Every time somebody complains about the long bus trips or missing class, I always respond with the same thing. The 2024/25 school year was different in Cashmere. We joined a new league called the SCAC (South Central Athletic Conference). Not only does this league have way more competition in all sports, but it also gives each of our programs a better chance to make it to the state tournament.
I get that some might say the CTL (our old league) was so nice because it’s short travel, but do you really want to play Cascade, Chelan, and Omak three times each in a season? I don’t.
Girls’ basketball is a great example of how much better the competition is in the SCAC. In the 2025 state tournament, there were 4 SCAC girls’ basketball teams that made it. Guess how many CTL teams made it? That’d be a big fat zero. Also, there are only three CTL teams right now. We have nine teams.
Another example is girls’ soccer. 3 SCAC schools made the state tournament in 2024. And once again, zero CTL schools. This is not all. It is basically every sport. Yet, once in a while, there is a good Chelan or Omak team. But the SCAC is so talented yearly. And that’s what helps Cashmere be known as a perennial powerhouse in the 1A classification.
In the 2024/25 school year, the Bulldogs made history. We qualified for the state tournament in every single sport. This is the first time in Cashmere High School’s history that this has happened. This shows how much better this is for our school and how many chances this gives us for success.
Sophomore Camden Crawford, who is a starting offensive lineman for our varsity football team, was asked what he thinks about the SCAC. He shared.
“I love the new conference. Getting to play the tough conference games in the regular season is awesome and gets us ready for the postseason, and we didn’t have that in the CTL.”
Camden is just one example of people who believe this is a good conference. But I know that people complain about travel, and I hope those people read this article and realize why we take the time to travel to schools that are further away.
This conference just gives our school so many more opportunities and challenges. It’s a perfect opportunity for a school like Cashmere to be able to get into a league where we can compete.
