STEVENSON — It is possible the 27 happiest people in Stevenson were wearing helmets Wednesday, enjoying a sunny but windy day in November, on the practice field.
That would be a football practice field.
Yes, football. In November.
In Stevenson.
Actually, there are a lot of happy football fans in town. Marquee signs along downtown congratulate the Bulldogs on their league co-championship. Drivers proudly display Stevenson Bulldogs flags on their cars.
Tonight, the football team will host a playoff game for the first time in school history.
“We used to have 20 people in the stands,” recalled senior tight end/linebacker Jeremy Waters, referring to the atmosphere at the stadium during a string of losing campaigns in the past.
“Now the stands are full,” quarterback Zach Castro said.
Now, the Stevenson Bulldogs are 8-1, taking on Rainier tonight for the right to go to the Class 1A state playoffs.
That would be a first for Stevenson, too.
Oh, there has been some success in the program — a long time ago. The 1968 team went undefeated, but there were no playoffs back then. The Bulldogs had road playoff games in 1993 and 1994, and that 1994 team also won a share of the league title. But still no home playoff game.
So tonight, in a town some 45 miles east of downtown Vancouver, the Bulldogs will be playing a home game in November.
“It’s not really just for our school,” Waters said. “It’s the whole community.”
“Our coach said this is the biggest game in school history,” Castro said. “We got butterflies. We instantly got nervous. It’s definitely a big deal.”
A big deal, but not really a surprise to Stevenson coach Craig McKee.
Back in August, McKee asked The Columbian not to write too much about his program, keep expectations low. This week, he laughed at the memory.
“I played it down. I said, ‘We’ll be OK,’ ” he said with a wry smile.
But he was telling his players something completely different.
“First day of practice, I told them to tell all their friends that we’re going to win a league title this year,” McKee said. “Put your word on the line and have something to play for.”
He paused, then with a laugh: “In retrospect, I should have said, tell everyone we’re going to win a state title.”
That last part was a joke. Nobody in Stevenson is proclaiming that. Today is all about getting that first playoff win, about getting to state for the first time.
McKee said this run actually began last season.
“Last year, we lost four games by seven points or less,” McKee said of the 3-6 season. “Last year was a deceptive year. People just looked at our win-loss record, but it was a break-through year for us. We played pretty much everybody tough. Last season was transition.”
Still, it took some time for the players to believe.
Remember that challenge from the coach? For the players to tell their friends that they’d be champs?
“We probably would have been laughed at,” Waters said.
“I didn’t believe him,” acknowledged lineman Wade Huett. “But as the season went on I started thinking we could do it.”
Apparently not a lot of others believed, either. Opponents. Fans. They all thought it was the same old Stevenson. Until the games were played.
“We were the best-kept secret at the beginning of the season,” senior running back/linebacker Brody Pestana said.
“Not so much anymore,” Waters said.
Even now, with the town 100 percent behind the Bulldogs, the players and coaches still enjoy the fact that people out there are shocked at the 8-1 record.
“There’s a huge buzz around Stevenson,” McKee said. “A lot of people are still in disbelief. It just keeps getting better and better.”
McKee said the key to success this season has been Stevenson’s ability to dominate at the line of scrimmage. It started with the play of the defensive linemen shutting down opposing rushing attacks. Those same linemen are on offense, as well. It took them a little longer to grasp the schemes, but running back Christian Morris is enjoying plenty of room now, rushing for 512 yards in the past three games.
Stevenson’s lone loss came against co-league champion Toledo in Week 5. Later, Ridgefield topped Toledo, leaving Stevenson and Toledo with the same record. Toledo got the No. 1 seed from the Trico League, but the Bulldogs are co-champions.
The biggest win this season, according to the team captains, was the 20-14 victory over La Center in Week 7. The Wildcats led 14-7 going into the fourth quarter.
“Every time we’d be down in a game, we’d lose … until that game,” Pestana said.
That is when it really hit the Bulldogs. This is for real.
“We turned our mentality around from a losing team to a winning team,” Castro said.
