The best teams to never win.

This may seem like an insignificant topic (and it probably is), but I like to look at it as an opportunity to talk about some of the other great teams that have come through the state of Washington. Each year there is only one champion. Most years that team is without question the best team in the state. That hardly means that there isn't at least 1 more great team from that year. In some cases some of those other teams would easily win a title if they played during what would generally be regarded as a down year (something most fans regard a season such as 1993 as being).

In other instances a highly regarded team might not have made the playoffs, or if they did were eliminated early on due to poor bracketing. Thankfully, most of these problems are starting to be eliminated through changes made to the playoff system. In the last 20 years not only has the number of playoff teams doubled, but there has also been a tremendous effort on the part of the WIAA to spread some of the leagues out in the playoff brackets (even though there is still a lot that leaves to be desired in this department).

Another sequence that has played out in the past is that teams that are regarded as the best in the state end up having a bad game. This has happened several times, and the playoff system does not have double elimination. Once the playoffs start, any given team can catch lightning in a bottle and pull off a miraculous upset. In my opinion, this is one of the things that makes the playoffs so appealing. Certainly something I wouldn't change at all.

Before listing some of these teams, I want to make it clear that I'm in no way trying to disrespect or minimize any championship teams accomplishments in any way. I can only imagine that there is no greater joy in high school football than winning the state championship. If I had a choice between being on one of the following teams that are listed below or one the worst state championship team ever, I'd pick the latter in a heartbeat. Without further ado, here they are in no particular order. Feel free to add a team in you feel I've left one out.

Renton 1986. This ended up being one of the better years for high school football. The Indians fell to eventual state runner-up, Juanita, in the semi finals. They were driving for the go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, when Ahmad Gold fumbled the ball near the goal line. The Rebels recovered and kicked a field goal to put the game away, 22-14. After losing the state championship game the following week, some of the Juanita players said this was the best team they faced that year. In addition to Gold, Renton also featured Butch Williams at tight end and Corey Perkins at quarterback. They were led by Coach of the Century, Terry Ennis, as well as assistants Rob Smith (longtime WWU coach) and Andre Patterson (NFL journeyman coach). A very solid squad to say the least.

Pasco 2004. This team was well on their way to repeating as state champs, until they hit a bump in the road known as Steve Gervais. Against Bethel in the quarterfinals, Leon Jackson and Tony Coburn ran wild in a 70-28 route. The semifinal game against Skyline started out much the same way with Jackson running for two long scores. As O'Dea found out this year, you can absolutely never count out a team coached by Gervais. Just as the Bulldogs appeared to be on their way to dominating after 2 long runs by Jackson, Pasco suddenly had the air let out of them. As Jason Harris and Tyler Pelluer began to put the clamps on defensively, the Spartans found their rhythm on offense and eventually put away what was regarded as the best team in the state that year, 28-23.

Gonzaga Prep 1987. There are going to be quite a few G-Prep teams on this list. The main reason why this team makes it isn't because of star players like Dinny Hansen, Graham Pederson, Rob Bonneau, and Glen Cavanaugh. Nor is it due to the Bullpups having the experience of playing in their third straight championship game. As significant as those reasons are, I am of the opinion that they really did win their game against Puyallup. In what was one of the best championship games I've ever seen, G-Prep had the ball with about a minute left to go trailing 27-21. Gonzaga ran a perfect double pass in which Pederson skipped the ball to the receiver, who then launched it downfield for a touchdown. As soon as the ball hit the ground, Puyallups DB froze leaving the receiver wide open downfield. The only problem with the play is that just as the receiver threw the ball, the official blew the play dead believing that the quarterback had just thrown an incomplete pass. Bummer. Despite the call, what stood out in this game was the performance of Billy Joe Hobert. The passes he threw to Danny Thurston solidified him as the best high school football player I've ever seen out of this state.

Ballard 2003. After struggling to a 7-2 regular season, the Beavers hit their stride in the playoffs. As the championship game got underway against Pasco, they looked invincible. They simply handed the ball off to J.T. Diederichs who would pick a gap (usually one close to Tyler Ashby) and hit it as hard as he could. For some reason he abandoned this approach to running and decided to start dancing as the game went on. This led to a fumble that Leon Jackson returned for a touchdown in the third quarter that tied the game at 7. Ballard took the lead again when Keauntea Bankhead scored on a 31 yard touchdown run. Pasco showed their big game experience in the end by making some more plays, eventually winning the game 21-14.

