ANACORTES, Wash. — At Anacortes High School, a buzz remains in the air after Saturday's game.
On Dec. 2, the Anacortes Seahawks won the school's first-ever state title, and also broke a 2A state championship scoring record by beating Tumwater 60-30.
"Oh man, it's crazy," said senior Cooper Barton. "I'm walking into school, and everyone is congratulating me. It's like this whole team is a celebrity."
Player Landon Schafer said when the team left Husky Stadium, where the state championships were held, the streets were filled with people cheering for the team. "It was one of the coolest moments of my life. I got goose bumps, it was like every small-town football movie you've ever seen," said Schafer.
"There were so many people that had a piece in this, and it all just came together like a puzzle perfectly and here we are," said Athletic Director Justin Portz. But getting to that big moment was not easy.
When Portz, a former head coach, came to the Seahawks eight years ago, he was told Anacortes was the wrong town to build a championship football program. At a parent meeting, one person said he was crazy for having the goal of earning a state championship.
From 2007 to 2018, the Seahawks only had two winning seasons. In 2018, they were 0-9 and finished with only 16 players on the varsity roster. If this pattern kept up, Portz said, there wasn't going to be a football program at all.
So in 2019, they decided to field only a JV team. Portz said they coaches built off of the incoming freshman class, creating a solid JV team to evolve into the varsity squad.
A foundation was built.
"We just started developing relationships with the kids, get to know them, try to make football fun, retention. Having enough players was our number one goal and developing them in the weight room," said Anacortes Head Football Coach Travis Anderson.
"Sure enough, we scored points and won games. That summer, a bunch of kids wanted play football and friends were asking other friends to come out," Portz said. "It snowballed from there."
In 2021, Anacortes went 9-1; the following year the Seahawks made it to the state quarterfinals. And in 2023, they finished off their historic season at Husky Stadium. They played in front of an audience of over 4,000 fans.
"You grow up watching all the movies, all the famous football movies, and you think, 'I wish our town was like that.' Where the town shuts down on Friday nights," senior quarterback Rex Larson said. On Saturday, Larson had four touchdown passes.
"But to really see that come to life and that dream come true, the entire town was in Seattle watching the state title game, and rallying around us and how loud they were," Larson said. "It really is a dream come true."
This Sunday, Dec. 10, the town of Anacortes is hosting a parade of champions at 11 a.m. to celebrate the Seahawks' historic season.