Greater St. Helens League Football

Camas RB Zak Marshall has a very nice highlight video on Youtube. I have embedded the videos below. Please note, this video was not produced by www.gshlfootball.com but by Zachary Marshall. (There is NO audio.)

Garrett Grayson passed for over 8,800 yards and threw 59 touchdowns as a 3 year starter for Heritage from 2007-2009 leading the Timberwolves to the post season all 3 years

When former Heritage QB Garrett Grayson signed his Letter of Intent accepting a football scholarship at Colorado State University he was presented with a dilemma. He could chose to graduate early from Heritage and enroll at CSU in time for the 2010 spring practice and have a chance to be a starter right away, or he could chose to stay in Vancouver until after graduation, then sit out a full year before he enrolling into CSU as a Freshman for the 2011 season.

Grayson chose the latter, while fellow Rams QB recruit Pete Thomas chose the former and ended up starting as a Freshman last year.

Former Heisman Trophy winning QB Ty Detmer took Grayson under his wing down in Texas where Garrett says he improved his game a lot.

“Going down to Texas prepared me more then anything I think could of,” said Grayson. “I feel I improved most just being able to have a fluid drop with a good release.”

While a 3 years starter at Heritage, Grayson ran Nate Becksted’s wide open passing offense where he threw for over 8,800 yards and 59 touchdowns.

“I was a shotgun QB [in high school] so the only drops I was getting was Sundays at the Barton camps,” he said. “So to work with Ty Detmer and a guy that has his experience helped me out tremendously!”

While no competitive athlete wants to step away from their game for an entire year, Grayson looks at his time off as a blessing.

“I feel like I’m as healthy as I’ve ever been!,” he added “I feel faster and stronger then before. My drops have improved 150%. Having someone watching your every step while your training helped me so much! I owe a lot of this past year to Coach Detmer.

But Detmer is not the only person Grayson is thankful for. He credits his parents for pushing him both on the field and in the class room to be the best he can be.

“I also owe alot to my dad for pushing me to become the player I am today. His quote that he told me everyday was ‘Don’t ever leave somewhere saying you could have done more’ and that has stuck with me to this day!” he said before talking about his mother. “My mom was always the one on me for my grades and obviously without those you can’t get anywhere! So I also owe a lot to her for pushing me through it.”

As much as Grayson learned form his time in Texas, he is more than happy to move along and get his career at Colorado State underway.

“To finally be here is an amazing feeling!” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a relief because I still have work to do obviously, but it’s nice to actually be playing football again.”

Grayson went into Thursday mornings first spring practice in a battle with Junior QB M.J. McPeek for the Rams backup role behind Sophomore Pete Thomas.

In 2010 Thomas started all 12 games for the Rams, who went 3-9 for a second season. Thomas completed 64.7% of his passes for 2,662 yards and threw 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while being sacked 44 times (ranked 118th of 120 schools at the Division I-A level).

He will also be pushing Thomas for the starting job throughout the Spring and Fall.

“To be competing for the job is awesome!” he added. “Competition makes everyone better and that’s exactly what I have.”

Colorado State will practice Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays up until their spring game on Saturday April 23rd.

We’ve dug deep into the video archives of Greater St. Helens League Football and pulled out some of the classics!

There are always those games that people talk about for years to come. The multiple overtime thriller, the game that was won on the last play, the point in time that changed the course of a program.

We have found some of the best and will be showcasing them over the next few months in what we call GSHL FOOTBALL FLASHBACK – Classic GSHL Football.

Entering the 2007 season, the 4A Greater St. Helens League did not have a clear cut favorite for the first time in over 5 years.

Evergreen had dominated the GSHL from 2002-2005 posting a 42-6 record that included a 26-0 league mark.

When the 2006 season began Evergreen was once again the favorite to win their 5th straight GSHL crown. However, on October 6th 2006 Skyview snapped the Plainsmen’s 27 game league winning streak with a 31-14 win at Kiggins Bowl.

The Storm completed their own undefeated regular season and advanced to the state Quarterfinals before their 11-1 season came to an end.

The questions were many in 2007. Was Skyview the new team to beat? Could a 9 year old school who had never won more than 5 games in a season win back-to-back league championships? How much would Evergreen be affected by the loss of head coach Cale Piland to the new Union High School? Would Oregon Legand Tom Smythe’s spread offense work in Southwest Washington?

