They are called the Big Three for a reason.
Big schools. Big programs. Big winners.
Camas. Union. Skyview.
Those three football programs have been in the same league now since 2012. Camas has won the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League title every season, with Union and Skyview earning the other two playoff spots.
The dominance started long before then, though. The last time any of the Big Three lost a league football game to anyone outside of the Big Three was in 2008.
Which leads us to the 2015 season and the opening week of 4A GSHL football.
Mountain View and Battle Ground, both 2-0 in non-league games, will try to win their way into the mix. The Thunder play Union (1-1), and the Tigers travel to face Skyview (2-0). Camas has a non-league game this week.
“We’re hoping to change that whole Big Three idea,” Mountain View senior safety Kyle Moen said.
Notice he said he hoped it would happen. The Thunder and the Tigers are optimistic, not overconfident.
“We’re tremendously excited, but we’re guarded,” Battle Ground coach Larry Peck said. “We’re guarded in our expectations because we don’t want to overthink it.”
Two years ago, the Tigers thought they had a team that could possibly crack into the top three. It didn’t happen. Peck said his players started thinking of enormity of it all. Just in 2010, the Tigers won one football game.
A few years later, they thought they had a chance to make the big leap.
Now, in a similar spot, Peck wants his players to relax and just play to their potential.
“It’s a huge opportunity to step up and show people what you can do,” Peck said. “But you can’t make it bigger than what it is.”
The players know this is just the first of six league games. Win or lose this week, the season will continue. There will be other opportunities.
“It would be really amazing if we could knock one of those guys down,” Battle Ground senior linebacker Taylor Stewart said. “There definitely is belief.”
This is long-term, too. Not just for this week.
“I really want to get to the playoffs,” Stewart said. “Defensively, if we do what we do, we can make it to the playoffs.”
Stewart said that’s been the weakness at Battle Ground in recent years — the team’s defense. This year, the Tigers say they have improved on that side of the ball.
Improvement has been key at Mountain View, too. A year ago, the Thunder lost their three non-league games, then went 3-3 in the 4A GSHL — three losses to the Big Three, three wins against everyone else. This season, with the same non-league schedule, Mountain View is 2-0. Moen said a win over Union, Skyview, or Camas would show the rest of the league all the progress the Thunder have made.
“The buzz is crazy,” he said. “Teachers are talking about it. Students are talking about it. It will be a fun environment to play in, that’s for sure.”
Mountain View coach Adam Mathieson — who could downplay the Super Bowl as just an opportunity to get prepared for the upcoming preseason — does not buy into all the Big Three hype. Oh, he respects those programs. He understands the recent history. It’s just that history will have nothing to do with Friday night, nor any games the rest of the season.
“If we win, it will mean we are 1-0 for the week. Then we’d start over and get ready for next week,” Mathieson said. “We don’t measure ourselves against the other teams. It’s not about us versus them. It’s really about, ‘Can we do our thing?'”
The schedule has Mountain View playing Union this week. But for Mathieson, the schedule does not determine the Thunder’s focus.
“We have to prepare for an opponent. We have to prepare to play our football,” he said. “That would be the message every week no matter who we’re playing. We love football.”
Football must love the 4A GSHL this season. The league is a combined 12-2 in its non-league games, and Camas tops The Associated Press poll for Class 4A teams in Washington. A year ago, all three of the Big Three won their Week 10 preliminary round playoff games to make it to state. And now, there is legitimate hope for other teams to get into the playoff mix.
“It’s an indication of how tough the league is,” Peck said “I think it’s the toughest league in the state. It starts at the top. One of the best teams in the state is Camas. I’d take our league against anybody.”
That just makes it more challenging to crack the top three. And more rewarding for the teams that do reach the playoffs in November.
Notes:
Skyview has been a Class 4A team since 2000. Union opened in 2007 and was a 3A program until the 2010 season. Camas became a 4A program in 2012. With that said, since the 2009 season, those three teams are undefeated in league against all the other teams.
The last time Skyview lost* a league game to anyone other than Camas or Union: Week 7 of the 2008 season to Evergreen.
The last time Camas lost a league game to anyone other than Skyview or Union: Week 6 of the 2008 season to Columbia River.
The last time Union lost a league game to anyone other than Camas or Skyview: Week 8 of the 2007 season to Columbia River.
* Skyview did lose non-league games to Clark County programs Prairie and Columbia River in 2013.
Since 2008, Union is 28-6 in league play — 4-6 against Camas and Skyview, 24-0 against everyone else.
Since 2009, the Papermakers are 32-1 in league play, 6-1 against Skyview and Union. (Camas did not have Skyview nor Union in league play in 2010 and 2011.)
Since 2009, Skyview is 24-5 in league play, 3-5 against Camas and Union.
Records against each other, league and non-league, since 2007:
Camas: 4-2 vs. Union; 4-2 vs. Skyview
Skyview: 2-4 vs. Camas; 3-4 vs. Union
Union: 2-4 vs. Camas; 4-3 vs Skyview
The last time …
Battle Ground beat Skyview: 2004
Battle Ground beat Union: never
Battle Ground beat Camas: 1992 (but teams did not play again until 2006)
Mountain View beat Skyview: 2005
Mounatin View beat Union: never
Mountain View beat Camas: 2007
Source: Thanks to gshlfootball.com. The site is no longer active but its archives remain up to date.
