2-Way ANOVA-Data is Annual, Can 1 Variable be "Time"?

My stats project fell apart at the last minute, so I'm having to start over... or at least switch directions, and now I'm faced with a new question. If my data is annual, can one of my variables also be "time", so as to show if there's been a change statistically over time? If I group the data into say groups of three years, can that serve as not only my replicated data, but also one of my variables? I understand that annual data is not technically replicated data, but the example of a prior project that was shown to us used annual reports for its data. Any help would be appreciated, as I'm now down to crunch time with this project. I have another option if this isn't possible, but this is the quicker of the two. Thanks!