Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 269 - 2024 Meridian Trojans Football Preview

Transcript

Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 269 - 2024 Meridian Trojans Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is senior Lincoln Hoper and you're listening to the
0:02
Speaker 1: Meridian football preview on the Walkham Preps Podcast with Tyler
0:06
Speaker 1: and Ryland.
0:06
Speaker 2: Go Trojans, Greetings and welcome into the wak Them Preps Podcast.
0:26
Speaker 2: This is episode of two hundred and sixty nine, the
0:29
Speaker 2: sixth of ten football team previews. I'm Ryland Spencer. Along
0:32
Speaker 2: with me as always is Tyler Anderson of What Come Preps. Tyler,
0:35
Speaker 2: ho are we doing?
0:36
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. I love how you always changed up
0:39
Speaker 1: the Walkham Preps or however were gonna say you always
0:41
Speaker 1: throw me off. But despite that, I am doing fantastic.
0:46
Speaker 1: I'm excited to talk about some more high school football.
0:48
Speaker 1: We are now halfway through these previews and and uh again,
0:52
Speaker 1: I just takes me back to I think twenty sixteen
0:56
Speaker 1: was the first time I ever wrote a team preview
0:59
Speaker 1: for a team, and I just had so many thrills
1:02
Speaker 1: just from doing that, just because I loved reading when
1:05
Speaker 1: I when I was a kid, and and now to
1:07
Speaker 1: be a part of these is just a lot of fun.
1:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's kind of cool to see the
1:13
Speaker 2: evolution if you will, love it all. So uh, Lincoln Hofer,
1:17
Speaker 2: he has provided us with the intro little guy and
1:22
Speaker 2: not not real big. He's a large individual and getting
1:27
Speaker 2: some D one interest now. It's always fun to watch
1:29
Speaker 2: as he progresses and uh yeah, it's I mean, you
1:34
Speaker 2: start looking at guys that have been around it seems
1:36
Speaker 2: like forever, and he's another one. We need to give
1:39
Speaker 2: a thank you to Kurt Mayberry Farm. They are a
1:42
Speaker 2: fourth generation family owned and operated a berry farm committed
1:45
Speaker 2: to growing the highest quality berries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
1:49
Speaker 2: Tyler and I both a fan. Uh head on over
1:52
Speaker 2: to their website Kurt with A C. M A B
1:55
Speaker 2: E R R Y farm dot com.
1:58
Speaker 1: Tyler.
1:58
Speaker 2: This podcast, if you notice, by Lincoln Hofer, is the
2:02
Speaker 2: Meridian Trojans at preview. Earlier today we posted the Squalicum storm.
2:08
Speaker 2: Yesterday was the two Linden schools before that, Bellingham and Blaine.
2:11
Speaker 2: So we are in the thick of it. Already had
2:14
Speaker 2: five of you know these team previews done, so go
2:17
Speaker 2: back and listen to them tomorrow Ferndale and Mount Baker
2:23
Speaker 2: nine am five pm. Then we finish with Seahome Ink
2:27
Speaker 2: Nooksack Valley and eventually right after that you get the
2:31
Speaker 2: old week one preview and then the volleyball preview. So
2:35
Speaker 2: first time we've ever ever done a volleyball preview.
2:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, last year I covered it, didn't do
2:40
Speaker 1: a preview because I didn't really know that much about
2:42
Speaker 1: the athletes, got to see a full season, went to
2:45
Speaker 1: state tournament, which was awesome. So now I feel good
2:48
Speaker 1: about doing a preview this year based on what I
2:51
Speaker 1: saw last year and who's returning, stuff like that.
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we will have that. I'm gonna learn way
2:56
Speaker 2: more about volleyball in that time than I will probably
2:59
Speaker 2: ever know. But yeah, we got all kinds of stuff
3:03
Speaker 2: coming up here, and then we are right into it,
3:05
Speaker 2: I mean right into the season right after that, and
3:07
Speaker 2: then you know, Tyler, you're not going to sleep over
3:10
Speaker 2: the weekend, and then we're going to record on Sunday
3:12
Speaker 2: night for a Monday podcast and might even have This
3:16
Speaker 2: is what's interesting. We're going to try to do basically
3:19
Speaker 2: three podcasts week is kind of what we have an
3:21
Speaker 2: idea for. So we'll see what happens. We don't we
3:24
Speaker 2: don't really know how it's all gonna work out, but
3:25
Speaker 2: we'll we'll figure it out as we go. That being
3:29
Speaker 2: said Tyler Friday morning, you were out there at Meridian
3:32
Speaker 2: three three stops in one day, and you started at Meridians.
3:35
Speaker 2: So general thoughts on the day out there in the
3:39
Speaker 2: old Trojanville.
3:40
Speaker 1: Well, it started out really weird because I show up
3:44
Speaker 1: and my intern shows up, Mikayla. Yeah, and the football
3:50
Speaker 1: where they've been practicing, you know for fifty years, it's
3:53
Speaker 1: all dug up, and there's all these things going on.
3:56
Speaker 1: There's like the orange fencing around it, and I know
3:59
Speaker 1: they've had like some septic issues and different things like that.
4:02
Speaker 1: I remember there was a baseball game that was moved
4:04
Speaker 1: last year. So I'm like, Okay, they're not out there
4:07
Speaker 1: practicing where they always are. Plus it's just pouring down rain.
4:10
Speaker 1: So I thought, well, maybe they're taking advantage of us
4:13
Speaker 1: and they're in the weight room or they're doing stuff
4:15
Speaker 1: in the gym. So I just told michaela go ahead
4:18
Speaker 1: and stay in your car. I'll check it out. So
4:20
Speaker 1: I'm walking around the school and I'm I'm walking into
4:24
Speaker 1: the locker room. There's nobody in there. It's propped open,
4:27
Speaker 1: you know. I walk into the gym, the lights are off,
4:31
Speaker 1: hoping I'm not going to set off any alarms. I
4:33
Speaker 1: go into like the front office and there's people working
4:36
Speaker 1: because you know, you guy, get ready. School's coming up.
