Images from a 2B football game between Napavine and Kalama Friday night in Napavine.
It’s been a while since I went back to the Power Rankings well, but at this point in an intriguing prep season the timing just seems perfect.
1. Non-league Games: Part of the fun of the WIAA changing the state playoff format to rely on seeding committees is the weight it gives to non-league games. Back in the olden days, a Week 2 win over the defending state champs would have been an opportunity for a coach to rant about how rankings don’t mean anything, the pollsters are fools (“FOOLS!”), and the only wins that matter are the wins that help you control your own destiny.
No more! With the seeding committee format, EVERY non-league game could come into play on Seeding Sunday. Every outcome is worthy of a take:
“Adna beat PWV? Oooooh Adna’s a frontrunner again!”
“Napavine beat Kalama? The Tigers are back. That system just produces star quarterbacks, I tell you what.”
“Toledo beat Rainier on a fourth-quarter kickoff return? … I’m not sure if they were supposed to win by more or less.”
And there’s more in Week 3. Adna goes to Kalama and Toledo goes to Napavine, which means we’ll be able to sort out the top half of everyone’s rankings boards a little bit more effectively come Saturday morning.
2. Winlock: The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 96-6. Granted, they haven’t exactly faced ‘Bama or even Archbishop Murphy, but 96 points in two games is something (even if the combined points-allowed line for those two teams looks more like a Mendoza line).
However! Take a look at their schedule. They host Clatskanie, Ore., this week, in a filler game after Life Christian flew the coop and ran off with Northwest Christian. Then they’ve got MWP, a team they looked solid against in a preseason jamboree; play at Kalama; host Mossyrock, if the Vikings are able to put a team on the field; play a winnable game at Toutle Lake; and wrap the season with rival Toledo and then a seemingly-down Wahkiakum team. Even if they lose to Clatskanie and Kalama, they could conceivably cruise into the last two weeks of the season with a 5-2 record — and it’s not hard to imagine a 7-2 or 6-3 regular season mark.
Of course, this is 2B football, and every undefeated team is one injury away from a losing streak. But Winlock on the upswing is just the kind of intrigue this season needs.
3. Twin Cities Offenses. Centralia’s piled up a ton of yards in two games, mostly on the ground, and scored 98 points in its first two contests. Compared with last season (22 points through Week 2), that’s a vast improvement.
Meanwhile, W.F. West’s Jaiyden Camoza has run for over 200 yards in both games and quarterback Josiah Johnson racked up five touchdowns in a win over Capital. Both teams can score a ton of points. Let’s go ahead and set the over/under for the Swamp Cup at 75.
4. Mountain Division. Napavine, Onalaska and Adna are all in the top 5 on the EvansRankings 2B board. Napavine and Adna have combined to beat Liberty, Kalama and Pe Ell-Willapa Valley — three teams that are likely to be in the state playoffs. We’re only two weeks in, but the Mountain Division has lived up to its preseason hype thus far.
5. Bye weeks. Teams all over the Southwest Washington 2B Football League are getting out of town, and not everyone can find an Amity or a Baker or a Clatskanie to haul in from Oregon. South Bend opted to go the eight-man route, leaving the Coastal Division down a team. Life Christian absconded with Northwest Christian and left an empty table in the Mountain Division lunchroom. Mossyrock forfeited the first two games of the season and reports out of Onalaska say Ashton Haight threw a red shirt at a confused Amity linebacker and yelled “PUT IT ON AND CALL ME THE OLD HELMET KING!” after Saturday’s win.
Anyway, here’s your Lewis County Fantasy Football roundup.
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I was really just kidding last week when Laythan Demarest had the best Week 1 fantasy performance and I said I’d write a “Wyatt and Dawson Stanley were system quarterbacks” column but here we are. Demarest’s 157 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, 76 passing yards, a passing touchdown, and three PAT kicks added up to 43 points … which gave him another fantasy crown.
Just to break out of the usual routine, we’ll look at this week’s fantasy football stars by position.
Quarterback
1, Laythan Demarest, 43 points. See his numbers above.
2. Josiah Johnson, W.F. West (41 points). Eighty-six rushing yards and three TDs, 132 yards and two more TDs in the air … the second-year signal caller is finding his groove after a tough Week 1 outing.
3. Bryce Cline, Winlock (34 points). Cline had five touchdowns — three rushing, two passing — with 57 rushing yards and 95 passing yards in a win over Fort Vancouver.
4. Lucas Kreger, Onalaska (30 points). Kreger ran for 160 yards and touchdown, threw two conversion passes, and ran in two conversions against Amity.
5. Cameron Erickson, Centralia (29 points). Erickson passed for 148 yards and six touchdowns against Evergreen.
6. Aiden Wright, Tenino (21 points). Wright had two rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, and 190 rushing yards in a win over Chimacum.
7. Duke Schaplow, Toledo (19 points). Schaplow had both of Toledo’s touchdowns — one on the ground, one on a kickoff return — and 72 rushing yards against Rainier.
8. Braden Thomas, Adna (16 points). Thomas ran for a touchdown and 80 yards and passed for 68 yards at Cathlamet.
9. Keegan Kelly, MWP (13 points). Kelly passed for 140 yards and two scores against Raymond.
Outside-the-LC Honorable Mention: Jackson Esary, Kalama (37 points). Esary fan for 110 yards and a touchdown, and passed for 212 yards and three touchdowns in Napavine.
Running Backs
1. Max Smith, PWV (38 points). Smith got 148 yards on just 12 carries with four touchdowns against Concrete.
2. Jaiyden Camoza, W.F. West (32 points). Camoza topped the 200-mark again with 208 yards and two touchdowns against Capital.
3. (tie) Ashton Haight, Onalaska (29 points). Haight picked up 174 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Amity, Ore.
3. (tie) Cole Fay, Adna (29 points). Fay ran for 111 yards and three touchdowns against Wahkiakum.
5. Chase Sobolesky-Reynolds, Centralia (28 points). Sobolesky-Reynolds was the big winner out of the Centralia backfield with 83 rushing yards, 22 receiving yards and three total touchdowns.
6. Shawn Nicholson, Tenino (26 points). Nicholson ran for 201 yards and a touchdown against Chimacum.
7. Tanner Low, Napavine (19 points). Low ran for 70 yards, with one touchdown on the ground and one through the air.
8. Kollin Jurek, PWV (16 points). Forty-seven rushing yards, a touchdown, and a punt-return touchdown against Concrete.
9. Nolan Swofford, Winlock (12 points). Swofford had 61 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Wide Receivers
1. Coleson Richendollar, Winlock (27 points). Richendollar had 95 receiving yards and three touchdowns against Fort Vancouver.
2. Carter Dantinne, MWP (21 points). Dantinne snagged 94 receiving yards and both MWP touchdowns against Raymond.
3. Paxton Russell, Tenino (19 points). Russell had two TDs and 78 receiving yards.
4. (tie) Benito Valencia and Derek Beairsto, Centralia (16 points each). Both Tiger receivers had just over 40 yards and a score against Evergreen.
6. Max Taylor, W.F. West (14 points). Taylor had a touchdown and 85 receiving yards against Capital.
