Created in 2001, former Columbia Cougars coach Cedric Walker built his own franchise for an independent season playing Oregon League, Northwest League and Rocky Mountain League foes to a successful 6-1 record, the only loss to cross-county rival Multnomah County in a regional playoff game 34-30.

The following season, the Northwest Football League accepted the Raiders as full members for the 2002 season, beginning a long seven-year run as consistent playoff team, but falling just shy of the championship round.   The 2003 season featured a near sweep of all major NWFL awards by the Raiders as the team jumped from 5-5-1 in 2002, to 9-3 and were ousted from the playoffs by a mere 5-points by the eventual champion Eastside Hawks.  The Hawks would play for the NAFL National Championship in Florida in November and make a return trip in 2004 with a 16-0 undefeated season and AFA National Championship in tow back to Washington.  Even so, Cedric Walker would be named NWFL Coach of the Year, while quarterback Kevin Bickler would be named NWFL Offensive MVP and share NWFL MVP honors with fellow Raider Ishmael Littleton.  Littleton exploded on the scene taking home NWFL Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Co-MVP honors with Bickler.  The GNFA tabbed Littleton the 2003 Greater Northwest Player of the Year.

Following the 2008 season, Raider originator and longtime coach Cedric Walker sold the team to another ownership group of former and current Raider players.  Cedric moved on to work with the Next Level Football League.  The new ownership group moved the Raiders to the North American Football League Northwest Division.  After a season opening win over the Washington Cavaliers the Raiders endured a 3-game NAFL skid that finally ended with a 6-point win over the Wildcats.  The Raiders evened their record at 6-6 with a playoff victory over the 2-10 Jaguars to advance to the NAFL Northwest semifinals where they were eliminated by the Bulldogs.
 
Still experiencing the shadow of Cedric Walker who now had a new team in Portland (Northwest Terminators) the Raiders found their road back to prominence a little tougher and a season opening trip to Kelso, WA to face the Cavaliers ended in foreboding fashion as the Cavs won 13-12 returning the favor of the 1-point loss they suffered a season ago at the hands of the Raiders.
 
The Raiders struggles hit a low point in 2010 losing all 10 games they played in the NAFL Northwest division.
 
Seeking a fresh start in 2011 with the newly formed Pacific Football League, the Raiders couldn't break the .500 barrier even though they reached the playoffs in 2011 and 2012.
 
2012 was declining further as the team sunk to 2-8 in the league, however an injection of talent was about to spring their way.
 
Following a one-year experiment in the floundering PDFL, members of the Boltz, including former Monarch coach Aaron Fentress, and record setting QB Russell Schneider and others made their way to the Raiders and immediately rocketed the Black and Silver to the top with a 12-1 season in 2014 and setting off a string of 3 out of the next 4 PFL Championships, losing one to the Seattle Stallions.  The team that struggled to win 2 games in 2012 was now a team that lost only 4 games in 4 seasons.  Isaiah Smith (2014) and Russell Schneider (2016) would earn GNFA Player of the Year honors.
 
2018 and 2019 saw the retirement of some key players including QB Russell Schneider, owner of nearly every passing record in the region. 
 
With those retirements, the Raiders found themselves in territory not seen since 2013, and that was losing more than one-game per season.  2018 ended with an 8-3 record after a semi final loss in the Western Washington Alliance playoffs to Tri City.  2019 the Raiders returned to a league championship game, this time in the newly formed Northern Cascade League, but fell to the South Sound Nighthawks on Championship night to finish 7-3.
 
Prior to the 2020 season kickoff, it was announced that the Raiders would be merging with cross-town rival Portland Nightmare.  However, 2020 and 2021 were lost to the Covid-shut downs which stopped all semi-pro football in Oregon.
 
When 2022 began, the NCFL was gone, most of the Raiders old rivals were gone, and they were left to join a new league dominated by an old rival, the South Lane Buzzards from the Eugene area.  Coach Fentress coaxed his QB out of retirement and Russell Schneider once again led his team to a league championship and adding to his career records along the way.  Portland finished 10-0 with Schneider earning League MVP accolades in his "final" season.
 
The Raiders and the PNFL shut down after the 2022 season, in what seemed the end of one of the longest running franchises in Northwest history.  However, it's hard to stay away, and when 2024 began with the formation of the West Coast Pacific Minor League, Coach Fentress once again coaxed Schneider out for another run at history. 

The Raiders blended old vets and new blood and showed they still had the offensive firepower to rack up 378 points enroute to a 9-0 record and South Division title.  In the second-to-last game of the regular season, a much anticipated battle of undefeateds featured the Raiders and Grit City Knights.  The Raiders prevailed 32-21 to take the inside track to the league title.  This set up the championship rematch, and it did not disappoint.  The Raiders and Knights battled all four quarters, but the cinderella return was not to be completed as Grit City escaped with the title 28-23.  Schneider, still one of the best passers in Northwest history nearing his 40's was again tabbed GNFA Regional Player of the Year for a record fifth time, his third time as a Raider.

This was the final entry for the Raiders franchise, and with the shut down for 2025, players and coaches made their way to the I-5 Cobras.  The Raiders as a franchise is one of only a dozen known teams to last for over 20-years playing in the Northwest and ranks in the Top-5 All-Time for wins with 149 and a nearly 64% winning percentage that ranks fourth all-time.

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