Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 186 - Mount Baker Mountaineers Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 186 - Mount Baker Mountaineers Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

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This is Mount Baker senior Vance Lawrence and you're listening to the Mount Baker football
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preview on the Welcome Preps Podcast with Tyler and Rylan. Go Baker. Greetings,
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and welcome to the Welcome Preps podcast. You are listening to the twenty
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twenty three Mount Baker Mountaineers a team preview. I'm Rylan Spencer along with me
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as always Tyler Anderson of Welcome Preps. Tyler, how are we doing too
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good? You got me by the quick welcome. Uh yeah, doing good,
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doing good. This is a this is always a fun one to do,
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near and dear to my heart. And uh, it was a great
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run last year. And hopefully they can repeat the same magic. That's what
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they're hoping up in Deming, That's what they're hoping in Deeming. You,
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on the other hand, are playing it even keel kel no whatsoever, no
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bias, no, Tyler, guess what? This is the eighth of ten
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team previews. As if you didn't know, we're getting ready for the upcoming
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season. Here we have already covered Nozack Valley, Blaine Sea Home, Bellingham,
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Squalacum and both Lynden and Lynden Christian if you'd like to listen to those,
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head on over to Walcom Prepps dot com and you can find all of
1:23
the team previews right there on the front page, although if you're hearing this
1:27
like Saturday of the first week, you probably can't. You probably got to
1:30
scroll at the second page. But that being said, tomorrow we finished at
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the team previews with Meridian Anne Ferndale. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast.
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You can hear every show as soon as it is presented to the audience
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because you'll get a notification. We would like to thank Vance Lawrence for the
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intro tonight. Tyler. Yeah, Tyler, you were out in Deming.
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The was the hair and the beard flowing there for for our guy Ron Leper
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from Mount Baker High School, absolutely it was. It's always a great time
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going out there. It was the end of a long day for both of
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you. Yeah. I had told my parents that I might stop by on
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the way home because I was in the area. And once practice was over,
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I called my dad and I was like, Nope, I need to
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go home. It's a long day. My face was so sunburned and and
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just you know, I needed to go to sleep. But boy, it's
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always fun out there. You know, it's you know, numbers they have
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what they have. I counted I think thirty two players at practice. It's
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nine through twelve. There were a few players missing. Uh, there was
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a some kids at a wedding, some kids. You know, it's a
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Linden Fair, different things like that. But but yeah, I mean it's
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hold on kids at the fair. Well, they're like showing cattle. Okay,
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never mind. I thought that. It's like I don't rides. I'm
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like, are you kidding me? No, left wouldn't allow that, right,
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So it uh, but it was early similar to last year when I
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went out there, it didn't look like the numbers were big and coach was
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like, you know, hey, we're not getting any transfers coming through the
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door or anything. This is what we have to go with. So when
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your time is ready, you step up and you play and it's and it
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just had that kind of same feel to it where yeah, you can look
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and say, boy, they lost a lot of players, but they just
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everyone knows. Now it's like, well it's Baker. You know, they're
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gonna play tough, they're gonna hit you hard, and you know, like
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you know, Lyndon always used to tell me they used to play Baker in
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week one. They did it for a few years. They said, we
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love playing Baker week one because it shows us where we need to be.
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You know, it'll toughen up our guys quick. And so there's a lot
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of respect around the conference for Baker, even if it's a cast of new
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characters, and and you know, they're always gonna do it the right way.
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Yeah, that's that's for sure. I mean, they just they just
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do not a lot, not a lot of lemons out there in in Demi.
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Boy, that's a lot of lemons. That button will never get old,
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boy, that's a lot of lemons. Nope, it won't. Uh
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Yeah. Coach Lap twenty eighth season with Mount Baker hit that two hundred wind
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mark last year, two hundred and eighty nine overall. Uh, two hundred
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wins, eighty nine losses overall. I guess I should say that not two
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hundred and eighty nine wins, although at the rate he's going, he might
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not take him all that long to get there. Although that's that's a nine
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win season basically ten years in a row. That is a lot. Yeah,
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that's a lot of lemons. Actually, No, that's not very many
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lemons. That's a lot of I don't know, apples or something. Yeah,
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w's what passion for its? I don't know anyway. Home Field,
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Bob Tisdale Field one of the classic just old school you love, you love
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when you show up to places like that. Last season they went eight and
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five. They made it to the state finals before losing to Royalty twenty twenty
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one. Five and four. They did make it to state but lost in
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the first round. Two was a topnish. Yeah, I believe so.
