Tumwater is coming. 2A EvCo merging with 2A GSHL for football
Winning the Class 2A Greater St. Helen’s League football title just got harder. Tumwater is coming to town.
The 2A Evergreen Conference (EvCo) is merging with the 2A GSHL for football beginning in the 2026 high school football season, The News Tribune has learned. The merger will include the 2027 season, as well.
For competitive reasons, Centralia High School was granted to play a 1A schedule in the 1A Evergreen, leaving the 2A EvCo with four schools: Tumwater, W.F. West, Black Hills and Aberdeen.
Aside from the comical optics of having a tiny four-team league, the larger issue for the 2A EvCo’s members is scheduling, forcing the remaining programs scrambling to find non-league games for over half of the season — a challenge when most teams around the state are getting into the league portion of their schedules by Week 3, and in some cases even earlier.
Tumwater High School football coach Willie Garrow told The News Tribune the 2A EvCo petitioned to join the GSHL for the 2026 and 2027 seasons last December and initially was rejected. The 2A EvCo resides in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s (WIAA) “District 4,” one of the six geographic districts in the state.
Directors from District 4 reversed the decision on Tuesday, mandating the merger.
Garrow told The News Tribune the 2A GSHL didn’t provide an official reason for initially rejecting the merger proposal.
“There are lots of potential things that could be cited,” he said. “I’m sure travel was one of those concerns, the potential for travel changes. Aberdeen to Washougal, for example, that’s a trek. Sub-varsity games, that could be long and expensive. That kind of thing.”
The new 12-team league will consist of:
- Washougal
- Columbia River
- Ridgefield
- Mark Morris
- Woodland
- Hockinson
- Hudson’s Bay
- R.A. Long
- Tumwater
- W.F. West
- Black Hills
- Aberdeen
Tumwater, a perennial state tournament contender in Class 2A, has played in the 2A state championship game each of the past three seasons, falling to Anacortes in 2023 and 2024 and losing to Archbishop Murphy last fall. Tumwater won the 2A title in 2019, beating the Emeka Egbuka-led Steilacoom Sentinels.
W.F. West also has been a regular state tournament contender. It reached the state semifinals in 2011 and 2022.
For Garrow and the other 2A EvCo schools, it solves the issue of having to schedule six non-league games.
“They were really, really, really hard to fill,” he said. “It’s extremely difficult to find six non-league opponents. Most leagues in the state are eight or so teams, so they don’t have byes in Weeks 4, 5 and 6. Then the number of schools that do have byes, you have to convince them to play you.
“From a high school football perspective as a head coach over the next two years, I enjoy the fact that we’re gonna have league stability, we know we’re gonna have opponents.”
The format of the league has yet to be determined. As a 12-team league, not every team will be able to play each other during the regular season. Multiple formats are being considered: two six team divisions, as well as a “pod system” with three pods of four teams.
The league merger will remain in place through the 2027 season, before the WIAA’s next four-year reclassification cycle, which will begin in the 2028-29 school year.
