Gig Harbor football says goodbye to record-setting group of seniors

The Skyline High School football team is good. There’s no denying that. The Spartans showed that in Saturday’s 17-15 win over Gig Harbor in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament. Skyline force-fed its bruising senior running back Rashaad Boddie, who had two long touchdown runs which turned out to be the difference in the game.

But on Saturday, this wasn’t the Gig Harbor team we had been used to seeing. This wasn’t the fast-paced, no-huddle, explosive, impose-its-will-on-anyone-in-its-way Tides that had decimated opponents all season long. Credit goes to Skyline’s defense, but the biggest factor was something completely out of Gig Harbor’s control: the weather.

I’m not making excuses for Gig Harbor. Bad weather is part of the game, and championship teams adapt to it and overcome it — Gig Harbor coach Aaron Chantler would be the first one to tell you that.

But watching from the press box on a blistery, cold, constantly rainy Saturday afternoon, it was obvious to me that the weather played a factor. Gig Harbor’s receivers dropped passes they had caught all season.

“We don’t want to make excuses,” Chantler said after the game. “Obviously, it’s wet. We had a lot of balls in our hands and a lot of guys open. The last group we’re going put blame on is the receiving corps after the year they put up. We knew coming in it was going to be a tough night, just with the weather. We dropped some balls; you’re not going to catch everything in the rain. They did everything they could to catch the ball. It bounced away from us a few times.”

The loss leaves Gig Harbor searching for answers after the highly-touted squad was bounced in the first round of the 4A state playoffs for the second straight year. But one loss doesn’t define a season, and this year’s group will be remembered for some time. It’s hard to imagine anyone coming in any time soon and breaking all the records quarterback Davis Alexander set over his time with the program.

I asked Chantler about this group of seniors after the game. I’m sure he was upset and frustrated with the result of the game. After all, this team had the potential to do something special. This team was good enough to win a 4A state title. But in that moment, the scoreboard seemed unimportant. Chantler was already reflecting on what this group of seniors meant to him.

“It’s going to be tough (to say goodbye to them),” he said. “I couldn’t ask anything more of these guys. They battled their (butts) off for four years. They really worked hard to change the culture of this program. We talk a lot about (it), (and) it’s the kind of person that comes out of this program, not the wins and losses. They’ve embodied that.”

He paused, fighting back tears.

“I feel confident in saying that all 27 men that are leaving this program are better because of it,” he said. “I love these guys. It’s going to be tough.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Gig Harbor football says goodbye to record-setting group of seniors."