Fans would have to wait until the October 5th game at McKenzie Stadium to find out. One month into the season, both Evergreen and Skyview were looking pretty solid, each at 3-1 following week 1 loses to traditional Oregon powers.

However the week before the big game, something went wrong in the script.

As Evergreen was busy dismantling Heritage 41-13, Skyview seemed to get caught in the old trap game, falling 24-21 at home to then 1-3 Prairie.

That surprising loss by the Storm was not enough to change how the Plainsmen players felt about Skyview’s abilities.

“I knew that Skyview was a good team and had a lot of solid athletes,” said Evergreen Junior Running Back James Monk. “Their players weren’t gonna take a loss without a fight.”

10/5/2007 FINAL

Team 1 2 3 4 Total 0 3 0 8 11 7 7 0 6 20 first quarter EVER – Ryan Uhrich 21 pass from Bobby Cowan (Cowan kick) second quarter SKY – Riley Rosvold 42 FG E EVER – Jerry Bruner 3 run (Cowan kick) forth quarter SKY – Sean Santschi 1 run (Tom McCorquodalo run) EVER- James Monk 85 return of blocked FG (no kick) Leaders Rushing — Skyview: – 33-177, Jordan Martin 14-40. Evergreen: Bruner 16-73, Kyrell Hudson 3-20. Passing — Skyview: Santschi 17-26-1-152. Evergreen: Cowan 4-12-0-66. Receiving — Skyview: Rosvold 6-32, Tyler Christanson 5-64, Burkey 4-34, Eric Ramsey 1-11, Jake Bristow 1-8. Evergreen: Hudson 1-23, Uhrich 1-21, C.J. Watson 1-17, Monk 1-5.

When the big game finally arrived, those in attendance were served up a classic!

After Skyview was forced to punt on their opening drive, Evergreen’s electric return man Kyrell Hudson fumbled the punt giving the Storm another crack, this time inside the Plainsmen 20.

Redemption was not long off however for Hudson, as he picked off Skyview QB Sean Santschi just a few plays later.

Skyview then appeared to force a 3 and out, however Plainsmen coach Tom Smythe had other ideas and went for the 4th and 1 from their own 26.

“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” said Smythe when asked about the early gamble. “I coach by the seat of my pants with a huge emphasis on a ‘feel for the game’,” he added.

Smythe was feeling quite well when big Fullback Jerry Burner powered his way off tackle for a 3 yard gain and a first down.

As crazy as going for a 4th and 1 inside your own 30 just minutes into the game may seem, that was noting compared to the craziness that ensued a few plays later.

Facing a 2nd and 19, Evergreen Quarterback Bobby Cowin’s pass down field was intercepted by Skyview Defensive Back Cody Cook, who ran back the pick 41 yards for an apparent touchdown, breaking multiple tackles along the way and doing a flip into the end zone.

However, after a long delay, the touchdown was called back, and Evergreen was given a first down at their own 21. Your lost? I bet. Let me explain.

A flag had been thrown on Cook for pass interference on the interception. That’s +15 yards for the Plainsmen. Then another flag was thrown on Cook for unsportsmanlike conduct due to the flip into the end zone. That’s another +15 yards for the Plainsmen, now +30. And just for good measure, a 3rd flag was thrown on the Skyview coaches for their vocal dislike of the previous 2 penalties. Yet another +15 yards for the Plainsmen. 45 yards in all, giving Evergreen a 1st down at the Skyview 21.

It only took Evergreen 1 play to fully take advantage of the situation.

Cowin found Wide Receiver Ryan Uhrich in the right corner of the end zone and instead of trailing 7-0, Evergreen was up 7-0 in the first quarter.

Skyview head coach Steve Keizer still chooses not to comment about the situation to this day.

“I can’t comment on the officiating,” he said. “We get fined at Skyview for complaining about the referees. I’m trying not to buy any pizzas.”

The Storm did not let that change their game plan, and on the next possession continued to pound the football with RB Jacob Burkey attempting to shorten the game as much as possible.

Skyview Kicker Riley Rosvold nailed a 42 yard field goal on that drive cutting the lead to 7-3 and at least calming things back down.

When a Skyview onside kick was not successful, Evergreen showed they had their own beast in the backfield, feeding Burner the football multiple times. Burner capped off the 55 yard drive with a 3 yard touchdown run, giving Evergreen the 14-3 lead.

