Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

PREP FOOTBALL: Pioneers not in uncharted territory

It's easy to understand why no current Nooksack Valley football players can remember the program advancing to the state semifinals before. They weren't even born yet the last time it happened - in fact, most wouldn't be for another 16 or 17 years.

The coaches? Not even head coach Robb Myhre can remember the last Pioneers team to make it this far. After all, Nooksack Valley hasn't taken the field this late in the season in a long time - 34 years, two weeks to be exact.

"I was 5 and living in Lynden then," Myhre said. "I don't think I started paying attention to Nooksack Valley football until the next year, when my step mom started working in the Nooksack Valley School District in 1976, and I didn't have any ties to Nooksack Valley until I was in sixth grade and started going there."

It's definitely easy to see why the Pioneers' 1 p.m. Class 1A state semifinal against Cascade Christian on Saturday, Nov. 28, at the Tacoma Dome would feel like the first time, but it is the 1975 Nooksack Valley football team that actually holds that honor of being the first from the school to reach the final four.

In fact, it was the '75 team that was the first Pioneers squad to advance to the state playoffs at all.

"I remember the kids being real excited to make state," said Hal Haddock, who was the head coach of the 1975 team and coached the program for a total of 15 seasons. "We played a game to get to state a few years earlier (in 1973) when I was an assistant on the team, and we got beat by Sultan (28-0). Our seniors and some of our juniors remembered that game. So once we finally got there, our kids that year were really excited about making the playoffs. It was something new for us all."

And it was new for the community.

While Nooksack Valley had plenty of basketball success in the 1960s and 70s, having a team get to state in football was unlike anything it had experienced before.

"It was kind of the old adage you hear about the last person in town remembering to turn out the lights," said Bill Van Diest, who was a freshman starting safety for the Pioneers in 1975. "I think everybody from Sumas, Everson and Nooksack went to our state games. It was a real close-knit community."

Getting to state was not easy for the Pioneers, though.

Even though it rolled through most of its regular-season schedule, a 15-12 loss to Lynden on a rainy night in Week 8 kept Nooksack Valley from claiming the Whatcom County League title outright and an automatic trip to state. Both teams had matching 9-1 records.

To decide the matter, the Pioneers and Lions met in a Tuesday night playoff held at Lynden Christian.

"Lynden was our arch rival," said Jim Nace, who played on Nooksack Valley's offensive and defensive lines and at linebacker in 1975. "We loved to play Lynden, but you really didn't like them very much. We had two great games that year, and we won one and they won the other. They were the only ones in the county to beat us that year. ... I remember that playoff game being a great game. Both teams really wanted it. It was a physical game and a good, hard-fought game the whole way."

Neither team wanted to take too many chances in what turned out to be a defensive struggle.

"Lynden had a good ballclub, but so did we," said Haddock, who retired from teaching at Nooksack Valley in 1998 and still lives in Everson but winters in Green Valley, Ariz. "I remember it being a great game between two equally matched clubs. We played real well on defense all game, and I think we shut them out. It was like 12-0 or 14-0 - just a great football game."

Even greater for the Pioneers, when you consider the win finally got the program through to state.

"I can definitely remember being in the locker room afterwards yelling and celebrating with my teammates," said Mark Stokes, who was a senior offensive center and defensive tackle on the 1975 team. "It was a great feeling to finally break through."

Those good feelings continued through the rest of the week and into a first-round showdown with Darrington in the Class A state playoffs - at least until kickoff.

An early-season winter storm hit the area for the Nov. 8 game, and made playing conditions terrible in Burlington.

"It rained, it snowed, it hailed, there was thunder and lightning - it was just a miserable day," Haddock said. "Birger Solberg was my assistant coach then, and I remember looking at him and seeing how miserable he was that day and thinking 'I probably look just as cold and miserable.'"

Despite the conditions, Nooksack Valley jumped out to a quick 27-0 lead by halftime.

But even that created its own problems for the Pioneers in the second half.

