It’s time for football, and it won’t stop being time for three months. One hundred sixteen games on the schedule for 16 local teams are on the docket, which can get understandably overwhelming for the neutral football fan. With that in mind, here are our picks for the best game (or two, or three) in the area each week.
Week 1: Raymond-South Bend at Toledo
Week 1 is always an interesting one, with loads of non-league games that don’t have effects on the final standings, played between teams that could be good — or even very good — and we won’t know until they hit the field. The 2A lineup is full of such matchups, but it’s down to 2B we go for a matchup at Ted Hippi Field. Last year, RSB took out Toledo in a bit of a Week 1 surprise. The Ravens went on to make the state tournament, and return first-team all-league quarterback Austin Snodgrass, while Toledo — which did get things back on track last fall — will try to get off to a faster starter with sophomore Eli Weeks under center.
Also keep an eye on: Burlington-Edison at Tumwater, Napavine at Adna
Week 2: Adna at Pe Ell-Willapa Valley
New Adna coach Aaron Cochran gets to open with a Week 1 game against Napavine, so this matchup will either see the Pirates riding the wave from a historic upset, or have their resiliency tested early. Adna and PWV played twice last season, with the Pirates grinding out an 18-14 win early in the fall and the Titans blowing them out 54-0 in the crossover. File this one under “2B games that aren’t league games for some reason even though they’re between two historic 2B rivals.” There are gonna be a fair few of those this year.
Also keep an eye on: Napavine at Onalaska, Zillah at Tenino
Week 3: Rochester at Black Hills
Every 2A EvCo coach we surveyed expected Tumwater and W.F. West to take the top two spots in the league again. If that turns out to be the case, then the rest of the league will come down to six teams vying for two crossover spots, and an early-season matchup between the Warriors and the Wolves will be huge for that middle-of-the-pack pecking order. The Wolves will have two weeks to figure out their weapons around Jaxsen Beck, while Rochester will hopefully have its own quarterback competition — between Kole Smith and Carson Rotter — settled.
Also keep an eye on: Kelso at Tumwater, Carson Graham (B.C.) at Napavine
Week 4: Onalaska at Tenino
The last time the Loggers went to Stone City produced an instant classic, though the rematch last year in Onalaska was a one-sided affair. This time around, it’ll be a very different sort of Tenino squad taking the field, with first-year coach Darren Tinnerstet promising a more balanced offense than the traditional Power T. Onalaska, meanwhile was a team full of new starters last year who are all back, setting the Loggers up to be even more physical.
Also keep an eye on: Raymond-South Bend at Adna, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley at Napavine
Week 5: Tumwater at W.F. West
Napavine going up north to Lynden Christian for what could feasibly be a matchup between the 2B No. 1 and 1A No. 1, may be one of the tastiest matchups in the state this year, regardless of classification. But sadly, it’s three and a half hours away from here, and therefore invalid for this list, and we’ve got a pretty darn good one close to home the day before. For the first time since 2009, the 2A EvCo crown resides in Chehalis, and after a down year and a decisive loss to the Bearcats, Tumwater will roll south to try and reclaim it. It’s a bit reductive and anticlimactic to say that this game will decide the 2A EvCo before the calendar flips to October, but… yeah.
Also keep an eye on: Aberdeen at Black Hills
Week 6: Pe Ell-Willapa Valley at Toledo
The best matchup with stakes this week will be Onalaska at Kalama, but that’s down in Cowlitz County. Instead, we get another 2B game that has no league stakes but will tell us a lot about the pecking order in the district. Pe Ell-Willapa Valley and Toledo ended the season as the clear next-best teams behind Napavine, and if that remains true this season, Week 6 will be a good measuring stick for how the 2B North and South divisions stack up against each other.
Also keep an eye on: Winlock at Oakville
Week 7: Naselle at Mossyrock
What W.F. West vs. Tumwater is for 2A in the area, so is Mossyrock vs. Naselle in 1B. Mossyrock took the big step last season by toppling the Comets, and returns a whole lot of its starting lineup. The Vikings shouldn’t have too much trouble with any 8-man team up to this point, and this time get the Comets at home.
Also keep an eye on: Black Hills at Centralia, Adna at Toledo, Raymond-South Bend at Pe Ell-Willapa Valley
Week 8: Onalaska at Adna
With the 2B South Division shrinking to four teams in 2023, every single league matchup looms huge, and this will be the only week where all four are playing league games. Toledo will be down in Kalama, while closer to home, Only and Adna do battle in a matchup of programs trying to rise up from quieter years in 2022. Last year saw the Pirates beat the Loggers 7-6 in a game that lacked any style points whatsoever, with the two teams combining for just 369 total yards.
Also keep an eye on: Napavine at Raymond-South Bend, Mossyrock at Winlock
Week 9: Centralia at W.F. West
Week 9 means rivalries, and in the Twin Cities, that means Swamp Cup time. W.F. West will be out to make it 15 straight wins over Centralia, while first-year coach Jon Rooklidge’s Tigers will try to shock the world.
Also keep an eye on: Rochester at Tenino, Onalaska at Pe Ell-Willapa Valley
