Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 264 - 2024 Bellingham Bayhawks Football Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 264 - 2024 Bellingham Bayhawks Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is senior Gave Van Hofwegen and you're listening to
0:02
Speaker 1: the Bellingham football preview on the Walcome Preps podcast with
0:05
Speaker 1: Tyler and Ryland.
0:06
Speaker 2: Go BayHawks getings and Welcome into the Watcome Preps Podcast.
0:27
Speaker 2: This is episode at two and sixty four, the first
0:30
Speaker 2: of ten football team previews. I'm Ron Spencer. Along with
0:33
Speaker 2: me as always is Tyler Anderson of What Come Preps. Tyler,
0:37
Speaker 2: how are we doing?
0:38
Speaker 1: Doing great? I'm excited. I've been to a lot of
0:41
Speaker 1: football practices and I love this time of the year.
0:45
Speaker 1: This is this is this is like the home stretch
0:48
Speaker 1: after Thanksgiving heading into Christmas right now, because this is
0:51
Speaker 1: I mean, I love high school football. But when we
0:53
Speaker 1: get to talk about reviews and talk about the teams,
0:56
Speaker 1: and it's just it's new and you just don't really know.
0:59
Speaker 1: Our picks are going to be horrible in week one
1:02
Speaker 1: because we just don't know, and I love it all.
1:04
Speaker 2: It's I'm excited, Well, your picks are going to be horrible.
1:07
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go seven and zero or I don't even
1:09
Speaker 2: know how many games there are off the top my head.
1:11
Speaker 2: But Tyler, that being said, before we go too far,
1:13
Speaker 2: we need to give a thank you to Gabe van Hofwagon.
1:16
Speaker 2: Now if you don't know Gabe, then you don't know
1:19
Speaker 2: who it is we're talking about today, what team we're
1:21
Speaker 2: talking about today. So just hang on. We're gonna get
1:23
Speaker 2: there in a second. Kurtaberry Farm dot com is the
1:25
Speaker 2: website of Kurt Mayberry Farm. Big time sponsor. Here we
1:28
Speaker 2: love Kurt Mayberry Farm. Very fourth generation, family owned and operated,
1:31
Speaker 2: a berry farm committed to growing the highest quality berries, strawberries, blueberries,
1:36
Speaker 2: and raspberries. You can find them online at Kurt with
1:39
Speaker 2: A C. Mayberry A B E. R Ry Farm dot com. Yeah,
1:44
Speaker 2: head on over there, take a look what they got
1:46
Speaker 2: going on, Tyler. I know you're a huge fan. They
1:48
Speaker 2: give you what did they give you before? I remember
1:50
Speaker 2: what was the strawberries?
1:51
Speaker 1: Strawberries and raspberries?
1:53
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, goodness, do you still have any left? Like?
1:56
Speaker 2: How well did they hold in your freezer? Oh?
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Speaker 1: They're good. I individually begged a bunch like a bunch
2:02
Speaker 1: of you know, chunks of them, you know, And we've
2:05
Speaker 1: been through probably seventy strawberries. I think we went through
2:11
Speaker 1: all the raspberries. So we still have some strawberries left.
2:15
Speaker 2: Those those raspberries would have lasted about nine minutes with me.
2:18
Speaker 2: What it would have been, I know, and I don't
2:19
Speaker 2: even know. I don't even know how many pounds you got,
2:21
Speaker 2: but they would have they would not have lasted Like
2:24
Speaker 2: I would have been over there with red all over
2:26
Speaker 2: my face and seeds all in my teeth, and I'd
2:29
Speaker 2: have been ugly, but I would have been happy.
2:30
Speaker 1: What was crazy, too, is when we were going through
2:32
Speaker 1: the raspberries and there was just kind of like raspberry
2:34
Speaker 1: juice left. I mixed that with lemonade.
2:37
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you dog, huge, dirty dog. Oh my goodness,
2:42
Speaker 2: can be fired up over here, Tyler. Yeah, make me think,
2:45
Speaker 2: oh yes, wow. Maybe even a little bit of like
2:48
Speaker 2: seven up in there too, give a little bit of
2:49
Speaker 2: yellow bubbles. Yeah, yeah, Tyler. Today we are talking about
2:54
Speaker 2: the Bellingham BayHawks. That's where Gay van Hofwagen goes. Later
2:57
Speaker 2: today we'll be previewing the Blaine Border Rights. This is
3:01
Speaker 2: going out at nine am Blaine. That will be out
3:04
Speaker 2: at five pm. So for the next including today, for
3:07
Speaker 2: the next five days, you'll be getting a podcast at
3:10
Speaker 2: nine am and five pm here, So be sure to
3:13
Speaker 2: subscribe because you just want those notifications so that you
3:16
Speaker 2: can stop what you're doing, even if you're working, like
3:20
Speaker 2: you might even have to get fired to be able
3:21
Speaker 2: to listen to these things. But stop what you're doing
3:24
Speaker 2: to listen to them. Yeah, absolutely it is. But we're
3:27
Speaker 2: going to get all ten teams, so tomorrow you'll be
3:30
Speaker 2: able to hear both Linden schools, so'll be on the
3:32
Speaker 2: lookout for those two. After that we will eventually get
3:36
Speaker 2: to all ten, so be sure to subscribe. Listen, be
3:40
Speaker 2: ready here on walkompreps dot com. Going to have all
3:42
Speaker 2: of the information. If you're listening to this, you might
3:46
Speaker 2: even want to go to walkompreps dot com and look
3:49
Speaker 2: at the preview. You might be finding this on the preview.
3:52
Speaker 2: You might have got the notification, and now you need
3:54
Speaker 2: to go look at walkam Preps's website because Tyler's got
3:57
Speaker 2: all kinds of crazy information there and it kind of
4:00
Speaker 2: like it's almost like reading a book and listening to
4:04
Speaker 2: it on tape at the same time as what we're doing.
4:06
Speaker 2: Sort of. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's kind of the
4:08
Speaker 2: best way to put it. But anyway, Tyler, Yes, second
4:13
Speaker 2: day of fall camp, you were out there. Is it
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Speaker 2: considered downtown Bellingham? Is that where you go, it's pretty.
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Speaker 1: Close to it. Yeah, I would say out of the
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Speaker 1: other two Bellian schools, it's the closest wind to Bent
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Speaker 1: to downtown for sure.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean like Linden, you're like out there on
4:29
Speaker 2: the cow patch, but like you know, or I guess
4:31
Speaker 2: maybe more like Nuksack Valley. But is there like a name,
4:35
Speaker 2: like is it like an Education hill, you know, like
4:37
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, like they got a cool
4:39
Speaker 2: name or anything for that little area where they're.
4:40
Speaker 1: I mean it's yeah, I should know, but it's kind
4:45
Speaker 1: of like like the York neighborhood is pretty close, you know.
4:49
Speaker 1: There's it's kind of in the middle of a few things.
4:51
Speaker 1: I mean, Sea Home is in the you know, near
4:53
Speaker 1: near fair Haven there Seaholme Hill.
4:55
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, I know fair Haven. I've heard that.
4:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like the south side of Bellingham. And and kind
5:02
Speaker 1: of that first main exit when you're coming up north,
5:05
Speaker 1: you know, and and Squalacum is you know, it's it's
5:08
Speaker 1: up it's east a little bit. It's it's over you know,
5:11
Speaker 1: closer to like Mount Baker School district, right off the
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Speaker 1: Mount Baker Highway there. So Bellingham's kind of smack dab
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Speaker 1: in the middle.
5:17
Speaker 2: So Squalcum is more over there by the Lucy Lagoon
5:20
Speaker 2: is what it's called. Yeah, anyway, Tyler, second day of
5:22
Speaker 2: fall camp, you headed out there, you got out there,
5:25
Speaker 2: did you hit like me Mexico on the way? Oh?
5:28
Speaker 1: Man, I'm sure I did. It was kind of it's
5:30
Speaker 1: all been a whirlwind. I think we we came from
5:34
Speaker 1: Linden in the morning and then we went out to
5:36
Speaker 1: Bellingham and and uh, there was a little break in between,
5:40
Speaker 1: but but yeah, it was it was It was pretty cool.
