Football season launches with Tigercats missing

Start of the football campaign will mark a big absence in the 1B lineup with the LWK Tigercats out of the lineup.

LaCrosse/Washtucna/Kahlotus football has been shut down for the same enrollment reasons which led to consolidations or closures at other locations around the county.

Football players from LaCrosse this year have been commuting to St. John and Endicott to hook up with high school and junior high teams. The official format under WIAA rules allows players to join neighboring teams when a sport is not offered at their school.

LaCrosse players are playing with SJE high school team at St. John and the junior high team at Endicott after LaCrosse Supt. Doug Curtis made the arrangements for the season.

Last season the Tigercats had a small turnout and played through the 1B campaign without a win. This year four high school players have been signed for the football season with St. John, but right now two players are making the trip, according to Principal Jeff Pietila who has joined the faculty at LaCrosse after moving from Wahluke.

LaCrosse this year has 23 students signed up for the high school with possibly three more joining the roster before classes start Monday, Pietila said.

The Tigercats football campaign 10 years ago under Coach Jeff Nelson marked a high point at the end of the 2005 season when they rolled to a fourth straight state title in the eight-man competition. They extended their record at the start of the next season when they defeated Kootenai in the non-leaguer at Harrison Flats in Idaho.

That marked the 49th straight football win for the Tigercats to set a state record.

Pietila, who came to LaCrosse after eight years at Wahluke and 10 years at Waitsburg, said he was well aware of the Tigercat football fame before he arrived on the scene this year.

“We heard about it while I was down at Waitsburg. We knew what was going on,” he said.

The Tigercat volleyball team, which had just one senior on the roster last year, will be back in the league play this year and open the season with a jamboree at Kahlotus. First league match for the Tigercat girls will be with the Garfield/Palouse Vikings at Washtucna.

They will have two league matches at Washtucna, two at Kahlotus and two at LaCrosse.

Tigercat junior high basketball has also booked a fall season with the three schools participating.

Will the Tigercat football team return in the future?

“It all depends on whether we have jobs to bring families here,” Pietila commented. He noted Wahluke sustained a strong population growth during his years there, and that some day could happen for the LaCrosse/Washtucna/Kahlotus area.