It all started with one game, 100 years ago. The score that day was Marysville Tomahawks 10, Tulalip Indians 0.
That game on Dec. 5, 1908 was the only one that season and Marysville wouldn’t have a team at all in the 1909 season. But it was the establishment of a tradition — high school football — that is as celebrated today as it has ever been.
In the century that has passed since that first game, Marysville football has seen 25 head coaches and hundreds of players take the field representing the Marysville Tomahawks, for a brief span, the Pilchuck Chargers, and most recently, the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks.
Over the years, M-P football has turned out dozens of college athletes and five NFL players.
Brothers Jeff and Shane Pahukoa both went on to play at the University of Washington. A 1987 M-P graduate, Jeff played on the Husky offensive line and went to the Rose Bowl his senior season. He was a 12th round pick by the L.A. Rams in the 1991 draft and played for the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-96. Shane, who was the second Tomahawk in school history have to a 1,000-yard rushing season in 1988 went on to play defensive back for the Huskies’ national championship season in 1991.
A pair of tight ends, Larry Stayner (‘87) and Dave Stachelski (‘95) went on to college careers at Boise State and the NFL draft. Stayner was selected in the ninth round by the Seattle Seahawks when an injury ended his pro career. He went on to medical school and a career in sports medicine as an orthopedic surgeon. Stachelski was drafted in the fifth round of the 2001 draft — famously, one round before Michigan quarterback Tom Brady — and was traded to the New Orleans Saints where he played for a season.
Marysville’s fifth pro, Jim Mills, went to San Diego after playing college ball at Idaho. The guard’s jersey hangs in the hallways of Jim Linden Fieldhouse.
Other athletic standouts include Tomahawk career touchdown leader Kyle Woods who went on to play baseball for the University of Washington and was drafted by the New York Mets in 1999. Still others hung up their helmets after their senior seasons to pursue careers outside of athletics.
One hundred years later, the Tomahawks plan to celebrate their program’s history. The school will honor teams past in the Oct. 3 game as M-P takes on Arlington. Former coaches will serve as honorary captains of the game and former players from every generation will be recognized in a ceremony at halftime.
Players from teams past are asked to RSVP for the game at 657-6129 or 657-6135 to be acknowledged on field.