While it appeared that Evergreen had found their grove, the Plainsmen would not score again on offense.

As the 2 teams traded punts for most of the 2nd quarter, Skyview mounted one final push as the half draw to a close.

Pinned down at their own 2 yard line, a steady does of Burkey and a big gain from Wide Receiver Tyler Christanson got Skyview down to the Evergreen 11 as time ticked away. Having no more timeouts the Storm needed to spike the football to set up a field goal, but were unable to get the snap off and went to the locker room down 14-3.

The third quarter went scoreless as Evergreen could not move the football. The Storm continued to run the ball with Burkey, but due to the superb punting of Cowan, they were never able to string together a long enough drive to score.

When Skyview recovered an Evergreen fumble early in the 4th quarter at the Plainsmen 25 the Storm finally had their shot to get back in the game.

After several Burkey runs got the Storm down to the Plainsmen 1, Quarterback Sean Santschi finished off the drive with the 1 yard sneak.

Now, down 14-9, Skyview lined up to go for the 2 point conversion. The play seemed over when Wide Receiiver Tom McCorquodalo fumbled the hand off on the reverse, however, McCorquodal calmly picked up the loose football, keep with the play, made 3 Plainsmen defenders miss and converted the score, cutting the lead to 14-11.

Evergreen looked as though they would easily answer on their next drive when Hudson (in at Tailback) took a hand off 14 yard down to the Skyview 36. A few plays later Ron Briggs got behind the Storm defensive back in the end zone, but Cowan’s pass was just out of reach.

On 4th down, Evergreen lost yard on their draw play, and Skyview took over at their 36. They then converted a 4th and 1 to move the chains on a Santschi roll out run. Later in the drive Burkey took a screen pass 20 yards down near the Plainsmen 30, inching ever so closely within reach of a game tying field goal.

Santschi hit Wide Receiver Jake Bristow on an 8 yard slant to set up the Strom at the Plainsmen 20 with enough time for 1 shot into the end zone and a kick if needed. Santschi’s final pass appeared to be on the money, but just slipped out of the hands of Romano leaving 6.4 seconds for the game tying 37 yard field goal attempt.

Jorgen Miller however slipped in and blocked the kick, which bounced up into the hands of Monk.

“We were hollering for James to get down on the ground… game over,” said Smythe.

But Monk had other plans and headed down field looking to score.

“It was all just instinct. I really wasn’t thiking at all,” said Monk. “I was hoping that Ron [Briggs] would make a nice block to lead the way, and he did.”

Monk ran 85 yards down the home sidelines for the dramatic game winning touch down where he was mobbed by the entire team in the end zone.

“When I caught the ball I was still amazed that he blocked the kick,” Monk continued. “If I was thinking straight I would have just dropped down, but my adrenalin was pumping when he blocked the kick so I just went with my first reaction.”

After all of the excitement of the games final play settled down, most were left thinking, How did Skyview not win this game?

After all, the Storm controlled the football for over 34 minutes of the 48 minute game in which they converted 25 first downs and gained 388 yards of total offense. Evergreen was held to just 150 yards of total offense and 11 first downs in contrast.

Skyview Running Back had 37 touches for 211 yards as he attempted to will his team to victory.

“At a certain point in that game, having gone both ways, instinct kind of took over due to fatigue,” said Burkey “All I can say is I did what I could for the team.”

On this night, that for whatever reason was just not enough.

“I’ve coached many games that have come down to the last play over the years,” said Smythe. “But I’ve never had one finish quite like that one.”

Monk was just happy to get the win.

“It felt great to get the win against Skyview at our homecoming,” he said. “Especially since the year before, at their homecoming, they smacked us.”

Evergreen went on to finish the regular season 8-1 going 5-0 in league and recapturing the 4A GSHL title. Skyview finished 5-4 (2-3) and like Evergreen fell in the preliminary round of the WIAA playoffs.

Skyview claimed a share of the 2008 4A GSHL title and took it outright in both 2009 and 2010.

Matt Martin has coached in Southwest Washington since 2000 including 3 times as a defensive coordinator, Fort Vancouver (2001), Ridgefield (2002-2005) and Prairie (2006-2008)

Less than a week after Heritage hired Jack Hathaway to take over the Timberwolves football program, fellow former Evergreen assistant coach Matt Martin was hired as Ridgefield’s new head football coach.

Martin, who served as the Spudders Defensive Coordinator from 2002-2005 knows the Ridgefield program quite well.