5:43
Speaker 1: I mean the first thing, the weather wasn't too bad
5:46
Speaker 1: that day. There's been some ups and downs this last
5:48
Speaker 1: week and and it was still pretty nice. It's unique
5:53
Speaker 1: because you know, usually this time you're looking at uh,
5:56
Speaker 1: you know, the heat index, the smoke indicator, and and
6:00
Speaker 1: it was more about you know, how bad is it
6:02
Speaker 1: going to rain? But it was okay. The thing that
6:06
Speaker 1: really really jumped out was the numbers for Bellingham close
6:09
Speaker 1: to one hundred kids, which is just awesome. You know, yes,
6:14
Speaker 1: it is awesome, and it's something that you just said
6:16
Speaker 1: that a few years ago you'd be like, what, there's
6:19
Speaker 1: no way, And so that was the big, big initial
6:23
Speaker 1: takeaway for me, right off the bat.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean this is a program that five years
6:28
Speaker 2: ago didn't finish the season because they had too many injuries.
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Speaker 2: Now we're looking at getting close to triple digits as
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Speaker 2: far as numbers goes. That's awesome. I mean that is
6:36
Speaker 2: that is truly awesome. So that's really good to see. Now, Tyler.
6:40
Speaker 2: Something new we're doing here on the old podcast this
6:42
Speaker 2: year on the preview is you always sit down and
6:45
Speaker 2: you do a little interview with the coaches. But I said, hey,
6:48
Speaker 2: what do you think about doing one where we could
6:50
Speaker 2: play it on the podcast? You were like, I like
6:52
Speaker 2: that idea. So what you did is you have brought
6:55
Speaker 2: around your trusty little recorder. There you recorded an interview
6:58
Speaker 2: with coach Leonard. Seven minutes in thirty seconds around in
7:02
Speaker 2: that range is what you got here with Coach Leonard.
7:04
Speaker 2: So what we're gonna do is we're gonna step back
7:06
Speaker 2: real quick. Let you and Coach Leonard take it away
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Speaker 2: and get Coach Leonard's thoughts on the team. I mean, Tyler,
7:13
Speaker 2: you and I consider him talk all we want, but
7:14
Speaker 2: who better than coach Leonard? Right, So let's go, Tyler,
7:18
Speaker 2: Coach Leonard take it away.
7:21
Speaker 1: This is Tyler Anderson with Walkin Preps and we are
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Speaker 1: on location at Bellingham High School with coach Adam Leonard
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Speaker 1: and coach My first question is rejoining the Northwest Conference
7:31
Speaker 1: really really exciting news when I heard it selfishly, because
7:34
Speaker 1: you're gonna play other Walking County teams quite a bit.
7:37
Speaker 1: How's the overall feeling about that, I would have.
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Speaker 3: To say in one word, exciting, Exciting is the key word.
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Speaker 3: We have been so fortunate to get back into the conference.
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Speaker 3: We're so excited. Our student athletes are just just fired
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Speaker 3: up to be a part its again. The old rivalries
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Speaker 3: are back. See home Bellingham Swallow and Bellingham Civic Stadium's
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Speaker 3: going to be rocking on Friday nights. We are so
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Speaker 3: excited that student athletes were bugging me since the end
8:02
Speaker 3: of last season, are going to be in the conference? Coach,
8:04
Speaker 3: We're going to be in the conference. Now that we're
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Speaker 3: back in the conference, it's just the intensity has turned up,
8:10
Speaker 3: the focus has turned up. We just start couldn't be
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Speaker 3: happier about being able to compete in what I believe
8:15
Speaker 3: is the toughest two A conference in the state of Washington.
8:18
Speaker 1: And you mentioned that some coaches have told me that
8:21
Speaker 1: it's like the SEC of the State of Washington, right,
8:25
Speaker 1: but with this new rule now with week ten being
8:28
Speaker 1: the round of thirty two, that makes it a little
8:31
Speaker 1: different for you know, playing in a tough conference. How
8:35
Speaker 1: can that benefit the BayHawks.
8:37
Speaker 3: Well, obviously, you know, you go ask our varsity athletes
8:41
Speaker 3: right now, they're like, well, we're going to make the playoffs.
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Speaker 3: We're going to be there, We're going to be in
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Speaker 3: week ten, We're gonna be in a matchup with another
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Speaker 3: two A team around the state. And it just it
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Speaker 3: gives them something in a goal to achieve. I like
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Speaker 3: to break my goals down a little bit smaller into hey,
8:54
Speaker 3: I'm worried about my first non league game against Chief
8:57
Speaker 3: self in week one, and then you know, week two
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Speaker 3: we have our first conference game against Lakewood. Those are
9:01
Speaker 3: my goals day by day, game by game. But you
9:04
Speaker 3: know they look bast Hey they're talking about how many
9:07
Speaker 3: teams are getting in. It just it just creates so
9:09
Speaker 3: much excitement. And like you said, this is like the
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Speaker 3: SEC conference of the state for two A and to
9:14
Speaker 3: be in that top four whatever group it is, to
9:16
Speaker 3: get to that Week ten match up four playoff implications,
9:20
Speaker 3: it's a huge opportunity. It's a huge, you know goal,
9:23
Speaker 3: and it's just something that the students have you know,
9:25
Speaker 3: been thinking about ever since the announcement was made that
9:27
Speaker 3: we were back in the conference.
9:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great thing because, like I've said to
9:31
Speaker 1: all the other coaches, you're getting the best sixteen into
9:34
Speaker 1: the state tournament, right. I mean, it's you're doing it
9:37
Speaker 1: the right way, and I think it's a good thing.
9:39
Speaker 1: The three A and four I have been doing it
9:40
Speaker 1: for a while now, two A and one A. This
9:42
Speaker 1: is your third year as the head coach for Bellingham.
9:46
Speaker 1: You know, the first year is always kind of you're
9:47
Speaker 1: thrown into it and it's a little different. Second year
9:49
Speaker 1: is like, Okay, I got a year under my belt.
9:51
Speaker 1: How are you feeling that with your third year? And
9:53
Speaker 1: I know you've coached a lot of these kids when
9:54
Speaker 1: they were much younger as well.
9:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, coach a lot of the kids in the county
9:58
Speaker 3: since they were a little you know, youth athletes. But
10:01
Speaker 3: first year was a tough year. Still play that independent schedule.
10:04
Speaker 3: We were still coming off the remnants of the old
10:07
Speaker 3: system where guys would quit, We had injuries, we were
10:09
Speaker 3: kind of barely finishing the season. We were taking our
10:12
Speaker 3: lumps even in the independent schedule. You know, year two
10:15
Speaker 3: comes over, you know, we're blessed to get a couple
10:18
Speaker 3: guys that move into the area transfers, you know, that's
10:21
Speaker 3: from Squalkam and from Mount Baker. Kind of created the dynamic.
10:24
Speaker 3: I got more guys to come out, athletes that you've
10:26
Speaker 3: probably wanted to see for three years that were not
10:28
Speaker 3: out there. All of a sudden, these amazing athletes Josh
10:30
Speaker 3: Toll and White Stefan come out to join these transfer guys,
10:33
Speaker 3: and we just have a magical season. You know, almost
10:35
Speaker 3: forty points a game, four hundred plus yards per game,
10:38
Speaker 3: and so it was a really great thing. I was
10:40
Speaker 3: honored to have received a Coach of the Year nomination,
10:43
Speaker 3: which was very I was very happy to see that
10:46
Speaker 3: and very exciting. I think there are much more and
10:48
Speaker 3: more worthy coaches than myself that are out there, but
10:51
Speaker 3: it was quite the honor, but feeling really good about
10:54
Speaker 3: it and kind of going not building into year three.
10:56
Speaker 3: Now we have one hundred plus kids into in our
10:58
Speaker 3: final Forums registration, first two days of practice. We're in
11:01
Speaker 3: the eighties. We're gonna have three strong teams. JBC team
11:05
Speaker 3: and of course our varsity, and I'm feeling just very
11:09
Speaker 3: confident that we're ready to compete now that company. I
11:11
Speaker 3: want to compete week in and week out. Not really
11:13
Speaker 3: too worried about the wins and losses right now. That
11:16
Speaker 3: will take care of themselves. What we need for this
11:18
Speaker 3: program is to have a strong showing and to keep
11:20
Speaker 3: building on what we've done for the last two years. Obviously,
11:23
Speaker 3: our goals we want playoffs. We want to be in
11:25
Speaker 3: that Week ten matchup. We want to match up with
11:27
Speaker 3: you tom Water or some team from across state that
11:29
Speaker 3: we get a chance to really show who we are.
