Cougars, Trojans renewing football rivalry

Central Kitsap’s football team can look forward to battling a pair of familiar opponents this fall after a two-year hiatus.

Central Kitsap will renew its Battle of Bucklin Hill rivalry with Olympic as the teams will meet in Week 2 at Integrity Stadium on Sept. 13. The Cougars and Trojans haven’t played each other since the spring of 2021, back when Kitsap teams played an abbreviated and localized schedule coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown. The Cougars won that matchup, 35-0, to extend their winning streak against the Trojans to five games.

Central Kitsap head coach Mark Keel said it’ll be nice to work on rebuilding the local rivalry with the Trojans and Olympic athletic director Nate Andrews agreed, noting that it hasn’t always been advantageous for his school to face Central Kitsap due to several factors, including postseason seeding criteria.

“We are excited to bring it back,” Andrews said.

Central Kitsap will also face South

Kitsap next season, travelling to face the Wolves in Week 3 on Sept. 20. The Cougars beat the Wolves 46-20 during the COVID spring season in 2021. Before that, the last time the two teams played was in the 2015 season-opener when Central Kitsap and South Kitsap were both members of the now-defunct Narrows League. The Wolves prevailed in that matchup, 25-14.

The ability for Central Kitsap and South Kitsap to play is a result of changing league landscapes following the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s latest round of reclassification. Central Kitsap’s current 3A league, the South Sound Conference, is going away at the end of the 2023-24 school year in favor of a new 12-team league: the Puget Sound League 3A. There will be two divisions: Central Kitsap will be in the Narrows Division along with Bellarmine Prep, Gig Harbor, Lincoln, Mount Tahoma and Silas, while the Nisqually Division will consist of Capital, Lakes, North Thurston, Peninsula, River Ridge and Timberline.

South Kitsap’s current 4A league, the South Puget Sound League, is also changing formation beginning in 2024-25. Some sports, such as football, will use divisions: the North Division will include South Kitsap, Curtis, Emerald Ridge, Puyallup, Rogers and Sumner, while the South Division will be Bethel, Bonney Lake, Graham-Kapowsin, Olympic, Spanaway Lake and Yelm.

The new league alignment means both South Kitsap and Central Kitsap have the ability to schedule three nonleague opponents starting next fall. The teams’ remaining regular season games will be league contests: five division opponents in Weeks 4-8 and a Week 9 division crossover game.

Other league changes stemming from reclassification, as previously reported, are Bainbridge joining the Olympic League, making it a complete 2A league with Bremerton, Kingston, North Kitsap, North Mason, Olympic, Port Angeles and Sequim. The Spartans are dropping down from 3A to 2A beginning in 2024-25.

For football only, Kingston will join Klahowya as members of the Nisqually League 1A.