Here’s 15 years of football memories: The records
This is Paul Valencia of The Columbian Sports staff.
Those of you who have been reading me know that football is my favorite sport. My favorite sport to cover as a journalist. My favorite sport to watch as a fan.
This high school football season came to an end this weekend in the Tacoma Dome. Unfortunately, no team from Clark County made it to the dome this year. (Hey, there’s always next year, says Positive Paul!)
Anyway, the end of the 2015 football season marks the 15th season I have covered football for The Columbian. I decided now was as good a time to look at every single game I covered for the paper.
Every.
Single.
One.
And here’s how I define “covering” a game for the paper. Me, with a byline, words, and a full box score. There have been a few games I’ve seen, but not covered. Maybe I was watching a 5 p.m. game but covering the 8 p.m. game at a stadium. Well, those don’t count. I only counted the ones I covered.
So from the 2001 season to the 2015 season, I have now covered 312 football games for The Columbian.
I’ve watched a lot of Camas, a lot of Skyview, a lot of Mountain View and Evergreen. Union came on the scene in 2007, and I’ve seen a lot of U, too.
Haven’t seen a lot of Ridgefield games, but my guess is the Spudders will invite me to a few more in the future. (No, it does not work like that. I don’t really need an invitation.) Still, I have never seen Ridgefield lose a football game. Never.
Anyway, here are the records for every team I’ve covered. I’ll start with “our” teams and place them in the leagues they are in today. (But remember, many teams changed classifications through the years.)
I will list in order of most wins.
Also, remember, I go to most of the big-school games. Please don’t take offense if I haven’t seen a lot of the small schools. If I had it my way, we’d have more Thursday night games so I could get to more games every year.
Oh, next week, I’ll list my 15 favorite memories/games in my 15 years of football coverage.
Class 4A GSHL
- Camas 45-18 .714
- Mountain View 40-23 .634
- Union 37-20 .649
- Evergreen 34-13 .723
- Skyview 32-32 .500
- Battle Ground 9-21 .300
- Heritage 4-19 .174
Notes: Skyview won the first game I covered for The Columbian back in 2001. Since then, I have seen more Skyview games than any other team. And, as you can see, the Storm like me 50 percent of the time. … Camas had the best winning percentage through the 312th game over my coverage career. The loss to Skyline in the playoffs took the Papermakers down to .714. … Evergreen has the highest win percentage among the schools I’ve covered more than a handful of times. I have not been to a bunch of Evergreen games in recent years, but that 14-0 season in 2004 sure helps the win percentage. I covered nine of those wins. … The Heritage record is just bizarre. It took me seven years before I covered a Heritage win. Even since then, there have been some good teams with NFL-quality talent, but for whatever reason, the Timberwolves did not get on a win streak when I was around to watch them. … Mountain View is second in total wins, with 40. Remember, Mountain View made it to back-to-back state semifinals in my first two years with The Columbian. … Battle Ground struggled for most of the years I’ve covered the team but the Tigers went 4-2 this year, including a playoff win. … Union got here after I did, so it’s a late start. But Titans made up for it. I’ve seen 57 of their games. One, they were good right away, with long playoff runs. Two, with the addition of Union, doubleheaders were added to McKenzie Stadium. I often got the stadium two-fers because, if you haven’t noticed, I really love football!
Class 3A GSHL
- Columbia River 17-20 .459
- Kelso 4-11 .267
- Fort Vancouver 3-11 .214
- Prairie 1-8 .111
Notes: Hmmm, now that I’ve looked up the numbers, perhaps the 3A GSHL might not want me around in the future. … I’ve seen some great Columbia River teams. But I’ve also seen River play tough non-league schedule games, tough playoff opponents. Plus, despite the losing record while I’m there, I’ve seen a lot of big wins. And in 2015, I went to four Columbia River games — all wins.
