Othello goes to modified Kansas tie-breaker to determine CWAC North postseason seeds

The good news is, Othello’s 34-17 nonleague loss at Pullman Friday night didn’t mean anything. But the Huskies will have a short turnaround to prepare for the ones that do mean something.

With the three-way regular-season tie for first, the defending Central Washington Athletic Conference North champions (4-4, 3-1 CWAC North), along with Ephrata (4-4, 3-1) and Ellensburg (4-3, 3-1) will play a modified Kansas City tiebreaker at Royal City’s David Nielsen Stadium on Tuesday, beginning at 7 p.m.

The scenarios to determine the CWAC North top seed are as wild as the regular season. But first things first: Othello will play Ephrata in Game 1 at 7 p.m. The loser will play Ellensburg in Game 2, 15 minutes following the conclusion of the first one.

For Othello to repeat as the CWAC North champion, the Huskies need to win the first game and hope Ellensburg beats Ephrata in the second, which would give Othello the top seed and Ellensburg the second seed, eliminating the Tigers.

All that being said, if Ephrata wins Game 1 and Othello wins Game 2, then Ephrata would win the North and the Huskies would go into the postseason as the second seed. The same would hold true if the Huskies win the first game and the Tigers win the second.

The only way Othello could be eliminated from the postseason altogether is if the Huskies lose to Ephrata in the first game, then lose to Ellensburg in Game 2.

The modified Kansas City tiebreaker guarantees each team two possessions starting at the 25-yard line. Each team is allowed one timeout. If the score is still tied after two possessions, the ball moves to the 10-yard line and each team must attempt the two-point conversion after each touchdown.

The winners of Game 1 and Game 2 then fall back to head-to-head record during the regular season to determine the top two seeds for the CWAC championships on Oct. 27 in Moses Lake.