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June 11th, 2012
Bellevue Memorial Stadium
On a absolutely gorgeous Monday afternoon, the Bellevue Wolverines would play host to the Kennedy Catholic Lancers and Archbishop Murphy Wildcats in a three team scrimmage.
This was very intriguing to me on a few fronts. Bellevue, as always, looks to be the top dogs in 3A. Being a big KingCo supporter, I have seen some very good Wolverine teams over the past ten years. Could this be the best team Butch Goncharoff has put together? Archbishop Murphy has been to two straight 2A state title games, but that isn't good enough and head coach Dave Ward was shown the door. What would the Wildcats look like under new head coach Bill Marsh? Graduation hit the Kennedy Catholic Lancers fairly hard this season. Does legendary head coach Bob Bourgette still have some magic up his sleeves?
I arrived at the stadium at about 3:30 and began watching Bellevue go through their warmups. Kennedy and Archbishop Murphy had yet to show so that allowed me to focus on Bellevue. First thing I noticed is this Bellevue team does not appear to have the same size up front that Bellevue teams of the past have had. I am not saying these guys are small, but they did not have the 2-3 guys that scare you just looking at them. Archbishop Murphy showed up about 15 minutes later and brought about 35 players. Kennedy would show up a few minutes later and would be the only team wearing jerseys with numbers on them.
As soon as Kennedy stepped on the field I couldn't stop watching TE/DE Cole Madison. Listed at 6'4" and 240 lbs, Madison was one of the most physically impressive kids on the field. I had seen Madison play last season against Archbishop Murphy and frankly he didn't stand out. If I was a coach looking at Madison, I would be looking at him as a DE or possibly on the OL. He uses his hands very well in every aspect of the game from catching the ball to blocking and on defense when he is shedding a block. I really liked what I saw.
The Bellevue Wolverines were everything they are cracked up to be. This is easily one of the fastest Wolverine team I have ever seen. They moved the ball with ease offensively and hardly gave an inch on defense. Defensively, they fly to the ball like no other. As good as they are on offense, they are even better on defense. I would not want to have to play this team.
Archbishop Murphy looked very good. They really do not catch your eye physically. They do however catch your ear once the ball is snapped. The Wildcats are definitely a physical team and showed that against Bellevue. The Wolverines were almost unable to run the ball up the middle as. I don't think I would say Archbishop Murphy "Stacked The Box" as much as I will say they were dedicated to not getting beat inside. Wildcat linebackers were not caught following a Bellevue fake and were in position to make the plays. Where Bellevue had success was outside. Archbishop Murphy simply couldn't keep up with the defending champs.
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June 14th, 2012
Auburn Memorial Stadium
The only scrimmage that featured four teams was hosted by the Auburn Trojans and featured the Auburn Mountainview Lions, Curtis Vikings and Fife Trojans. I was really excited to see Auburn as I coached a bunch of players when they played for the Auburn Jr Football program. I was also excited to see a few players from Auburn Mountainview that were on my list of players to see.
To start the two Auburn schools would face each other with Curtis and Fife playing on the other half. First thing I have to say, Two blue schools with blue helmets and blue jerseys makes it very hard to watch. Not complaining, just throwing it out there. My one complaint will be one that I am sure will get me some emails. The teams were playing with not tackling. They were expected to wrap-up and chop their feet but not bring the ball carrier down. I really do not like this. Every play, lineman were hitting and throwing big blocks, but LB's and DB's were not allowed to get in the action. Just my opinion.
As far as the teams go, Auburn did exactly what Auburn does. Runs a lot of Jet Sweet type stuff and pounds 4-5 yards at a time. It works, but frankly I think their version is very boring. Defensively they were fun to watch. They have a lot of size from front to back. Their two DT's had to both be close to 290 lbs and were tough to move. When I see Kevin Shelton the first thing I think is Junior Seau. Not only was he wearing #55, but he was EVERYWHERE! That kid will be fun to keep an eye on this season. Another kid that really stood out for me was Safety, TJ Muao. The only real hit of the day came on a 5 yard slant that TJ was waiting on and it resulted in a HUGE hit and TJ sitting on the sideline for about a half hour.