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Yeah, actually I was there, I should know. Yeah, Ryland,
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they did lose that game. And you know, there's a lot of losses
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and and and players not not losses losses, although somehow they did manage to
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lose five last year and still make it to the state well four and then
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make it to the state finals. But Marcus George, Ethan Larson, Landon
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Smith, William Mololey, Jesse Harward, Brady West, I mean, Drake
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Pinkney, Tyler, Robeless, Jesse Sandy or Jordan Sandy. Excuse me,
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I mean these are guys, these are big time guys. That being said,
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they got some returners Alex Mololey, Dylan moa Landon handstand. I mean,
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we're talking about some serious dudes here. So when when we start looking
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at this, there's no reason to think that they can't still be really good.
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But they got some definite pieces and that, and one of them starts
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with at quarterback. Landon Smith is gone, so there is no now hold
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on a second here. They returned no passing attempts. I think only team
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in the account. I think Lepp is perfectly fine with that. You know
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what I mean, position they were in last year. Let me put it
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to you this way. I don't know who the quarterback is. He could
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be a freshman. If they returned zero passing attempts next year, he'd probably
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be perfectly happy with it. That being said Tyler, who are we looking
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at it at quarterback? Well, we got a little bit of a competition
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here, which is always brings out the best and everybody there's a junior Luke
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Smith, Landon's little brother. You know, we saw Garrett Smith over the
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year's play wide receiver and a defensive end. We've seen Landon Smith who played
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quarterback in safety, and now you got Luke Smith, who is u is
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six foot three, one hundred and sixty five pounds. I love these these
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farm kids. They're just they're just, you know, work ethic through the
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roof, polite, tough everything. So he's in the running. Uh.
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And then there's a sophomore Satoga to Gillow to Gallo and uh, they just
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call him Toga. His first name is Satoga. He's a five eight,
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one hundred and eighty pounds sophomore. And uh, I saw him out at
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practice and he throws a beautiful ball. I was really impressed, really tight.
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Spiral puts it on the money, you know, even like thirty yards
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down the field, right on the money. And the thing about but everyone
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goes, well, Baker doesn't throw o very much. Yeah, but when
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they do they unleaf deep balls. They don't you know, they do a
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little bit of you know, screen pass here and there, stuff like that.
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But but what but they will go deep more than most teams, especially
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on the on the on the double fake handoff. And you stand there for
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a little bit and all of a sudden, you got to you got your
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you know, you got your your your your wide receiver just sprinting on a
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post and he's forty yards away. You gotta be able to huck that ball
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and and he can do that. So you got a couple of guys there,
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both underclassmen that are competing for the quarterback job. And and I think
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I think Stoga is more of a you know, sit in the pocket and
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throw it. He can run if he needs to. Luke Smith is is
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more of a threat to run probably, and if he's not playing quarterback,
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you might see him lined up as a receiver because with that size at six
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foot three, it's something that they just haven't had in a couple of years
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after having that for a long time. They haven't had it really since Garrett
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Smith. So it'd be nice to have maybe him on the outside. And
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so you have a couple of different guys you can go with here now running
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back, they don't return necessarily a lot of production. Uh, the the
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most yards and attempts is landing hands. They had seventeen attempts, two hundred
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and forty yards and just the just one touchdown. But if there's anything we
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know there's always a couple of guys that are going to step in and run
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for probably a thousand yards. So, Tyler, who are the names who
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do we need to know about here? Well, we you know, we
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saw Dylan Moa last year play tight end. It was just kind of a
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put the best eleven on the field type thing. He's been playing running back
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his whole life, so that was just kind of out of necessity. Now
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he's being moved back to that full back spot where Marcus George played last year,
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directly behind the quarterback, and I would assume he's gonna get the bulk
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of the carries. Six feet tall, one hundred and eighty two pounds of
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junior ran track for the first time last year and did really well as a
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sprinter and on the relay team and stuff like that. He's you know,
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he's he's a He's a Moa. I mean that those those Moas are tough.