"I remember getting so mad at coach Haddock for taking us out in the second half," said Stokes, who is a 25-year law enforcement veteran, including the last 21 with the Bellingham Police Department. "It was so cold, and it got worse when you were standing on the sidelines. It wasn't that bad when you were out on the field playing, but just standing there, we froze and we started crying for him to put us back in."

The Pioneers held on to hand previously unbeaten Darrington a 30-0 loss and move on to the state semifinals.

"It was an amazing experience for all of us," said Nace, who now owns a dairy farm in Tipton, Calif. "We had such a strong, close group of guys and strong leadership and a great coach. We believed in each other."

Unfortunately, belief was not quite enough to help the Pioneers get past Raymond in the semifinals in Renton.

The game was the first that many Nooksack Valley players had ever played on Astroturf.

"In those days, it was like playing on blacktop with a little something over it," Nace said.

"I remember it smelling like dish soap," Stokes said.

Nooksack Valley came into the game pretty banged up already, with junior fullback Doug Groves out with a broken forearm, talented option quarterback Doug Handy limited to handing off because injury and a number of other bumps and bruises.

"We definitely weren't at full strength, but I'm not sure it would have made a difference if we were," Haddock said. "That team from Raymond was pretty good. I don't think we played a bad game against them but they just beat us. We just never got anything going offensively or defensively. They were by far the best team we faced all year."

The Gulls won the semifinal 24-0 and went on to beat Winlock 20-7 to claim their third consecutive Class A title.

"That was an amazing team," said Dan Harrison, who was a senior halfback and cornerback for Nooksack Valley in 1975. "They hit hard and they played hard."

Though the season ended with a loss, players and coaches both said they look back on 1975 fondly.

"I'm at that age now where I don't look back on the wins and losses, but on the memories I had with the guys who I went to school with," said Stokes, who plans to travel to Tacoma to watch Saturday's game. "Sure I would have liked to have been able to say we made it to that big game, but we made it to the playoffs and further than any other team had at Nooksack Valley."

At least until this year.

Van Diest, Haddock and the Pioneers returned to the state playoffs in 1976, but saw that season come to an end in the first round with a 13-7 loss to Castle Rock. Nooksack Valley did not make it back to state until 1989 and then again until 2001. It wasn't until 2002 that the Pioneers got their second state playoff win, but that was after the field was expanded to 16 teams and they only got to the quarterfinals.

"I don't know if I'm surprised it has taken Nooksack Valley this long to get back to the state semifinal," Haddock said. "It's a tough league, and it's tough to put together a program that is strong year-in and year-out. Meridian and Bob Ames are one of the few programs that are able to do it. I guess I hoped it wouldn't take this long for Nooksack Valley to get back, but I'm not surprised. I am extremely happy for this year's team and for Robb Myhre, who played for me."

Players from that 1975 team share in that pride of what the 2009 Pioneers have been able to accomplish.

"The kids this year have done a great job," said Van Diest, who now lives in Lynden and works for Propack Inc. in Blaine. "Anytime you get back to state, whether it's single A, double A or triple A, it's amazing. The coaches and kids should be so proud of the job they're doing."

And perhaps - just perhaps - this year's team can get a step further than the 1975 team did and make it to the state championship game for the first time in school history.

"My advice to the kids today is to enjoy the moment," Stokes said. "You don't know how long it's going to take the team to get back to this point. But I'd definitely like to see them go further than we did."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 715-2271.

PLAYOFF PIONEERS

A look at Nooksack Valley's history in the state playoffs along with their record in the state playoffs:

Year Class Record

1975 1A 1-1

1976 1A 0-1

1989 1A 0-1

2001 2A 0-1

2002 2A 1-1

2008 1A 1-1

2009 1A 2-0*

*Still alive

SOURCE: WIAA

SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, NOV. 27

CLASS 1B STATE SEMIFINAL

- Lummi vs. Neah Bay (at Tacoma Dome), 4 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOV. 28

CLASS 2A STATE SEMIFINAL

- Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy (at Tacoma Dome), 10 a.m.

CLASS 1A STATE SEMIFINAL

- Cascade Christian vs. Nooksack Valley (at Tacoma Dome), 1 p.m.