Aberdeen to join 2A GSHL for football

The Class 2A Greater St. Helens League announced Thursday that Aberdeen High School will be joining the league for football only beginning next school year.

That will bring the number of football teams to six: Hockinson, Mark Morris, R.A. Long, Ridgefield, Washougal, and Aberdeen.

Ben Zimmerman of The (Longview) Daily News contacted the Aberdeen athletic department and filed this story: http://tdn.com/sports/high-school/football/aberdeen-football-program-to-join-gshl-a-next-season/article_d01a93ee-3d63-11e1-b2ae-0019bb2963f4.html

The move, according to Zimmerman’s story, is player safety. Aberdeen has been in the Evergreen 2A Conference.

“We had 22 season-ending injuries (last) year in football,” Aberdeen AD Ken Ashlock said. “We had seven ambulance trips. It has nothing to do with the league up here; our league is very clean. Nobody cheap-shots. We’re just in a down cycle, and the league up here is really tough.

“I couldn’t see how we were going to build a program if we’re carting kids off in ambulances,” he added. “Our kids work as hard as anyone else. They lift weights, they go to summer camps. They did everything they could to be the best that they could be. We’re just physically outmatched.”

News: Above is the news of the move.

Opinion: My gut reaction just from reading Ben’s story: Huh? It appears that Aberdeen has a very low opinion of the 2A Greater St. Helens League. When I first heard Aberdeen was moving to the 2A GSHL, I figured it was for some sort of logistical purposes, or to get an even number of teams in the league. But it’s because the school is worried about injuries in one league, but not another? That’s a first for me.