To this point, KingCo 4A, Week 2...

Crest Division

Once again the Crest Division of KingCo 4A appears to be the better of the two divisions. Eastlake and Skyline, seperated by just over a mile, are even closer in the polls. I have seen a poll with Skyline on top of Eastlake, some polls have it the other way around. All I know is the October 21'st game between the two schools is likely to determine who finishes first.

I have left the Issaquah Eagles out of the top paragraph and it might be a bad move. The Eagles are 2-0 with wins of 48-0 over Heritage(Vancouver,WA) and 42-7 over Liberty. This week they travel to Memorial Stadium in Seattle to take on the 2-0 Ballard Beavers. A week later they will host the Skyline Spartans before finishing up non-league play at home vs the Kamiak Knights. The Eagles are a tough team, but personally I see them coming in just behind the top two schools.

The Eastlake Wolves have started the season by beating Central Kitsap 35-14 and Snohomish 42-14. Expect those types of scores for a few more weeks as the Wolves host Roosevelt before traveling to Redmond in games they should win by atleast double digits. The toughest part of their schedule comes at the end of the season when they host Issaqauh and Skyline in back to back weeks to end the season.

The Skyline Spartans are in Oregon this week to take on the Lake Oswego Lakers(2-0). The Spartans started the season with a big win, 62-27 over Liberty before losing to the Bellevue Wolverines in week two 31-17. When they return home from Oregon they will go right into league play at Issaqauh before coming home to play Redmond. Should the Spartans get through Issaquah expect them to coast to into Eastlake ready to play for first place.

Last season the Newport Knights got wins at the right time to get into the playoffs before running into the Chiawana Riverhawks. This year they started the season with a 43-34 win at Interlake before returning home and losing to Mercer Island 36-21. The schedule is not easy for the Knights as they are home vs Bothell this week before traveling to Everett Memorial Stadium to face the Cascade Bruins. Following that they get Eastlake and Skyline in back to back weeks at home. They finish the season at Issaquah in a game that will most likely have seeding implications.

The Redmond Mustangs appear to be in for a rough season. They started the season with losses to Juanita 48-16 and Lake Washington 39-17. They are just beginning the tough part of their schedule as they travel to Woodinville(2-0) next week before hosting Eastlake(2-0). Following that they again hit the road this time to Skyline(1-1) before playing host to Issaquah(2-0). They finish the season vs Newport(1-1) and then go to Edmonds-Woodway(1-1). So from here out the Mustangs face teams with a combined record of 8-2.

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Crown Division

In the Crown Division we have a four way tie at the top and none of them are Bothell. The Ballard Beavers, Inglemoor Vikings, Roosevelt Roughriders and Woodinville Falcons are all 2-0 with one game before heading into league play. The Bothell Cougars and Garfield Bulldogs are both 1-1.

The Inglemoor Vikings were picked by the coaches to finish 3rd in the division behind Bothell and Woodinvill, and they still might, but after two weeks of play they have the two most impressive victories. In week one they shutout Snohomish 10-0 before coming home and defeating 3A rival Juanita 19-0 last friday. They have a punishing defense that did not allow a first down to Juanita until 1:11 was left in the third quarter. The offense is an interesting one, they run a pistol offense and alternate quarterbacks. They have underrated runningbacks in Junior Vi and Jake Jones and any team that is coached by Frank Naish has to be considered a threat. The Vikings only leave Pop Keeney Stadium twice the rest of the season, both times going to Memorial Stadium.

The Woodinville Falcons have two big wins to start their season over Mount Si 31-10 and Monroe 35-0. The Falcons play will actually not have to play away from Pop Keeney again untilo week 8 at Roosevelt. They will be home for three straight against Redmond, Garfield and Ballard. After that they will be the visitor at Pop Keeney when they "travel" to play Bothell and Inglemoor. I would expect the Falcons to be 5-0 when they meet up with Bothell on October 7th. Should they get by the Cougars, the following week against the Inglemoor Vikings should be for first place.

The next three weeks for the Ballard Beavers will either make or break their season. They will host Issaquah and Inglemoor before heading to Pop Keeney to play Woodinville. If they can somehow upset the Vikings or Falcons they could really be in position for a good run. The Beavers got wins over Sammamish 34-27 and Franklin 50-20 in the first two weeks of the season under first year head coach Joey Thomas. Putting up 87 points in two games is always impressive and if they can do that again in the next three weeks, they will be contenders.

If the Roosevelt RoughRiders are gonna make a run at the playoffs, they wont have to go very far to do it. Four of their five League games are at Memorial Stadium in Seattle. The RoughRiders are 2-0 after beating Franklin 39-15 and Interlake 21-7. Roosevelt is another team with a first year head coach in Matt Nelsen. He is gonna need his players to play tough defense as they are not a team that is likely to score a lot of points.

The Bothell Cougars were picked by the coaches to finish first in the divisions and are still probably the favorites. They beat the Union Titans(Vancouver,WA) 27-10 in week one before losing to the Mount Si Wildcats the following week 26-14. The Cougars go on the road for the next three weeks, even though the third game is at Pop Keeney, when they play Newport, Roosevelt and Inglemoor. I expect the "Blue Train" to get back on the tracks the next few weeks and make a fun at another Crown Divison Championship.

To say the Garfield Bulldogs have had an eventful first two week might be an understatement. In the opening game of the season at Lake Washington, first year Bulldog Head Coach Kevin Goliday would pull his team from the field after he felt his players safety was in danger. Here is a link to some info Garfield Bulldogs Link. They would forfeit the finish of that game but win the following week 27-22 over the Sammamish Totems. The Bulldogs are another team that doesn't have to travel much as they will play four games at Memorial Stadium.