“I’m excited to be here!,” he said. “After Ridgefield won state in 1995 the program had fallen on hard times. I helped build this foundation, and it means a lot to be back. We won 30 games in 4 years at Ridgefield. We can do it again.”

Martin takes over for Kitt Rawlings who coached for just 2 seasons in Ridgefield before taking a job in his home state of Utah. Rawlings’ Spudders went 7-2 last year in the school’s first year back in the 1A TriCo since Martin’s final year in 2005. From 2006-2009 while in the 2A Greater St. Helens League the Spudders went just 10-27 and 4-17 in league play, including a 1-8 season in 2009, Rawlings first year in Ridgefield.

While not a native to Clark County, Martin has been coaching in Southwest Washington for over a decade now.

After 7 years of coaching football in California and Ohio, the Chicago native began coaching at Evergreen under Jon Eagle in 2000 where he was a Wide Receiver coach for 1 season before becoming the Defensive Coordinator at Fort Vancouver under Gary McGarvie in 2001.

After 1 season with the Trappers, Martin headed up I-5 where he took over as Defensive Coordinator in Ridgefield.

In 2003 Ridgefield went 9-0 in the regular season only allowing a total of 66 points with 3 shutouts as the Spudders won the 1A TriCo League Championship and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since the 1995 State Championship team.

Riegefield again advanced to the state playoffs in 2005 as the Spudders finished the season 9-2 claiming a share of the 1A TriCo League Championship. Ridgefield was once more stout on defense, as 5 times they allowed 7 or less points in a game.

In 2006 Martin became the Defensive Coordinator at Prairie where he worked for 3 seasons. In 2008, his last year at Prairie, his Falcons defense was 2nd in the 3A GSHL for points allowed, trailing only Union who finished the season 13-1 and 2nd in state.

He spent the past 2 years as the Linebacker coach for the Plainsmen before he, along with the rest of the staff was let go following the 2010 season.

Martin is now the 3rd member of the 2010 Evergreen football staff to become either a Coordinator or Head Coach this offseason. He joins Jack Hathaway, who is the new head coach at Heritage and Jay Beckman, who was hired as the Special Teams Coordinator at Union the day after he was let go by the Plainsmen.

Dr. Daniel "Doc" Morasch co-founded Clark County Youth Football in 1982 after the Catholic Youth Organization decided to drop tackle football

Unfortunately last Thursday, March 17th, CCYF co-founder Dr. Daniel “Doc” Morasch passed away in his Vancouver home at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.

In 1982 Clark County’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) decided to drop tackle football for area youth. At that time, Morasch, along with Al Woldrich, Terry Hyde (current Prairie head football coach) and program director Jack Ryan formed Clark County Youth Football.

“Doc’s values and beliefs are still the core of the program today,” said Hyde, now the President of CCYF.

Morasch, coached at St. Joseph’s Parish in the CYO before CCYF was formed. He then continued to coach for CCYF until 1998 at which time he remained very active in the league behind the scenes.

Clark County Youth Football’s motto, “Kids First and Winning Second.” has focused on giving kids a safe, positive football experience. The league has grown from 3 teams in 1983 playing most of their games in Portland to 60 teams and over 1500 players in 2010 with all games played in Southwest Washington.

Services for Dr. Morasch will be at 11am Friday, March 25th, 2011 at Glenwood Community Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are appreciated at Glenwood Community Church, 12201 N.E. 72nd Avenue, Vancouver, Washington 98686-2402, or Clark County Youth Football, PO Box 871962 Vancouver Washington 98687.

Lonnie Hosley helped lead Evergreen to the 2004 4A state football championship before playing college football at Eastern Washington

Some guys love to play football, and some guys LOVE to play football.

You need not look any further than former Evergreen Plainsmen Lonnie Hosley to find the latter.

Hosley a 2005 graduate of Evergreen and member of the 2004 4A State Championship team has spent the past 5 years 350 miles away in Cheney Washington. From 2005-2009 he played cornerback for the Eastern Washington Eagles then stayed in school and got his degree in June of 2010.

Now after a year without football, Oakland California born Hosley is headed halfway across the globe to play for the Stuttgart Scorpions in the German Football League.

After hearing about a website where American football players can look for work in Europe, Hosley decided to sign up.

It did not take long before he was noticed. Stuttgart head coach Matthias Mecherlein saw his profile and after looking at his highlight video and was sold.

