Sixteen area teams have broken the huddles on fall camp, and the 2023 season looms just on the other side of the month.
With that in mind, The Chronicle’s sports crew — Josh Kirshenbaum, Dylan Wilhelm, Aaron VanTuyl, and Kody Christen — take a stab at who they think will have the most success at the state level this fall. You can read their most anticipated games here, and their MVP picks here.
Aaron’s pick: Napavine
It’s Napavine. It’s always Napavine. Since their first 11-man state championship in 2008, the Tigers have won more state football titles than the rest of the Greater Lewis County area schools combined.
The quarterback’s played in two championship games. They didn’t so much as hit a speed bump on the way to last year’s state title. They’re still pretty loaded from that team, with skill guys a year older. Is there any other team in the 2Bs banging down the door to knock off Napavine? It doesn’t really seem like it.
Sometimes, it really is that simple. Which team’s going to go the furthest this year? Don’t overthink it. It’s the same one that always does.
Josh’s pick: Mossyrock
I didn’t exactly have any hot takes in the first two of these (and Aaron got the easy one out of the way), so let’s go wild here.
Mossyrock is coming off its most successful boys season since making the drop down to the 1B ranks, successfully shifting the balance of 8-man power in southwest Washington away from Naselle and making the state tournament before losing to eventual champs Liberty Bell.
Now, it’s up to the Vikings to prove they weren’t just a one-year wonder, and while they’ll have to replace leading rusher Sage Greisen and all-around star Keegan Kolb, they bring back a complete lineup’s worth of players with starting experience, including Easton Kolb under center and Zack Munoz out wide.
The Vikings will start their season with an 11-man test against Pe Ell-Willapa Valley before moving on to face perennial power Quilcene, with the annual throwdown with Naselle looming on Oct. 13, but they’ll have plenty of time to build up steam for a state run.
Dylan’s pick: W.F. West
On the surface, it’s going to be difficult for the Bearcats to duplicate the success they enjoyed last season. Almost all of the offense from last year is gone, including four of the five starting lineman and four of the top five receivers. The fifth receiver, Gage Brumfield, is now under center entering his junior season.
Even with so much production from last year’s team gone, however, this team still has plenty of talent. Tucker Land returns as the team’s leading tailback, and Ross Kelley, Grady Westlund, and Connor Coleman are three receivers that will have more targets this season after being buried on the depth chart last fall.
Coach Dan Hill describes this season as a reloading year, not a rebuilding one, and the Bearcats are eager to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke. A great measuring stick for this group will come in Week 2, when they’ll head to Lynden to take on the defending 2A champions.
Kody’s pick: Tumwater
Is it ever safe to count out the T-Birds?
Any season in Washington 2A high school football that does not include Tumwater football in (at least) the state semifinals is a rarity. After getting sent home by way of a first-round upset last year, the T-Birds don't plan on missing the final four much longer.
The struggle Tumwater endured last year of injuries and inexperience is a thing of the past rolling into the 2023 season. The young T-Birds team, lack of varsity minutes aside, still managed to only drop one game in the regular season last year to W.F. West, finishing the year with a 9-2 record. But here's the scary part, most of them are back, 10 starters in total.
Anyone who knows anything about 2A football knows that Tumwater is the last program you want to face when their roster is stocked with returning starters. The way I see it, there's not much stopping this motivated T-Bird team from returning to the gold standard that is Tumwater football in December.