4:38
Speaker 1: And I said, do you know where the football team's practicing?
4:44
Speaker 1: And one of the ladies recognized me, and she goes,
4:47
Speaker 1: I've been following where you've been going because I keep
4:49
Speaker 1: posting on Instagram here I'm at this practice. I'm at
4:52
Speaker 1: that practice. And she goes, I knew that when you'd
4:54
Speaker 1: come here you wouldn't be able to find them. I
4:55
Speaker 1: was like, well, where are they? She goes, They're out
4:58
Speaker 1: back behind the baseball field, the barn, and I'm thinking, oh,
5:01
Speaker 1: that's kind of way out there. So I come back
5:04
Speaker 1: and I let Mikaela know, and we got our stuff
5:07
Speaker 1: and walked out there. Now we got sheets of paper
5:10
Speaker 1: and we got sharpies, and it's pouring down rain and
5:12
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh man, how are we going to keep
5:14
Speaker 1: all this dry? So it was interesting right there we
5:17
Speaker 1: got out there, and and yeah, it was It was
5:22
Speaker 1: typical Meridian practice. You got the lineman over here, you
5:24
Speaker 1: got the skill guys over there, and then you got
5:26
Speaker 1: them teaming up group stuff. I got to talk with coach,
5:29
Speaker 1: you know, assistant coach Bob Ames, which is always fun.
5:32
Speaker 1: Where I asked him about the defense and it turns
5:35
Speaker 1: into his favorite John Wayne movies of all time, and
5:39
Speaker 1: you know it's it's that, but here it's think because
5:42
Speaker 1: I always would wear a Hawaiian shirt when I'd go
5:44
Speaker 1: out there, but I wasn't going to this time because
5:47
Speaker 1: you know, it was really raining hard. And yeah, it
5:51
Speaker 1: was good time. A lot of you know, good sized
5:54
Speaker 1: kids and h you know, there's some kids that have
5:57
Speaker 1: come back out for football. There's kids that turned out
6:00
Speaker 1: that I didn't know. I didn't think they were going
6:02
Speaker 1: to so it was it was a lot fun. And
6:05
Speaker 1: then once practice was over, you know there's kids doing
6:08
Speaker 1: bear crawls and doing running. I don't know if they
6:10
Speaker 1: were late to practice or whatever, but it's a good program.
6:15
Speaker 1: They got there, and yeah, I saw a lot of
6:19
Speaker 1: positive things. Hard to believe that when watching that practice
6:22
Speaker 1: that they didn't have a conference win last year. It's
6:24
Speaker 1: just it was just a start. Contrast.
6:27
Speaker 2: Eight minutes and thirty seconds is the interview that we
6:30
Speaker 2: have with Patrick Ames Tyler. You were out there, sat
6:33
Speaker 2: down with him for a little bit and yeah, you
6:36
Speaker 2: guys have all kinds of stuff to talk about here. So,
6:39
Speaker 2: like I said, eight minutes thirty seconds with head coach
6:42
Speaker 2: Patrick Ames. Tyler take it away.
6:45
Speaker 1: This is Tyler Anderson with WAKAM Preps and we are
6:47
Speaker 1: on location at Meridian in High School where the rain
6:50
Speaker 1: is coming down, but practice is over and I'm here
6:52
Speaker 1: with head coach Patrick Ames and coach, I want to
6:56
Speaker 1: start out by just talking a little bit about your quarterback, Jaggerfife.
7:01
Speaker 1: He played a little bit as a freshman two years
7:03
Speaker 1: now as a starter entering his third year. What's the
7:06
Speaker 1: How beneficial is it to have a third year starting
7:08
Speaker 1: quarterback at the high school level.
7:10
Speaker 3: It can make a big difference, especially an offense where
7:13
Speaker 3: you want to try to be as diverse and multiple
7:16
Speaker 3: as possible and have an experience of that position. Being
7:20
Speaker 3: comfortable with the way that we call things, being comfortable
7:23
Speaker 3: with our formations, being able to help everybody else out
7:26
Speaker 3: on offense makes a really big difference in how you
7:30
Speaker 3: approach your games and game planning and what the quarterback
7:34
Speaker 3: can do from his position aside from just playing really
7:37
Speaker 3: good football, but just being a great leader and a
7:41
Speaker 3: resource for everybody else on the field. And that's where
7:43
Speaker 3: I'm looking for him really to take. The next and
7:47
Speaker 3: biggest steps is being that kind of facilitator on the
7:51
Speaker 3: field that a lot of times our third year starting
7:53
Speaker 3: quarterbacks have been able to give.
7:54
Speaker 1: Us the new rule. This year, the round of thirty two,
7:59
Speaker 1: the Week ten game, we've been you know, the smaller
8:01
Speaker 1: school has been fighting for it. The four a's and
8:03
Speaker 1: three a's have been doing it. It's it's been approved,
8:06
Speaker 1: It's going to happen. How can this benefit the Trojans?
8:09
Speaker 3: I think it's going to benefit everybody in our league.
8:12
Speaker 3: It's no secret at least certainly amongst the five of
8:15
Speaker 3: us up here that we play in what we feel
8:18
Speaker 3: top to bottom and there are only five of us
8:20
Speaker 3: is the toughest league in one A in the state.
8:23
Speaker 3: And it's not going to surprise any of us, I think,
8:26
Speaker 3: in the least to see, you know, as we will
8:29
Speaker 3: max out the opportunity we have to make that round
8:32
Speaker 3: to thirty two out of our league. And I'm still
8:36
Speaker 3: a little uncertain of how, you know, those allocations are
8:38
Speaker 3: going to be distributed, and I don't think anybody knows
8:40
Speaker 3: yet at this point. But not only are we going
8:44
Speaker 3: to be well represented but highly competitive when we get there.
8:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's Walking County has done such
8:50
Speaker 1: a great has done such great showings at the state
8:53
Speaker 1: tournament that sometimes it's kind of like the you know,
8:56
Speaker 1: the first round is kind of like, well this is well,
8:58
Speaker 1: was a week off almost, and now it's you're going
9:00
Speaker 1: to get the best sixteen, and that's what it should be.
9:04
Speaker 1: You've been a lifer in this program forever, from a
9:06
Speaker 1: ball boy to a player to an assistant now the
9:09
Speaker 1: head coach. If I would have asked you thirty years ago,
9:12
Speaker 1: do you see yourself as a head coach someday? Do
9:14
Speaker 1: you think that would have been a thing or did
9:16
Speaker 1: it just kind of all happen organically.
9:18
Speaker 3: It did happen organically. But the longer you stay rooted
9:22
Speaker 3: in one place and deeply invested and interested those that
9:29
Speaker 3: natural growth evolution, I guess, and in what I was
9:36
Speaker 3: able to do and I've been able to offer and
9:40
Speaker 3: positions I've been able to serve in did largely happen
9:44
Speaker 3: through opportunity and desire. I never would have said thirty
9:47
Speaker 3: years ago that it's my desire to be the head coach.
9:51
Speaker 3: But when I was able to come back here, you know,
9:52
Speaker 3: fresh out of college and in my first year teaching,
9:55
Speaker 3: be able to come back and coach here also as
9:59
Speaker 3: I us, my dad and I especially took those steps together.
10:03
Speaker 3: You know, we got to the point, you know a
10:04
Speaker 3: few years ago where it was it was a lot
10:08
Speaker 3: more easier transition than it might have been ten years
10:11
Speaker 3: ago or fifteen years ago, and certainly thirty years ago
10:14
Speaker 3: wouldn't have even been on my radar. But I think
10:18
Speaker 3: for you know, Webster Curves who's been with us now
10:21
Speaker 3: for twenty plus years, and Josh Winners who's been on
10:25
Speaker 3: our staff since two thousand and eight, and being able
10:27
Speaker 3: to have a Mike prot Seller back here for the
10:30
Speaker 3: first time in a number of years, having a lot
10:32
Speaker 3: of continuity in our staff has has made all of
10:36
Speaker 3: our jobs, I think easier, and especially mine. And I'm deeply,
10:39
Speaker 3: deeply grateful for the assistant coaches that we do have,
10:44
Speaker 3: who are always number one, great, great teachers and mentors
10:48
Speaker 3: for our players, but also in the position which I
10:51
Speaker 3: find myself now being just great, you know, levels of
10:55
Speaker 3: support in whatever ways that I'm going to need it
10:58
Speaker 3: in our program needs. And of course, you know, my
11:00
Speaker 3: dad is here for season fifty one fifty one consecutive seasons,
11:05
Speaker 3: then if my math is right, I think he this
11:08
Speaker 3: is going to be season fifty eight straight coaching you know,
11:11
Speaker 3: high school football here in the state of Washington, and
11:13
Speaker 3: obviously anytime that you've got him involved in, especially involved
11:17
Speaker 3: in our program and personally with me. Those are those
11:20
Speaker 3: are all all wins that you know, hopefully we're going
11:23
Speaker 3: to be able to leverage into actual wins, you know
11:25
Speaker 3: when the season starts.
11:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. Offensively wise, I mean Meridian fans in the past
11:31
Speaker 1: have seen some just crazy plays and all these different
11:34
Speaker 1: things and formations and fun What do you like about
11:37
Speaker 1: your offense so far? I know it's early in the year,
11:39
Speaker 1: but what do you what are the things that you
11:41
Speaker 1: really like about your offense.
11:44
Speaker 3: I'll come back to you know, the question you asked
11:46
Speaker 3: about Jake Er, you know a few minutes ago. Like,
11:48
Speaker 3: having having experience at the quarter back position makes makes
11:51
Speaker 3: everything easier. But we're going to have a number of
11:54
Speaker 3: three year starters in the offensive line and a three
11:56
Speaker 3: year starter you know in the backfield, and everybody that
12:00
Speaker 3: you know is probably going to be out there for
12:01
Speaker 3: the opening snap in a couple weeks. Time played meaningful
12:06
Speaker 3: snaps last year too, So having experience allows you to
12:11
Speaker 3: do a lot actually right, It makes game planning easier
12:15
Speaker 3: it makes preparation easier. You're able to get into some
12:18
Speaker 3: things that you might want to do a lot sooner
12:20
Speaker 3: than we would have been able to a couple of
12:22
Speaker 3: years ago, and more than anything, like if you've watched
12:26
Speaker 3: us play, we were still really rooted in some things
12:29
Speaker 3: that you would have seen in the nineteen seventies, and
12:32
Speaker 3: not just to be stubborn to it. But as the
12:35
Speaker 3: game of football has evolved, you want to be able
12:37
Speaker 3: to evolve with it. And part of that evolution actually,
12:41
Speaker 3: ironically is to maintain some elements of the game that
12:44
Speaker 3: you don't see very often. So when we're playing somebody
12:47
Speaker 3: that hasn't played us before and we're you know, in
12:49
Speaker 3: split backs and able to run the outside beer and
12:52
Speaker 3: have guys running to dive untouched for seventy yards, there's
12:55
Speaker 3: still a lot of value to being able to have
12:58
Speaker 3: some elements of your attack that if you can teach
13:02
Speaker 3: it to your guys, Like any system in America, if
13:04
Speaker 3: you teach it to your guys when they're freshmen and
13:06
Speaker 3: they know your basics coming up through your system, you
13:10
Speaker 3: keep those and you continue to add and add and
13:12
Speaker 3: add until you've got enough where you hopefully as long
13:16
Speaker 3: as you're you know you're you're physically matched up well,
13:19
Speaker 3: you're always going to have things that you can do
13:22
Speaker 3: no matter what the team is showing you that you're playing.