Auburn Mountainview looked a little off on offense. Come to find out, they had lost their QB a week earlier to injury. This team will be just fine on offense when he is healthy. Defensively they looked tough. DB, Devin Bryant is one I will be keeping an eye on. The kid has big play ability and is not at all afraid of contact. Loved the way he plays. Another standout was LB Maino Mose. If he wasn't involved in the tackle, he was within a few yards. Good motor on that one.
The team that impressed me most were the Fife Trojans. Outside of a few offensive plays where they made simple mistakes, they were on top of their game. They broke of lots of big running plays on offense and hardly gave an inch defensively. One player I really like from Fife was 2014 class OLB, Keanu Songcuan. The kid has good size and really move well. From some of the few videos I can find, it looks like he played a lot as a Sophomore. Keanu Songcuan Highlights.
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June 15th, 2012
Stadium Bowl
A beautiful Friday would be wrapped up and the stadium with the best view a stadium in our state has to offer. The Stadium Tigers were hosting the Sumner Spartans and Enumclaw Hornets. I will admit that I had never seen any of these three teams play before today.
Of the three teams on the day, the best all-around team were the Enumclaw Hornets. They definitely had the most size. They were the most physical and aggressive of the three teams. Junior running back Mauricio Portillo was impressive before having to leave the game with a dislocated elbow. He has good speed and is definitely afraid of contact. It should be noted that he scored on the play he was injured. Looked like a freak accident. Will have to keep an eye on that kid.
The most impressive player on the field was Junior LT/MLB, Austin Striplin of the Sumner Spartans. While he does need some work on his technique on the offensive side of the ball, he is advanced on the defensive side. At 6'3" and 240 lbs, I see him eventually playing DE. His instincts make up for a slight lack of speed. He was never beat to the sideline as he was usually going there before the back knew he was bouncing it outside. I am very excited to watch him progress over the next two seasons.
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- Doug Pacey of the Tacoma News Tribune did what he calls "way-too-early preseason rankings". I will never argue with Doug as to me, he is the authority on who is who in our state. Dude knows his stuff. Anyway, here are a few links... 4A Rankings, 3A Rankings, 2A Rankings and 1A Rankings.
- Doug also passed along a really cool link. The WIAA two year classifications data can be found right here. It is worth a look. You can see which schools are "Opting Up". This is a really cool chart. Kinda crazy how the two schools in Kirkland are both almost small enough to be 2A. Lake Washington is actually in 2A this year and Juanita was only about 10 students above the 2A limit.
- A few nights ago I got an idea to come up with an "All-Unknown Team". The general idea is to post video, thoughts from myself and hopefully a thought from the players coach. I decided to go with 12 players on each side of the ball. On offense it will be 1-QB, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE and 5-OL. The OL will not be by separate by C, G, T. As a matter of fact, I have 3-C's on my list. Defensively I decided to go with 4-DL, 4-LB and 4-DB's. Some of the players do not play that position now, but I see them being that position at the next level. A kid who plays LB, may be undersized for the position and make the transition to Safety in college. He would be considered a DB on my list. Look for the offense mid of the week and defense at the end of the week. If you have any suggestions for the team, feel free to shoot them my way.
- I decided to start a shop where people can buy t-shirts, sweatshirts, ect. with a logo and my website on it. I do not intend to make any money off of your purchase and have set my commission at $0. Look for the page to be up by the end of the week.
- I am always looking to help promote players. If you know a player that has game highlights and deserves some recognition, be sure to send the video my way. I will view the video and pass the link along to my followers. You really do not know who will be looking at my page or twitter account at anytime.
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