Saturday: Columbia River
Sunday: Fort Vancouver
Monday: Prairie
Tuesday: Hudson’s Bay
Wednesday: Mountain View (with Kelso breakout)
Thursday: 2A GSHL
Friday: 1A and B teams
Vote for who you think will win the 3A GSHL football title at
www.facebook.com/360preps
Last week when we previewed the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League, we started at the top, then worked our way down.
That’s just about impossible to do for the 3A GSHL.
The top is too difficult to identify. So instead, we will start at the other end of the league.
Fort Vancouver and Hudson’s Bay have exactly three wins apiece the past three years combined. However, things are looking better at both camps.
Sylvester Green’s second year with the Eagles is already considered a success by his players because Green is there for a second year. That’s the first time the Bay seniors have had consecutive years with the same head coach.
Todd Quinsey has taken over at Fort Vancouver, and there is a new energy with the Trappers.
Both programs are looking to become more competitive, to make it fun again to play for those squads. In other words, this year’s athletes are paving the way for the future.
That leaves the remaining four teams — Columbia River, Kelso, Mountain View, and Prairie — to battle for the three playoff spots. The Daily News in Longview conducted a coaches poll and all four of those teams received first-place votes.
The Falcons finished fourth last year by going 0-3 against the playoff teams. Two were six-point losses. The program knows what it takes to compete, and coach Terry Hyde said he expects Prairie to be in the mix.
Mountain View probably has the most returning talent this season. The Thunder were picked by many to win the league last year but suffered consecutive losses by a combined 10 points to Kelso and Columbia River, finishing third. Mountain View players worked out all summer with those games in mind, hoping to turn those close losses into victories this season and a league title.
Kelso’s only regular-season loss last year was a double-overtime game against Columbia River. However, the Hilanders have a new coach and graduated a strong senior class.
That leads us to defending champion Columbia River. The Chieftains put it all together after a rough September non-league schedule. The senior-heavy team went on a five-game winning streak to win the league title and then won the Week 10 playoff game to make it to the Class 3A state bracket.
This is a brand new team, though. All of last year’s starters are gone except one who started three games last year. That’s it.
So go ahead, try to predict this Class 3A GSHL season. We are just going to enjoy the competition.