13:26
Speaker 3: So we we take the approach where you know, we're
13:29
Speaker 3: always going to be able to come to something in
13:31
Speaker 3: the run game or something in the past game, even
13:34
Speaker 3: if it's something we haven't run in a couple of weeks,
13:36
Speaker 3: even if it's something that we haven't run since you
13:38
Speaker 3: put it in in August. Where you can stay multiple
13:41
Speaker 3: and diverse enough to be able to attack whatever you
13:44
Speaker 3: know you're going to be seeing and give your kids
13:47
Speaker 3: enough confidence in what you're able to run that you
13:50
Speaker 3: know they're prepared in those moments where you know when
13:52
Speaker 3: you need a play, you've got to play.
13:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, outside fear. The old timers are going to think
13:56
Speaker 1: it's Kenny Shockey out there there you go. What about
13:59
Speaker 1: your defense, we'rinning defense traditionally is very in your face,
14:03
Speaker 1: a lot of inside blitzes and stuff. What do you
14:05
Speaker 1: like so far about your defense?
14:08
Speaker 3: We just, like you know, we try to game plan
14:11
Speaker 3: on offense, We'll try to game plan on defense. Is
14:13
Speaker 3: as much and as best we can suited to the
14:16
Speaker 3: personnel we've got, and every defense is going to have
14:18
Speaker 3: principles and a base front and some base coverages that
14:21
Speaker 3: you're going to run. But we try to do the
14:24
Speaker 3: best job we can to give our kids the best
14:27
Speaker 3: opportunity to compete on a week to week basis, and
14:31
Speaker 3: that's going to be again rooted in US right now
14:33
Speaker 3: in experience. The more experience your kids have, the more
14:36
Speaker 3: that you're going to be able to reasonably expect that
14:39
Speaker 3: they can line up to and execute on defense. And
14:42
Speaker 3: we're we're going to try to have as much flexibility
14:45
Speaker 3: in what we do on defense is maybe not as
14:48
Speaker 3: much as you would do on offense, because there are
14:49
Speaker 3: more things that you can do there but play sound
14:52
Speaker 3: right and be able to tackle and be able to
14:54
Speaker 3: run to the ball and be able to line up correctly.
14:57
Speaker 3: And we're not unlike any other team right now, and
15:00
Speaker 3: that's where our focus is and trying to find the
15:03
Speaker 3: best spots for our kids where they can contribute and
15:06
Speaker 3: where they can take some ownership in and say like,
15:10
Speaker 3: I feel good about playing this spot. And obviously you're
15:13
Speaker 3: going to you know, in a one A school, you're
15:14
Speaker 3: going to find times where you're gonna have to be
15:17
Speaker 3: mixing and matching and playing kids in different positions. But
15:21
Speaker 3: you know, when you've got kids have been starting for
15:23
Speaker 3: you for you know, as many as three years and
15:25
Speaker 3: in sometimes cases four, I'm hoping we're going to be
15:27
Speaker 3: in positions where we can be ready for that on
15:29
Speaker 3: a week to week basis.
15:35
Speaker 2: All righty, thanks coach again for his time. All these
15:38
Speaker 2: coaches very generous with their time, Tyler, which is I mean,
15:41
Speaker 2: you got to you got to have that to be
15:42
Speaker 2: able to make walk the preps go. So but that's
15:45
Speaker 2: also the trust that everybody have with you, and you
15:47
Speaker 2: managed to build that.
15:48
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm lucky. I mean I've known a lot
15:51
Speaker 1: of these, Like you said, I've known these coaches for
15:52
Speaker 1: a long time. I've known Patrick for forty years.
15:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've known well some of them, you
15:57
Speaker 2: covered them, you know what I mean. They're like you
15:59
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Like you watched him in high school,
16:02
Speaker 2: and yeah, I watched.
16:03
Speaker 1: Coach Olsen in high school. Yeah, but like you know,
16:06
Speaker 1: I went to elementary school with Patrick. You know, I
16:09
Speaker 1: knew him since I was in kindergarten. So there's some
16:12
Speaker 1: of these guys I've known a long time and Patrick
16:14
Speaker 1: and I go way back, so it always really fun
16:16
Speaker 1: to catch up with him.
16:17
Speaker 2: Patrick games fifth season at the Helm of the Meridian Trojans, Tyler.
16:21
Speaker 2: Do you know when he started coaching at Meridian though,
16:25
Speaker 2: And don't say when he was in high school?
16:27
Speaker 1: No, no, no, because he was a ball boy and
16:28
Speaker 1: then he played and then he went to college and
16:31
Speaker 1: he played it. He was a running back at University
16:34
Speaker 1: PG Sound, and then he came right back and coached
16:37
Speaker 1: after that. So I want to say, I mean, I
16:41
Speaker 1: want to say like ninety eight something like that.
16:44
Speaker 2: So twenty five years or so, you know on the staff,
16:47
Speaker 2: and five is the head coach now sixteen and fifteen overall,
16:53
Speaker 2: which obviously was it his first No, his first year
16:56
Speaker 2: was the COVID year.
16:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, only thirst year. I had to play two games.
17:00
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, that's right, which so kind of in a way,
17:03
Speaker 2: it's kind of funny when you look at it because
17:04
Speaker 2: it kind of skews the numbers a little bit. You're like,
17:05
Speaker 2: wait a minute, how have they only played thirty one
17:09
Speaker 2: games in five years? You know, going on to the
17:10
Speaker 2: fifth year like that just doesn't make sense. Well, because
17:13
Speaker 2: he only played two one year. They play their games, right,
17:16
Speaker 2: there at a Meridian High School, Tyler. Is there a
17:18
Speaker 2: name for it, like Trojan Field or anything.