“My head coach told me that he found someone for us,” said Scorpions General Manager Markus Würtele. “I am very excited to see him playing here in Germany.”

Hosley will be just the 3rd American on the Scorpions roster this season. Würtele said the fans really enjoy the American players and regularly invite the players out after the games for BBQ’s and drinks.

Roldan Rene, Stuttgart’s Defensive Coordinator is also very excited for Hosley to join his squad. When asked if he saw Lonnie as a starter this season, he only needed one word for his answer, “Absolutely!”

“We were looking for a lock down corner, and a player who could play personnel wise BEST on BEST if a situation arose where we needed a very talented young man,” Rene said. “Lonnie seemed to fit that perfectly. This young man excites this organization.”

Rene went on to say that due to Hosley’s skills, he will be able to add a lot of wrinkles to his schemes that the opponents “will very rarely expect.”

Defense is not the only position Hosley may end up playing. The coaches are also thinking about having him return kicks and maybe even play some receiver.

Now, to the obvious question, ‘German Football League, does Lonnie speak German?’, answer: NO!

“I don’t speak any,” Hosley said when asked. “I have to get to know the language, but most of the coaches speak English so I am not worried.”

Lonnie heads overseas on March 23rd and will be ready to go by the teams opening game on April 9th.

“I’m thinking about this long flight,” he said when asked what was going through his mind. He went on to say he is also excited to meet his coaches and new teammates as well as thinking about getting to the German Bowl.

That’s right, the German Bowl. This year will be German Bowl XXXIII, marking the annual championship game which has been help every year since the league started in 1979.

While Hosley may not know any German now, it won’t be that long before he has his entire team yelling out “Lasst uns ehrlich sein!” Translation, “LET’S BE HOOOOOOOOOONEST!!!!!!!”

Good luck Lonnie, we are all pulling for you.

New Heritage head football coach Jack Hathaway, a 2000 Mountain View grad, spent the last 2 years as the Defensive Coordinator at Evergreen.

With the start of spring practice less than 2 months away, you don’t want to find yourself without a head football coach.

3 of the 17 Greater St. Helens League school had been looking to replace their head coaches this off season, and for 2 schools, Fort Vancouver and Heritage, the search is over. The Trappers stayed in-house with the hiring of assistant coach Eric Ollikainen, while the Timberwolves snagged former Evergreen assistant Jack Hathaway after the Plainsmen fired their entire assistant coaching staff soon after the 2010 season ended.

Hathaway played quarterback at Mountain View from 1998-1999 leading the Thunder to a 13-3 record and a share of the 1999 4A GSHL title. He then went to play football at Eastern Oregon from 2000-2004 where he played with Skyview QB coach Aaron Hazel.

After college, in 2005, Hathaway returned to Vancouver and took a job coaching Linebackers at Hudson’s Bay coached by his former Thunder head coach Mike Woodward. In 2006 Hathaway was promoted to the Eagles Offensive Coordinator. Hathaway then followed Woodward to Westview High School in San Diego for the 2007 season where he was the Defensive Coordinator.

Upon helping turn a 1 win squad into a playoff team, Hatahway returned to Vancouver in 2007 where he joined Tom Smyth’s Evergreen staff coaching Linebackers. In 2009 he took over as the Defensive Coordinator for the Plainsmen, a position he held the past 2 seasons prior to Evergreen’s house cleaning.

Hathaway currently teaches Physical Education and Health at Frontier Middle School in the Evergreen School District.

New Fort Vancouver head football coach Eric Ollikainen, a 1998 Fort grad, spent the past 3 years as an asst. with the Trappers

Eric Ollikainen, like Hathaway, also is a local kid who graduated from Fort Vancouver in 1998. Ollikainen signed to play football with Portland State out of high school as an offensive lineman. After 2 seasons with the Vikings he transferred to Western Oregon where he played Offensive then Defensive line for the Wolves.

After college, Ollikainen returned to Vancouver and was an assistant coach at Fort Vancouver in 2004 before taking the job as head football coach at McLoughlin Middle School where he remained from 2005-2007. In 2008 Ollikainen returned to the Trappers staff as an assistant coaching the Offensive and Defensive lines the past 3 years.

Ollikainen currently teaches Math at McLoughlin Middle School in the Vancouver School District.