Class 2A GSHL
- Woodland 5-8 .385
- Hudson’s Bay 5-20 .200
- Hockinson 4-2 .667
- Ridgefield 3-0 1.000
- Washougal 1-1 .500
- Mark Morris 1-2 .333
- R.A. Long 0-2 .000
Notes: Hudson’s Bay was solid program when I arrived at The Columbian. The Eagles went 3-1 in games I covered in 2001, the second-best team for me that year. … Haven’t been to a lot of Hockinson games, but that program has been good almost since the beginning. And I was at Hockinson’s epic first playoff victory, rallying from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to win. One of my favorite games. … There’s Ridgefield! 3-0. Still perfect when I’m there.
Trico League
- La Center 9-5 .643
- Stevenson 1-0 1.000
- Seton Catholic 0-3 .000
- Castle Rock 0-3 .000
Notes: La Center has been good for years. So one the few occasions I get to see them, they win. A lot. … Haven’t seen King’s Way Christian yet, so I’m sure there will be a new team to add to these standings in the future. … If you don’t see a Trico League team here, it means I’ve never seen that team play.
Of course, I didn’t just see Southwest Washington teams. I’ve covered a bunch of playoff games and non-league regular-season games. Here is an alphabetical list of “The Others.”
- Arlington 0-1
- Auburn 1-2
- Auburn-Mountainview 0-2
- Bellevue 4-0
- Black Hills 0-1
- Bothell 1-0
- Capital 0-2
- Cascade 0-1
- Cascade Christian 1-0
- Central Catholic (Oregon) 3-0
- Central Kitsap 0-1
- Coeur d’Alene (Idaho) 0-1
- Bellarmine Prep 1-1
- Bonney Lake 0-1
- Chiawana 1-2
- Curtis 3-2
- Decatur 0-1
- Eastlake 1-1
- Edmonds-Woodway 0-1
- Ellensburg 0-1
- Elma 1-0
- Enumclaw 0-1
- Federal Way 1-3
- Ferndale 0-1
- Ferris 2-0
- Foothill (California) 1-0
- Garfield 0-1
- Gonzaga Prep 0-1
- Graham-Kapowsin 1-1
- Grant (Oregon) 1-0
- Hazen 0-1
- Hoquiam 1-0
- Inglemoor 0-1
- Issaquah 1-1
- Jesuit (Oregon) 1-1
- Juanita 0-1
- Kennedy 2-0
- Kennewick 1-0
- Kentlake 0-2
- Kentridge 0-1
- Kentwood 1-1
- Lakes 1-2
- Lake Stevens 0-1
- Lake Washington 0-1
- Lincoln 0-1
- Lynden 1-0
- Marysville Pilchuck 1-0
- Meadowdale 1-1
- Meridian 1-0
- Montesano 0-2
- Mount Baker 1-1
- Mountlake Terrace 0-1
- Newport (Bellevue) 1-0
- North Thurston 2-1
- Oak Harbor 1-1
- O’Dea 2-0
- Olympic 0-1
- Pasco 2-0
- Peninsula 0-1
- Port Townsend 1-0
- Puyallup 0-1
- Rainier Beach 0-2
- Rochester 0-1
- Rogers (Puyallup) 1-0
- Sherwood, Oregon 2-0
- Skyline 3-1
- South Kitsap 0-2
- South Medford (Ore.) 1-0
- Spanaway Lake 0-1
- Springfield (Oregon) 0-1
- Steilacoom 1-0
- Tahoma 0-1
- Timberline 0-2
- Todd Beamer 0-1
- Westview (Oregon) 1-1
- W.F. West 0-1
- Wilson 0-2
- Woodinville 4-0
Notes: Bellevue is 4-0 against our teams. Skyline is 3-1. Not surprising. But one that jumped out to me was Woodinville is 4-0. Good program, for sure, but not quite as successful as Bellevue and Skyline. … Chiawana is 1-2, but the one was a big one. … Southwest Washington has had success against Federal Way. … Then there’s Central Catholic, coached by an old friend of mine, Steve Pyne, who is 3-0 against Clark County when I’m present. His team won one of those games on a Hail Mary. Yes, Central Catholic won on a Hail Mary.