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Man. U multiple generations playing Mount at Mount Baker, a lot of
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a lot of great players over the years, and uh, I just you
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know, I could see him just running between the tackles on that on those
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dives and traps and just bursting through that hole. Uh. You know,
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no one can really do what Marcus George did last year. I'm not expecting
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that, but I'm expecting a pretty big season out of Dylan Moa at the
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halfback spot. I see Brady Bruland doing that. You know, he was
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a dynamic kickoff returner last year. He's also a junior, five eleven hundred
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and seventy pounds. He's just got he's just got that that great football speed.
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You know, it's just it's just a little bit different. You know,
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you can get him on the counter run stuff like that where if he
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could if he can get through that hole, then boom he can he can
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take off and start to separate himself. And then after that, you know
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there they you know, you got to have multiple running backs in that offense.
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And and uh, I could see Bryson Moa another Moa there, six
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feet tall, one hundred and seventy pounds. He's a senior, he could
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get some work in. And then there's a really quick sophomore named Bryce Cooper
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who U he was not at practice, but uh, they're really high on
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him too as as a running back. So you kind of go four deep
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with that. And then you know, if you're talking about the wing backs
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as well, obviously you brought up Landon Hanstead, who returns fastest guy on
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the team. Uh, definitely breakaway speed really showed up as a receiver last
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year, you know, and we saw it the last couple of years where
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you know, he would have these big, long touchdowns. It seems like
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he'd have forty plus yard touchdowns every week where either running the ball or receiving,
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so he could he's back at that wingback spot. He's a guy that
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a lot of defenses will have to key on. And then backing app that
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that spot will be a guy named Sean Dugger five eight hundred and fifty five
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pound junior. So he's kind of new to the offense at the versity level,
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but he'll be a guy that can take some handoffs and be split out
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wide every once in a while. Speaking of split out wide receiving, Tyler
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landon Handstead also leads there twenty three receptions, three hundred and eighty nine yards.
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You've mentioned it and we've talked about it before. Sixteen point nine yard
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bridge, seven touchdowns. Uh. Oddly enough, they actually returned more receiving
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than they do rushing. Dylan moa Tanyan Staton. I mean there's some names
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here. Yeah, Yeah, you're right. Landon Handstead as a receiver,
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and he really turned it on in the state playoffs. I mean, he
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had some big time performances against the best that the state had to offer.
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So and you know they went into it as the as the ten seeds,
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so you're playing against you know, the seven seed, the two seed,
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the ones. I mean, you're playing against the big time teams. And
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he performed. Uh, so he'll be you know, kind of that main
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spot. When he's not lined up as a wing back, you'll see him
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split out wide. No, no problem with that. Tanyan Staton, you
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know, he was playing a lot of wide receiver near the end of the
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year two. He's super fast, you know, you see the big twenty
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three yard average. So you get him. He can he can go go
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past the guy and go get the ball. Uh just five seven, one
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hundred and thirty pounds, so you know, but you better be tough at
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that size and he is. He can. He mean, all those mouth
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Baker kids are, so I'm not worried about that. But he just got
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speed to burn. And then Hayden Rossa as another kid five eight hundred and
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sixty five pounds. You know, none of these guys are super tall,
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but they're all they're all pretty tough. They can you know, they can
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go and get the ball. Catch it at the high point, get the
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yards that they need. So they do bring a lot of depth and experience
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to the receiver spot, which is it's been a while since they've had guys
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returning with the multitude of guys doing it. And then you know tight end
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spot with with Dylan Moa moving over to running back, it's kind of open
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right now. You got junior Kaden Mosher there. Uh, Kaden Moser is
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six feet tall, one hundred and seventy five pounds. And then sophomore that's
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intriguing named Jet Ross. These six two hundred and eighty pounds. Uh,
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he might be split out wide, but he's he's getting some looks at tight
13:48
end as well. He's got more of that tight end build. So,
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uh, those are kind of the two guys that are that they're looking at
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at and the tight end spot right Mount Baker is just it's a it's a
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big deal. You know, you've got to be able to down block.