11:32
Speaker 3: We thought about that last year on our independent schedule,
11:34
Speaker 3: just what if they did it by RPI rankings and
11:36
Speaker 3: we'd been that thirty second team that maybe come in
11:38
Speaker 3: and get the opportunity to play like an Enomclaw or
11:41
Speaker 3: a Linden or a Tumwater. And now we're finally going
11:45
Speaker 3: to get those opportunities with this new round of thirty two.
11:47
Speaker 3: It's just such such a great thing for high school
11:49
Speaker 3: football here in the state. So yeah, we in my
11:52
Speaker 3: third year, we're just we're part of it again. And
11:55
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, especially with the crosstown rivals Friday Night
11:58
Speaker 3: it's going to be electric. I know.
12:00
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Those are just it's gonna bring me back.
12:02
Speaker 1: And I love the history obviously, so it's gonna kind
12:04
Speaker 1: of feel like that again. Tell me about your offense.
12:08
Speaker 1: What do you like about your offense?
12:10
Speaker 2: Right now?
12:10
Speaker 1: If if just the regular Joe Bellingham fan comes to
12:14
Speaker 1: a game and they're gonna are they gonna see kind
12:16
Speaker 1: of what they've been seeing or is it are you
12:18
Speaker 1: just you don't know yet?
12:20
Speaker 3: Well, I don't want to give too much away, Tyler,
12:22
Speaker 3: but what they're gonna see is they're gonna see variations. Yeah,
12:24
Speaker 3: they're going to see diversity, They're gonna see things. They're
12:28
Speaker 3: not gonna see the same thing twice. And I think
12:31
Speaker 3: the element of surprise not difficult to prepare for. Those
12:35
Speaker 3: are terms I think I want other coaches and other
12:37
Speaker 3: people to say about Bellingham, we just don't know what
12:39
Speaker 3: they're gonna do. We don't know they're going to come
12:40
Speaker 3: out in next What I like about our offense. We
12:43
Speaker 3: have great athletes. We have speed. We have a Cooper Whipple,
12:46
Speaker 3: a soccer player that's coming out the fastest hit on
12:49
Speaker 3: the team. We have a transfer student who moved into
12:52
Speaker 3: the area from Seahome who play with their JV running
12:55
Speaker 3: back who's coming in and it's going to work in
12:58
Speaker 3: a running back situation, split back situation. We have returning
13:02
Speaker 3: guys Tyler frost One almost uh you know, we talk
13:05
Speaker 3: about it. We'll talk about them defensively in a moment,
13:06
Speaker 3: but one of the most feared offensive players we have too.
13:10
Speaker 3: We like what we have with Joe Harwood. He's probably
13:12
Speaker 3: one of the best athletes a of Bellingham High School.
13:14
Speaker 3: He's are starting catcher in baseball, He's are starting power
13:16
Speaker 3: forward and basketball, and he's right now going to be
13:18
Speaker 3: competing for that starting quarterback spot. Don't know what that
13:21
Speaker 3: who that's gonna go to yet, but I definitely he's
13:22
Speaker 3: a front runner for that. I'm excited about our athleticism,
13:25
Speaker 3: excited about our returning line. I'm excited about just the uh,
13:30
Speaker 3: just the the attitude. I haven't seen it, you know,
13:34
Speaker 3: in It's the best attitude I've seen in the three years.
13:36
Speaker 3: Because the kids are confident, and they're excited and they're invested.
13:39
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's gonna make us a really
13:41
Speaker 3: competitive team this year.
13:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love hearing that. And speaking of love, I
13:45
Speaker 1: love the defense that you guys have had the linebacking
13:48
Speaker 1: corps just seems like, are these guys ever gonna graduate?
13:51
Speaker 1: It seems like you've had these same linebackers forever. Tell
13:54
Speaker 1: me about what you like about your defense.
13:56
Speaker 3: I love our defense. Our defense is returning. They're coming back,
13:59
Speaker 3: led by Tyler Frost, Gabriel van Hofwagon, Kaiser Barker interior line.
14:05
Speaker 3: I mean, Jordan Stone was a player.
14:08
Speaker 2: Of the week.
14:09
Speaker 3: I think he did something last year hasn't been done.
14:10
Speaker 3: Two defensive touchdowns in one game last year. These guys
14:14
Speaker 3: are all coming back. And we have a young man
14:16
Speaker 3: who led the entire county last year in interceptions and
14:20
Speaker 3: Owen Hanstead, who's like you said, they haven't graduated yet
14:22
Speaker 3: because they started playing really early when they were freshman
14:24
Speaker 3: and sophomore. So he'll be coming back for his junior year.
14:27
Speaker 3: And Nate Loss, his partner in crime. Back there get
14:31
Speaker 3: a chance to look at him today, BLI Henderson looks phenomenal.
14:34
Speaker 3: He's physical, he's he's getting looks right now by Central
14:36
Speaker 3: Washington University, the other Division two and Division three schools.
14:39
Speaker 3: He's just he's a he has a specimen at corner
14:42
Speaker 3: and you know, I got we got a few tricks
14:44
Speaker 3: up our suit where we're going to play him too,
14:45
Speaker 3: you know, get him closer to the ball on defense.
14:47
Speaker 3: So we were really excited about our speed. We were
14:49
Speaker 3: really excited about the way we hit, and we just
14:54
Speaker 3: especially having a little bit of tests in spring and
14:56
Speaker 3: some camp tests, we felt like we were a physical
14:58
Speaker 3: team and that's something that we really pride ourselves and
15:01
Speaker 3: being hardworking, physical and setting the tone on defense.
15:04
Speaker 2: All right, thanks Coach Leonard and Tyler, I mean, first
15:08
Speaker 2: of a kind, we've never done it before. So yeah, now, Tyler,
15:12
Speaker 2: you only got nine more to go, so get on that.
15:16
Speaker 2: But yeah, Tyler, so you know Coach Leonard's thoughts. It's
15:20
Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing for us to get
15:21
Speaker 2: the you know, the thoughts from the headman on it
15:23
Speaker 2: because nobody knows the team. Actually, you might know the
15:25
Speaker 2: team better than the coaches, you really know. Now, it's
15:29
Speaker 2: always good to get the coaches thoughts on things. So
15:32
Speaker 2: that's fun. Let's take a look though, as we get
15:35
Speaker 2: into the preview here on our end, let's take a
15:37
Speaker 2: look back at last year. Tyler and I did mention
15:40
Speaker 2: head coach Adam Leonard he is going into his third
15:42
Speaker 2: season with the BayHawks, nine and eleven overall, playing their
15:46
Speaker 2: games out there at Civic Stadium. Last year six and four. Now,
15:50
Speaker 2: this is a team started off zero to three, Tyler,
15:53
Speaker 2: but three games they probably feel like they should have won,
15:57
Speaker 2: and then they got hot and they got five straight wins,
16:01
Speaker 2: including a couple of wins where they just absolutely blasted
16:04
Speaker 2: some teams, and then finished the season with a lost
16:07
Speaker 2: of Meridian and a win over Sultan. So a six
16:10
Speaker 2: and four season, there are some some very big losses
16:15
Speaker 2: in terms of production and obviously athleticism some things, but
16:19
Speaker 2: as you start to look at the top returners, there
16:21
Speaker 2: are some really nice pieces there as well. So this
16:25
Speaker 2: is one of those teams where you know, you lose
16:28
Speaker 2: some really tough guys that you don't want to lose,
16:32
Speaker 2: but also you bring back some really nice pieces Tyler,
16:34
Speaker 2: and I think the quarterback and running back position, or
16:39
Speaker 2: the backfield if you will, at Bellingham is maybe a
16:44
Speaker 2: microcosm of that kind of in general. You've got some
16:47
Speaker 2: guys that are coming back, you've got some guys that
16:50
Speaker 2: are new, You've got some you know, some exciting pieces,
16:52
Speaker 2: and you've got a guy that at quarterback that the
16:55
Speaker 2: name sounds familiar, but we don't know a ton about
16:58
Speaker 2: the guy.
16:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was one of this was one of my
17:00
Speaker 1: biggest question marks for the whole county going into this
17:03
Speaker 1: upcoming year, was what's Bellingham going to do at quarterback?
17:06
Speaker 1: They had a lot of different options. Obviously, you graduated
17:09
Speaker 1: Josh Leonard, who broke like ten different school records, and
17:12
Speaker 1: then and then you have to figure out what you're
17:16
Speaker 1: gonna do. And they had a lot of different kinds
17:19
Speaker 1: of options. You know, you had Eli good Buffalo who
17:22
Speaker 1: was the backup, got a little bit of playing time.
