It’s easy to overreact in Week 1.
A quarterback hits a few passes and he’s an All-State shoo-in. A running back finds a few holes and he’s the next monster. A defense doesn’t shoot itself in the foot and it’s the new Steel Curtain.
And, hey, it’s fun to jump to conclusions! Anything can happen in the preseason, but those goals can turn into expectations with a little bit of Week 1 juice. The tough part is settling back down to earth after the water finds its level in Week 2 — as it did for Toledo, Mossyrock, Winlock, W.F. West, Napavine and Rochester.
After two weeks, by the way, there’s only three local teams left with unblemished records, and they all play in the SWW 2B League Mountain Division.
Here’s a few more quick notes from Week 2 of the prep football season.
Busy as 2Bs
The best 2B football in the state, it would seem, is taking place right here in District 4.
Six of the top 10 teams in the Week 1 Associated Press rankings reside in the Southwest Washington District and, given the goings-on Friday evening, that number could climb when the new poll is released on Wednesday.
Of course, the poll has no real bearing on any team’s bracket position or playoff fate, but it’s an interesting (and purely academic) indicator as to the perception of each team’s on-field performance. At the moment Adna, Napavine, Kalama, Toledo, Wahkiakum and Rainier are all amongst the top 10, with Morton-White Pass receiving a few votes last week for an unofficial No. 11 ranking.
That means that on any given week we’ll have one of the key matchups, on a statewide level, happening right under our noses. Last week all six of the aforementioned top-10 teams played each other, and this week features two more intra-top-10 contests (with the potential for another, depending on this week’s poll).
Shutouts
Only two 2B teams that have yet to surrender a point this season. Those teams, and their points-for to points-against figures: Adna (69-0) and Onalaska (130-0). Naturally, this says something about their respective quality of opponents. Adna beat Pe Ell-Willapa Valley (the SWW 2B League Coastal Division favorite) and Wahkiakum (ranked No. 9 at the time); Onalaska beat Toutle Lake (which has been outscored 88-6 so far) and Mossyrock (which was winless last year). They’re joined by Morton-White Pass as the only three undefeated teams left in the Greater Lewis County area, and that’s not guaranteed to change until at least Week 5, when Onalaska plays at MWP in Randle.
The Loggers, by the way, are likely to move into the top 10 this week. Rainier will probably move up; Wahkiakum might drop out; and Toledo will probably drop into the 8-9-10 range. Tri-Cities Prep was beating Kittitas 21-0 early before lightning cancelled the rest of the game and Northwest Christian won big, so they’re safe. Asotin lost to McCall, Idaho, and Liberty lost to Chewelah — a game that, according to Chewelah Independent editor Brandon Hansen, was the Cougars’ biggest win in 10 years.
Still Perfect
There’s a total of 99 prep football teams in our fair state with 2-0 records after two weeks. There’s 10 in the 1B ranks, though teams with full schedules and accurately reported results are tougher to come by in the 8-man classification. There’s 11 in the 2Bs and, for comparison’s sake, 17 in the 1As, 16 in the 2As, 18 in the 3As, and 26 in the 4As.
Bounce Back Week
Napavine’s only three losses since its 2016 state title have come to Kalama. There was an overtime Week 2 game last year, a tight state semifinal game last November, and Friday’s 20-13 non-divisional loss in Kalama.
Outside of the rankings, the loss doesn’t mean much. Kalama’s still got a phenomenal quarterback, an explosive offense and a solid defense, and Napavine can play a lot better. They might swap spots in the AP poll, but one loss isn’t going to make anyone take the Tigers lightly.
Side Note: Kalama’s Chinook Stadium is one of the most interesting places I’ve caught a game. The field is carved into the side of the hill just east of the freeway, and before the days get too much shorter the view of the Columbia River and Oregon beyond makes a nice backdrop to prep football. Even better, though, are the Instagram-ready sunsets; the only misstep in building the stadium was leaving half of the home bleachers uncovered and giving the guests the scenic view.
Top of the 2A Heap
District 4 also has plenty of action in the 2A rankings, though it’s concentrated at the top of the poll. No. 2 Hockinson, the defending state champion, dismantled No. 3 Archbishop Murphy 42-13 last week and is likely to move up to No. 1, while top-ranked Tumwater beat Yelm, 17-14, to improve to 2-0. The teams won’t play in the regular season and there seems to be little chance of them playing in the district crossovers, and with the new seeding-by-committee state playoff format the odds of them playing in the first two rounds look pretty slim.
Fantasy Roundup
Top Pick: Young Ashton Haight ascended to his rightful spot atop the Lewis County Fantasy Football throne in Week 2, leading all scorers with 39 points as his Onalaska squad hammered rival Mossyrock 74-0. Haight, a gritty junior, ran for 134 yards and four touchdowns in the win, after going for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the Loggers’ opener. That’s the start of a solid season’s worth of stats for a kid who ran for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games last year.
30-Point Club: With 74 points on the board, Haight wasn’t the only Logger racking up numbers. Quarterback Lucas Kreger ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 69 yards and a score with a pair of conversion passes for 43 yards, meaning the top two scorers in the Lewis County Fantasy Football Consortium were dressed in purple and gold on Friday. … MWP quarterback Kaleb Rashoff had a hand in all four Timberwolf touchdowns in their win over Raymond. Rashoff, a senior, ran in two scores with 52 rushing yards and tossed two scoring passes with 145 passing yards for 30 points. … Pe Ell-Willapa Valley notched its first win with a dismantling of Concrete on Saturday. Running back Peter Hamilton led the way, running for 126 yards and three touchdowns for 30 points.
20-Point Club: Napavine quarterback Dawson Stanley, again, accounted for the vast majority of his team’s offense, running for 114 yards and a touchdown and passing for 128 yards and a touchdown for 26 points in a tight loss at Kalama.
Notables:
Rochester quarterback Daniel May tossed a touchdown pass and returned a fumble for a score for 10 points. … Adna’s balanced backfield makes life tough from a fantasy standpoint. Cole Fay ran for 62 yards and a touchdown (12 points); Chance Fay ran for 35 yards and a score (9 points); Elmer Loose had 116 yards and a score (17 points); and quarterback Braden Thomas passed for 52 yards and a touchdown and ran in a score (12 points). … Centralia receiver Benito Valencia, a newcomer to this conversation, had 50 receiving yards and two touchdowns for 17 points in a loss to Evergreen. … Winlock quarterback Bryce Cline ran for 92 yards and a touchdown, with a conversion run, for 17 points in a loss at South Bend. … W.F. West quarterback Josiah Johnson passed for 106 yards and ran in a touchdown for 10 points in a loss to 3A Capital. … PWV’s Max Smith got in on the action against Concrete, running for 102 yards with a touchdown and a conversion run.
