There had been other loosely formed leagues prior to 1927-28, but that year also marked the first state tournament and with that came more organized leagues and record keeping. The Southern Division was composed of only four schools: Vancouver, Longview, Kelso and Camas. Longview won the league title that year with Vancouver and Kelso going .500 and Camas finishing 2-4.

The non-league opponents and games during the time seem both bizarre and baffling. The first recorded basketball game took place in 1908-09 season with Vancouver opening their season against Washougal Athletic Club winning 26-18. That same year, Vancouver beat Pacific University 21-15. In the 1910-11 season, Vancouver beat Hood River 107-2 with Fred Ferrell scoring 46 points. Ferrell also scored 36 in a 89-6 victory over Portland Academy.

As you can tell, despite a three-point line and having to jump ball every hoop, there were still some interesting games in the early days of Southwest Washington basketball.

This article, however, focuses primarily on the era from 1978-79 to 2002-03. The league in 1978-79 was the Clark-Cowlitz League and was combined with both AAA and AA teams. There were a number of coaches who were just finishing their careers and others just starting.

C.W. Totten was the coach at Evergreen, Earl Enos at Columbia River and Gerald Lemmons at Kelso, but the coach who made the biggest impact in the late 70's was Jim Mossel at Fort Vancouver. Mossel took over a team in 1976-77 that had not finished above .500 since 1959-60. He went on to lead the Trappers to five straight league titles and a fifth place state finish in 1981-82.

Centralia and Chehalis entered the league for the 1979-80 season, their first membership to a SW Washington league since 1969-70. For six years, Centralia ruled things in the AA St. Helen's League taking an eighth place state trophy in 1979-80, winning the state AA title in 1980-81 and earning second place in 1982-83. During that time, Centralia produced several top-notch players including St. Helen's MVPs Andy Lucier, Tom Duester, Scott Ashmore and Tim Brown. One member of the 1980-81 state title team was a German transfer student, Detlef Schremph, who would earn first team all-league honors and a scholarship to the University of Washington.

In 1984-85, Chehalis, led by league scoring leader, Chris Nelson, and Centralia left the St. Helen's League to join the AA schools up north. In 1997-98, Centralia and Chehalis joined the usual 3A schools (Mark Morris, RA Long, Camas and Washougal) to form teh Southern Division of the Rivers League which would last only two seasons.

As the 80s started, two new schools were built - Mountain View and Prairie. After starting the program at Mountain View in 1981, Moen coached the Thunder to a second place league finish the following year. Playing against the number one seed Bay in the district final, Mountain View upset the Eagles, 62-59 behind league MVP Brett Hanger's 23 points. This district final would begin one of the hottest and most unpredictable rivalries in the league's 25 years.

Two years later, Moen would suit up one of the most heralded sophomores in league history, Duke Wallenborn, and coach the Thunder to an undefeated regular season and a number five state ranking. Behind seniors Matt Burton and Jeff Dubay; and super sophomores Wallenborn and David Fleming, Mountain View tore through the 20 game regular season to finish undefeated for the first time since the 1979-80 Fort Vancouver Trappers.

Hudson's Bay, on the other hand, had a terrible year, finishing 4-8 in league (9-11 overall) and stumbled into the district tournament at the number four and final seed. To make things worse, the Eagles were to open the tournament against the heavily favored Thunder, who had beaten Bay three times during the season, including a twenty point blow out in the regular season finale.

Instead, Hudson's Bay shocked everyone by upsetting the last undefeated team in the state of Washington, 44-43, in a game so wild that the final minute included a slam dunk, a technical, clock confusion and hard fouls.

Eagle Mike Riley made an easy layup with 48 seconds left to give the Eagles a 44-42 lead. The Thunder had been in three similar games earlier in the season and had escaped each time. The home crowd at Mountain View assumed the same would happen again.

Confusion broke out with eight seconds left after a missed Mountain View shot, which would have tied the game. An intentional foul was called on the Thunder, but the Eagle players did not hear the referee's whistle and continued to carry the ball up court.

Riley dunked the ball, but was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. Bay was awarded two free throws for the intentional foul (both missed) and Wallenborn hit the technical free throw.

Trailing 44-43, the Thunder had the ball with eight seconds left and unable to get the ball to a key player, a desperation 20-footer hit the rim and bounced away.

Hudson's Bay went on to beat number three seed Columbia River, who had upset the number two seed Fort, in the district final.

Bay and Mountain View would go on to meet in the next two district finals. In 1986, Mountain View avenged the 1985 loss, by beating the Eagles on their way to a third place state finish. In 1987,  Mountain View again beat Bay in the finals, 65-55, on their way to a return trip to state in Wallenborn's senior year.

At the same time, Dave Denny was building a dynasty in Longview. Denny had been the coach at Mark Morris since 1976-77 and won a state AA title in 1977-78. Playing among AAA schools only made the Monarchs tougher and Denny was able to get the most out of his players.