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It's so much of it is blocking and you got to be able to have
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that mentality. And you know, coach talked about having t J. Bass
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there and how much of a luxury that was, and you know, you
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can't you can't replicate that. I mean, we just saw t J.
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Bass, you know, playing against Seattle the other night. So it's it's
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it's an impressive thing to have that. But you know, playing tight end
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at Mount Baker's a little different than tight ends at most spots. You're not
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gonna catch a lot of passes, but on that, on that beautiful counter
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run, you're you're the catalyst of that. So so yeah, so they're
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gonna ask a lot of those of those two underclassmen to play the tight end
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spot. Yeah, you're a little more Jumbo Elliott running out for passes than
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you are, you know, Tony Gonzalez. Let's say, now, Tyler,
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when we talk about the offensive line, we know that they're going to
14:48
be physical. That's just the way that they play. That being said,
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they lose a couple of the more physical guys that we've seen. I mean,
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just Ethan Larson alone. I mean, the things that guy did in
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the trenches were just I mean, it was unbelievable. There's some names coming
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back, but you know, maybe not a ton of them that are household
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names, uh, MALOLEI Lawrence. Sure, those guys, I think a
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lot of people will probably know them but again we mentioned it a couple other
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places. You gotta have five of them. So who are the guys that
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we're looking for inside the trenches? They're out in Demming. Yeah, you
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know Alex Mololei returns at left tackle. He's definitely the pillar of that offensive
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line. They like to have very athletic, strong left tackles that can pull
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on that counterplay. You know, Mololei a former tight end. We started
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a tight end as a as a sophomore, got moved to left tackle last
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year as a junior, So this is now really his third year on that
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offensive line. And Vance Lawrence, like you mentioned, returning at center.
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He's up to one hundred and ninety pounds now, which is great. I
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mean he was starting at center as a sophomore, snapping the ball to Davin
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Beeson, which was one of the great photo ops that I could get.
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When you have a hundred and fifty pound kid hiking in the wall to a
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two hundred and twenty five pound kid and under center too, it's not you
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know, it's not in the shotgun. So but Vans Lawrence is as tough
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as it gets. A wrestler, UH special teams demon like out of this
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world, and so I love what he does at the center position. You
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know, coach, you know, he's he's a wrestling coach too, you
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know, and he he loves those wrestlers in at center and he just he
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knows how to get the best out of them. Now around the rest of
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the line, I mean, it's gonna be it's gonna be plug and play
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man. So you got some sophomores at the guard position. Jeremiah Sheridan at
16:36
left guard. He's six feet tall, two hundred and fifteen pounds. At
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right guard, Noah Ilichev five nine, two hundred pounds. You got a
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couple of sophomores. They're gonna have to learn fast. But these are kids
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that are put together very very well. And you know, running that wing
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t offense, it's a lot of it is just just being in the right
16:55
place at the right time and just being tough. You don't have to be
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a big two hundred and eighty pound lineman. At right tackle, Alder Grd
17:03
five eight, two hundred pounds a senior. So those are those are the
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main five they're gonna go in with. Uh. They also have Logan Reeves,
17:11
who is a former tight end that got him moved down to the offensive
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line at six one, one hundred and sixty five pounds. He's a junior,
17:18
so he can get some looks. So yeah, so those that's that,
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that's what they say, that's what they have going with. I mean,
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you're averaging a little over two hundred pounds a guy on the on the
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front five and you're tight end is probably not going to be two hundred pounds.
