Coming off of a chaotic start to the Skagit Valley Lighting in 2006, former coach Brian Young joined Tom Abbott in building the Whatcom County Raiders in the newly formed Cascade Football League.  The four-team league, formed by Dick Suess in Northwest Washington, featured three new teams and second-year Olympic Peninsula Eagles.  Following an opening loss to the Thunder to start the season, Whatcom went 6-1 over the next seven games to set up a third rubber match game with the Eagles for the first-ever Cascade League crown.  The Raiders were able to flip the score from the last meeting, winning 24-14.  Seuss' MLFN publication named Whatcom the best new team in the west and Coach Young was named CFL coach of the year as twelve Raiders were named All-CFL.  Kicker Sean Foster and Lineman Kelly Fee, all-conference with the Northwest Avalanche the prior year, joined the Raiders repeating as all-league performers.  Winning the Cascade League title placed the team in the Minor League Football News West Region playoffs against the Blue Mountain Stars in Walla Walla, Washington undefeated champions of the Evergeen Football League and Greater Northwest Region Champions.  After multiple scheduling issues, the Raiders, citing players being unavailable due to family vacations and other conflicts, forfeited to the Stars just prior to the August 11, 2007 game.

The Raiders opened the 2008 season by crushing the Eagles 63-6, setting the tone of how little trouble the Raiders would have with the CFL which had added a fifth team in the Pirates, however they would not finish the season following a 66-0 decimation in May.  Back-to-back wins over the Invaders to repeat as Cascade champions set up Whatcom for another regional playoff opportunity.  They would face Tacoma-area Puget Sound Titans, a one-year venture of the Northwest Football League.  The undefeated Titans dealt the Raiders their first loss of the season.  As a consolation, the team was invited to take on a Las Vegas area team in the Far West Bowl, coming away with a slim 20-19 victory when Ryan Lucas swatted down a 2-pt conversion try by the Trojans.  Whatcom County dominated the CFL all-league with 18 selections.  Toby Seim set a regional record with six receiving scores in a game.

Having amassed a 17-3 record in two seasons and back-to-back Cascade League championships, owner Tom Abbott decided the Raiders needed to move up and try a "professional" venture with his football team and began the process of building a "pro" league.  Originally slated to be the Next Level Football League, the financial support wasn't in place and few team owners would throw their money into such a risky venture.  By teaming with the owners of the Tacoma Cobras and Oregon Thunderbolts, they were able to establish the Professional Developmental Football League as a semi-pro precursor to a league that would "pay" players and coaches with hopes of attracting the best athletes away from other area semi-pro teams.
 
The Blitz, mainly former Raiders and some Western Washington University football players who found themselves without a team after the school dropped it's program, opened up it's inaugural season on June 20 destroying the Pierce County Bengals.  The league, as a four-team venture saw the Blitz defeat Oregon twice and the Vikings twice but dropped both meetings with the Cobras.  Bellingham had two teams operating in 2009 with the Bulldogs enjoying a resurrgence in the North American Football League as some Raiders came aboard like kicker Sean Foster.  The Blitz finished 5-3 with all of the losses coming at the hands of the Cobras including a 36-31 loss in the PDFL Championship which they had a shot at hosting before losing three fumbles and four interceptions to the Cobras in the regular season finale loss 38-23.
 
Brain Young took over ownership of the team following the '09 season.  The 2010 season was virtually a mirror of 2009 with the Cobras running through the PDFL unchallenged.  Vann Vetch defeated the Tacoma Invaders nearly single-handed as he rushed for 224 yards and 5 TDs in a 36-6 win.  The Boise Buccaneers had been added to the league in an effort to expand the PDFL footprint to a larger territory.  The Blitz gave up over 44 points all in all three meetings with Tacoma.  Nearly all of the Blitz starters earned All-League in what was virtually only three teams worth of choices as the Vikings had returned to the "non-professional" ranks after defeating the Blitz.  Toby Seim continued to be a weapon regardless of league as he was named offensive MVP after being a 2008 offensive player of the year in the CFL.
 
2011 saw the Blitz leave the PDFL as it continued to crumble and Bellingham looked for more stable ground.  That gound would be in the Western Washington Football Alliance, a rebranding of the former Cascade Football League the original Raiders were a part of and won back-to-back championships in.
 
Following an April 30 "upset" at the hands of the Umatilla Panthers out of northeast Oregon, Bellingham reeled off 11 consecutive victories with only the Shine putting up much of a fight along the way.  The newly crowned WWFA champions would be invited to the Far West Football Alliance "National Championship" in Vegas, but it was announced that a shortage of coaches, players and funding, would make a return trip to Vegas impossible after the team had just traveled to Vegas in October for a match up with the Wild West League All-Stars, easily blanking the opponent 38-0. Former Bellingham Bulldog Vann Vetch joined the Blitz for 2011 and cruised to over 1,200 yards and 17 rushing TDs during the regular season.
 
The Blitz organization would not return for 2012, while across-town the Bellingham Bulldogs rounded up players and coach Brian Young in what in essence became a merger of the Blitz and Bulldog operations.  The merger was a success as Bellingham won the Pacific League North Crown the next two seasons including the Greater Northwest crown in 2013 as the best team in the region.  Vann Vetch and Toby Seim would lend more offensive firepower to the Bulldogs along with their offensive line mates.

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