A battle of Southwest Washington 1A League boys basketball champions on Friday will decide a state berth.

Evergreen 1A League champ Montesano (19-5) will face Trico League titleholder La Center (16-7) in a regional 1A tournament contest scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday at Mark Morris High School in Longview.

Friday’s winner advances to the state 1A tourney beginning Feb. 28 in Yakima. The loser is eliminated. Montesano is seeking its first state appearance since 1982.

This was a match-up that many believed would materialize in the District IV tournament championship game last weekend.

But the Bulldogs, upset by King’s Way Christian in the district semifinals, wound up third at district. La Center went on to beat King’s Way, 76-65, in the title contest.

Although the Bulldogs and Wildcats did not square off in regular-season competition, both are very familiar with the other team’s personnel and style.

“I’m not sure if it’s an advantage or disadvantage,” Monte coach Doug Galloway said. “We’ve got film; they’ve got film. I think it’s an advantage for us to still be playing. I like the opportunity and I like the match-up.”

Not that Galloway expects the match-up to be easy.

A high-scoring team that likes to play up-tempo (a trait they share with the Bulldogs), La Center is riding an eight-game winning streak. The Wildcats have also been competitive with upper-division opponents, losing by only eight (69-61) to top-ranked Lynden Christian early in the season.

“They’re quick and they can shoot,” Galloway said. “They can handle the ball and drive and they can play defense. They’re a really solid team.”

Sophomore guard Hunter Ecklund has led the Wildcats in scoring this season with a 20-point per game average. Avery Seter, a 6-foot senior, averages better than 16 points per contest.

One of Montesano’s strengths this season has been a diversified attack. Seniors Trevor Ridgway and L.J. Valley and sophomore Sam Winter have consistently averaged in double figures this season, but posts Tanner Nicklas and Seth Dierkop and sixth man Shaydon Farmer have also demonstrated the capability to shoulder the offensive load on occasion.

“Everybody contributes on this team,” Valley emphasized. “Everybody can score. It depends on the night. If somebody’s (hot), we just keep feeding him the ball.”

“I think the big thing about these kids is they care about each other,” Galloway agreed. “They’re not jealous. They have a good team overview. They don’t really care who scores.”

In contrast to Montesano’s girls, the experienced Bulldog boys entered the season as Evergreen 1A favorites.

“We were confident,” Winter acknowledged. “We did pretty well in the summer. Our main focus was defense. We struggled at times (on defense) last year.”

Now Winter considers defense as one of the team strengths.

“We definitely stepped up from last year,” he observed.

While the long state drought has been the focal point of many in the community, Winter agreed with Ridgway’s previous comments that it was only a minor concern to the team.

“It was definitely in our minds, but it wasn’t our focus,” the sophomore guard said. “Our focus was on our team and our season.”