It’s so much easier to look at seasons in hindsight.
Historical games are just passages in the paper and stats in books, one right after the other. One game might be a stinker, but that doesn’t matter; simply turn the page and right there will be the next one, a new chance for something to have gone well. A season that ends with a losing record becomes just a footnote to be skipped over in the larger context of a program’s history. Looking back at the past can be like listening to a Spotify playlist: pick and choose the hits and what you want to hear, and skip the filler in the middle.
But of course, that’s not how time works in the moment, and it’s especially not how football works.
In other sports, you leave the field after a tough loss knowing that in just a day or two, it’s a whole new game to do better. In football, it’s a week of stewing and preparation before you get a chance to give the reporters something better to write about. In other sports, one loss is just something to bounce back from; in football, it’s 11% of your regular season, and can derail everything.
Because of this, every single week tells its own story, more in football than in any other sport. And because of that, looking back at history and only playing the hits doesn’t really give you a feel for how the season actually went.
This season, I want to try to do it differently.
Fifty years ago, area teams from Lewis and South Thurston counties took to the gridiron. Having looked through the archives, I can safely say that in the grand scheme of football history here, the 1973 season was, for the most part, comparatively unremarkable.
But they didn’t know that at the time.
In August of 1973, local teams weren’t preparing for a season of football; it was the season. On Sept. 6, 1973, players went to sleep not knowing how their Week 1 games would go, or any of the games after that.
In the moment, you can only go through time linearly. Games happen once per week, and every Friday changes the story of the season.
That’s how I want to re-tell the story of the 1973 high school football season in the area.
Starting next week, we’ll recap each week of the 1973 season, 50 years later. Going through The Chronicle’s archives, we’ll pull a few games to spotlight, a few stats, a quote or two, and photos when we can, and keep updated standings. There will be exactly as many spoilers as our coverage of the 2023 season — that is to say, none.
The 1973 season, as it turns out, was historic for football in Washington as a state. It rang in the introduction of overtime, ending ties for good, and for the first time, the season would end with an eight-team state tournament in each classification, determining true state champions.
What else happened 50 years ago? Well, you’ll have to check in each week to find out. First, though, we’ll set the stage and introduce the cast of teams, spread across three leagues:
Black Hills League (AA)
With Tumwater not yet in The Chronicle coverage area, the Twin Cities boasted the only AA teams on the list. In Centralia, the Tigers started a new coaching era, with Skip Raish taking over the helm. Raish himself was only eight years removed from suiting up in orange and black; he started under center for Centralia in 1964 and 1965. Now, the Tigers had Ed LeBaron back at quarterback, as one of the most experienced signal callers in the league.
Southward, Chehalis (referred to exclusively as Chehalis back then) was coming off a 3-6-1 season, but coach Orson Christensen described his incoming senior class as the “best since I have been at Chehalis.” Leading that charge was Joe Blaser at quarterback, running a Double Wing-T, run-and-shoot attack.
South Central League (A)
The rough equivalent to today’s Central 2B League — smaller schools, nearly all in the area — got bigger in 1973, expanding to nine teams that today span from 1B to 2A, and nobody knew what to expect.
“If circuit coaches are to be believed,” The Chronicle’s preview read, “This year’s South Central League football race is going to be a dogfight.”
Winlock reigned as defending champs, though the Cardinals would have to fend off more teams this time around to retain the title. At the same time, the boys from what was then also known as Mt. St. Helens High School would be without 240-pound fullback John Prigmore, who graduated after earning Lewis County Athlete of the Year honors.
In the season preview, coaches and reporters nodded to Morton as “slight favorites.” The Huskies had gone 2-7 the year before, but brought back tailback Mike Herron, the area’s most decorated track star the year before.
Also returning was Toledo’s legendary coach Ted Hippi, who was back at the helm on the field that would later bear his name after a three-year absence. Before he left, he had racked up 44 straight wins, a streak he’d try to resume. Meanwhile in Rochester, his son Rob Hippi was entering his second year in charge of the Warriors.
A less enviable streak resided in Onalaska, where the Loggers came into the season on a 23-game losing streak. Despite that, Ed Simons’ team was still picked to finish fourth. Tougher roads were expected for Tenino, Mossyrock, and White Pass, as well as Kalama — the lone non-area team.
SWW 8-Man League
Meanwhile, the bulk of today’s 2Bs were playing the 8-man game, led by Pe Ell, who brought in Phil Berg as a first-year coach to try to defend the Trojans’ league title from the year before. They were expected to dual Quinault for the 1973 crown, though Oakville, which was coming off a 6-3-1 season in ‘72, could also put itself in the mix.
Adna, notably, brought a full-size 11-man roster to the party, with 32 kids signed up and coach Bert Downs faced with a quarterback battle between Randy Topel and Larry Thompson.
Rainier and Napavine hoped to punch above their weight, while a new challenger emerged from the fog: Boistfort, fielding its first team since 1965. Called the Braves, the new team was young, but coach Jim Born would lead them into battle for the first time in eight years.
