Shelton prepares for return to 3A sports

Shelton High School enjoyed playing in the Evergreen 2A Conference, but after reclassification last year, the Highclimbers found themselves moved up to 3A. 

But the Highclimbers enjoyed the Evergreen 2A Conference so much, they decided to continue playing a 2A EvCo schedule in all sports except football. 

"We appealed and hoped that we would stay 2A. I don't think our work was quite done with the appeal that we got right when COVID came," Shelton Athletic director Scott Chamberlain told the Journal. "It is what it is, so at this point, we're going to take our kids and we're going to push them in the positive direction of hey, this is a good thing. One of the reasons we stayed in the 2A, at least, since I've been here and in the 2A, get on the bus believing that they're going to go compete and haven't given up before they got there which I wasn't here to experience it, but I think that was the case prior to being 2A in all sports, maybe in some sports they felt that way but not in all sports." 

In football, Shelton will play a conference schedule in the 3A Greater St. Helens League with Heritage, Evergreen (Vancouver), Mountain View, Prairie and Kelso.

Kelso is about an hour and a half drive from Shelton, their shortest conference road trip of the season, along with two conference games in Vancouver against Evergreen and Mountain View. Shelton plays nonconference games against North Thurston in Olympia and W.F. West in Chehalis.

"Football is unique in that you can't do pigtail games and crossover games.

It's just a different animal and one thing I learned 25 years ago when I started doing this is we try to treat everything the same and then football ends up messing it all up," Chamberlain said. "We took the approach of we don't have to treat football the same. We can make nine football games, we can travel down to Vancouver once or twice a year for a varsity game on a Friday night, that's not that big of a deal. I don't think we could do that four times in boys basketball or volleyball. And its only varsity so we're not playing their JV's or their C's, it's a one time, two travels down or three travels down a year, Friday night, varsity football."  

The path to the playoffs for Shelton in football is clear, by finishing in the top half of the conference to earn a spot in the district crossover game for a spot into the 16-team state tournament bracket. 

In all other sports, Shelton will play in the Evergreen Conference and then see whether it qualifies to get into districts or a pigtail game in the 3A GSHL as a part of District 4, similar to what Bainbridge High School does by playing in the 2A Olympic League with North Mason but playing in 3A District 3 for the playoffs. 

Chamberlain said Bainbridge laid some groundwork for its decision to play as a 3A school in a 2A league. The 3A District 4 has a bi-district agreement with 3A District 3 for the playoffs, and Chamberlain said they will be part of that bi-district agreement. 

"We will need to have some criteria met in the 2A league via that place in a certain spot, either being fourth or third, we don't know yet, because we don't know allocations, we'll know that here soon," Chamberlain said. "If we do that and then that qualifies us to play that same level team in the GSHL 3A down in Vancouver for a pigtail game into that bi-district tournament." 

Chamberlain said the Evergreen 2A Conference has worked so well because each school in the league is a one high school community. 

Chamberlain also has experience with the league as the former athletic director at Centralia High School.

"It's just a different feel than the three Thurston schools, you've got boundary exemptions and all kinds of stuff where kids go. Our kids feel like when they're getting off a bus, when they see kids get off the bus, we're playing kids just like us," Chamberlain said. "I don't know if they felt that before, I can't say that they didn't feel that, but I would tell you that the results show that we shouldn't be playing with those guys. Even in the nonleagues we played. I think we played North Thurston in basketball last year. They were pretty good, obviously, but when they left our gym, I'm like we have no business being on the floor with these guys." 

Chamberlain explained it by saying the regular season games mattered to the Shelton athletes, and this still gave the Highclimbers the opportunity to compete in the playoffs if they have a good enough season. 

The Evergreen 2A Conference is no slouch either, with Tumwater, W.F. West and Black Hills consistently sending athletic teams and athletes to state competitions. 

Ultimately, Chamberlain said the goal for Shelton athletics is not to walk away with championships but to walk away after their senior season as good citizens, good sports and making healthful choices so they can be contributing members of the Shelton community or the community they choose and reflect on Shelton athletics. 

"It doesn't matter what classification or what league we're in, we're going to focus on making our kids better at that," Chamberlain said. "When that's happening, all the other things that people see, we're going to have more numbers because of the people in the building. We're going to have different success on the field and the scoreboard. Once kids start holding themselves accountable for those things, then your programs really do improve so that's our push, that's our goal and make sure they have a positive experience."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

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