This is going to be a very strange autumn.
This summer marked the 30th anniversary of me being a full-time resident of the Pacific Northwest.
And one of my favorite things about the Northwest getting to experience autumn in its full grandeur. The cooling temperatures, changing colors, fall leaves, all things I never experienced as kid growing up in Southern California.
But for the past 30 autumns, the season has included one other component for me – high school football.
I’ve been covering high school football on Friday nights every year dating back to the Reagan Administration. I got my start in newspapers as a contributing correspondent covering prep football for the Los Angeles Times when I was in college.
So the idea of spending Friday nights at home in September and October is going to feel very, very foreign to me.
Our Saturday sections in the fall are among the most-read sports sections The Columbian produces all years. And now there will be a huge void this fall.
So as we did last spring, The Columbian will depend on memories to sustain all of us through this very unique of fall seasons.
Last spring, our “Spring Back” revisited spring state championships in prep sports in years back. And we’ll likely do something similar for fall sports, but let’s hold off on that until later in the fall.
For now, we still want to devote a portion of our Saturday sports section to prep football. And since we won’t have any prep football in present this fall, let’s turn to the past.
Every Saturday, The Columbian will spotlight a prep football game from our region from the past.
A thrilling, back-and-forth contest. A fantastic finish. An outstanding individual effort. An unusual occurrence. A milestone victory. Anything that sets that game apart and makes it stand out in your memory, as well as the memories of others.
We already have our Week 1 game picked out. It will appear in the Sept. 5 edition. But we are open to suggestions on games to spotlight in subsequent weeks.
So players, coaches, fans, send us your suggestions for memorable games to revisit, and we’ll use those suggestions to spotlight a different game each week.
For September and October, we will focus on regular-season games – a few non-league contests followed by some league contests. Let’s hold off on those playoff matchups for now. We’ll make another call for them in a few weeks.
Email us at sports@columbian.com. Tweet at us at @360preps or @360TMart. Or leave us a comment on our 360 preps – The Columbian Facebook page. If you’d rather call, the number is (360) 735-4484.
In your suggestion, tell us the game, the year it was played, and what about that game makes it memorable.
My tenure at The Columbian only goes back to 2001, so I’m going to need some help pulling out memorable games for the 20th century.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you as together we try to make something positive of this prep football-less autumn.
