High School Football Preview: Woodland digging in to defend 2A GSHL titles
'Mediocrity Sucks' – Beavers believe defense, determination will deliver familiar results
Nick Sisson for Blast Zone Media / blastzonenews@gmail.com
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
The Basics
Team: Woodland Beavers
Head Coach: Glen Flanagan (2nd as head coach, 30th year overall WHS Football)
Helmets: Forest Green
Last Year’s Record: 7-3 (7-0, 1st place in 2A GSHL)
*Lost 34-14 vs Cedarcrest in Week 10 crossover playoffs
WOODLAND — Without looking just above or using the google machine, can you tell us who won the 2A Greater St. Helens League last season? And how about the season before that?
Woodland fans aren’t allowed to answer, because they know. But it seems some people have already forgotten. The “casuals” — let’s call them — seem to overlook just how good Woodland has been in the 2A Greater St. Helens League.
It’s as if they're wearing the perfect camouflage in Beaverville because hardly any of the preseason spotlight has been shined on the program head coach Glen Flanagan has helped build over the last three decades. Even though it’s just his second season as head coach, Flanagan has been instrumental in helping to build (and then sustaining( a quality program that continues to develop and turn out great athletes.
It’s called doing it the “Woodland way.”
“Our philosophy is mediocrity sucks,” Flanagan explained. “We try to embrace excellence in everything we do. We try to be perfect at every position group with lining up, assignment, and execution.”
The Beavers may not have been perfect on the field in 2024, but they were certainly anything but mediocre.
A slow start out of the gate saw Woodland 0-2 after back-to-back losses to Kalama and La Center. Those long ago 1A Trico foes are still significant rivals geographical rivals to Woodland (see: The 8-Mile War and The Lewis River Cup), but despite the loss of bragging rights the Beavers never allowed panic to set in.
Instead, Woodland stayed the course and continued to focus on just simply getting a little better each day. That mentality wound up paying impressive dividends. Led by quarterback and league MVP Elijah Andersen, Woodland went undefeated in league play and captured their second straight league crown.
Flanagan was named as 2A GSHL Coach of the Year (and BZM Football Coach of the Year) for his efforts, and a bevy of Beavers joined their coach and teammate on the those honor rolls.
So, how come it seems so many part-time onlookers are looking past what’s been accomplished in Woodland in recent memory?
Perhaps it’s the most recent result on the field, which was a tough home loss in the opening round of the playoffs to Cedarcrest 34-14. It wasn’t just the fact that Woodland lost, rather how the game played out that left an oversized shadow on the season’s perceived success.
And it’s true, Woodland turned the ball over often, and at times didn’t look like the most physical team on the field. What compounded the worry was how the league faired overall in the first round of the playoffs. Collectively, 2A GSHL teams went a combined 0-4 against their playoff foes. Curiously, the final playoff team out of the league (No. 4 Mark Morris) played arguably the best game of the bunch in a road contest all the way over in Spokane against an undefeated opponent.
It was a puzzling finish. But the Beavers don’t necessarily measure success with the same metrics as everyone else. And come Friday night, those old stats and the newfound opinions of those outside the Woodland program won’t mean much to the boys in forest green.
“You never want to get to a point where it’s all about the end goal and if you don’t get there, it ‘s a failure,” said Flanagan. “We celebrate all the small victories, and we enjoy the company of one another each day, so we trust the process of what we can do to be better each day.”
— Highlights from the Woodland Beavers preseason football practice, Tuesday, Aug. 26, at Beaver Stadium. / Video by Patrick Durgeloh for Blast Zone Media —
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