A football player and two coaches used the same word to describe the schedule and the format for the Class 2A Greater St. Helens League this year.
Weird.
Woodland and Washougal — two programs that have combined to win the last four league titles — played each other Friday night.
These are two quality, Clark County teams in the same league. Yet, this wasn’t really a league game, at least not in the traditional sense.
Weird.
While the outcome would affect seeding should these teams make the postseason, the result between these two championship-worthy teams on Friday night did not mean a thing in terms of qualifying for the playoffs.
Weird, right?
Still, all involved had a great attitude about the oddity of present-day 2A GSHL football.
“We’re just playing every game as hard as we can like it does matter,” said Woodland quarterback Jackson Andrews.
After all, Friday nights are still special.
And this Friday night matchup in Washougal turned into an instant classic. Woodland escaped town with a 21-20 victory.
But again, the victory will count toward seeding in the postseason should Woodland make it to the playoffs, but this epic Week 6 victory over a quality opponent does not help Woodland qualify for the postseason.
Huh?
“It is weird. It definitely is a big change,” Andrews said, referring to how the eight-team 2A GSHL was divided into two four-team divisions. “But once we saw the schedule come out, we knew who we had to play and what we had to do to get to the playoffs, and we are going to go for it.”
For Woodland, the quest to qualify for the playoffs will start not next week but in Week 8. It turns out, one of the four teams in its division — R.A. Long — stopped its varsity schedule during the season so there will only be two division games for the remaining squads in the 2A GSHL North Division.
Washougal, meanwhile, is looking to rebound next week for the start of 2A GSHL South Division play.
Three games in three weeks. Win them all, and you are a division champion. And, we suppose, the co-2A GSHL champion with the team that wins the other division.
(If you have a headache, you are not alone.)
“It is weird,” Washougal coach David Hajek said before Friday’s game, the third game against 2A GSHL competition this season and the third game that doesn’t have any bearing on making the playoffs.
“They count, but they don’t,” Hajek said. “You can go 0 and 6 and win a league title.”
Well, Washougal is 2-4, not 0-6, but you get the point. Washougal absolutely could win the South Division with a three-game run to complete the regular season.
In recent seasons, the Woodland-Washougal game was instrumental in determining the league champion.
“We can still win our league and lose this game,” Hajek said referring to this year.
Woodland coach Glen Flanagan said the matchup in this format left him with a range of reactions.
“It’s not for the league championship, so that’s tough,” Flanagan said. “But there’s always bragging rights. Washougal is a great program, so it’s a great barometer for our team.”
Still, Friday night's finish did not hit the same as it would have hit had a league title been on the line.
“It probably takes a little bit of the edge off, but it’s still football,” Flanagan said. “It’s crazy. It is weird. It’s different. Football is always an event, though.”
In this contest, Woodland took a 14-0 lead in the first half. Washougal responded with two touchdowns to tie the game in the second half.
Andrews scored the go-ahead touchdown for Woodland with about seven minutes to play.
“We battled through adversity before,” Andrews said. “We had to keep our minds straight and play like we knew how to play.”
Washougal would end up scoring with less than two minutes to play. The Panthers went for two to try to take the lead. (No reason to go into overtime for a game with zero playoff implications. Get the game over with, and prepare for division play, right?)
The Woodland defense was up to the task, keeping Washougal out of the end zone on the conversion. Andrews was one of the first Woodland defenders to help bring down the Washougal ball carrier. The Beavers recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
The North and South Divisions start play next week.
As of right now, this weird format is scheduled to happen again next year. No one really likes it, though.
“We would like to in some way have the league back together (as eight teams) so it makes every week count,” Hajek said.
A number of formats were discussed this past offseason before this one got finalized just before the start of the 2026 season. So there is hope for something different in 2027.
“As we know, between now and then, it will change five times,” Hajek said.
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