NAPAVINE — When the Napavine High School football team congregates after a practice or a game, the breakdown is always the same.
“Family on three. One…Two…Three…Family.”
It isn’t just because of the brotherhood that exists within the walls of the Tigers’ locker room. No, this family has been around for years upon years. Fathers, sons, siblings, cousins and anyone that has been associated with the program is considered family.
From the ballboys to the coaching staff.
“It has always been that way,” Napavine head coach of 18 years Josh Fay said. “This has always been about the Napavine community and making sure Napavine football is always about the kids and the people of Napavine. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Families usually build on success. It becomes constant, not a one-year wonder, but an expectation.
And there hasn’t been a better example of perennially high expectations that are yearly achieved than what the Tigers have done.
For the ninth time under Fay, fourth consecutive season and well over double digits in school history, third-seeded Napavine is back in the Class 2B state title game and one win away from hoisting its fifth championship trophy.
Standing in the way is an all-too-familiar opponent, the program that always is destined for a collision with the Tigers, the Okanogan Bulldogs.
It will be the third straight meeting between the two in the final contest of the 2024 prep season. Napavine took it in 2022 and Okanogan returned the favor last season.
At 11 a.m. on Saturday morning inside Husky Stadium, Part III will commence.
“Hopefully we can capitalize on the opportunity," junior quarterback Grady Wilson said. “M,aking it is one thing, but being able to come out with the result you want is another. We’ll see how it goes.”
For Wilson, this game has a little extra meaning.
When he was a ballboy during his elementary school days, he witnessed the Tigers beat Liberty (Spangle) to take the 2016 title inside the Tacoma Dome. There’s a photo that has former quarterback Wyatt Stanley lifting an eight-year old Wilson.
When the right-hander gazed upon the photo, those memories sunk back in.
“It was awesome,” Wilson said. “Hang out with all those guys and them treating me just like a teammate after the game. I’ll remember that forever.”
In his first year as the signal caller, Wilson has already scored 37 total touchdowns and is nearing 1,000 rushing yards to go along with 1,662 passing yards.
He won the starting quarterback competition in the fall and when Napavine lost to Montesano in Week 4, banged up and short-handed, Fay was struck with how Wilson played that game to keep the Tigers in it.
From that point on, he knew and so did the team that Wilson was the unquestioned guy.
“He had done everything right to that point,” Fay said. “He stepped up as a leader.”
“He’s a really good quarterback,” senior offensive lineman Diego Martinez added. “I’d take Grady Wilson over plenty of other quarterbacks.”
That loss to Montesano and the Week 2 setback to Life Christian Academy – two 1A schools that got far in the playoffs – proved to be exactly what this group of Tigers needed.
Only a pair of positions had real experience back from 2023. Part of the reason why Fay scheduled four non-league games against three 1A’s and a 2A was to see how they would respond.
Sure enough, at 2-2, there was enough evidence to put forth the belief Napavine could get back to Seattle.
“Even if we’re down by a little bit, we can’t lose our mind and panic, because that’s when we fall apart,” Martinez said. “It is honestly good that we lost so we can feel it.”
Now, the Tigers get another crack at Okanogan. Just like the last two times, a back-and-forth close game has been the norm.
The Bulldogs brought everyone back from the title team last December, fueled by the dual threat prowess of Carter Kuchenbach. David Huffstetler has scored 13 rushing touchdowns and Taige Mendenhall has hauled in four interceptions.
Top to bottom, the top-seed in 2B has been one of the best teams in the state. Okanogan hasn’t played in a game decided by a possession since that 2023 title game.
Only Lynden Christian in Week 3 and Freeman in the semis have kept it within two scores.
“They’re going to be physical, it is going to be a long game,” Wilson said. “We got to do all the little things right. We can’t be in the red zone and not score.”
Still, could there be a positive in facing this version of Okanogan again?
Fay thinks so.
“It is unusual to watch film of an opponent and, as a staff, be three hours into it and it is kind of like Groundhog’s Day,” he said. “We’ve seen this. The challenge for us is going to be our preparation.”
Martinez is one of nine seniors getting one final opportunity at a second ring. The pain of last year, rallying down two scores to lose 28-24, still stings.
He wants a happier ending to his football career in the orange and black.
“We don’t want to end our last year of football like that,” Martinez said. “This means something to us.”
By now, the players are used to the schedule when late-November, early-December hits. Napavine has experienced this far too often under Fay and the assistants that have stuck by through thick and thin.
Because that’s what families do.
“This is hard to get here,” Fay said. “The possessions are going to be at a premium. We’ll see if we can block and tackle, too.”