In 1981-82, Denny started Wayne Deckman, an unheralded, skinny 6'4" forward who had only averaged five points a game as a junior reserve. Deckman would lead Mark Morris to another AA St. Helen's title, but crush the single season scoring marks along the way. Deckman led the state in scoring with a 32.1 scoring average and broke John McKnight's records for regular and league season scoring average. No one in the history of league play has averaged more than Deckman's 32.8 points.

With Deckman graduated, Denny started working the younger players to rebuild for another state run. In 1983-84, a diminutive, but nasty sophomore point guard by the name of Mike Peterson would start and despite finishing second in the league still managed to take fifth at the AA state tournament.

In 1984-85, Peterson with a will to win at any cost took over Mark Morris basketball and led the Monarchs to Dave Denny's second state title. Another sophomore, Mike Roberts, added to the scoring punch as they went 6-0 in post season.

Mark Morris would again reach the state title game in 1985-86 showcasing the school's most dominating line-up. Peterson, Roberts, Brian Frederickson, Dave Walling and Jeff Denny all provided a scoring punch.

Denny would again return to the state title game in 1986-87 behind Roberts' leadership, Dave Walling's defense and Jeff Denny's scoring. Again, playing in the tough Greater St. Helen's League alongside AAA competition had made Mark Morris the top AA program in the state.

When Denny left Mark Morris in 1991-92, he left a program that had earned six state trophies, six league titles, three district state titles and five league MVP's. Denny himself earned the coach of the year award three times and finished his 15 year career with a 256-113 record. No high school trophied at state during this era more than Mark Morris.

Battle Ground picked up where Mark Morris left off in 1988-89. That year the Tigers returned to the state tournament and finished third. Led by league MVP Elroy Miller and junior post Mike Brotherton, Battle Ground swept the league and district AAA titles, player and coach of the year awards.

The following year would be even better for Butch Blue as Brotherton produced one fo the more dominating seasons by a big man. With Jason Hoseney and Casey Blue providing depth, Battle Ground finished 18-2 before blowing out the competition at the AA state tournament.

Blue would go back for another state title appearance in 1990-91. Josh Behrens earned first team all-tournament recognition and Scott Tharp provided the defense and size that the team had come to expect from Brotherton.

From 1991-93, Battle Ground would win 26 consecutive league wins including an undefeated season in 1991-92. The Tigers would have a number two state ranking before being upset by Olympia in the opening round of the district tournament.

In 1993-94, Evergreen would start a run of six straight 20-win seasons that also has not been equaled. John Triplett took over the EHS program in 1988-89 and struggled to stay in the top half of the league through the early 90s. But with that 93-94 season, Evergreen returned to the state tournament for the first time since 1969 behind the play of senior Charles Neal and two juniors, Paul Bustrin and Matt Dyment. Evergreen also had become an offensive power-house leading the state in scoring.

Finally in 1994-95, Evergreen streaked through the regular season in record-setting style, hitting the century mark twice and beating foes by 40 or more points. They killed the opposition on their way to the first undefeated state title team since the 1980 Garfield team. It was also the first state title for a AAA team since Hudson's Bay took state in 1964.

In 1995-96, Evergreen took third place at state behind the leadership of Derek Nesland. This season also saw the end of Evergreen's league record 42 game win streak. Fort Vancouver ended Evergreen's attempt at a second straight undefeated league season in the final league game of the year.

The following year, Evergreen missed out on state but still managed to win 20 games. In 1997-98, the Plainsmen, behind the shooting prowess of James Davis, returned to state prominence and placed fourth.

John Triplett claims that the 1998-99 team may have been his best. It was definitely the highest scoring team in league history, winning games by an average of 32 points. Led by guards Davis and Terry Nashif, the Plainsmen again went undefeated through both league and regular season and lost to eventual state champ Walla Walla in the semifinals. Evergreen rebounded to beat Eastlake in the third place game to finish 25-1 and claim their sixth 20-win season.

Between 1999 and 2003, Mark Morris would win 25 consecutive league games including back-to-back undefeated league seasons from 2000-02. The highlight of those seasons were a fifth place state finish in 2000-01 and a third place trophy the next year. Those teams were carried by the four year varsity play of Evan Kirkpatrick and Reese Baker, both who ended up as 1000 point career scorers.

In 1998-99, Skyview joined the Greater St. Helen's League, Heritage joined the following year and with Washougal rejoining in 2001-02, the Greater St. Helen's League had its largest membership ever with 14 schools. The quality of play did not suffer, however, with Prairie taking a sixth place trophy at the 4A state tournament in '01 and '03. 

As we begin the fourth 25 year era of Greater St. Helen's League basketball, the quality of play will no doubt increase due to the athleticism, specialization and interest in high school basketball. We also look forward to seeing 25 years of quality athletes, future collegians and professionals, state placing teams and record setting scorers that keep high school basketball one of the purest and most entertaining sports to follow.