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Oct. 2,
2008 Former Oregon League Vice joins GNFA
Heath Wharton, one of the
originators of the Oregon Football League and former
Vice-Commissioner of the league has joined the GNFA
as the Oregon representative. Wharton, a
long-time player, coach, organizer and supporter of
semi-pro football will bring years of experience in
management and compiling historical information to
the GNFA efforts. Heath will be responsible
for compiling the history of Oregon-based semi-pro
teams for the historical section, as well as
researching worthy nominees for the GNFA Hall of
Fame. He will also be the eyes, ears and voice
of Oregon-based teams in growing the GNFA.
Sept. 17,
2008 Spokane - Stateline Join Forces
The Evergreen Football League
announced the merger of the Spokane Sabercats and
the State Line Miners. The two teams are
original members of the EFL, and existed on opposite
sides of the Washington/Idaho border for most of the
past four seasons. The merger will create the
Eastern Washington Wolfpack and should make the
Spokane area team an instant factor in the chase for
the league championship which has been residing in
the Tri-Cities/Walla Walla region since 2005.
No word has been received as to the possible return
to the OFL of the Columbia River Coyotes in 2009, or if the
franchise from The Dalles has officially ceased
operations for good. The Coyotes were forced
to forfeit their final games when injuries took
their numbers below 11 healthy bodies.
July 15,
2008
First Game
in Northwest History was Played on Thanksgiving Day
1891. Story (here)
Portland defeats Tacoma.
July 7, 2008
GNFA ALL-REGION TEAMS ANNOUNCED
(click)
July 2, 2008
The Oregon
Monarchs have claimed the 2008 GNFA Championship by
dismantling the defending champion Blue Mountain
Stars and along the way, had some tremendous
individual performances on the season.
Quarterback Russell Schneider, playing in his first
season of semi-pro football shattered the season
yardage (3,312) and touchdown pass (44) records,
while his favorite target Kyle English set records
in receiving yards (1,528), touchdowns (24) and
receptions in a season (73).Teammate Kenny Roberts
also found his way into the record books for
touchdowns (11) and receiving yards (896).
Congratulations to the Monarchs and the Oregon
Football League.
June 28,
2008
RANKINGS
In an
ironic twist of computer
calculations, the Blue Mountain
Stars held on to the top spot in the
final GNFA poll of 2008 even though
the Monarchs won the game on the
field and took home the hardware.
An early season loss to the Shockers
possibly held the Monarchs strength
of schedule down enough to keep the
Stars on top.
The
All-Season Power Poll has now
incorporated the NWFL and CFL teams
and will take in the NAFLNW teams in
about 3 weeks. Movement is
expected by the teams no longer
playing, as some cross-over games
were played.
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June 10,
2008
2007 GNFA
1st Team Punter/Place Kicker Signs With Jets
Joe Smith of
the Yakima Mavericks signed as a free agent with the
New York Jets (official link
here).
Smith has been with the Mavs for 3 seasons following
an All-American career at Central Washington.
June 16, 2008
Monarchs
Move Up, Stars Hold Top Spot - Eric Murray
The OFL North
divisional play off
was all it was
heralded as the
Oregon Monarchs came
out on top with a
21-20 victory over
the Oregon Outlaws
in Eugene last
Saturday night. The
win vaulted the
Monarchs up 4 places
to #2 in this week’s
poll. The Blue
Mountain Stars
firmly entrenched
themselves as the #1
team in the GNFA
with their win over
the Tri-City Knights
and should both
teams win their
respective league
titles, we will see
#1 vs #2 in the GNFA
Championship game in
2 weeks.
The Yakima Mavericks
move up one spot to
#3 with their
playoff win over the
Okanogan County
Commandos, while the
Oregon Outlaws and
Tri-City Knights
each drop 2 spots to
#4 and #5
respectively to
round out the top 5.
With the Monarchs
making the big leap,
that pushed the Rams
down one position to
#6 this week. The
Rogue Warriors
defeated the Umpqua
Valley Knights in
the OFL South
divisional playoff
and swapped places
with the South Sound
Shockers, now #8, to
take #7 as they get
to head to Portland
this week for the
OFL Championship
game in search if
their 6th
OFL title. The
Warriors will face
the Monarchs in a
rematch of their
season opener when
the Monarchs won
49-13.