17:25
Speaker 1: You have Josh's younger brother, Ben who's now a sophomore,
17:28
Speaker 1: who's just a little bit on the small side, but
17:31
Speaker 1: he's been playing quarterback a long time. You got Owen Hanstead,
17:35
Speaker 1: who could play all sorts of different positions, has lined
17:37
Speaker 1: up at quarterback before. And then they just kind of
17:40
Speaker 1: kept looking and they talked to Joe Harvard, who might
17:43
Speaker 1: be could be the best overall athlete at the school,
17:47
Speaker 1: just said, hey, what do you think? And he went
17:50
Speaker 1: out and hired a quarterback coach and he's been working
17:53
Speaker 1: at it all summer and I think right now he's
17:57
Speaker 1: you know, the lead candidate to be the quarterback on
17:59
Speaker 1: day one. Joe is about six four, one hundred and
18:03
Speaker 1: ninety five pounds.
18:04
Speaker 2: Uh.
18:05
Speaker 1: You know, starting power forward on the basketball team and
18:08
Speaker 1: and starting catcher on the baseball team led them in
18:11
Speaker 1: stolen bases.
18:12
Speaker 2: He might.
18:12
Speaker 1: I mean he was up there in the top three
18:14
Speaker 1: or so in the whole county and stolen bases. He's
18:16
Speaker 1: a he's got good wheels and he's just still learning
18:20
Speaker 1: the position. He's just and he's only a junior now,
18:23
Speaker 1: so uh, i'd be that's kind of a nice thing
18:25
Speaker 1: to have too, is that you know, if he can
18:27
Speaker 1: learn some this year, he can be so much better
18:29
Speaker 1: next year.
18:30
Speaker 2: Uh.
18:31
Speaker 1: It is. It's a it's a it's a great piece
18:33
Speaker 1: to have a quarterback. And you got all these guys
18:36
Speaker 1: you know that can play the position as well that
18:40
Speaker 1: you know could get some time as well, because Joe
18:43
Speaker 1: could be a guy that you'd be a weapon on
18:45
Speaker 1: the outside and who knows, So it'll be really really interesting.
18:49
Speaker 1: I mean I think you know last year with you know,
18:52
Speaker 1: Josh behind center, it was you know, you had to
18:55
Speaker 1: be you had to be real leary of every single throw.
18:57
Speaker 1: He could throw it deep, he could throw it to
18:59
Speaker 1: the outside, could do everything, but he wasn't that much
19:02
Speaker 1: of a running threat. Now I don't know if Joe
19:04
Speaker 1: Harvard is going to be, you know, throwing it fifty
19:07
Speaker 1: yards down the field, but he can be on the run.
19:10
Speaker 1: You know, you could see some option stuff. You know,
19:12
Speaker 1: who knows what you're gonna see, So that could really
19:15
Speaker 1: make it tough for opposing defenses. And then that running back,
19:18
Speaker 1: like you said, Tyler Frost has has returned. He ran
19:23
Speaker 1: for nine touchdowns last year, so he's definitely that powerback option,
19:27
Speaker 1: goal line option kind of guy. But I don't you know,
19:31
Speaker 1: who knows what kind of offense we're gonna see. I
19:33
Speaker 1: saw lots of different formations, so you never really know.
19:36
Speaker 1: But they have a guy that they really like named
19:39
Speaker 1: Cooper Whipple, and he's a soccer player that is just
19:43
Speaker 1: so fast. I mean when they were doing sprints at
19:45
Speaker 1: the end of practice, he's just he's way out ahead
19:47
Speaker 1: of everybody, and he's in great shape and he looked
19:50
Speaker 1: really really good carrying the ball. Now, they didn't have
19:53
Speaker 1: you know, ads on yet or anything, but uh, he
19:56
Speaker 1: looked he looked pretty good. And I think there is
19:58
Speaker 1: some depth there as well. I mean last year it
20:00
Speaker 1: was Holden Bates and Tyler Frost, and I think that
20:03
Speaker 1: they together they carried the ball like ninety five percent
20:06
Speaker 1: of the time. There wasn't a ton of depth. But
20:08
Speaker 1: you have some other guys. You have an Isaiah Davis,
20:11
Speaker 1: Sonny Powell could be like a full back guy. Zigarius
20:15
Speaker 1: Newlan how about that name.
20:16
Speaker 2: That's an yeah.
20:19
Speaker 1: So they have some younger guys that have played running
20:22
Speaker 1: back that could do some good things. Jordan Stone got
20:26
Speaker 1: a few carries last year wearing number fifty four, I believe,
20:30
Speaker 1: which looked great, even ran in a touchdown. They might
20:34
Speaker 1: need him on the offensive line. I'm not quite sure,
20:36
Speaker 1: but he's another option. So I think they have more
20:39
Speaker 1: depth than they've had in the past at running back.
20:42
Speaker 1: And if Cooper Whipple can turn into that home run
20:45
Speaker 1: threat that Holden Bates was last year, then you know,
20:48
Speaker 1: and Tyler Frost just keeps being Tyler Frost, then that's
20:52
Speaker 1: position set. It's gonna be tough to replace Josh Leonard,
20:55
Speaker 1: but like I said, you have a handful of different
20:58
Speaker 1: kinds of quarterbacks that if they put it together and
21:01
Speaker 1: pick up the offense quickly, then it'll go well.
21:04
Speaker 2: Sounds like maybe a quarterback. It's like an uneasy excitement,
21:08
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like not totally sure, but man,
21:11
Speaker 2: he's such a good athlete and you know he's gonna
21:14
Speaker 2: work hard, and so there's some excitement there, but also
21:18
Speaker 2: some questions, if you will. But now, Tyler, let's talk
21:21
Speaker 2: about receivers and tight ends, because this is where it
21:24
Speaker 2: gets kind of interesting because they lose a absolute ton of production.
21:30
Speaker 2: But usually when you say that, you don't look at
21:33
Speaker 2: the returners and go, well, you got two guys that
21:36
Speaker 2: had over twenty catches and over three hundred yards and
21:38
Speaker 2: that's exactly what they have with Bli Henderson and Gave
21:41
Speaker 2: Van Hoffway.
21:42
Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely, I mean, yeah, we saw what Josh told
21:46
Speaker 1: did and Wyatt Stepan did both broke school records and
21:50
Speaker 1: receiving and they were just, you know, complete animals. But
21:55
Speaker 1: Bli Henderson was a playmaker. Gave Ben Hoffeman was a playmaker,
21:59
Speaker 1: and they return Bli Henderson will be on the outside,
22:01
Speaker 1: Gay Van Halfwagen back at tight end, and so that's
22:06
Speaker 1: huge because you can't really key on one guy on
22:08
Speaker 1: the outside, so they will be kind of the main guys.
22:11
Speaker 1: Plus you gotta look for Owen Hanstead again, he's just
22:15
Speaker 1: such a great playmaker, especially on defense that we saw
22:18
Speaker 1: last year. But what he'll be able to do on
22:20
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball, I think he'll be
22:22
Speaker 1: able to get open. I think he could be like
22:25
Speaker 1: that slot kind of guy, you know, you know, coming
22:29
Speaker 1: in around and sweeps some different things and and just
22:33
Speaker 1: making things happen. Nate Lost kind of falls under that
22:36
Speaker 1: as well. They combined for nineteen catches last year, so
22:39
Speaker 1: there is some production as well. I wouldn't be surprised
22:42
Speaker 1: to see Ben Leonard on the outside, especially if he's
22:46
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback. You could see him. He's athletic. He's
22:50
Speaker 1: about five to ten now, he can make some plays.
22:53
Speaker 1: Nicholas Aminsen is another kid that is new to the
22:57
Speaker 1: varsity level somewhat, and but he's an athletic kid as well.
23:02
Speaker 1: So so they have some options on the outside and
23:05
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, and and at tight end. I mean,
23:08
Speaker 1: like you said, Gay Ben Hoffwagens a great is a
23:10
Speaker 1: great starter. Eli good Buffalo who converted quarterback is about
23:15
Speaker 1: six three two forty and just just a junior. So
23:19
Speaker 1: they could go, you know, put an extra guy on
23:21
Speaker 1: the line there as a big be a big blocker, Yeah,
23:24
Speaker 1: Gabe's little brother, Calvin van Hoffwagen, who's pretty much a
23:27
Speaker 1: spitting image of Gabe. He's he's a guy that can
23:30
Speaker 1: do a lot of different things. Really smart kid. You
23:32
Speaker 1: have a senior Gabe Bowers. These are all tight end types.