17:21
Speaker 1: No, as far as I know, there's not a name
17:24
Speaker 1: for it. But I think everyone knows what it should be.
17:26
Speaker 2: Named, yeah, or eventually will be because like you know,
17:29
Speaker 2: Auburn High School they are the Trojans, But most people
17:32
Speaker 2: call it Troy Field, even though it literally says that nowhere.
17:37
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, and there is nobody named
17:40
Speaker 2: Troy Like it's yeah, last season four and six, when
17:44
Speaker 2: you look at the key losses and top ortornees, I'll
17:47
Speaker 2: tell you what man there is. I mean, losing Josh
17:51
Speaker 2: tin Elmer is huge because that guy just did so
17:54
Speaker 2: many things. So when you look at the at the
17:56
Speaker 2: key losses, like, yeah, they did lose some guys here,
17:58
Speaker 2: you know, but the top retornees, this is the only
18:03
Speaker 2: one I've seen so far that takes up four lines
18:05
Speaker 2: on my sheet here, Tyler, I mean, there's a lot
18:07
Speaker 2: of guys coming back. When you look at last year's season,
18:11
Speaker 2: kind of an up and down in a way. It's
18:12
Speaker 2: kind of a tail of two halves, if you will.
18:14
Speaker 2: The first half they started off three and one, including
18:18
Speaker 2: a one point loss against the Shelan Mountain Goats, a
18:23
Speaker 2: game that you know, they probably feel like maybe they
18:26
Speaker 2: should have won, but then it was very tough sledding
18:30
Speaker 2: there for what it would be four weeks before finishing
18:34
Speaker 2: off with a win against Bellingham excuse me, a win
18:38
Speaker 2: against Bellingham, but then losing in the final week of
18:41
Speaker 2: the season to Cedar Park Christians. So four and six
18:44
Speaker 2: on the year. Now, Tyler, when we start talking about
18:48
Speaker 2: what they return in the backfield, they returned a guy
18:52
Speaker 2: that has not only some good numbers, but some of
18:56
Speaker 2: the best in the county, and Jagger five at quarterback,
18:58
Speaker 2: and then you know Land and Downey, a guy that
19:01
Speaker 2: does a little bit of everything at running back. But
19:03
Speaker 2: then also you even have Kelly Gray, who you know,
19:06
Speaker 2: didn't put up huge numbers, but one hundred yards rushing
19:09
Speaker 2: twenty five attempts. I mean, some guys that have some
19:12
Speaker 2: experience in the backfield and this could be pretty exciting.
19:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're absolutely right, you know Gray, because of Elmer's presence,
19:19
Speaker 1: Gray just didn't get that many carries, and I think
19:21
Speaker 1: that you know, averaging close to five yards of carries,
19:23
Speaker 1: scored a couple of touchdowns. I think Kelly Gray is
19:25
Speaker 1: going to be a little bit more featured. They like
19:28
Speaker 1: to use Landon Downey all over the field, so you
19:30
Speaker 1: probably won't see him off the field very often, if
19:33
Speaker 1: at all, just because of what he does with special
19:36
Speaker 1: teams and defense and everything. I mean, you and I
19:38
Speaker 1: both know. I think you picked him like eight times
19:40
Speaker 1: one week and fantasy yeah, defense, defense and kicker, yeah,
19:44
Speaker 1: literally and so and so it's you know, but because
19:47
Speaker 1: of Downey's experience of playing different positions, you might see
19:51
Speaker 1: Gray as the solo back back there a lot, which
19:54
Speaker 1: we did with Elmer last year. Yeah, so he could
19:56
Speaker 1: be taking that spot. I think he's very, very capable,
20:00
Speaker 1: a lot like Elmer, maybe even shorter, about five six,
20:02
Speaker 1: one sixty and just you know, low to the ground, strong,
20:06
Speaker 1: hard to tackle. So I really like you know him
20:10
Speaker 1: and Downy in the backfield. Also, you get Xavier paren
20:13
Speaker 1: who transferred over from Seahome, who's got a lot of explosiveness,
20:16
Speaker 1: about one hundred and ninety pounds, extremely fast, ran on
20:19
Speaker 1: the track team. Ross Driscoll is another kid that provides
20:22
Speaker 1: depth that the running back spot. He is a senior now,
20:25
Speaker 1: so they've got a lot of guys now that they
20:27
Speaker 1: could put in there. You're right about Jagerfiffe returning at quarterback,
20:31
Speaker 1: a third year starting quarterback, which is just huge, which
20:34
Speaker 1: you heard coach Ames talk about during the interview. And
20:37
Speaker 1: then he's got a couple of backups that are very,
20:40
Speaker 1: very capable, a couple of sophomores, Trey Alexander and Pierce Berzowski.
20:45
Speaker 1: We talked about both those kids during baseball season, ye,
20:49
Speaker 1: and I mean both those kids played shortstop on the
20:52
Speaker 1: baseball team as freshmen. You know, both those teams batted
20:55
Speaker 1: lead off at some point as freshmen. These are really
20:58
Speaker 1: really good athletes that are you know, they're not pushing Jagger,
21:01
Speaker 1: but they're right there if something happens. And both of
21:04
Speaker 1: them have the capability of, you know, playing some wide
21:07
Speaker 1: receiver and different things like that, playing some defense. So
21:10
Speaker 1: you got a lot of talent there in the backfield
21:12
Speaker 1: and a lot more depth than they've had in a
21:14
Speaker 1: long time.
21:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean that's gonna be a theme of
21:20
Speaker 2: this podcast is depth and just experience. I mean when
21:24
Speaker 2: you look at like, you know, sometimes you'll see like, oh,
21:27
Speaker 2: these guys return this mini games and in college football,
21:30
Speaker 2: you're like, wow, that's a lot. There's guys here that
21:33
Speaker 2: have played a lot of high school football. I mean
21:36
Speaker 2: a lot of high school football. So be prepared to
21:39
Speaker 2: hear that a few more times when we go to
21:41
Speaker 2: the outside, Tyler. I mean, it's funny because Landon down
21:45
Speaker 2: he's not even listed as a receiver, but he's the
21:48
Speaker 2: leading receiver returning. I mean thirty five receptions, four hundred
21:51
Speaker 2: and twenty eight yards and four touchdowns, but he's not
21:54
Speaker 2: even listed as a receiver. Then you got James heat
21:56
Speaker 2: All coming back, Casey Brennan coming back. There are some
22:00
Speaker 2: numbers there, I mean we're talking what would that be.
22:02
Speaker 2: That's close to nine hundred yards receiving returned and you know,
22:06
Speaker 2: well over fifty receptions total, so some definite end what
22:10
Speaker 2: seven eight receiving touchdowns. I mean there's some definite experience there.
22:14
Speaker 2: And with that, you know, senior quarterback there, Jagger Fife,
22:17
Speaker 2: this is this could be a pat Well, let me
22:20
Speaker 2: put you this way. This is a passing attack. I'm
22:22
Speaker 2: sure that maybe makes coach Patrick Ames slobber a little bit,
22:26
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, he's got to be just
22:28
Speaker 2: you know, ready to go.
22:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of guys coming back, Like you said,
22:32
Speaker 1: I mean Landon Downey who's so valuable out of the backfield.
22:35
Speaker 1: He can split him out wide. You can do a
22:37
Speaker 1: lot of things, find mismatched problems with those thirty five catches.
22:41
Speaker 1: And then you talked about heat All and Brennan. I
22:43
Speaker 1: mean that's the long and the short of it right there.
22:45
Speaker 1: One six, six, ones, five to six. And they're very
22:48
Speaker 1: different players. He'd All is probably going to get moved
22:50
Speaker 1: to tight end, and he's just gotten bigger and stronger.
22:54
Speaker 1: You know, played center on the basketball team. He's a
22:56
Speaker 1: hurdler as well, went to State for the hurdles for
22:58
Speaker 1: the second year in a row. And so he's a
23:01
Speaker 1: great athlete. But he's about you know, he's about six six,
23:05
Speaker 1: you know, two hundred and ten pounds, and and so
23:08
Speaker 1: you can move him in at tight end. So you
23:11
Speaker 1: kind of you got little Casey Brennan out there by himself,
23:13
Speaker 1: who is just a natural runner. I mean he is
23:17
Speaker 1: so fast, so quick, and he made plays last year.
23:21
Speaker 1: Another guy that kind of got thrown into the fire
23:23
Speaker 1: as a freshman but did some really really good things
23:26
Speaker 1: and he made plays. And then Daniel Larson is a
23:29
Speaker 1: kid who you know, I think is really glossomed into
23:34
Speaker 1: this tremendous athlete. He's about six y five one ninety
23:37
Speaker 1: five and you know, running an easily sub five point
23:42
Speaker 1: forty at that size. At the high school level, you
23:45
Speaker 1: could split him out wide. He becomes a mismatch problem.
23:47
Speaker 1: Caleb Young is coming back to football after missing it
23:51
Speaker 1: for a little bit. He was on the state championship
23:53
Speaker 1: four by one hundred relay team along with Casey Brennan.
23:56
Speaker 1: He's got a ton of speed and athleticism. If he
24:00
Speaker 1: gets the ball in space, you don't know what's gonna happen.
24:02
Speaker 1: Then you talk about those guys that those backup quarterbacks,
24:05
Speaker 1: the Trey Alexander's, the Pierce Brozowski's, there's a lot of
24:08
Speaker 1: guys here. Larson could be a second tight end if
24:11
Speaker 1: they want to go double tight. Now you got a
24:12
Speaker 1: couple six five, six six tight ends in high school
24:15
Speaker 1: at the one A level. I'm not even this isn't college,
24:18
Speaker 1: you know, but these guys are huge. Arjinnegra. You got
24:21
Speaker 1: another Negro kid, he's six six, he's the third tight end.
24:24
Speaker 1: Cooper Marim he caught a pass last year. He's the
24:26
Speaker 1: fourth tight end. I mean, there's so much depth here
24:30
Speaker 1: that you're absolutely right co James is just looking around, going, okay,
24:34
Speaker 1: this is this because a lot of time it's been
24:37
Speaker 1: you know, kind of smoking mirrors with their passing game.
24:40
Speaker 1: They've had a couple guys, you know, with like Hunter
24:42
Speaker 1: Jones and Eli Jensen, but they didn't have a lot
24:45
Speaker 1: of depth. You had to move you had to move
24:47
Speaker 1: Elmer to the outside, you had to move down to
24:49
Speaker 1: the outside. And two or three really nice pieces, but
24:52
Speaker 1: just not enough of them. Yeah, and then like backups
24:54
Speaker 1: for freshmen, you know, and you don't want to put
24:56
Speaker 1: them out. And now those freshman right, and now you
25:00
Speaker 1: you've got these guys that have all been playing. They
25:03
Speaker 1: got like a guy like Caleb Young. I mean, he
25:06
Speaker 1: hasn't played a varsity snap, but he's a you know,
25:08
Speaker 1: he's a state champions sprinter on the relay team. You know,
25:11
Speaker 1: it's like, wow, where can we put this kid? And
25:14
Speaker 1: he's played football before so and it's just.
25:16
Speaker 2: So at least he has an understanding of what the
25:19
Speaker 2: game is. And yeah, I mean that's yeah. And he
25:22
Speaker 2: I mean he's got like an embarrassment of riches over there,
25:24
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Like it's just it's crazy.
