Welcome to the final week of September, also known as the opening of the league season, in Twin Harbors football.
The Evergreen 2A Conference, the Evergreen 1A League, the Southwest Washington 2B Divisions and the Coastal 1B League will begin taking each other on to determine league champions and district crossover berths.
Official district crossover berths are not yet determined, so we will use educated guesses and past allocations to help us out this week. Once we know how many get into state from district play, we’ll come back here and adjust.
Evergreen 2A
Aberdeen, at 2-2 in non-league competition, will return to the league for the first time since 2011 and will greet Chehalis at Stewart Field on Homecoming Night on Friday.
The district most likely has three state berths into the state 2A tournament, thus the top-three teams from the Evergreen 2A and the Greater St. Helens 2A will face off in district crossovers.
The format is simple: league champions will host the other league’s No. 3 teams, while the No. 2 teams will meet. Site of the No. 2-No. 2 game will switch between the leagues.
Tumwater, the No. 2 team in the state 2A media poll, is the favorite to win the Evergreen 2A again in Sid Otton’s final season as head coach.
Chehalis, Aberdeen’s league-opening opponent on Friday, is considered the No. 2 team in the league, which makes this contest an important tone-setter for the Bobcats.
The No. 3 spot is up for grabs. Aberdeen entertains notions of taking that spot and will have to run the table against Black Hills, Centralia and Rochester to get the desired 3-2 record for the spot. The Bobcats will be on the road at the Wolves and the Warriors and will host the Tigers in the final week of the season.
Evergreen 1A
The five-team circuit is in uncharted territory. This league has never had this few teams in it, so there are a number of unknowns.
The biggest one is, with a low number of Trico League teams as well in the southern portion of the district, state allocations. The hope is three and we will go on that hope for the sake of argument.
Just like in the Evergreen 2A, the district crossover will have league champions hosting the other league’s No. 3 teams and the No. 2 teams facing off to determine state berths.
Montesano, ranked No. 4 in the state 1A media poll, is on course to take the league title again.
Hoquiam has been on a roller-coaster non-league schedule, but it represents the No. 2 team in the league. When it takes on Montesano on Oct. 14 at Olympic Stadium, it will be for the league title.
This leaves the No. 3 spot between three teams — Elma, Tenino and Forks — for the final crossover berth.
Elma is better than its record, but will need to take what it learned in a very tough non-league schedule and apply it in league.
Tenino sits at 3-1 in non-league games after a loss to Stevenson at home last Friday. Forks lost to eight-man team Neah Bay, which is ranked No. 3 in the state 1B medial poll, in an 11-man game, 27-20, on Friday.
SWW 2B
With three divisions in the district-wide league, this is where life gets interesting for everyone in the Southwest Washington 2B.
Actually, it is fairly simple, even with the prospect of 12 teams advancing into the district crossover weekend.
If you finish in the top-four of your division, you are in. For the SWW 2B Coastal Division, this means Pe Ell-Willapa Valley, Raymond, North Beach and Ilwaco will fight it out for the spots.
South Bend and Ocosta, both with solid non-league performances, will have to crack into the top-four by beating one of the previously mentioned four to get into the crossovers.
Regardless, the last five weeks of the season for the Coastal Division should be a battle and it’ll feature rivalry games every week until the crossover weekend.
As for who will play who, the first three years of the four-year alignment has been determined. This year, the top-two Coastal division teams will host the No. 3 and 4 teams from the River Division. The No. 3 and 4 teams from the Coastal will head out to the Mountain Division No. 1 and 2 teams, respectively.
Coastal 1B
Historically, the district’s eight-man football teams have joined in with District I and III to determine its state participants — a two-tier district crossover format that represents the opening rounds of the state 1B tournament.
On Oct. 15, Taholah and Naselle will meet at Ben Charley Field in Taholah for what will be billed as the league championship game. Both teams should earn district crossover berths, with the league champion avoiding Lummi, the state 1B media poll’s No. 1 team.