23:35
Speaker 1: So yeah, they just have like the numbers, like I
23:39
Speaker 1: said in the beginning, Uh, they have options, and they
23:43
Speaker 1: have guys, and you know, they play a non league
23:47
Speaker 1: game first, but there's a league game that second game
23:49
Speaker 1: of the year. So if they can get things kind
23:50
Speaker 1: of figured out quickly at their jamboree that they're hosting
23:54
Speaker 1: and then and then at that first you know, non
23:57
Speaker 1: league game and you kind of get it ready for
23:59
Speaker 1: the for league against Lakewood, then that's gonna go a
24:02
Speaker 1: long way.
24:03
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the trenches here, Tyler, the offensive line,
24:06
Speaker 2: the defensive line. I mean, they they returned some some
24:11
Speaker 2: nice pieces, but you know, losing a guy like Jesse
24:14
Speaker 2: Harward is I mean, I don't even know how to
24:17
Speaker 2: say it. It's huge. I mean, and that's not just
24:20
Speaker 2: saying because he's huge, but it's huge because of what
24:24
Speaker 2: he did at both positions, on both sides of the ball.
24:28
Speaker 2: And I mean, I remember you sent me a video
24:31
Speaker 2: or something of him playing basketball too, and it was like,
24:33
Speaker 2: are you kidding me? Like, talk about a way to
24:36
Speaker 2: fill out a basketball jersey right there. They even have
24:38
Speaker 2: a jersey the size of that guy. But losing a
24:41
Speaker 2: guy like Jesse Harward. But again they returned some really
24:43
Speaker 2: nice pieces.
24:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are some really nice pieces. I think you know,
24:47
Speaker 1: Jesse played right tackle last year. And Finnigan Jensen, who's
24:51
Speaker 1: it seems like he's been on the team, you know,
24:52
Speaker 1: a sixth year senior. Now he was at right guard
24:56
Speaker 1: last year. He'll take over that right tackle spot. I
24:58
Speaker 1: would imagine, you know, just that heavy run blocking style.
25:02
Speaker 1: He's about you know six two three oh five three
25:05
Speaker 1: ten uh, and he'll he'll take care of that. Owen
25:08
Speaker 1: Campbell started at left tackle last year. He's a little
25:11
Speaker 1: lank here, about six four two fifteen.
25:13
Speaker 2: Uh.
25:13
Speaker 1: He did, he did well there. He's just getting bigger
25:16
Speaker 1: and stronger. Josh Kroll at center is just your typical
25:19
Speaker 1: high school center, you know, about five nine, you know,
25:23
Speaker 1: two forty something like that, and and it's it's crazy, yes,
25:28
Speaker 1: And I tell you what, kid's got great hands. I
25:31
Speaker 1: saw a play at practice where because you know, you
25:34
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta Yeah, you got to get the ball.
25:36
Speaker 1: You know, after you run a play, you get the ball,
25:37
Speaker 1: you throw the ball back to the center, so yeah,
25:40
Speaker 1: you know, get it ready. And someone rifled the ball in.
25:42
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was van Hofwagen or somebody.
25:45
Speaker 1: Someone threw one in like pretty hard. He just put
25:48
Speaker 1: one pop there and just snatched it out of the
25:50
Speaker 1: air and everyone.
25:51
Speaker 2: Was what long sub coming from distance?
25:53
Speaker 1: Yes, and everyone was like and uh, that was awesome
25:58
Speaker 1: to see. And so I mentioned it to him when
26:00
Speaker 1: I was taking his pictures, like you saw that.
26:01
Speaker 2: I was like, heck, yeah, I saw that.
26:03
Speaker 1: I really like what. He was a starter all year
26:05
Speaker 1: last year at center and and in the shotgun ninety
26:08
Speaker 1: five percent of the time. So and I don't recall
26:11
Speaker 1: any bad snaps. So having him return at center is huge.
26:14
Speaker 1: The guard positions are going to be interesting because you know,
26:18
Speaker 1: I just I'm not sure who's going to be there.
26:21
Speaker 1: They have guys that could do it. You know. I
26:23
Speaker 1: mentioned Jordan's stone earlier that could you know, feature in
26:26
Speaker 1: the running back spots. But you know, he wres number
26:28
Speaker 1: fifty four. I could see him being a guard, very athletic,
26:31
Speaker 1: about six two, two hundred and ten pounds and Kaiser
26:34
Speaker 1: Barker was a kid that I loved last year, especially
26:37
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball. He's he's mean,
26:39
Speaker 1: he's nasty. I could see him being the other guard there.
26:43
Speaker 1: So that's that's who I kind of envision will be there,
26:47
Speaker 1: but it's really hard to say. They also have another senior,
26:50
Speaker 1: Carlos Valdez, who's about three to ten. Played nose tackle
26:54
Speaker 1: last year, didn't didn't really figure in on the offensive
26:57
Speaker 1: line too much, but he might be that sixth offensive lineman.
27:00
Speaker 1: But but I could see him kind of leading that
27:02
Speaker 1: nose tackle spot and and and filling out the rest
27:05
Speaker 1: of the defensive line. Like you mentioned, I could see
27:07
Speaker 1: Finnigan Jensen on the inside there and the ends with
27:11
Speaker 1: Kaiser Barker and Jordan Stone on the ends there. Uh,
27:15
Speaker 1: you know, I can't remember if there was a game
27:17
Speaker 1: where they both played at the same time. There was
27:20
Speaker 1: all sorts of different issues with injuries and different things,
27:23
Speaker 1: so I don't know if they ever played at the
27:25
Speaker 1: same time, and I would get those guys confused, you know.
27:27
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, which one is that you know?
27:30
Speaker 1: And but if they're if they're both healthy at the
27:32
Speaker 1: same time, that is huge, and so many high school
27:35
Speaker 1: teams love putting their dudes at defensive end, and and
27:38
Speaker 1: it forces teams to, you know, to have you know,
27:41
Speaker 1: not you can't pick and choose, you have to you
27:43
Speaker 1: just have to go. And I remember when Ferndale and
27:46
Speaker 1: they had Jake Mason on one side, they ended up
27:47
Speaker 1: bumping Land and Hatchet to the other defensive end. Well
27:50
Speaker 1: now what do you do right?
27:51
Speaker 2: Well, especially there's some big, old fat guys right in
27:53
Speaker 2: the middle too.
27:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So it's it's it's it's filling out that
27:58
Speaker 1: defensive line. I think Eli Good Buffalo is another guy
28:01
Speaker 1: that could see some run at defensive end. You know,
28:04
Speaker 1: former linebackers gotten bigger, gotten stronger, and I could see
28:07
Speaker 1: him as kind of like kind of that third defensive
28:09
Speaker 1: end there.
28:11
Speaker 2: Am I am I crazy for saying like I feel
28:13
Speaker 2: like the last two years Bellingham has had more depth
28:17
Speaker 2: in the interior or on the on the lines than
28:22
Speaker 2: they have in quite a while.
28:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I mean, and they just had some
28:26
Speaker 1: big kids. I've heard they got a couple of huge
28:28
Speaker 1: freshmen too. I think three of them that are over
28:30
Speaker 1: three hundred pounds. Good definitely not ready for varsity football.
28:35
Speaker 1: But but you know, we'll see some We'll see some
28:39
Speaker 1: big kids coming up here in a few years.
28:41
Speaker 2: I mean, Tyler, I coach at a four A school.
28:43
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of how many guys we got
28:44
Speaker 2: over three hundred pounds and the one is you're naming.
28:47
Speaker 2: I mean we've only got I mean my left guard
28:51
Speaker 2: is now under three hundred. He's at like two ninety.
28:53
Speaker 2: But and then we've got a kid that's about three
28:56
Speaker 2: eighty five. He's like six three, three eighty five, a
29:00
Speaker 2: big kid. But but yeah, I mean that's a lot
29:04
Speaker 2: of beef, especially for Bellingham, you know what I mean.
29:06
Speaker 2: So that's maybe a little optimistic or optimism there.
29:11
Speaker 3: You know.
29:12
Speaker 2: Let's talk linebackers, Tyler. Now, again, some losses and some guys,
29:17
Speaker 2: but when you return, I mean, especially when you return
29:21
Speaker 2: a guy like Tyler Frost, that is a huge start.
29:24
Speaker 2: But the two leading tacklers coming back for them are linebackers.
