Here we go.
We have arrived.
The 2026 high school football season kicks off Friday.
In the next nine weeks, league championships and playoff spots will be realized.
Then the next five weeks will determine the state champions.
Will Clark County have any teams playing on that first Saturday in December at Husky Stadium in Seattle? To be determined.
Every season brings hope, new stars, and memories that will last a lifetime.
This season also brings plenty of change. Especially with the schedule and format for two of the leagues in Southwest Washington.
The Class 4A Greater St. Helens League opted for its four teams to play each other twice this season. Instead of three league games among the four teams, it will be a six-game league schedule.
That might be odd, but not unprecedented. It also is easy enough for fans to understand. Small league. Easier to find three non-league games than six. So every league team just plays each other twice. No one is really crazy about the idea, but it remains easy enough to grasp the concept.
The Class 2A Greater St. Helens League, on the other hand, was kind of forced into chaos.
Earlier in the offseason, it was announced that the four-team Evergreen Conference from up north would join the eight-team 2A GSHL to make one large league out of the District 4, Southwest Washington Class 2A football programs. Of course, that meant an unbalanced schedule. Too many teams for a nine-week regular season, right?
So they divided the league into three pods and came up with a schedule, and all teams were moving forward with the big change.
Well, just before the start of the season, it was announced that Evergreen did not want to become part of the 2A GSHL after all. By then it was too late to change the schedules, though.
So now, the eight-team 2A GSHL will be divided into two, four-team divisions. All of the division games will take place In Weeks 7, 8, 9, and the division winners will be called league champions and advance to Week 10 playoffs. The EvCo champ will also advance.
Yet to be determined is just how many of the 12 teams in the 2A GSHL and EvCo will make the Week 10 playoffs. The three champions will advance, but will they be joined by three more teams — say the three second-place teams? — or four more teams?
“We’ve done a lot for nothing,” said Washougal coach David Hajek, regarding the offseason changes.
The situation is a bit chaotic.
Because the schedules with the EvCo teams were already made, teams in the 2A GSHL will not play a full 2A GSHL schedule. Hajek said he assumes the 2A GSHL will return to a traditional schedule and format soon. Just won’t be this year.
While the format might not be ideal, it will bring some new opportunities.
There will be two league champions this year. Or, if you want to be more specific, two division champions.
“It’s great that everyone has a chance to say they have a shot at a league title,” Hajek said.
And every team could have a shot at a playoff spot going into Week 9.
“No matter who you are, you have a chance. You could lose your first two games of the three (division games), you could still win that third and find yourself in a playoff,” Hajek said.
He noted the famous quote from Dumb and Dumber: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
A championship might not mean as much by just going 3-0 in one’s division, but it will still look good on a T-shirt.
“Does it dilute it? Yes. A lot,” Hajek said. “But if you are trying to build a team long-term, trying to make a case that you are getting better week by week, you have something you can work with,” Hajek said.
There might be a team, for example, that goes 2-4 before the division games. That coach can keep stressing to his players that he sees improvement. Then, boom, go on a three-game win streak to end the season and win a title.
It could happen.
“There’s a chance for everybody,” Hajek said.
2025 refresher
Before the start of the 2026 season, a reminder of what happened last year:
Class 4A GSHL: Camas won the league title again. Not counting the abbreviated pandemic season, Camas has not lost to a league opponent since 2018. Camas would go on to win the Week 10 playoff game but lost in the round of 16 in the state playoffs. Battle Ground finished second and lost in the Week 10 playoffs.
Class 3A GSHL: Kelso won the league title, won in Week 10, then lost in the round of 16 at state. Evergreen finished second, and Prairie finished third. Both teams lost in the Week 10 playoffs.
Class 2A GSHL: Washougal went 7-0 to claim the league title, then won in Week 10 to advance to state. The Panthers fell in the round of 16. Columbia River and Ridgefield tied for second, both made it to the postseason and lost in Week 10.
Trico League: Seton Catholic won its second consecutive league title, then advanced to the state playoffs. The Cougars beat league-rival La Center in the round of 16 before falling in the state quarterfinals. La Center finished second in the Trico League.