So, the real fun begins Friday. This league season won’t disappoint.
Return of the Computer
Over the summer, one of the more disappointing news in the state high school football circles was the “retirement” of the state computer polls ran by ScoreCzar.org.
However, last Friday saw the triumphant return of the state computer polls by the website with the first edition of the poll coming out on Sunday.
From Twitter, ScoreCzar noted that he has too much fun doing high school football and returned because of that. Initially, he left because of the long hours it takes to compile everything for the computer to have enough info to make the ranking legitimate.
This season, the results, based on the first four weeks of results, were interesting.
First off, Archbishop Murphy is a solid No. 1 in the state 2A computer poll. Now, if the school can play again after two Cascade Conference teams forfeited games due to ATM’s superior numbers and size, that is a different story.
Tumwater is ranked No. 9 in the state 2A computer poll.
In the 1A ranks, Montesano is ranked No. 8 in the computers, while Freeman is the solid No. 1. Hoquiam is 14th overall.
In the 2B ranks, Napavine is No. 2, Raymond is the top-ranked Coastal team at No. 14 and PWV sits at No. 20.
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Editor’s Note: Remember, these picks are for entertainment purposes only. They are not meant to be taken seriously, just as a conduit for one’s opinion on the games at hand. Have fun.
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Friday
Evegreen 2A
Chehalis Bearcats (4-0) at Aberdeen Bobcats (2-2), Stewart Field — Aberdeen’s offense has found a groove over the last two weeks. Chehalis’ defense has been near-perfect, especially in a 28-14 win over 3A Lake Washington last week. Something has to give. … Bearcats 28, Bobcats 14.
Evergreen 1A
Tenino Beavers (3-1) at Hoquiam Grizzlies (2-2), Olympic Stadium — Which Hoquiam team will show up? The running, gunning offense and flying defense or the penalty riddled, self-inflicted squad? Tenino runs the football, but is it as good as La Center? … Grizzlies 21, Beavers 20.
Forks Spartans (2-2) at Montesano Bulldogs (4-0), Rottle Field — Montesano led 58-0 after the first quarter against Class 2A Rochester. Forks lost to eight-man school Neah Bay, 26-20, in overtime in an 11-man game. … Bulldogs 35, Spartans 6.
SWW 2B Coastal
North Beach Hyaks (2-2) at Raymond Seagulls (2-2) — Raymond has been progressively better as the season moves along. North Beach has, too, but have been hit with the injury bug. That’s a tough one to shake and there’s no shot you can take to get rid of it. Only time. … Gulls 28, Hyaks 7.
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley Titans (2-2) at Ocosta Wildcats (2-1), Griffin Field — PWV, like Raymond, has improved as the season moves along. Ocosta is riding some winning momentum, but this is a true test for the Wildcats against the Titans’ dominant linemen and running game. … Titans 34, Wildcats 14.
Ilwaco Fishermen (2-2) at South Bend Indians (2-2), Millam Field — If South Bend wants to repeat last year’s last-week “win and in” drama, it’ll have to stop Ilwaco. However, the Indians’ defense is a growing concern, one Ilwaco can take advantage of. … Fishermen 42, Indians 35.
Coastal 1B
Oakville Acorns (0-3) at Taholah Chitwhins (1-2), Ben Charley Field — Taholah has beefed up on a non-league schedule that was tough and challenging. The Chithwins have benefited from that strategy in the past and there’s no reason to think they won’t this year. … Chitwhins 42, Acorns 12.
Non-League
Rochester Warriors (0-4) at Elma Eagles (0-4), Davis Field — Something’s got to give. Will Elma take advantage of a Rochester team that was blown off the Rottle Field turf or will the Warriors rebound to clip the Eagles? … Eagles 28, Warriors 13.
Rob Burns: (360) 537-3926; rburns@thedailyworld.com; Twitter: @RobRVR
