Week 1 in any football season, whether it’s high school, college or the pros, isn’t always an indicator of how the rest of the season will go.
For example, I am in an NFL suicide pool with a friend from college. My Week 1 pick: the Saints. Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara and that offense was going to put up a bunch of points and I thought the defense would allow, at most, 28 points.
Tampa Bay proceeded to crush my dreams, anchored by Harvard-graduate and backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to the tune of 48 points, enough to edge New Orleans 48-40.
About half the people in the pool picked the Saints, which means there might be a winner early. Does this mean the Saints are bad? No, it’s just one week. There are 15 other games and anything can happen, but I’ll never see that $10 again. If the Saints lose in Week 2, then the state of Louisiana can really start to panic.
Week 2 is where you start to see the picture forming of how teams will shake out by the end of the season. What do we know for sure so far?
As stated on Let’s Take About It before the season, we know that at this point, the SWW 2B Mountain Division is the strongest of the three divisions. As noted in Aaron’s column on Tuesday, there are three undefeated teams left in the greater Lewis County area, and all three are in the SWW 2B Mountain Division. Will we still have an undefeated team left after Week 3? Adna and Onalaska each have tough games this week against Kalama and Wahkiakum, respectively.
We know there are a lot of good players with our teams throughout the classifications, but we don’t know who the is at the top of the food chain quite yet. There are guys who have had good weeks such as Napavine quarterback Dawson Stanley in Week 1 and Onalaska running back Ashton Haight in Week 2. While Stanley was the offensive MVP of the Mountain Division last year, Haight and Adna running back Cole Fay will try to dethrone the reigning champ this season.
W.F. West quarterback Josiah Johnson had a solid Week 1, but didn’t quite perform as well in Week 2. Rochester’s Grayson Johnson ran wild in Week 1, but didn’t have a great follow up in Week 2. Pe Ell-Willapa Valley running backs Peter Hamilton and Max Smith couldn’t get anything going in Week 1, but bounced back against Concrete in Week 2. The next few weeks will be telling as to who can be consistent in trying to earn some accolades by season’s end.
Other than those two things, we don’t know much. Here’s a look at the Week 3 matchups.
2A/1A
After losing 29-9 in Week 2 to 3A Capital on the road, W.F. West returns to the friendly confines of Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis to face another 3A opponent in Hudson’s Bay.
The Eagles are 0-2 this season after losses against Washougal in the season opener 16-13 and a 48-38 loss to Heritage in Week 2.
W.F. West’s offense has largely been through the air, with the Bearcats averaging 170.5 yards per game through the air in the first two games, a major portion of their 292.5 average total of yards per game.
Centralia is still searching for their first win of the season when the welcome Sehome to Tiger Stadium on Friday night. The Tigers had the lead against Evergreen, but turnovers cost Centralia in a 47-22 Week 2 loss. Sehome — a 2A school out of Bellingham — enters the contest also seeking their first victory of the season.
The Mariners lost in Week 1 28-21 to Nooksack Valley before a 44-19 loss in Week 2 to Mount Baker at home.
Rochester is hoping to bounce back from a Week 2 41-12 loss to Elma when they travel north to face Bremerton in their home opener. The Knights are trying to earn their first win of the season after opening the season in Tumwater with a 50-19 loss to Black Hills and falling 41-6 to Wilson in Week 2.
The Beavers head south on Friday to take on Castle Rock trying to put one in the win column. After a 35-12 loss to King’s Way last Friday, Tenino faces an 0-2 Rockets team that lost 48-14 against Mark Morris last Thursday. Castle Rock opened the season with a 27-7 loss to Hoquiam.
2B
The biggest game of the week will be in Adna this Friday, as the Pirates welcome the defending 2B state champions Kalama to town.
In the first two weeks against Pe Ell-Willapa Valley and Wahkiakum, the Pirates have averaged 343.5 yards per game while holding their opponents to 93.5 yards per game. Adna hasn’t allowed a point this season, but it will be tough to keep that streak going with reigning state 2B player of the year Alex Dyer coming to town.
The game is a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinals, a 36-29 battle in Kalama.
Two local teams go against each other once again this week when Napavine hits the road again to face Toledo. Both teams are coming off a loss, the Tigers a 20-13 loss on the road against Kalama while Toledo is hoping to bounce back from a 12-7 loss on the road at Rainier.
Toledo has been using their power run game through the first two weeks, averaging 269 yards on the ground. Napavine has been balanced so far, averaging 165.5 rushing yards per game and 187 passing yards per game.
These two teams have faced off in the State 2B playoffs the last two seasons, each won by Napavine. The Tigers won a thriller in the 2016 state semifinals 31-28 en route to a state title. Last year, the team’s met in the state quarterfinals, with the Tigers prevailing 35-7.
The Logger defense will try for a third straight opposing zero when they head to Cathlamet to face the Mules, which is a tough place to play. The Loggers have averaged 406 rushing yards in the first two weeks while the defense has allowed just 79.5 yards per game to opposing offenses. Onalaska kept the helmet after defeating Mossyrock 74-0 last Friday.
The Mules are coming off a 34-0 loss to Adna last Friday. Injuries have hurt the Mules but Wahkiakum is hopeful after a big Week 1 win over Colfax at home.
The undefeated Timberwolves will try to improve to 3-0 when they head south to take on Toutle Lake. The Ducks have scored a total of six points this season, falling to Life Christian 32-6 last Friday. Toutle Lake opened the season with a 56-0 loss on the road in Onalaska.
Mossyrock and Winlock will try to get back in the win column this Friday. The Vikings are coming off a loss in the helmet game to Onalaska and play their first road game of the season against North Beach. The Hyaks lost 21-6 in their opener against Winlock.
The Cardinals will be able to watch the action unfold on Friday night as they head to Tacoma to take on Life Christian on Saturday. The Eagles won 33-12 in Week 1 against Bellevue Christian before taking down Toutle Lake 32-6 in Week 2.
PWV is fresh off a 42-0 win over Concrete on Saturday and will look to get over .500 against Raymond on Friday. After an opening week loss to Adna, the Titans got back on track with 295 yards on the ground, led by the running back committee of Peter Hamilton and Max Smith.