25:27
Speaker 1: Looks pretty good, looks pretty good. All those skill guys. Yeah,
25:29
Speaker 1: and well, and we haven't even talked about probably their best.
25:32
Speaker 2: Position group yet.
25:33
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
25:34
Speaker 2: I mean, when you start talking about in the trenches, Tyler,
25:38
Speaker 2: there is not only a lot of beef, I mean
25:41
Speaker 2: some serious beef, Like we're talking about like a full
25:43
Speaker 2: pharmac thinking big old cows over here. But you've got
25:48
Speaker 2: experience upon experience upon experience here, and we're talking about
25:53
Speaker 2: guys that are just mean, nasty, good football players.
26:00
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right. Four out of these five all made
26:02
Speaker 1: the Top one hundred last year, and and a couple
26:06
Speaker 1: of them made it, you know a couple of years ago.
26:08
Speaker 1: You know, Lincoln Hofer gave us the intro. You know,
26:11
Speaker 1: he's he's committed to Montana as an offensive lineman, so
26:16
Speaker 1: this is the position. He'll be the right tackle. He's
26:19
Speaker 1: about six six, two sixty and it's just physical and
26:24
Speaker 1: can move. He's very athletic. He you know, he started
26:27
Speaker 1: a few games as a freshman, as did Jackson Hurlbut
26:30
Speaker 1: who's gonna play guard? And and he I mean, these
26:35
Speaker 1: guys have so much first the experience, like like you
26:37
Speaker 1: were saying, I remember talking to Jackson during practice his
26:41
Speaker 1: sophomore year or it might have been like a baseball
26:43
Speaker 1: game or something, but it was when he was a
26:45
Speaker 1: sophomore and he's and he's like, yeah, it's tough right now,
26:48
Speaker 1: but when by the time we're seniors, it'll it'll all
26:50
Speaker 1: pay off. And now we're here and we'll see what happens.
26:55
Speaker 1: Carson Campbell has been starting at center for a couple
26:57
Speaker 1: of years now. He's he's not as big he's about,
27:00
Speaker 1: but he's really really strong, and so that's a huge thing.
27:04
Speaker 1: Mason Apellis, who is a top one hundred kid last
27:07
Speaker 1: year at the other guard spot. I really really like
27:09
Speaker 1: him a lot, really good kid, strong, but two twenty five.
27:13
Speaker 1: And Landon Rally, who ended up playing a lot as
27:16
Speaker 1: a freshman at left tackle last year. He's just a
27:19
Speaker 1: really good football player, good athlete. I mean he played
27:21
Speaker 1: a ton on that baseball team last year as a freshman,
27:25
Speaker 1: played some first base, some left field, and uh and
27:29
Speaker 1: on that team that finished second in the state. You know,
27:31
Speaker 1: just a just another really good athlete. And with those
27:34
Speaker 1: five together, uh, they've all i mean combined starts, I
27:39
Speaker 1: definitely more than any other team in the county. And
27:42
Speaker 1: if and it's uh, it's looking really good. They have
27:45
Speaker 1: a sixth kid too, named Cey Singh, who is a senior.
27:50
Speaker 1: He's about six two eighty and he's you know, he's
27:53
Speaker 1: a project, but it's nice to have those extra guys
27:57
Speaker 1: if you if you need him, and he's kind of
27:59
Speaker 1: that next guy up in line. And I tell you, you're
28:02
Speaker 1: absolutely right. This is a this this is a strength
28:05
Speaker 1: and and we've said it before, if if you got
28:09
Speaker 1: a really good offensive line, that usually lends towards a
28:11
Speaker 1: really good team. So you know, we saw it kind
28:14
Speaker 1: of with Nooksack Valley last year. Where are they all returned?
28:17
Speaker 1: And then they went pretty far and this is very similar.
28:19
Speaker 1: All these kids are returning and we'll see where they
28:22
Speaker 1: can take them.
28:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think the the only difference is
28:26
Speaker 2: these guys just don't have a ton of or they
28:29
Speaker 2: don't have any playoff experience.
28:31
Speaker 1: No, you're absolutely right. There is no playoff experience. And
28:33
Speaker 1: that's and part of that is just believing that you
28:36
Speaker 1: can win. You gotta you have to get past that.
28:38
Speaker 1: And Knuksac did you know we always used to talk
28:40
Speaker 1: about that like is this the year? Is this the year? Well,
28:43
Speaker 1: once they did, then it's like well yeah, now they're
28:45
Speaker 1: in the semis the last two years, so yeah, we'll
28:47
Speaker 1: have to see that with this year's offensive line with Meridian.
28:50
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then when we start looking at the defensive
28:52
Speaker 2: side of the ball, Tiler, I mean, this is where
28:55
Speaker 2: you know, seems like maybe defense is the strength of
28:59
Speaker 2: the county this year. You know what I mean, Like
29:01
Speaker 2: when you start looking at like what teams return, I
29:04
Speaker 2: mean Meridian returns one, two, three.
29:07
Speaker 1: Four or five six.
29:07
Speaker 2: They returned nine guys with twenty one or more tackles,
29:12
Speaker 2: including two guys with sixty two and a half or more.
29:16
Speaker 2: They got five guys with thirty or more. I mean,
29:20
Speaker 2: they returned a ton of tackles. And Tyler, this is
29:23
Speaker 2: the craziest number to me. They returned sixty tackles for
29:27
Speaker 2: a loss. Yeah, sixty.
29:30
Speaker 1: That's a lot to do with their their their scheme.
29:33
Speaker 1: They play very close up in the box. They're very
29:35
Speaker 1: very aggressive. But you're absolutely right, they've returned so many
29:39
Speaker 1: weapons on defense.
29:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they returned nine and a half sacks, They
29:44
Speaker 2: returned a lot of passes defended and five total interceptions.