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So, uh, they're gonna have to find some ways, but uh,
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to to out tough their opponents, which is you know, usually the
17:38
case out pendeming anyways, Yeah, and we know that they're going to be
17:41
well prepared. Yeah, I mean, these guys are gonna know their their
17:45
responsibilities. And I think you I think you kind of said it there was
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you don't have to blow a guy up. You just got to make the
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right block, you know. And yep, and uh, something tells me
17:55
that they'll be just fine inside. Uh what about on the defensive side of
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the ball time in the trenches. I mean again Ethan Larson, I mean,
18:03
losing Ethan Larson is a massive loss. But you know they returned some
18:07
guys. I mean I see a lot of tackles, a lot of tackles
18:11
for loss, a lot of sacks here in the U in the old stat
18:15
sheets. So who are some of the guys on the defensive line. Yeah,
18:18
well, Alex Mololi is one of the best. I mean All Conference
18:21
first team is defensive lineman. He can really get after the quarterback. He's
18:23
just so physically strong and menacing and uh he's you know, he can just
18:30
he could do a lot of different things. He's quick, he's a great
18:32
athlete. So him on one side of the defensive end, he got that
18:34
set Vans Lawrence. I mean even as a sophomore, he was coming in
18:37
there under sized defensive end. He'd come in there like on passing situations,
18:41
third down, and he racked up close to double digit sacks as a sophomore.
18:47
As the productivity fell off a little bit last year as a junior,
18:49
but they used him a lot more offensively and special teams. But now that
18:55
you know, he hit him on the other side as a defensive end.
18:56
And you know that's the thing too, is that when we've you know,
19:00
this is our fifth season and covering high school football in this area together on
19:04
the podcast, and it seems like with Mount Baker were always talking about that
19:07
defensive line and getting after the quarterback and putting up numbers and and those guys.
19:12
Those guys have done it over the years, you know, since since
19:15
they were sophomores. So they're gonna really lean on those guys. Logan Reeves
19:18
is another guy maybe odds a defensive end, Kayden Moser Uh. Inside,
19:22
it's because it's those you know, Noah Ilachev, alder Grdi uh, maybe
19:26
Jeremiah Sheridan as well, the guys going both both ways. And then there's
19:30
an intriguing freshman that we've talked about a little bit off the air. I
19:34
remember you sending a message to be going, who's this kid? He just
19:41
he just uh, he just followed me on Twitter. Six foot five,
19:45
two hundred and ten pound freshman kel Reardon. Good athlete, can play defensive
19:49
tackle or defensive end, and he's gonna he's gonna play. He's gonna play
19:55
a little bit as a freshman at the varsity level, and you know,
19:59
we'll he quickly how how he reacts. He might get some time on the
20:03
offensive line as well. But he's another guy that you know, maybe they
20:07
could put in on a third down. It's a situation to get after the
20:10
quarterback and see how he does so. Uh yeah, it's interesting, you
20:14
know, a little bit of a little bit of size. Never heard anybody
20:17
up there? No never, I mean ever, Like, I don't think
20:21
any coach would complain about that. Right linebackers, Tyler, I mean Dylan
20:27
moa seventy tackles, two and a half tackles for a loss, two forced
20:33
fumbles, six passes defended. What the heck are we talking about? Man?
20:37
But he can really play the past very very well. He's a smart
20:41
kid. And it's that's what it is, Tyler smart. That dude is
20:44
so freaking smart when you watch him play. Remember what he did in the
20:47
state chair or in the semifinals, Yes, blocking that kick, that shift
20:52
over the side and went up blocked the kick. When I said to him,
20:53
what did you do that for, He's basically just said, oh,
20:56
I mean I don't know, Like I just I just stepped over and did
20:59
it, like natural instincts. Okay, sure, Like okay, whatever you
21:03
say, guy, Like Yeah, I mean, anytime coach let puts a
21:08
sophomore and an inside linebacker, he ends up being a star. And they
21:14
did that last year with Dilomoa. Uh he had a great, great year,
21:18
led the team seventy tackles, like you said, six passes defended.
21:22
Uh yeah, he's back for more. The middle linebacker spot up, you
21:26
know, on the on the sides of him will be bryceon Moa and and
21:30
Sean Dugger. Those are gonna be the two other linebackers. You know,
21:33
replacing Brady West and Marcus George is not going to be easy, but those
21:37
guys have shown a lot at camp. You know, Bryson Moa looks great.
21:40
He just you know, he was dinged up a little bit last year.
