Arlington football showing progress ahead of Stilly Cup

ARLINGTON — The term Greg Dailer used was “shell-shocked.”

That’s how the Arlington football coach described his team in its season-opener, a 28-0 loss to Sedro-Woolley on Sept. 5. With just five total starters returning from last year’s squad, many Eagles players were experiencing their first meaningful varsity action.

They quickly realized the challenge they were in for getting back to a competitive standard this season. Senior offensive/defensive lineman Miles Ecker noticed a shift as early as halftime in the Sedro-Woolley loss, and the entire team attacked their first practice the following week with a new intensity.

“I feel like everyone could just tell in the atmosphere, there’s more energy,” senior running back/linebacker Jace Graham said. “Everyone’s experienced now, so they knew next Friday they have to come out fighting with everything they have.”

Arlington slipped to 0-2 with a 30-7 loss to Bothell on Sept. 12, but the improvement was noticeable based on a greater level of cohesion, a better understanding of the offensive scheme and more effort across the board.

The Eagles parlayed that into three straight wins to start their Wesco 4A schedule, during which they averaged 47 points per game while allowing an average of 12 to their opponents — Jackson, Kamiak and Cascade — and improved to 3-2.

Now starting to reach its potential, Arlington rolls into its biggest game of the regular season on Friday: the annual Stilly Cup against rival Stanwood.

It’s been a one-sided matchup in favor of the Eagles in recent years, with Arlington winning 14 of the last 15 matchups (Stanwood won in 2022), but it’s not something the program takes for granted.

“Until we’re done playing it, it’s our most important game of the year,” Dailer said. “That’s always one of the first things on our goal sheet. We know it hasn’t lost any importance. We value that trophy and we value the rivalry.”

Dailer attributes some of Arlington’s dominance to the coaching turnover at Stanwood in recent years making it “hard to get culture and get systems in.”

Tony Slater is in his first season at the helm for the Spartans, the program’s third coach since Eric Keizer stepped down following the 2020 season after six years leading the team (Jeff Scoma from 2021-2024 and interim coach Mark Flickinger in 2024). Meanwhile, Dailer is in his 18th season as head coach of the Eagles, his systems and culture long ingrained in the program.

But that will only go so far in this season’s matchup, which will serve as something of a measuring stick game for a retooling Arlington program. Dailer said this will be the best Stanwood team that Arlington has seen in a while, and a win would prove they’re heading in the right direction.

“It’s literally a halfway point, so kind of a make-or-break (game),” senior receiver/defensive back Eli Rae said. “But also, I think it will just show us what we need to do better at, and I think to even pick up the intensity a bit more and for guys to realize that if we want to keep winning versus some better teams, then we all have to come together even more.”

So far the linebacker group led by Graham, Aiden Jones, Lincoln Klein and Tre Haines has been the key to the Eagles’ shutdown defense, with Dailer labeling them as one of the best in program history due to their ability to make reads and play fast and physical without hesitation.

While that group has set the tone on defense, the offense has taken a step forward every week, led by first-year starter Kaleb Bartlett-Wood, who took over the reins from Leyton Martin, The Herald’s All-Area Offensive Football Player of the Year in 2024.

Arlington graduated three all-league receivers — Jake Willis, Chase Deberry and Kaid Hunter — in addition to Martin last year. The four had established great chemistry throughout the three years they played together on varsity, so it was a tall task for the newcomers to pick up where they had left off.

After some growing pains, the Eagles feel good about how their offense is developing.

“At the start of the season, we weren’t even running the right routes,” Bartlett-Wood said. “Now, I mean, pretty much every single time, they’re on the money. Making good (moves), not being robots out there either, just getting open.”

All that’s left is to see if that progress carries over on Friday at 7 p.m., with the support of their home crowd behind them.

Stanwood has more wins this season (four) than the three teams Arlington has defeated combined (two), but the Eagles are as motivated as ever to prove their progression goes beyond facing lighter competition.

More than anything, they want to retain the Stilly Cup.

“We’re out for blood because this is our last year,” senior offensive/defensive lineman Colton Hermans said. “We don’t want to leave nothing on the sideline. We want to give it everything we got.”