Streaks alive! That’s 45 straight
LACROSSE, Wash. – You could call it a semiwarning, issued to the rest of the 8-man community before the 2003 season.
“I said you better get us now,” LaCrosse-Washtucna head coach Jeff Nelson remembered telling a reporter. “Because you won’t for a year or two after that.”
They didn’t – and they haven’t.
L-W extended its winning streak to 45 games after a 60-12 thrashing of Touchet, now the second-longest streak in Washington high school football history. All the Tigercats have left to catch is Toledo’s 48-game streak set from 1965-70 as a B-11 and 1A school. A state championship win this season would be L-W’s 48th straight, tying the record.
It all started after a 38-28 loss to Inchelium in the state semifinals on Nov. 24, 2001 – 1,442 days ago.
“I didn’t have a clue then. You can’t foresee this,” Nelson said. “I knew we were going to have a good year in ‘02, that team was dominated with seniors.”
In 2002, this year’s group of seniors was freshmen, and while that team went 11-0 and won a state championship, the groundwork was laid for the next three years.
“They were awesome, and we didn’t think we’d be half as good as them,” L-W senior tight end/linebacker Matt Martin said. “We learned everything from them. We knew by coming to practice every day and working hard, it was going to make not only us better, but them better.”
The next year, the Tigercats needed big contributions from that class, now sophomores.
L-W went into a big midseason game at Sprague-Harrington, and that’s when Nelson said the team went from one-year wonder to dynasty.
“Our team was basically all sophomores and they were senior-dominated,” Nelson said. “We knew they were probably the best team in the state.”
L-W won that game 28-20. Later that season, they beat S-H again in the state semifinals on the way to state title No. 2.
Last year went smoothly until the state championship game when the Tigercats fell behind 12-0 to Columbia (Hunters) before even touching the ball.
“I don’t think we’d been behind all year until that game,” Nelson said. “I was yelling at the kids, and they came to sidelines and told me to settle down, that they would take care of it.”
L-W scored 60 straight points.
This year, even with a 10-0 record, has not been without its imperfections.
Kevin Dainty, twice named the B-8 player of the year at running back, blew out his knee in the first game. His backup, Tyler Martin, sprained an ankle and hasn’t played much in October or November.
“We’ve got our fourth-string guy in there, and had to move the fullback to tailback,” Nelson said. “It makes the other kids step up a little bit and play. We always find a few kids that step up during the season.”
That isn’t easy to do with 70-odd kids in grades 9-12 at the two schools 24 miles apart along Highway 26.
Somehow, they also put together a group of massive seniors.
While Touchet trotted out an interior line of three kids averaging 170 pounds, L-W had six defensive starters of more than 200 pounds, including Martin, playing defensive back at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds.
“They’re big and athletic, too,” Nelson said. “It’s not your typical slow, sloppy linemen.”
The only dramatics were in the coin toss. In the first quarter, the only quarter featuring exclusively varsity players, L-W scored four touchdowns on 11 plays for a 32-0 lead, averaging 12.4 yards a play.
Touchet’s first four possessions netted minus-6 yards.
“It’s hard to get hyped up for a game like this,” 6-0, 240-pound lineman Michael Martin said. “You know, ‘Okay, I’m going to play my 15 minutes, put on a jacket and freeze.’ “
In the 45-game win streak, 28 have been ended by 8-man’s 45-point mercy rule.
With the end in sight, though, these seniors have managed to keep perspective of what they could accomplish.
“We realize exactly what we’re carrying,” Michael Martin said. “It’s three other senior classes. I never could think about 45 wins, you know, you never look that far ahead. It didn’t really hit me until this year.
“Winning 48 games? That’s something.”