21:44
So I'm glad that him as a senior this year, is going to
21:47
get some time. I really, I think he has a chance to open
21:49
up some eyes around the league as a as a as a linebacker, He's
21:53
put together really really well. Sean Dugger's got some good speed. And then
21:57
as a backup, you know, I could see Brady Ruland coming in and
22:00
getting some reps at the linebacker as well. So that's kind of how that
22:04
linebacker spot's looking right now. What about the secondary? I see three interceptions
22:11
from Landon Hanstead, but really only four in general, but there aren't guys
22:17
that actually returned quite a few passes defended. So who are the names that
22:21
we need to know there in the secondary? Tyler, Yeah, I think
22:23
this is the strength of the defense, especially to begin the season. There's
22:27
you know, they returned so many of these skill guys with a ton of
22:30
experience. Landon Hanstead as a corner I think is one of the better corners
22:36
in the league. He made huge plays at huge times. That goal line
22:41
interception against Lyndon Christian when it looked like Elsie was gonna start to run away
22:45
with it and I believe it was the second quarter and he brought it out
22:48
to like the forty. That was such a huge play to change momentum.
22:53
I think Landon Hanstead has a huge year ahead of him. Really really excited
22:56
for him. Danyan's Tanyan Staton was starting at corner, you know in the
23:02
state championship game. You know he's guarding, Uh, what's the who's that
23:06
six five kid for Royal on the outside? You know, yes, and
23:11
you know, and he just went on. We just went at him,
23:14
you know, at all five seven of them, and you know, you
23:17
just gotta love those guys taking that challenge and doing that. Now they do
23:21
have an underclassman Dean all Read. How about that name already? Yeah?
23:26
Where is he from? Yeah? Exactly six two hundred and seventy five pound
23:30
junior that could get some looks at as a as a corner. So you
23:34
got that tall corner if needed, he can come in and play and at
23:38
safety. You know, they always kind of have that hybrid. You can
23:42
play linebacker, can go back and play it kind of Willem Malowley did.
23:45
Uh last year, Jed Jedge Schlimer was doing that before. They've always had
23:49
those those kinds of guys. Uh. This year is see Hayden Rossa doing
23:53
that. You played some corner last year. Had had a great interception in
23:57
Week one. I could see him, uh, you know, playing the
24:00
run a little bit, Uh, coming up in the box. He could
24:03
play back. And then at free safety, Luke Smith at six foot three,
24:08
rangey, smart athletic, can can go get the ball. You know,
24:11
teams love having that that that tall free safety. You got Tom Horseman
24:17
coach in the defense. He's been doing it forever. He was a free
24:19
safety at six foot four when he played, he had nine interceptions as a
24:22
senior. He loves to to show, like what the what how what to
24:26
look for and all that stuff. And it seems like every year Mount Mount
24:30
Mount Baker just racks up the interceptions. I mean it's just you know,
24:33
year after year they can make plays in the secondary and this is one of
24:36
the stronger secondaries that they've had. And also look for Jet Ross, that
24:40
that intriguing sophomore at six foot two, one hundred and eighty pounds. He
24:44
might get some time at free safety as well. Now, Tyler, the
24:47
uh, the kicking game over the years there at UH at Baker has always
24:52
been lacking, especially if you go back to the nineties. Hey, and
24:56
you know what it's at At times, Tyler, they've had the biggest battery
25:02
and I mean they've had the biggest kickers. And these guys, who are
25:06
the guys we need to know about? I mean, I see here mololei
25:08
returns averaging thirty thirty yards of punt in high school is actually pretty dang good.
