Why the Drummond at Granite rematch won’t matter in the standings

PHILIPSBURG – “What? Why? Can someone please explain this?”

Fans around Granite County are somewhat confused about the second meeting of the Lady Trojans and Lady Prospectors Tuesday in Philipsburg. The Flint Creek Courier is here to clear it up.

In years past the two teams have been in the same district for regular season-play, and they are this year as well. But prior to the 2024 season Districts 13C and 14C decided to join forces and become one ‘super district’, consisting of 12 teams. This produced two major changes in the way the schools approached their seasons.

The first was in its regular season scheduling. Each team in the new district plays every other school once. Some teams got five home games while others got six. In 2025, the roles will be reversed. But that means that any second matches scheduled during the regular season do not count against the district standings, only the first meeting does.

“So why play a team twice?”

Great question.

The benefit is to get games in and to alleviate travel. In the case of Granite and Drummond, the No. 1 & 2 teams in the new District 13C, it was an even larger benefit. Both teams get another quality opponent and its only cost the Lady Trojans about 60 miles round trip.

The second big change is in how the District Tournament will be formatted. At its core it’s still an 8-team, two-day tournament. But because there are 12 teams, the top four teams will be seeded into the bracket and the remaining eight will compete  in play-in matches with the losers going home. The lowest advancing seed will play the No. 1 team, the next lowest taking on No. 2 and so forth.

For the top-ranked Lady Prospectors and the second place Lady Trojans, they will be placed into the bracket and await their opponents for a Thursday match to open the tournament.

This years event will take place in the Salish Kootenai College (SKC) gymnasium on October 31 and November 1. Play-in matches will be October 30, also at SKC.