Friday or Saturday. Dates, times and venues will be decided early in the week.

Three Greater Spokane League teams qualified for state berths. GSL 4A champion Gonzaga Prep (8-2, 5-0) received the highest bid as the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Eastlake (8-2).

Mead (7-3, 4-1) is the No. 11 seed in 4A and will travel to No. 6 Graham-Kapowsin (9-1).

Mt. Spokane (8-2, 2-1) received the 3A No. 9 seed and will face No. 8 Timberline (8-2) on the road.

The rest of the area teams and seeds:

2A: (12) Ellensburg (5-4) at (5) West Valley (9-1).

1A: (16) Riverside (6-4) at (1) Royal (10-0); (12) Connell (7-2) at (5) Colville (7-2); (10) Newport (8-1) at (7) La Salle (8-1).

2B: (12) Columbia (8-2) at (5) Chewelah (7-3); (11) Reardan (8-2) at (6) Toledo (6-4); (10) Pe Ell/Willapa Valley (9-2) at (7) Northwest Christian (8-2).

1B: Class 1B has an eight-team bracket and will be decided next week.