Walla Walla 1994. Early in the state championship game, South Kitsap had no answer for the Blue Devils. The combination of Peter Sirmon throwing the ball and Kirk Holman (now deceased) running it was simply overpowering the Wolves. Towards the end of the first half, though, Holman bulled his way for a 20 yard run only to fall on the ball when getting tackled. The result was broken ribs (although he did try once or twice to run the ball again) and the end of Walla Walla's running game. This allowed SK to focus on the pass, resulting in Casey Fisher laying one of the hardest hits I've ever seen on one of Walla Walla's receivers. Still, Wa-Hi's defense kept the game close. Not close enough.

Eastlake 2006 & 2007. For the first 43 minutes of the game, Eastlake put on a clinic against Gonzaga. They led 20-0 with five minutes to go, and the score could have easily been much more lopsided. For the last five minutes it looked as though the Wolves forgot whether the ball was pumped or stuffed. As a result, the Bullpups ran off 21 straight points to pull out a quarterfinal victory. The '07 looked very strong in the playoffs until Ryan Robertson was injured against Edmonds-Woodsway. The injury was even more significant when highly regarded backup, Drake Furcini, was hurt during practice earlier in the week.

Bellarmine Prep 1983. The only reason I include this team is because I saw them play Snohomish earlier in the season, and they looked unstoppable. Among other things, they had a nose tackle by the name of Grederick Washington who controlled the entire line of scrimmage. They lost to eventual state champion, Bellevue, 17-13 in the semifinals. In and of itself, that wouldn't seem too significant. The one notable difference between this B-Prep team and the one I saw earlier in the season was that Grederick Washington was nowhere to be found. I don't know what happened to him, but I think his absence made a difference.

Mead 1996. This team was absolutely loaded with talent. Some of the players included Evan Thomas, future UW players Joe Collier and Ossim Hatem, and one of the best shop putters in the state, Scott McGlocklin (anyone who doesn't think this is a good skill for a running back to have can feel free to watch any game tape of Lewis & Clarks's Alex Shaw this season). Throughout the season the Panthers rolled up huge scores over everyone they played. What they failed to do was develop any depth. Typically only about 12-15 different players saw the field during the season, which is not nearly enough bodies for the 4A level (typically most championship teams have 20-25 regulars). They certainly had the personel, but failed to rotate them in when games got out of hand. This approach finally caught up to them in the quarterfinals against Richland. After building a huge lead, Mead ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. The Bomber's tied the game, then went on to win in overtime, 34-27.

Interlake 1987. In the days before the qualifying round of playoffs, it was possible to have your title hopes erased early in the season. That's exactly what happened to the Saints when for the second year in a row Bellevue beat a team that included Mike Lustyk and Jon Bostic. Interlake was one of the top football programs in the state during the mid 80's, making it all the way to the semifinals in 1985. If todays format existed back then, we probably would have heard more about them.

Blanchet & Garfield 1975. Some of the players on these teams included Joe Steele, Al Roberts, Anthony Allen, Bruce Harrell, Frank Vaculin, and Darren Powell. Blanchet won the state title in '74. In '75, these teams engaged in what is still considered the best high school football game in Seattle history. The emotion of this game proved to be too much as the Braves lost to Sammamish the following week, thus ending their season.

Kentwood 1999. This team was a powerhouse. Players included Mike Karney, Ryan Scott, AJ Mitz, Will Conwell, Carl Bonnell, Luke Heatherington, John Gardenhire, and many others. The team they lost to, Richland, had some talent as well (Ryan Brooks, Kai Jones, Landon Kafentzis, Jeff Stowe, Jeremy Bohannan, etc.). Throughout the first half, the Conqs looked like they were asleep while the Bombers jumped to a 14-3 lead. Kentwwod came to life in the second half, and looked poised to win the game. 2 things prevented this; their inability to cover Kafentzis coming out of the backfield, and Karney's roughing the passer penalty on 3rd and long with 2:27 left to go in the game. When the latter happened, Richland was able to run out the clock.

Kennewick 1986. As I mentioned in another article, the Lions had one of the top programs in the state during the 80's. The only problem was that they kept running into G-Prep (something that could be avoided under todays format). Of all of Ed Troxel's teams, this one was his best (That includes his 2nd place team in 1983). Kennewick featured a running back duo of Bob Wilkinson and Billy Templeton that caused opponents to celebrate if they held Kennewick to within 20 points. The showdown between the Lions and the Bullpups took place in the quarterfinals at Albi. This game for the ages ended in regulation with both teams even. 2 overtime periods later, G-Prep had prevailed, 27-21. Many fans consider this game the real state championship. No argument here.

