The Aberdeen Bobcats have taken yet another Food Ball victory over Hoquiam High School, as they win for a third year in a row in the two schools’ 37th annual competition to raise the most money for local food banks.

The final numbers and the winner were announced at the weigh-in at the Grays Harbor PUD building in Aberdeen on Tuesday evening.

Both Hoquiam and Aberdeen collected significantly more food this year. Aberdeen won with 8,406 pounds of food and $85,382.41 collected, which comes out to 862,230.1 pounds of food that will be distributed by Coastal Harvest into local food banks (the money is multiplied by 10 and added to the food collected for a total amount). It’s an increase from 2017, when Aberdeen collected 771,692.3 pounds of food.

Hoquiam raised more as well, with 5,267 pounds of food and $69,648.11 collected, which came out to 701,748.10 pounds of food total, a noticeable increase compared to a little under 650,000 pounds that was raised in 2017.

Putting Aberdeen and Hoquiam’s totals together came out to 1,563,978.20 pounds of food that will go to Coastal Harvest.

“I’m exhausted but so excited, to get one and a half million pounds (of food), and to know we’re doing this for our community, it’s really special,” said Ashley Kohlmeier, Aberdeen High School ASB adviser. “I know the Aberdeen kids are excited for the win and I’m proud of them, but I’m just happy to be done.”

Jackson Folkers, a senior at Hoquiam High School who helps organize their Food Ball events, said it has been a busy schedule of events this year, and that this year’s competition saw less drama than normal between the two teams.

“At the beginning it was very stressful, especially with some of our events,” said Folkers. “Overall I think we raised a lot of money, more than usual. … It gets very competitive, and I think this year is the first time without a lot of drama.”

For some students like Folkers, helping organize Food Ball events going back to Nov. 2 take up much of their days, and he said he usually wouldn’t get home until 10:30 or 11 p.m. each day since he’s also on the football team.

To announce the winner, both the Aberdeen Bobcat and Hoquiam Grizzly mascots emerged together from the PUD office, before the Bobcat started celebrating to represent that Aberdeen won.

Asked what it’s like to beat Hoquiam three years in a row, Aberdeen sophomore Jimmy Boora said “it feels real good.”