The 1973 season marked the first in Washington with a true state tournament, but the biggest matchup in Lewis County the first week of the postseason was an exhibition.
After leaving his post as Centralia’s head coach, Frank Smith first went to Wenatchee Junior College, then took a coaching position at Montana State, before crossing the northern border into the world of Canadian football as the offensive coordinator for the BC Lions. Following one season in the CFL, Smith went back to high school ball, starting a program at Sentinel High School (Vancouver) in 1971.
Two years later, on Nov. 9. 1973, Smith brought his Spartans south to his old stomping grounds for an exhibition against Centralia.
The Tigers won the matchup — which was played under both American and Canadian flags — 19-8. Ed LeBaron went 6 for 9 on passes, for 74 yards, while Brad Brumbaugh went for 70 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
“We realize that Centralia was generous,” Smith said. “Skip (Raish) could have stomped us if he had really wanted to.”
The Tigers ended their season at 6-4, and took fourth in the Black Hills AA League, behind winners Shelton, Chehalis, and Camas.
That game would be Smith’s last with Sentinel. The next year, he took the head coaching job at the University of British Columbia, where he’d stay for the next 21 years, racking up 126 wins and two Canadian national titles.
In 2019, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Playoffs go… poorly
Two local teams made it to the first ever slate of state playoffs: South Central League champs Winlock in the A classification, and SWW 8-Man League champs Pe Ell in the B-8 bracket.
Neither had a great time.
Winlock went to Yakima to face Carroll, and got blitzed 49-0. The Cardinals were outgained 431-122, threw two picks, and lost two fumbles.
Raymond went on to beat Connell in the A title game, starting a string of three straight titles for the Seagulls. The last of those came against the Cardinals, who went on to win the championship in 1976 to end Raymond’s reign. Winlock returned to the title game in 1977, losing to Chewelah, and hasn’t been back since.
Pe Ell got on the scoreboard in its contest but didn’t do a whole lot better, falling to Clallam Bay 42-15.
Elsewhere…
The Twin Cities may not have reached the postseason on the gridiron, but it was a different story on the trails. The Centralia cross country team finished third out of 16 teams at the AA state championship meet, with Chehalis right behind in fourth. Don Althauser finished fourth individually, with a time of 12:46.