25:15
But who are the guys that we need to know about. As far
25:18
as the special teams go, Yeah, Tanyan Staton is back. As as
25:22
the kick extra points, he had that huge extra point through the wind in
25:26
the Nooksack Valley game and the State Semis to give them that one point lead
25:30
and eventually win that game fourteen thirteen, and and Alex Mololei as a punter,
25:36
Uh, he really brings it. When I got there on Saturday evening,
25:41
he was they were doing the punt drills and he was really booming them
25:45
as It's really really impressive. And Mount Baker's punting average is always kind of
25:49
thrown off a little bit because I don't know any team in the high in
25:52
Walking County High School anyways that lines their punter up deeper from the center the
25:57
Mount the Mount Baker. Yeah, he's they're usually about fourteen fifteen yards deep,
26:02
you know, I mean Troy pets Was, you know, ten eleven
26:04
yards deep. You know, they just and you know in the NFL they're
26:08
usually fourteen and so Baker they really line him up quite a bit back,
26:14
which can kind of hurt your average a little bit, but if it can
26:17
avoid blocks and different things like that, then you know it's it ends up
26:19
helping. So yeah, so he can really punt. They have a new
26:23
kid, a junior, Luis Zavala five two hundred seventeen pounds. He was
26:30
out there kicking by himself and he coach got on me. He goes,
26:33
I'm surprised you're not out there coaching him. Come on, and it was
26:37
great. It was hilarious. And he's gonna probably handle kickoffs. So you
26:41
got kind of three different guys there doing the kickoffs, extra points of field
26:45
goals and the punting. I feel like they've done that before. Yeah,
26:49
they usually have quite a bit of guys. And yeah, they did that
26:52
when they had a robeless kickoff and you know, uh eight and Corning was
26:59
punting, and and Whyatt Thomas was pats and all of them were two ninety
27:03
plus. I mean we saw Davin Beason kicking off at one point, that's
27:07
right. Yeah, yeah, so you just you know, he's get the
27:08
get get the ball booming out there and see what could happen. You know,
27:11
in the return game, you know, coach usually likes to have his
27:18
kind of up and coming sophomores be the returners, you know, give his
27:21
starters, you know, a break a little bit. But you know,
27:26
the depth is is not what it usually is this year. So Brady Bruland
27:30
who had a kick return for a touchdown last year, Tanyan Stayton Can had
27:34
some good good returns. I could see those guys back there again. So
27:40
you know, I really Brady Brady. It was so funny after Brady Brulin
27:42
to return that kickoff for a touchdown against Blaine. Uh, he hardly ever
27:47
got the ball kick to him anymore. I mean even even when it was
27:49
him and Marcus George back there, they were kicking it to George. So
27:53
and that that tells you something about respect right there. So uh yeah,
27:57
So they have some guys that can that can do that, and they're gonna
28:02
they're gonna rely heavily on those and with in this in this conference, I
28:04
mean special teams, there could be big, big plays that could that could
28:08
really determine quite a bit. And you know, just ask coach Leap about
28:12
the top Inish game last year and how much special team, how important is
28:17
so hig part of the game. And yeah, well see how it turns
28:22
out the season. At least they have some experience coming back that yeah,
28:26
and that and that's always a great thing to have, you know what I
28:30
mean, Like you're never gonna turn that down because those can be plays that
28:36
change games, you know what I mean that at any point. So just
28:40
looking over the schedule, Tyler, it looks to me as though, is
28:42
it just a straight flip from last year? Yeah, a little bit.
28:47
They added Kings. Oh okay, yeah, I do see that the four
28:49
fit from last year. Yeah, okay, now I mean getting uh oh
28:56
and I do see that here that you did actually flip everything this time,
28:59
So thanks for that. But uh yeah, I mean I think I mentioned
29:06
it with the Nooks that the King's King's game is always a good one.
29:08
I mean, that's that's a that's a good non conference game to schedule because
29:11
those guys are good and and they're they're always going to be good and you
29:15
know, heading on the road to do that. It's interesting that they're playing
29:19
one Acchi again. That was a two year thing that we had before and
29:25
now it looks like we're getting it again. Huh yeah. Well they played
29:27
last year at home before, right, they played the year before at Winnacchi
29:33
as well. I was like a ten nothing defensive ugly, you know,
29:37
it was ugly. Baker had a lot of troubles with the center quarterback exchange
29:42
that game. Yeah. So but you know, they go to Nachi camp
29:47
every year. There there's a there's there's a bond there and so it's kind
29:51
of cool that they have that, you know, one A versus four a's
29:53
it's interesting they got to you know, it's it's different when you look on
29:56
both sidelines. But yeah, it's a that's always an interesting game. Tell
30:02
you what. One actually hasn't fared too well against the one A schools since
30:04
twenty twenty when they got absolutely blasted by Royal and then they took it on
30:08
the chin last year by Mount Baker. Uh, they're trying to get back
30:11
to five hundred against the one A schools in the last couple of years.
