Think the Class 2A Greater St. Helens League is tough this year? It’s now tougher to make the postseason since now only the top three teams reach the postseason.
State allocations were recently released by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, and District 4 for Class 2A, comprised of the 2A GSHL and 2A Evergreen Conference, receives one fewer playoff berth into the Week 10 state preliminary round than in recent seasons. The 4A GSHL and 3A GSHL each receive three berths, while the 1A Trico League bumps up to four playoff berths for 2018.
Columbia River coach Christian Swain knows the tough task at hand for all teams with three games remaining, including his Chieftains, who host Washougal Friday.
“For us, we have to win every week,” Swain said Saturday, a day after the Chieftains beat Mark Morris, 14-13 in Longview amassing 350 total yards on just six offensive possessions. “It’s an incredibly tough league this year; everybody is improved. It’s going to be a nail-biter all the way down to the end.”
In 2017, Swain’s Chieftains finished tied for second in league and earned a No. 2 seed from a three-way tiebreaker with Washougal and Woodland.
But only the league champion is guaranteed a Week 10 home game; the 2A Evergreen Conference’s No. 2 seed hosts the 2A GSHL’s No. 2 seed.
For Union’s non-league slate, iron sharpens iron
When Union coach Rory Rosenbach locked in a competitive non league schedule that included the likes of Eastlake, El Cerrito (Calif.), Chiawana and, most recently, Puyallup, he knew the Titans faced a daunting slate.
Starting 3-2 with a fully healthy team through five games, he said, “you’d feel really good about.”
After Friday’s 38-31 thriller win over No. 3 Puyallup, the No. 1 Titans are 5-0, without major long-term injury concerns and head into league play as the top team in 4A.
That gave Rosenbach even more reason to keep his team on alert as the Titans head into 4A Greater St. Helens League. The way Union sees it, the target will be on its back — especially as the reigning league champs.
“We’re going to get everybody’s A game,” Rosenbach said. “Which we should. We gotta prepare that way, understand and take pride in that. We earned this and now we got to work twice as hard to keep it.”
Alvarez a quick study on football field
Irving Alvarez makes it look easy.
Last spring as a freshman on the La Center baseball team, he was a first-team all-league utility player. He pitched a complete game in a victory over Columbia-White Salmon that gave the Wildcats their first state playoff win in 13 years.
This fall, Alvarez decided to give football a try despite having never played on an organized team before.
He’s taken to the sport quickly. In just his fifth game Friday, Alvarez had two interceptions in a 41-12 win over King’s Way Christian. One he returned 42 yards for a touchdown.
He had a 43-yard touchdown catch, his first, in a Week 3 loss to Hoquiam.
Alvarez said his friends on the football team and assistant coach Jeremy Teel convinced him to try out for the team.
Though he admits it has been difficult to get up to speed, he already loves a crucial element of the game.
“Getting tackles,” he said. “And getting tackled, I guess.”
