by Greg Lincoln
March Madness is here folks, and conference tournaments are underway this week for most of our region’s local teams. For our smallest schools, the 1A teams, tournaments are going on in host schools across the YK delta. The Alaska Coastal Conference will be in Bethel on March 3-5, 2022. Teams on the brackets include Kipnuk, Mekoryuk, Nunapitchuk, Chefornak, Kwethluk, Tuntutuliak, Quinhagak and Toksook Bay for the boys. And for the girls its Tunt, Kwethluk, Toksook Bay, Napaskiak, Chefornak, Quinhagak, Kongiganak, and Kasigluk-Akiuk.
And congratulations are in order for the Mekoryuk Herders for making it the district tournament – the first time in 20 years. Welcome back!
The Greater Kuskokwim Conference encompasses Akiachak, Akiak, Aniak, Kalskag, Kuspuk ESSS, and Tuluksak. This tournament will be hosted by the Akiachak Huskies March 3-5.
And the girls tournament for the Yukon Delta Conference has taken place in Alakanuk this past week. Teams playing included Scammon Bay, Pilot Station/Marshall, Emmonak, Kotlik, Russian Mission, Alakanuk, and Nunam Iqua. The boys will be playing in Russian Mission this weekend March 2-5. This conference has two berths to state, all the rest of the conferences in our region have one berth.
For the 2A classification teams, the Western Coastal conference has two schools – Chevak and Hooper Bay. The tournament will be hosted by Chevak March 3-5.
And our 3A team, the Bethel Warriors, are getting ready for regionals in Kotzebue, March 10-12, 2022. There are four teams vying for the top two spots – Bethel, Kotzebue, Nome, and Barrow.
The 1A teams to watch out for for the boys are the Scammon Bay Eagles and the Tanana Wolves who have been posting astronomical numbers in their games this season.
Quyana to the tournament organizers for all your hard work to make sure the conference finals get underway. Play hard, play fair and good luck to all teams.