29:29
Speaker 2: Tyler Frost gave Van Hofwagen both with basically sixty tackles
29:33
Speaker 2: on the season, but combined twenty one tackles for a loss.
29:38
Speaker 2: That is very impressive.
29:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, those two, you know, they were the leaders on
29:42
Speaker 1: the defense last year. The two leading tacklers last year,
29:46
Speaker 1: Tyler Frost. I mean he is you know, are you're
29:49
Speaker 1: talking about just a career in adding up tackles for loss.
29:53
Speaker 1: He has more tackles for loss than anybody in Walkin
29:55
Speaker 1: County right now, like active players for a career. Yeah,
30:00
Speaker 1: and he's just he just gets after it. Gay van
30:02
Speaker 1: Hoffwagen is so underrated as an inside linebacker. Uh, It's
30:06
Speaker 1: just it's crazy. And those two together, even though they're
30:10
Speaker 1: gonna be playing a lot of offense, they they are
30:13
Speaker 1: that much more valuable on defense. And those two guys
30:17
Speaker 1: in the middle. It's really really hard to get yardage
30:21
Speaker 1: up the middle because of those guys. And there, you know,
30:26
Speaker 1: there's you know, I'm not quite sure who's gonna be
30:28
Speaker 1: kind of on the outside. And you know, Joe Harvard
30:31
Speaker 1: played there a little bit last year, and you know,
30:35
Speaker 1: Josh Tole was there last year. Different guys sometimes Kayser Barker.
30:40
Speaker 1: But I really like Sonny Powell. He made some plays.
30:43
Speaker 1: He was playing some defensive end last year. He might
30:45
Speaker 1: be like an outside linebacker type. Gay Bowers that I mentioned,
30:49
Speaker 1: Calvin van hoffwag and Gab's little brother could fit could
30:52
Speaker 1: be in that role, and so we'll see I mean,
30:56
Speaker 1: you know, Bli Henderson is a kid that is such
30:58
Speaker 1: a good corner and he's getting looked at the next
31:01
Speaker 1: level to play corner. And he's really filled out, gotten stronger,
31:05
Speaker 1: really passes the eye test. And but you know, a
31:08
Speaker 1: lot of teams in high school football, you know, I mean,
31:11
Speaker 1: they will put their guys where it helps them, but
31:14
Speaker 1: it might not necessarily be where they're going to play
31:15
Speaker 1: at the next level, you know. And so Bli Henderson's
31:19
Speaker 1: just one of those guys that, you know, do you
31:22
Speaker 1: want to just leave him out there at corner? Do
31:24
Speaker 1: you want to bring him in a little bit. He's
31:25
Speaker 1: just that talented that you might want to get him
31:28
Speaker 1: closer to the football. So, uh, it's it's going to
31:31
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see and and uh but Bellingham,
31:35
Speaker 1: you know, they returned so much on their defense and
31:39
Speaker 1: and uh, it's it's going to be crazy to see
31:42
Speaker 1: the kind of impact it's going to have with the
31:43
Speaker 1: schedule that's going to be a lot different, uh than
31:46
Speaker 1: what they've had the last couple of years. And we'll
31:48
Speaker 1: talk about that a little later.
31:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as we've round out the defense with the secondary,
31:53
Speaker 2: I mean, Tyler, you mentioned though, you know, relying on
31:56
Speaker 2: the defense. You got one, two, three, four, five. You've
31:59
Speaker 2: got seven guys with over over twenty eight or more tackles. Yeah,
32:03
Speaker 2: coming back. I mean that's huge, and every single one
32:06
Speaker 2: of those guys is putting up what I would consider
32:08
Speaker 2: to be you know, solid to significant tackles for loss.
32:14
Speaker 2: I mean we're talking about two, three, four, five, six,
32:18
Speaker 2: seventy eight nine, ten sacks, you know, returning ten sacks.
32:23
Speaker 2: That's really nice. Now, maybe the most impressive thing. And
32:26
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's a team in the county
32:28
Speaker 2: that returns more. Let's talk as we talk about the secondary, Tyler,
32:32
Speaker 2: it's it's the interceptions. I mean, Owen Hanstead's seven, Nate
32:36
Speaker 2: lost three. You mentioned blike Henderson, you know, maybe a
32:38
Speaker 2: guy that ends up playing a different position and maybe
32:40
Speaker 2: he just is a you know, Richard Sherman type, just
32:44
Speaker 2: physical corner, but he comes back with two you know,
32:48
Speaker 2: I mean you've got I mean, just those three guys alone,
32:51
Speaker 2: that's twelve interceptions. That's a lot of interceptions coming back.
32:54
Speaker 1: I love the secondary. I mean this is you know
32:57
Speaker 1: Owen Hanstead, you know, the ballhawk. He had those six
33:01
Speaker 1: games in a row with intercepting a pass and then
33:05
Speaker 1: he and then that and then that seventh game against
33:08
Speaker 1: which was against Blaine. I think he had like four
33:10
Speaker 1: of them that he could have picked off, but it
33:12
Speaker 1: was raining uh man. What a great career he's had.
33:16
Speaker 1: He's just so instinctive and so in the right place
33:18
Speaker 1: at the right time. I mean, his first career interception
33:21
Speaker 1: was week won his freshman year and he had to
33:23
Speaker 1: pick six. You know, he's just he's just such a
33:26
Speaker 1: great player, and it makes it and Nate loss who
33:29
Speaker 1: had three interceptions and over thirty tackles, it kind of
33:32
Speaker 1: almost overshadows how great he was too. Both of them
33:36
Speaker 1: made the top one hundred list, and that's a great
33:38
Speaker 1: combo to have at safety and then at corner. You know,
33:42
Speaker 1: if you Bli could be there, like you said, be
33:44
Speaker 1: a really physical type corner, and I think Joe Harvard
33:48
Speaker 1: will be on the other side. Who you know, Bli
33:50
Speaker 1: is a pretty big kid. He's about six two and
33:52
Speaker 1: a half won ninety or something like that, and Joe is,
33:55
Speaker 1: you know, six four almost two hundred pounds playing at corner.
33:59
Speaker 1: So you get some really big physical corners that are
34:02
Speaker 1: great athletes that can run that can really help, especially
34:05
Speaker 1: against the run, that can come up and make tackles.
34:09
Speaker 1: I would expect Cooper Whipple maybe to be out there
34:12
Speaker 1: at corner Isaiah Davis Alminson. So we'll see. There's a
34:17
Speaker 1: lot of spots. You know, Aaron Illigan was a starting
34:19
Speaker 1: corner last year. He's graduated, so they got to replace
34:22
Speaker 1: the other side too. So but yeah, those two safeties
34:26
Speaker 1: in the middle that can really help a lot of things.
34:29
Speaker 1: That can really help those that you know just kind
34:33
Speaker 1: of everything. I mean, they're getting guys in the right
34:36
Speaker 1: place and they're doing everything, and they help over the top,
34:38
Speaker 1: and they're so instinctive, and you know, they combined for
34:41
Speaker 1: ten interceptions last year. It's it's gonna be it's gonna
34:45
Speaker 1: be a huge test for them this year. And and
34:49
Speaker 1: with those pass rushers that they had that you mentioned,
34:51
Speaker 1: like all the sacks and stuff like that, you get
34:53
Speaker 1: fresh on the quarterback, it can make job a lot
34:55
Speaker 1: easier for the secondary.
34:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you're talking about inside linebackers that are you know, premium,
35:02
Speaker 2: premium guys like what Bellingham has, and then you throw
35:05
Speaker 2: in two safeties behind him that can make up for
35:08
Speaker 2: a lot of I don't want to say mistakes. I
35:09
Speaker 2: don't even know what the word I'm make up for
35:11
Speaker 2: some maybe aggressiveness. It allows those linebackers to be a
35:15
Speaker 2: little more aggressive because they know that what they got
35:17
Speaker 2: behind him is a true safety valve, you know. So,
35:21
Speaker 2: I mean defense looks like it's a serious strength for
35:23
Speaker 2: the BayHawks. So that'll be fun to watch this year, Tyler.
