NASELLE – The Naselle Comets boys basketball team, with new head coach Brian Macy and assistant Scott Smith at the helm, waste no time getting into the meat of their schedule as they open the season with a home “non-counting” league game Friday, Dec. 3. The Comets JV team, both boys and girls, will actually open the season on Dec. 1, playing at the Cathlamet JVs.

The Comets take on formerly class 1A North Beach in their non-counting or practice Pacific League season and home opener. The Comets then are scheduled to go on the road for two away games, at Warrenton on Tuesday, Dec. 7, and at the Lake Quinault Elk (Amanda Park) on Thursday, Dec. 9, the Elk game being a Pacific League counting game. The Comets will be at home again on Saturday, Dec. 11, against Northwest Christian for a “non-counting” league game. The games on that date will open with JV games at 3 p.m. followed by both the girls and boys varsity games.

Previously, the Comets had been scheduled to play at Cathlamet on Saturday, Dec. 4. However, that game has been moved to Jan. 8, when the Comets boys and girls teams will each play their counterparts from Cathlamet at Naselle. That night, the Naselle gymnasium will be renamed the Lyle Patterson Gymnasium, in honor of the longtime Naselle coach and educator.

The mixture of counting vs non-counting games comes about because of the new alignment of the B leagues in the southwest Washington district. NHS Athletic Director Jon Tienhaara describes it in this manner: “Basically, the Pacific League is split into two divisions. We play the south division teams (South Bend, Raymond, Willapa Valley, North Beach, and Northwest Christian) twice, but only the second game is a league game. We play the north division teams (Lake Quinault, Mary M. Knight, North River, Wishkah Valley, Oakville, and Taholah) once, which are all league games. The district tournament will be a 16 team double elimination tourney, and there will be a league tournament to decide seeds into district.”

The schedule will give the Comets boys varsity 20 games, including 11 Pacific League games, prior to tournament action.

Macy and Smith have welcomed a good turnout of 26 players with several candidates having had varsity experience from a year ago.