High School Football: The N2/BZM Power Rankings X
Pound For Pound – The Undefeateds enter rare territory; plus Kelso makes overtime great again, and Naselle just wants to play
By Nick Sisson (N2 Media) and Jordan Nailon (Blast Zone Media) / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Prep Football / Rankings
The state football playoffs are officially set kick off and just five Blast Zone based schools are still in action heading into Week 11. Three of those teams are undefeated and looking for their first-ever State championship trophy.
On the Washington side of the big river, Toledo and Wahkiakum remain unblemished, with Kelso and Naselle sporting just one loss each. Over in Oregon Country, the Clatskanie Tigers remain unbeaten as they gear up for a big road trip in the OSAA quarterfinals.
It wasn’t all that great for everyone in The Blast Zone in Week 10, though.
Toutle Lake and Kalama had to say goodbye to football in 2025 after both were eliminated on the road. The Fighting Ducks put up a better fight against perennial powerhouse, 47-24 at Napavine. However, Kalama was never a threat against a talented Cashmere squad in a 64-0 loss. Not exactly the most spirited exit to the season for the ‘Nooks, but then again Cashmere is likely going to play for a State championship in a couple of weeks.
It’s good to keep perspective during these trying times so as not to say anything brash that one might regret later.
But just as some exits are extra sour, some victories are extra sweet.
Last week was particularly special for the largest school in the coverage area when Kelso posted an overtime victory at home of Federal Way. So far it’s been a season that lines up nicely next to some of the all-time great Kelso teams of the past, highlighted by a hard-fought win to keep their season alive at Schroeder Field last week. Hosting a feisty bunch of screaming Eagles, the Scotties turned in a performance made for the Blue and Gold history book.
Sure, Kelso ended up needing overtime once again against Federal Way to decide the second-ever meeting between the schools, but the Hilandres came out on top this time with a 13-10 win and a ticker to the State round of sixteen. It was one of those games that you will always remember watching in person (or watching on N2 Media!). It felt like neither team could afford the smallest of mistakes and the outcome was constantly hanging in the balance from play to play, and penalty to penalty.
The game had everything except a band on the field. Pick-six returns to the house. Shoving after the whistle. Plenty of yellow laundry on the field. Referees going ankles over tea kettle near the scrum. And controversial first down measurements. After the fog settled, Kelso proved to be about five yards better in the overtime than their foes from the land of Wild Waves, notching a run-off victory with senior fullback/linebacker/bone-crusher Kainoa Fili cashing in the touchdown.
The good vibes at Kelso got started before the game actually got underway, as the Hilanders welcomed back one of their injured star players, Parker Stewart. Kelso’s most imposing lineman gave forth a tremendous effort on both sides of the ball, and his presence obviously makes the Steel Kilt defense even tougher to deal with. Word on the street is that injured quarterback Anders Dahl might be closer than you think to making a comeback of his own. Last week he was even cleared for limited kicking duties. Regardless of how this week’s matchup at Bellevue goes down, Kelso has treated its fans to a classic season, with a workingman’s mentality passed down from legendary coach Ed Laulainen.
In case you forgot, Laulainen passed away earlier season. But the Scotties haven’t forgotten, and they’ve been playing with a fiery resolve to represent his memory ever since.
The impressive win by Kelso continues to bolster their season-long resume on the N2/BZM power rankings, but it hasn’t managed to get them any higher than fourth in any week thus far. (Some sources say we really like small schools. Maybe too much.)
But let us try to explain. See, somehow there are still three undefeated teams ahead of them. Get it now? We knew you would.
Our rankings offer a stringent criteria (playing games each week), we feel we’ve done a bang up job overall. So much so that we feel the official WIAA seeding committee can (and should) call upon our services when trying to put together the brackets that get everyone so worked up, regardless the sport.
The first question that comes to mind for the district reps and coaches on the committee is, why? Why schedule teams that play in the same league to play right away in the state tournament? Especially teams that are in the same league, AND just played for the league title two weeks ago! That’s right, it’s the rematch no one asked for in the 1A bracket, with Trico rivals Seton Catholic and La Center facing off again, already. The loser will be done playing football this season, and the winner will get the reward of taking on the bazillion-time State champions from Royal.
Dumb. Tenino and Montesano also get to renew their vows against each other this week in the same sub-par-seeded bracket. C’mon man!
Now, let’s get on to the pound-for-pound rankings as we head down the stretch!
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