Rounding out the Top
10 are the Okanogan
Commandos and Umpqua
Valley Knights who
remain at #9 and #10
respectively despite
their playoff
losses.
For the second week
in a row, the Blue
Mountain Stars will
face a #3 ranked
team, this time it’s
the Yakima Mavericks
coming to town. The
Stars won the first
match 38-21 in the
regular season
finale, but as we
have seen in the
playoffs, it can be
very difficult to
repeat that
performance against
a top tier team. The
EFL Championship
game is definitely
the game of the week
this week. The
winner here gets to
travel to the OFL
Champ’s home field
for the GNFA
Championship game
the following week.
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May 24, 2008
EFL
PLAYOFFS SET, OFL HEADED TO FINAL WEEK
The Blue
Mountain Stars clinched the top seed in the EFL
playoffs by upsetting previously unbeaten Yakima
38-21. Yakima, slips to the #2 seed, while
Okanogan takes the #3 seed. June 7 will see
the Wenatchee Valley Rams (#4) taking on the Tri
City Knights (#5), while the South Sound Shockers at
#6 will travel to Okanogan. The Stars and
Yakima will play the winners with the lowest
remaining seed facing Blue Mountain. The OFL
will move into it's final week of play May 31 with
the Oregon Outlaws remaining undefeated but taking
on the ever dangerous Rogue Warriors. The
Columbia River Coyotes were forced to shut down a
couple of weeks ago due to injuries.
2009 will
see the return of GNFA Player of the Week awards.
The 2008 awards were put on hold due to a lack of
weekly submissions from a number of teams across the
region. A new system will be implemented which
will make stats easier to contribute.
April 28,
2008
YAKIMA
MAVERICKS HOLD TOP SPOT; OUTLAWS UNBEATEN
The Yakima
Mavericks, the only remaining undefeated team in the
Evergreen League is holding the initial #1 ranking
for 2008. The Mavericks catapulted themselves
to the top following early season losses by the
Wenatchee Valley Rams, Tri City Knights and this
past weekends' loss by the Blue Mountains Stars.
The Mavs also took a last minute victory from the
South Sound Shockers at home 4 weeks ago. In
the OFL, the Oregon Outlaws hold down the top spot
as the only remaining undefeated OFL team.
March 22,
2008
The EFL
remains unbeaten versus OFL competition in early
matchups after a March 15 victory by the Shockers
and a nail-biter win Saturday by the Mavericks, the
EFL moved to 2-0 in GNFA play over the Oregon
Football League. The Champion of the Oregon
Division of the GNFA will play host to the EFL champ
this season.
In other
matchups, the I-5 battle between Skagit Valley and
Bellingham was taken by the Bulldogs 28-6, while the
Palouse Thunder shook off a dismantling at the hands
of last season's champion a week ago, to defeat the
'Cats from Spokane 20-18 at home.
March 1,
2008
GNFA
SEASON KICKS OFF WITH MARCH 1 MATCH UP
The new OFL
Vipers traveled down I-84 and took an early season
matchup from the Columbia River Coyotes 17-0.
According to sources, the Coyotes were able to put
up 300 yards of total offense on the upstart Vipers.
Nov
25, 2007
Members
of the former Pacific Northwest Football Conference
(PNFC) and the Evergreen Football League (EFL) have
combined forces to unite spring football in 2008 with
all 13 teams flying under the EFL banner.
The
move expands the EFL by 3 teams as the South Sound
Shockers, Skagit Valley Lightning, and Bellingham
Bulldogs, join the existing 10-teams. The Valley
Mustangs, runners-up to the Shockers in the PNFC
championship, opted to try their luck in a summer
venue, while the Lane County Dragons are taking the
2008 season off to reorganize and reevaluate the
program.
"All
of the existing owners of EFL teams are excited about
this merger and the increase in competition, while the
former PNFC teams are looking forward to the stability
and structure the EFL has established over the past
three seasons. This will make the EFL the largest
Semi-Pro football league in the state of
Washington
”.
The
winner of the EFL Championship in 2008 will face the
winner of the Oregon Football League (OFL) for the
Greater Northwest Football Alliance regional title on
June 28. The
Oregon Outlaws are 2-time OFL champions, while the
Blue Mountain Stars are last years EFL & GNFA Champions.
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