|
The iNWFL disintegrated when it's membership
revolted against commissioner Chuck Love. What resulted was the
formation of the Evergreen Football League headed by Commissioner Jared
Edgington and Asst Greg Piper.
The league had 8 teams in 2005. New teams
in the Wenatchee Valley Rams (born out of the Apple Valley Bucks NWFL
experiment and subsequent failure), State Line Miners and Spokane
SaberCats which replaced the West Plains Cowboy, and the Columbia Basin
Bulls replaced the Moses Lake Bulls.
Walla Walla breezed through the East Division,
while the Knights and Mavericks battled for the West. Tri City
would end up representing the West and taking out the Stars for the EFL
title of 2005. QB Scott Biglin showed why he was the class of the
throwers with his 2005 performance.
In 2006 the Okanogan Commandos were admitted
after proving themselves in 2005 on the independent circuit and replaced
the Columbia Basin Bulls who were out of the league for 2006 in an
attempt to reorganize.
An unprecedented 3-way tie to end the regular
season pitted the Wenatchee Rams, Stars, and Knights all at 6-1 with the
new kid Commandos squeaking into the playoffs.
The Stars would battle the Rams in a
knock-down-drag-out while the Knights handled the Commandos easily to
earn a berth into the Championship. The Stars must have felt the
effects as the Knights rang up 41 points in the title game to take
back-to-back championships. In the first incarnation of a GNFA
Championship, the Knights hosted the PNFC Champion Seattle Stallions.
The Knights were shredding the Stallions defense on the arm of Biglin,
until he was injured. Tri City was deflated when it's heart, soul
and power were lost for the second half. The Stallions won 47-27,
but ushered in a new era of champion versus champion games at season end
in the Northwest.
The Columbia Basin team returned in 2007 with a
new name and identity in the Riverhawks. Unfortunately, the
results were the same as they struggled to a 1-7 season. Okanogan
suffered through a tough season also finishing 1-7, while the Mavericks
returned to the playoffs. The top three teams were familiar foes,
while the Championship game would be the Stars vs. the Knights for the
third straight year. This time, the Stars had found the firepower
to destroy Yakima in the playoffs and the Knights to win the EFL.
The Stars would host the PNFC Champion South Sound Shockers to win the
GNFA Championship of 2007. However, 89 days later, the Stars took
less than half of their players, including very few of their starters to
play the NWFL Champion King County Jaguars and were handed a loss in
what was called the MLFA West Coast Championship.
2008 was a year of major expansion as the league
added four teams. A new team from Eastern Oregon joined the
league, and in a late move, the EFL agreed to take in the three
remaining teams from the collapsed PNFC.
The Eastern Oregon team never made it off the
ground, but was already on the schedules forcing teams to take forfeits
or schedule make-up games to fill the gaps.
Once again, a three-way tie
existed at the top of the league with the
Stars, Mavericks and Commandos all sitting at 7-1. Wenatchee, Tri
City and the Shockers, formerly of the PNFC would round out the playoff
field. The Stars would make their fourth straight championship
appearance this time facing the Mavericks. Blue Mountain would
take the back-to-back title and a berth in the GNFA Championship game.
Traveling to Portland, Oregon to take on the OFL Champion Monarchs was a
tough task, and the Monarchs claimed the GNFA title, their first of
three in a row.
2008 was the final incarnation of the Evergreen
League as Edgington left the commissioner position and moved to
Arkansas. The league reorganized as the
Washington
Football League for the 2009 season. |