Pasco 2005. The reason I am including this team is simply because I don't think they got a fair shake. They played a qualifier game on a Tuesday night against G-Prep, then travelled nearly 300 miles the following Saturday to play the eventual state champion, Skyline. They lost the game, 20-9. Incidently this was the most competitive game the Spartans had during the entire post season. I would have loved to see this game played under different circumstances.

Snohomish 1982. The Panthers had difficulty duplicating the success they had in the 70's. This team, which featured Rick Fenney, came as close as any of them.

Pasco, Kamiakin & Gonzaga Prep 1997. I don't think that I'm out of line in saying 7 or 8 of the top football teams in the state this year came from east of the mountains. Back then, regardless of how good or bad teams were east of the mountains were, there was a guaratee that one would be in the semifinals. Central Valley, the eventual champion, played 3 life and death games before finally getting a break. That break came in the form of #1 ranked Puyallup (-21 yards rushing, and 116 total yards) and South Kitsap (49-13). The #2 & #3 teams in the state that year were probably Pasco and G-Prep. In addition to many of the players that went on to win the state championship the following year, the Bulldogs also featured Tyler Brayton. The Bullpups were a talented team as well, and included Kevin O'Connell at quarterback. The last great Don Anderson team.

Bethel 1999. Among other players, the Braves featured all everything, Scott Burcar. In their semifinal matchup against Richland, they jumped out to an early lead. Turnovers eventually did them in, though, and they lost, 21-14.

Gonzaga 1984. A loss to Mead and a tie to a Lewis & Clark team that featured Albert Reeves early in the season kept the Bullpups out of the playoffs. They got stronger as the season went on, and ended up being one of Anderson's better teams.

Woodinville 1996. In the first first 2 1/2 quarters, Marques Tuiasosopo and Pat Coniff ran wild on South Kitsap, building a 29-14 lead on nearly 400 yards rushing. Then the fog came in, which seemed to coincide with the Falcons' collapse. Four consecutive turnovers gave SK all the oppurtunity they needed as they went on to a 41-29 quarterfinal victory.

Gonzaga Prep & Puyallup 1988. After a thrilling championship game in 1987, most people looked at the rosters and figured 1988 would be a rematch. G-Prep returned lineman Dinny Hansen and Glen Cavanaugh, as well as quarterback Graham Pederson. Puyallup was going to answer with Billy Joe Hobert, Steve Wolfe, and Tom Gallagher. In addition to these players, the Vikings also featured Joe Kralik and Damon Huard. During the regular season, G-Prep blew out the Saxons (as well as everyone else in the GSL). However, in the quarterfinals and overconfident Gonzaga squad lost to Ferris, 10-7. On the other side of the state, Puyallup went virtually unchallenged during the regualr season. I'm not sure what happened in their first round game against Kentwood (I was busy with my team in Lakewood getting spanked by Gig Harbor). A completely different team showed up, leading the Vikings to lose, 36-26.

Pasco 2001. Kentwood had the momentum early in this game. Brett Weidenbach started the game off with a long kickoff return. When Pasco got the ball, Allen Ailep fumbled the ball and allowed Kentwood to open with a 10-0 lead. The Conqs would eventually take a 31-12 lead into halftime. Pasco came out in the the second half on track, and quickly started moving the ball. That's when the officials took over the game and began calling back some big plays. The most significant one was a holding call on the other end of the field from where Ailep ran for a 48 yard touchdown. Regardless of who I'm rooting for, having the officials play such a big roll in a game always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Kentwood eventually won the game 38-24.

Gonzaga 1977. The first Don Anderson team to play for a state championship included future USC Trojan, Rob Hedequist. Sumner was up to the challenge, winning 12-7.

Kentwood 2000. This team featured many of the same players from the previous season. They were able to overcome being forced to forfeit 2 games during the regular season due to using an ineligible player. They appeared to be rolling through the playoffs, until they met Pasco in the semifinals. The game wasn't really in doubt as Pasco won, 29-19. I'll always wonder, though, what might have happened if Kentwood had decided to travel to Kennewick on Friday instead of getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and driving for 7 hours for a 1:00 PM game. One thing is certain. We'll never know.