While in high school, Ollikainen played under legendary coach Garry Boggs who was the Trappers coach from  1967-2000. Coach Boggs’ 34 years at Fort Vancouver ranks 3 all time in the state of Washington for most seasons as head football coach at one school, trailing only Sid Otton at Tumwatter (37 years) and Bob Ames at Meridian (37 years) who are both still coaching.

Ollikainen becomes the 4th Trapper head coach in the 11 seasons since Boggs retired.

Over at Hudson’s Bay, the Eagles are still in the interview process and have not yet made a decision on who will be the 13 head coach to lead Eagles football program.

Skyview QB Kieran McDonagh plays on Team Oregon Plus One as the Plus One at Barton's 7on camp held at at Oregon State's Truax Indoor Facility

Although the start of spring practice is still more than 2 months away for local high school football players, Skyview QB Kieran McDonagh is already quite busy tossing the football around.

The 2010 4A GSHL Coaches 1st Team All-Leauge QB was invited to play alongside some of the top high school football players from the state of Oregon at the Barton 7on camp down at Oregon State University last month.

#9 Camas hosted #4 Liberty in the preliminary round of the 2009 3A WIAA Football State Playoffs. Camas lost 32-22 as the pair of top-10 squads clashed in the round of 32.

Earlier today Doug Pacey of the Tacoma News Tribune reported that Washington State Football Coaches Association is suggesting they officially expand the football playoffs to 32 teams and have a committee of retired coaches and athletic directors seed the teams, replacing the current format which has teams slotted biased on predetermined league finishes.

The latest example from the 2010 playoffs that Pacey talked about was when #2 Lynden hosted #3 Tumwater in the first round of the 2A playoffs.

That same round, #1 Archbishop Murphy hosted #4 W.F. West resulting in the top 4 ranked teams in 2A playing not in the semifinals, but in the round of 16.

Over the past couple of years, the Greater St. Helens League has also had to deal with the quarks that come with a pre-determined slotted playoff system.

In 2009 Camas entered the preliminary round (round of 32) with a 7-2 record and a #9 ranking in 3A. Finishing 2nd in the 3A GSHL gave the Papermakers a home game and what you would think is an easy opponent before entering the true first round of state (round of 16). As ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend!” Camas hosted the #2 team from the 3A KingCo, which just happened to be Liberty, the #4 ranked team in state. Camas lost at home to the Patriots 32-22 ending the Papermakers season, while Liberty went on a nice run to the state finals before losing to KingCo #1 seed Bellevue.

What makes the 2009 Camas example even more frustrating is the fact that the same season, Columbia River who finished 4-5 and 3rd in the 3A GSHL had a much easier task in the 2009 preliminary round. The Chieftains did have to go on the road, however it was up in Seattle against a 5-4 Nathan Hale squad who finished #2 in the Metro League. Columbia River hammered the Raiders 41-18 advancing to the state playoffs, while Camas, who had spent most of the 2009 season ranked in the top 10 was out.

Fast forward to 2010 and the 3A GSHL faced the same situation where #2 Mountain View drew a much tougher opponent in Timberline than #3 Kelso did with Seattle Prep. Again the GSHL #3 advanced to state while the #2 did not.

The 4A GSHL has not avoided this either.

Last season entering week 9, Union was riding a 7 game winning streak and sat at #8 in the AP poll. Meanwhile up north Bothell was also riding it’s own 7 game winning streak and held the #4 AP ranking. (Both Union and Bothell had not lost since week 1 games at Qwest Field in the Emerald City Kickoff Classic.)

Union fell at home to 2-time defending 4A GSHL Champions Skyview 37-34 in week 9 while Bothell lost to then #1 ranked Skyline who was the 2-time defending 4A State Champs (not to mention they won the 3A championship in 2007).

Union as the 4A GSHL #2 seed had to travel up north to the 4A KingCo #2 seed in the preliminary round (round of 32) and take on Bothell. Despite cutting the Cougars lead to 28-21 in the 4th, Union ended up losing 42-21 while Bothell made it 2 more rounds to the Quarterfinals before losing to Bellarmine Prep 28-21.

Christopher Ames over at StateWideStats.com also brought up a good point in his article today. Ames pointed out that while the current system does lead to early matchups of highly ranked teams, it also simply places the focus on winning your league games. Ames is afraid that if a committee seeds biased on AP rankings that teams could start running up the score to impress out of region AP voters, which will in turn, get them a better seed come playoff time.

So we ask…