High school football season preview: 2A Evergreen Conference, 1A Nisqually
High school football is back in the South Sound. Practices are underway as programs across the state prepare for the beginning of the 2025 season.
The News Tribune will be visiting schools in the area and previewing local leagues as the first week of games approaches.
Follow along with us throughout the two-week preseason for previews on the 4A NPSL, 4A SPSL, 3A NPSL, 3A PSL, 2A SPSL, 2A EvCo and more.
2A EVERGREEN CONFERENCE
THE FAVORITE
Of all the ways to describe Tumwater’s reign over the 2A Evergreen Conference last fall, one stat tells the story better than most: The T-Birds demolished league rivals W.F. West, Aberdeen, Black Hills, and Centralia by a combined score of 218-0. No challenger mustered a point on the perennial Class 2A contender, let alone a win. And while it’s unreasonable to project four more shutouts for the EvCo favorites, we think Tumwater retains its stranglehold on Thurston County’s football scene. The defending 2A runners-up reached consecutive state championships at Husky Stadium in 2023-24 and enter ‘25 in the hunt once again, cycling six running backs through HC William Garrow’s tried-and-true Wing-T offense. RB Peyton Davis headlines the returning rushers, rumbling for 687 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024 — one of a dozen T-Birds to amass at least 100 yards on the ground. QB Jaxon Budd looked sharp in early practices, and junior LB Gavin Kaikkonen anchors a linebacking core that graduated All-Area selection Beckett Wall and now-Montana Tech LB Cash Short. With the likes of Anacortes, Archbishop Murphy, and Lynden standing in their way, can the T-Birds make it three straight championship appearances? “They expect to win because of the way they work in the offseason, the tradition, and the legacy,” Garrow said. “They expect to be (in the state championship). … We don’t talk about playing in December. We talk about trying to get better every day and the same cliche things that everybody does. But (winning it all) matters to them. If you asked them in an honest moment, they’d all tell you they’d love to get back there and have a chance to win again.”
ANY OTHER CONTENDERS?
W.F. West rolled to the Class 2A state semifinals last year, upsetting No. 3 Franklin Pierce in the process, but graduated eight starters and 2A EvCo MVP QB Gage Brumfield, now a linebacker at Eastern Washington University. Sophomore signal-caller Wyatt Hoffman steps in to fill Brumfield’s shoes and keep the Bearcats on the playoff radar.
In the 1A Nisqually, Life Christian HC Hershel Dennis expects another monster year from All-Area QB Jabez Boyd, who threw 34 touchdown passes and converted another nine scores on the ground for the Eagles in 2024. Life Christian lost a 42-41 shootout at Seton Catholic in a Class 1A quarterfinal last fall but remains the Nisqually favorite and a state title contender with Boyd back at the helm. “I expect him to have the best QB season in the state, because he’s just really that good,” Dennis told The News Tribune. “He’s gotten so much better going through his progression, keeping his eyes downfield, working the pocket. With the offensive line that he has and the passing system we have in place, it’s gonna allow him to be really successful.” Watch for two-way WR/S Julian Roso and 6-2, 315-pound guard Ofa Taufalele.
Cascade Christian features three-star WR/SS Tayven Collins, who holds Division-I offers from BYU and Nevada. Annie Wright mixes into the hunt in just the program’s second year with UW commit Ta’a Malu on both lines and all-purpose playmaker Charlie Finch, who racked up 800 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns in 2024.
15 PLAYERS TO WATCH
QB Jabez Boyd, Life Christian Academy, sr.
RB Tyler Briscoe, Tumwater, jr.
QB Jaxon Budd, Tumwater, sr.
WR/SS Tayven Collins, Cascade Christian, jr.
RB Peyton Davis, Tumwater, sr.
WR/ATH Charlie Finch, Annie Wright, jr.
DL Vann Hannukaine, Tumwater, sr.
LB Blake Heryford, Tumwater, sr.
RB Brett Heryford, Tumwater, sr.
QB Wyatt Hoffman, W.F. West, soph.
LB Gavin Kaikkonen, Tumwater, jr.
OL/DL Ta’a Malu, Annie Wright, sr.
WR/S Julian Roso, Life Christian Academy, sr.
OL Ofa Taufalele, Life Christian Academy, soph.
WR Ian Willey, Annie Wright, jr.
SAVE THE DATE
Sept. 5: Tumwater at Puyallup, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19: Eastlake at Tumwater, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19: Life Christian Academy at Yelm, 7 p.m.
Oct. 2: Life Christian Academy at Annie Wright, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24: W.F. West at Tumwater, 7 p.m.
PROJECTED 2A EVCO STANDINGS
Tumwater, W.F. West, Aberdeen, Black Hills, Centralia
This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