35:26
Speaker 2: Let's finish it off by talking special teams. I'm sitting
35:30
Speaker 2: here and I'm looking at stats from last year, and
35:33
Speaker 2: I see kickoff returning, I see punt returning, and I
35:35
Speaker 2: also see punting, and I see the same guy at
35:38
Speaker 2: the returning the most out of anybody is the same
35:41
Speaker 2: guy in all three. It's all Enhanstead. I mean he's
35:43
Speaker 2: a big playmaker. He is for this team. And then
35:46
Speaker 2: I also see Joe Harward's name here, and oddly enough,
35:50
Speaker 2: Jordan Stone as well, a guy that you're talking about
35:52
Speaker 2: potentially playing it. What the heck happened there? How did
35:54
Speaker 2: he get one punt return for three yards? Tyler? What happened?
35:56
Speaker 3: You know?
35:56
Speaker 1: It was crazy? I think he just was. It might
35:59
Speaker 1: have been a short fun bounced right to him and
36:01
Speaker 1: he just grabbed it and went forward a little bit
36:03
Speaker 1: and he's definitely not back there, you know.
36:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm like, there's no way this guy's back there
36:08
Speaker 2: returning it right, Like coach Leonards a little wild at times.
36:11
Speaker 2: What do you hate that wild?
36:12
Speaker 1: Well, that's I mean. Tyler Frost had a punt return
36:15
Speaker 1: that it had like thirty eight yards on the return
36:17
Speaker 1: and and that was just one of those short punts
36:19
Speaker 1: where he was kind of an upman blocker type guy
36:21
Speaker 1: and he just caught it and.
36:22
Speaker 2: Look look at what I got and then he just
36:24
Speaker 2: took off. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
36:25
Speaker 1: He had a kickoff return for a touchdown too as
36:27
Speaker 1: a sophomore. I remember that, Yeah, and that was just
36:30
Speaker 1: that was hilarious. It's like putting Christian Nakoye back on
36:34
Speaker 1: Techmo Super Bowl and he was just running through guy.
36:36
Speaker 1: There was no there was no juking through that one.
36:38
Speaker 1: He just ran through the whole kickoff team. But uh,
36:41
Speaker 1: but yeah, you're right. I think I think that I
36:43
Speaker 1: think that Hanstead's gonna have a lot of opportunities to
36:48
Speaker 1: make plays in the return game. Like you said, I
36:51
Speaker 1: could see Joe Harvard back there, you know, maybe maybe
36:54
Speaker 1: Bli Henderson, Cooper Whipple, and also with Whipple being a
36:59
Speaker 1: soccer kid. It's too bad. And this happens every year,
37:02
Speaker 1: and it's around this time when I find out because
37:04
Speaker 1: one of the questions I always ask is is there
37:06
Speaker 1: a kid that's not turning out this year? And unfortunately
37:09
Speaker 1: for Bellingham, Evan Eisley, who was the record breaking kicker
37:12
Speaker 1: last year, he's not gonna he's not turning out. He's
37:15
Speaker 1: got other things that he has to take care of.
37:18
Speaker 1: And I really really like that kid, and so they're
37:21
Speaker 1: gonna have to figure out something at kicker and I
37:24
Speaker 1: but I would imagine, you know, you bring in Cooper Whipple,
37:26
Speaker 1: who's a soccer kid, he'd probably get the first crack
37:29
Speaker 1: at it. You know, it's pretty early in practice. You
37:31
Speaker 1: don't work a ton on you know, pats and stuff
37:35
Speaker 1: like that, any of it exactly. So you know, but
37:39
Speaker 1: I'm going out to practice a little earlier than usual
37:41
Speaker 1: this year so I can hit up volleyball this upcoming
37:44
Speaker 1: week and girls soccer and stuff like that. So but
37:47
Speaker 1: that's what who I would imagine. I could see Owen Hanstead,
37:50
Speaker 1: you know, being the punter. He took over at punter
37:52
Speaker 1: last year when Holden Bates was out for a couple
37:54
Speaker 1: of weeks. And and so he could get that job done.
37:57
Speaker 1: And he's also a weapon back there. You know, if
38:00
Speaker 1: he's a threat to take off and run. If you've
38:02
Speaker 1: got a guy back there that could make a make
38:03
Speaker 1: a play, it keeps keeps the punt return team honest,
38:06
Speaker 1: they might have to play like a true defense almost
38:09
Speaker 1: and and so that's always I mean, every high school
38:11
Speaker 1: coach is you know, they they have no qualms about
38:14
Speaker 1: having a really good athlete back at punter, just because
38:17
Speaker 1: you never know. But so I could see Whipple kicking,
38:21
Speaker 1: Handstad hunting and in the return game you might get
38:24
Speaker 1: a lot of Handstead and Whipple as well, and maybe
38:26
Speaker 1: maybe Joe Harward, Bly Anderson, those kind of guys.
38:30
Speaker 2: Well, Tyler, that is a preview of the roster as
38:33
Speaker 2: far as position groups go. One thing you like to
38:35
Speaker 2: do here is you like to talk about a breakout player.
38:38
Speaker 2: And it seems like I'm not gonna you don't hit
38:41
Speaker 2: on ten out of ten every year as far as
38:43
Speaker 2: breakout players go. But you're pretty dang good at picking
38:46
Speaker 2: the breakout player here. And for Bellingham this year, you've
38:49
Speaker 2: picked Joe Harward, junior quarterback in corner. What what is
38:52
Speaker 2: it about Joe you expect to see here.
38:54
Speaker 1: Well, he got a little bit of run last year,
38:57
Speaker 1: did some good things, was you on special team, like
39:00
Speaker 1: on kickoff, and made a lot of tackles, very very
39:03
Speaker 1: very physical, and when there were injuries that happened, he
39:06
Speaker 1: played some outside linebacker. I don't think he played much offense,
39:09
Speaker 1: if at all. So he's still very limited at the
39:12
Speaker 1: varsity game or as far as experience goes. But I
39:15
Speaker 1: think that when I see his leadership out there, you
39:18
Speaker 1: know what he's doing with the rest of the kids.
39:20
Speaker 1: He's very cordial with me. I feel like he's taken
39:24
Speaker 1: this step up to be to to kind of be
39:27
Speaker 1: the guy, and that's pretty rare when he didn't have
39:31
Speaker 1: a ton of varsity experience. I mean, he got called
39:33
Speaker 1: up in basketball, he got called up halfway through the
39:35
Speaker 1: year because of injuries from the JV, and all of
39:38
Speaker 1: a sudden, he's scoring double digits by the end of
39:40
Speaker 1: the year. He was one of their go to guys
39:42
Speaker 1: in the district tournament and he started the year on
39:44
Speaker 1: the JV. He's just one of those kinds of athletes
39:47
Speaker 1: that can do things that you kind of look at
39:49
Speaker 1: each other and go, did you just see that? Like
39:51
Speaker 1: it just kind of kind of stands out. And then
39:53
Speaker 1: same with being the catcher on the on the baseball team,
39:56
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a freshman, it was he
39:58
Speaker 1: was just kind of doing it until until Ethan Brimble
40:01
Speaker 1: became healthy. And then last year, I mean, he was
40:04
Speaker 1: the catcher of the whole year. He pitched a little
40:06
Speaker 1: bit too. But now he's leading the team behind the plate,
40:09
Speaker 1: and he's you know, he's batten, you know, second in
40:11
Speaker 1: the lineup. And I just think that since football season
40:13
Speaker 1: last year, there's been this natural progression in the other sports,
40:16
Speaker 1: so I could see it in football this year. I
40:18
Speaker 1: really think he's gonna stand out, and I think he's
40:20
Speaker 1: gonna grab that quarterback position and make it his and
40:24
Speaker 1: uh and do do the best that he can and
40:26
Speaker 1: put the team on his back. And I see, I
40:29
Speaker 1: see big, big things coming out of him, and especially
40:31
Speaker 1: if he just keep if he keeps growing. I mean
40:33
Speaker 1: every time I see him, he just keeps getting taller
40:35
Speaker 1: and bigger and stronger, and and he's always he's already
40:38
Speaker 1: extremely fast. So I really like what his upside is,
40:42
Speaker 1: what his potential could be. So that's why chosen as
40:45
Speaker 1: the breakout player before.
40:47
Speaker 2: We get out of here. Let's take a quick look
40:48
Speaker 2: at the schedule ahead as far as Bellingham goes uh
40:53
Speaker 2: nine games on the schedule this year, Tyler, they are
40:55
Speaker 2: moving back into the conference. Correct, Yes, so the only
41:00
Speaker 2: interesting thing is they're not playing Linden, but they are
41:02
Speaker 2: playing everybody else in the conference. That being said, they
41:06
Speaker 2: start off with a game. They start off with three
41:08
Speaker 2: games on the road, which is kind of crazy. I
41:11
Speaker 2: have a hard time believing there's been too many times
41:15
Speaker 2: where teams start three times three games on the road,
41:18
Speaker 2: like it just doesn't really happen like that very often.