30:15
Yeah, I mean when when when you look at it, Tyler, I
30:18
mean I see some definite winnable games here. I see some games that you
30:22
look at and go, you know, these guys could be rolling into conference
30:25
play feeling pretty good about themselves. But what games stand out to you most
30:30
specifically? Well, that Week one game, we talked about it during the
30:34
Sea Home podcast. I just love how it's the two you know, complete
30:40
different styles going against each other. I think that's gonna be a great game.
30:44
It was a really close game last year. Uh. That Toppenish game,
30:48
you know, Toppenish has just been tough. They're coached by you know
30:51
ex Mount Baker All star Jason Smith and he's he's had them rolling the last
30:56
few years. So, uh, they yet a game as is gonna be
31:00
great, you know the one at Las Center, you know, I mean
31:03
Mount Mount Baker and the Center have had amazing games over the years, going
31:07
back to twenty years ago when they first met in the state playoffs out at
31:11
Mount Vernon. I was covering that game for the for the Bellingham Herald.
31:15
But yeah, so it's gonna be I mean, you look at that schedule
31:18
and it's it's it's a little tougher when you then you think when you when
31:23
you look at it, they're gonna find out some stuff right off the right
31:26
off the get go, and uh yeah, there's not really uh you know,
31:33
a night off or a day off you if you want to say that.
31:37
I was hoping to, you know, I told coach last year that
31:40
I'd love to take a road trip with the team and then we were planning
31:45
on me going down to the Center with them and kind of doing some cool
31:48
coverage with them on that Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, that's the same day of
31:51
the Blaine Hall of Fame ceremony and I'm a part of the board on that,
31:55
so I have to be there for that and set up and break down
31:57
and be a part of ceremony. So yeah, I know it's horrible that
32:00
that that lines up on that. So I don't know. Maybe maybe maybe
32:05
the Winnati game, I don't know, but we'll see. We'll see how
32:09
the health is of miss Walking preps too. I might have to stick around.
32:13
But but yeah, it's it's uh, it's a it's looks like a
32:15
looks like a pretty uh pretty scook them strong schedule there. Yeah, and
32:22
that's I think that's what intrigues me the most is there's a little bit of
32:24
different things. There's some teams that are under center. There's some teams that
32:29
you know, sling the ball around. There's I mean there's the one A
32:32
Conference, they're the Northwest Conference. I mean, this looks like a fun
32:36
schedule here, Tyler. Yeah, when we talk about the breakout player here
32:40
from Mount Baker, a young man running back outside listed as a running back
32:45
outside linebacker. He's a junior. Brady Brulin tell me about Brady. Yeah,
32:49
this was and it was weird because a lot of times I kind of
32:51
have my player in mind before I even go out to practice, and I
32:53
was still kind of up in the air with with Mount Baker. I wanted
32:57
to go there. I wanted to see kind of if any buddy kind of
33:00
caught my eye and and uh, and Brady did. I mean, I
33:04
know about the speed. He's a track guy, and you know, when
33:08
you're gonna play that halfback position at Mount Baker and you have that speed,
33:15
you're bound to just do some great things. And I think that it's lining
33:17
up really well for him. I think he I think he really could have
33:22
a big year. And he's a guy that maybe not many people know about,
33:25
but really good, really good bloodlines. Both mom and dad were great
33:29
athletes at Mount Baker. So I'm excited to see him kind of turn it
33:34
into the next gear and be another great running back in the in the pantheon
33:38
of Mount Baker running backs. Whoa lou pantheon? Yeah? Uh, Tyler,
33:45
any final words before we move on to the next one. I don't
33:50
think so. I think we've covered at all. Alrighty, we only have
33:53
our Ridian and Ferndale left before. Oh, let's see what do we got.
33:59
You're gonna have your or all county preseason. We'll have another podcast on
34:04
Thursday, kind of previewing everything. Be sure to subscribe. Other than that,
34:08
Tyler, this is the twenty twenty three mal Baker Mountaineers team preview.
34:14
He's Tyler Anderson. I'm Rylan Spencer. We'll talk to you tomorrow with the
34:17
Meridian Trojans and Ferndale Golden Eagles