41:22
Speaker 2: But they start off with a game at Chief South.
41:25
Speaker 2: It's a two pm kickoff on a Saturday. I assume
41:28
Speaker 2: that's going to be at the Southwest Athletic Complex. Interesting place.
41:33
Speaker 2: There's seating only on the one side. Be sure to
41:36
Speaker 2: lock your doors. Then they head down to Lakewood to
41:39
Speaker 2: take on the Cougars, the fighting no longer Dan Teeters.
41:43
Speaker 2: That's a seven pm game. Then they go to Anacordis,
41:47
Speaker 2: which those guys look like they're gonna be very good
41:50
Speaker 2: this year. That is a seven pm game. Then they
41:52
Speaker 2: finally return home for back to back games against Archbishop
41:55
Speaker 2: Murphy and Granted Falls. Those are both seven pm kickoffs,
41:59
Speaker 2: and then they go down to Kirkby Field, I believe
42:02
Speaker 2: is what it's called down there Burlington Edison. Then they
42:05
Speaker 2: return home for a game against the Crosstown rivals in
42:09
Speaker 2: Seahome Mariners home for Marysville Pilchrock, and then a quote
42:13
Speaker 2: unquote away game at Civic Stadium against Squalkum Tyler. So
42:17
Speaker 2: when you look at the schedule, I mean, obviously two
42:20
Speaker 2: out of the last three against the other two Bellingham schools,
42:23
Speaker 2: but overall, this is a schedule with I would say
42:28
Speaker 2: quite a few winnable games here for the BayHawks.
42:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be a little tougher that's been in
42:33
Speaker 1: the past. They do see Chief Self and Grant Falls again,
42:36
Speaker 1: two teams that they lost to last year. But there
42:38
Speaker 1: are really close games we kind of talked about earlier.
42:40
Speaker 1: There were games they're going to look at and say
42:43
Speaker 1: they should have won. You know, I see. You know.
42:47
Speaker 1: Obviously anacordis the returning state champions that return a lot
42:50
Speaker 1: of great pieces. Obviously they'll be really tough. Archibrush at
42:53
Speaker 1: Murphy is huge. I think they're going to be greatly
42:55
Speaker 1: improved as well. I think Burlington will be greatly improved
42:58
Speaker 1: with the new coaching staff coming in. I've only heard
43:00
Speaker 1: really positive things out there. You know, the games against
43:04
Speaker 1: see Homan Squalicum, I love. I mean, I just you know,
43:08
Speaker 1: I see Holmes playing Bellingham. That was the game when
43:11
Speaker 1: I was a kid. That was the game. Ferndale did
43:13
Speaker 1: not play London at that time. You know, I'm talking
43:16
Speaker 1: late eighties, early nineties. This was the game where Civic
43:18
Speaker 1: Stadium was rocking. It was jam packed, and hopefully it
43:23
Speaker 1: gets back to that because that's so cool. And you
43:26
Speaker 1: look at like, you know, that Week nine game at Squalicum,
43:30
Speaker 1: you start talking about with this round of thirty two
43:33
Speaker 1: and different things happening. I mean, these are gonna be
43:35
Speaker 1: these are gonna be games that have serious implications at
43:39
Speaker 1: that point. So I think that's gonna be a great
43:42
Speaker 1: one too. They you know, they played each other in
43:44
Speaker 1: the summer when they had some scrimmages out at Squalicum.
43:48
Speaker 1: See home and Bellingham and along with Squalicum and and
43:51
Speaker 1: a team from Canada, they were all got together out
43:53
Speaker 1: there and and I tell you what, Bellingham looked really
43:55
Speaker 1: really physical. And I know they're really looking forward to
43:58
Speaker 1: these games against these other city schools and and you
44:02
Speaker 1: know talking and then you know after the season, there's
44:05
Speaker 1: always like that true city champion. It's been it's been
44:09
Speaker 1: hard to say the last couple of years because Belling
44:11
Speaker 1: Game hasn't played those teams, and so now it will
44:13
Speaker 1: all come together. I believe I saw. I could be wrong,
44:17
Speaker 1: but I thought that I saw that. The game at
44:19
Speaker 1: cheap self this opening week on Saturday afternoon will be
44:23
Speaker 1: at this stadium next to the Space Needle Memorial Stadium, Oh.
44:28
Speaker 2: Memorial Stadium, So they're gonna play it. There's so usually
44:31
Speaker 2: they do it in week two. Sometimes it has been
44:33
Speaker 2: a week one, and this year being such a it
44:35
Speaker 2: is weird, Tyler. This is the latest I can remember
44:38
Speaker 2: games kicking off.
44:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean a long time.
44:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean really really long time. So that does
44:43
Speaker 2: make some sense. It'll be there at Seattle Memorial Stadium. Then,
44:45
Speaker 2: I mean still I would lock my doors, but a
44:48
Speaker 2: lot different. When we start talking places to eat, I
44:51
Speaker 2: can give you about one hundred different places to eat
44:52
Speaker 2: over there. So well, we'll talk about that in the
44:54
Speaker 2: preview Week one, which will be coming up. I guess
44:57
Speaker 2: what about ten days maybe from oh not even ten days.
45:00
Speaker 2: It'll be about a week.
45:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's right right around the corner.
45:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it would it would be basically a week. Well,
45:06
Speaker 2: it would be like ten days from now. It would
45:07
Speaker 2: be like a week from the time that people can
45:10
Speaker 2: get this podcast though. Yeah, because this is going out, well, no,
45:13
Speaker 2: this is going out on a Saturday, right.
45:17
Speaker 1: I don't have the schedule in front of me, but yeah.
45:18
Speaker 2: It's a Saturday. So yeah, only what three four days
45:22
Speaker 2: away here? I mean we're right back in it, I
45:24
Speaker 2: mean away we go here. So uh so, yeah, Tyler,
45:27
Speaker 2: anything else on the BayHawks before we get out of here.
45:31
Speaker 1: No, I'm just excited that they're back in the conference.
45:34
Speaker 1: That's just I mean, it's a like I you know,
45:37
Speaker 1: I said talking to coach Leonard, it's a it's a
45:40
Speaker 1: thing that selfishly is great for me because I love
45:42
Speaker 1: it when they play other teams in the county, and
45:46
Speaker 1: I'm hoping it's here to stay, because uh that's what's
45:50
Speaker 1: that's just what's best and that's what's gonna make you better.
45:53
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about when teams get moved up
45:55
Speaker 1: a classification, they just that's just the way that it is.
45:57
Speaker 1: And you know, if you want to get better, you
46:00
Speaker 1: have to kind of take your lumps every once in
46:01
Speaker 1: a while, and this will be that first year back
46:03
Speaker 1: up and it could be a rough go for a
46:06
Speaker 1: little bit. But they have some good they have some
46:08
Speaker 1: good players. They're gonna make games out of these. So
46:10
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that if they, you know, they keep positive
46:12
Speaker 1: with that and the youth program keeps filling really well,
46:15
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, uh, you know, Bellingham will
46:18
Speaker 1: be one of those teams the other teams are gonna
46:20
Speaker 1: be looking at going, oh man, you know this is
46:22
Speaker 1: this is gonna be this is gonna be a tough one.
46:23
Speaker 1: I The numbers are great, so I'm excited. I'm gonna
46:26
Speaker 1: I'm really really excited for their season this year. And
46:29
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, the coaching staff has been you know,
46:32
Speaker 1: been together for a little while now, so uh yeah,
46:35
Speaker 1: it's gonna be It's gonna be a fun year for
46:36
Speaker 1: the BayHawks.
46:38
Speaker 2: Before we head out, just one quick reminder, Kurt. This
46:42
Speaker 2: has been brought to you by partly by Kurt Mayberry
46:44
Speaker 2: Farm and so be sure to head over to their
46:46
Speaker 2: website Kurt with a C. M A B E r
46:48
Speaker 2: ry Farm dot com. That being said, he's Tyler Anderson
46:52
Speaker 2: of watcomp preps watcompreps dot com is the website. I'm
46:55
Speaker 2: Broan Spencer. You've been listening to episode at two hundred
46:58
Speaker 2: and sixty four Bellingham BayHawks team preview here on the
47:02
Speaker 2: Welcome Preps podcast. We will talk to you later today