29:48
Speaker 2: I mean, there's just so much depth here, So I
29:50
Speaker 2: mean it's almost like you I'm like looking at a
29:53
Speaker 2: starting eleven right here, just you know, in numbers, it's
29:55
Speaker 2: kind of crazy. But when we talk defensive line tyler,
29:59
Speaker 2: I mean it's a you know, hope for twenty nine
30:01
Speaker 2: and a half tackles fourteen and a half tackles for
30:05
Speaker 2: a loss, which is insane. I mean, that is a
30:08
Speaker 2: lot of tackles for a loss. So you know, he's
30:12
Speaker 2: you know when you look at kind of like the
30:14
Speaker 2: leader of it of it all?
30:15
Speaker 1: Is it Lincoln Hofer? Is it? Carson Campbell?
30:17
Speaker 3: Is it?
30:17
Speaker 1: You know?
30:18
Speaker 3: Who is it?
30:18
Speaker 1: What are we looking at here? Because there's a lot
30:20
Speaker 1: of names. Yeah, I think Lincoln Hoper is kind of
30:22
Speaker 1: like a stand up defensive end on the edge, almost
30:26
Speaker 1: like an outside linebacker. But I don't see him really
30:28
Speaker 1: dropping back and coverage too much. You see the four
30:30
Speaker 1: passes defended the AD last year, those are just knocking
30:33
Speaker 1: the balls down to the line of scrimmage. I kind
30:35
Speaker 1: of count those the same way. But so, yeah, he
30:38
Speaker 1: will definitely be a force on one side of the ball.
30:40
Speaker 1: I think you could put Landon Downey on the other
30:43
Speaker 1: side as your outside linebacker over on the other side,
30:46
Speaker 1: just to kind of have your two edge guys be
30:50
Speaker 1: set and you don't have to worry about it. I
30:52
Speaker 1: think an interesting one could be James Heatall, who was
30:56
Speaker 1: an edge guy as a sophomore, played corner at six
30:59
Speaker 1: ' six last year, and then he could get because
31:03
Speaker 1: they have so many skill guys, they he could get
31:05
Speaker 1: moved back to be kind of that next outside linebacker.
31:09
Speaker 1: But on the defensive line you brought up Carson Campbell,
31:12
Speaker 1: he'll be right there on the nose, great, great quickness.
31:15
Speaker 1: You know, they liked to Meridians used a lot of
31:17
Speaker 1: like backup running backs and different guys that are small
31:20
Speaker 1: that could just cause havoc down there. And Carson Campbell
31:23
Speaker 1: is not big, but he's not really small, Like I said,
31:27
Speaker 1: he's about one to eighty, but he's really really strong
31:29
Speaker 1: and quick, and I think he'll do a good job.
31:30
Speaker 1: Jackson Hrl, but it's playing playing a ton of defense
31:33
Speaker 1: at the varsity level. He'll be on that defensive line
31:35
Speaker 1: as well. Mason Apelis will be on that defensive line.
31:38
Speaker 1: I think Xavier Parrin is another kid that you know,
31:42
Speaker 1: the transfer from from Seahome. His dad at Addison was
31:46
Speaker 1: probably the could be one of the best prospects there's
31:49
Speaker 1: ever been out of Walkham County as a defensive lineman,
31:52
Speaker 1: and he's built differently, but he's very quick. You could
31:55
Speaker 1: see maybe him being kind of like a nose tackle
31:57
Speaker 1: and just cause havoc in there. So there's a lot
32:00
Speaker 1: of guys that have a lot of experience on that
32:03
Speaker 1: defensive line.
32:04
Speaker 2: Then when we start talking about linebackers, Tyler, three of
32:08
Speaker 2: the top four returning tacklers are linebackers, Ross Driscoll thirty
32:12
Speaker 2: and a half tackles, Kelly Gray sixty two and a half,
32:15
Speaker 2: and landed down he's sixty three and a half, So
32:17
Speaker 2: a lot of production from that linebacking group.
32:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really really liked what Kelly Gray did last year.
32:24
Speaker 1: Had some rough moments as a sophomore, didn't start but
32:27
Speaker 1: kind of got thrown into it at times, and then
32:30
Speaker 1: as a junior as the season wore on, I thought
32:33
Speaker 1: his improvement was just fantastic. Worked himself into that top
32:36
Speaker 1: one hundred list and had a really really good year
32:39
Speaker 1: and just it kind of like Josh Nilmer just kind
32:42
Speaker 1: of can fit behind guys and he's unseen and then
32:45
Speaker 1: he can shoot the gap and make a play behind
32:47
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. Like you said, fourteen and a
32:48
Speaker 1: half tackles for loss is just crazy. Ross Driscoll was
32:52
Speaker 1: a kid who kind of was I don't think was
32:54
Speaker 1: really slated to start last year, but every time there
32:57
Speaker 1: was an opportunity to come in and make plays and
33:00
Speaker 1: that's just, you know, the way it was. He recovered
33:02
Speaker 1: three fumbles, that was more than anybody in the county.
33:04
Speaker 1: I think he even had one of them for a touchdown.
33:08
Speaker 1: And I just he's that Swiss army knife that He's
33:12
Speaker 1: played left tackle, he's played running back, he's played tight end,
33:15
Speaker 1: he's been split out wide, he's played defensive back, he's
33:18
Speaker 1: played linebacker, he's probably played defensive end. And you know,
33:22
Speaker 1: Meridian always has guys like that, and now he's a senior.
33:25
Speaker 1: I think he could probably cement that spot at linebacker
33:28
Speaker 1: on the inside. You mentioned you mentioned Landon Downey, who'll
33:32
Speaker 1: get moved to the outside linebacker spot and take away
33:36
Speaker 1: one side of the field really efficiently that way. And
33:38
Speaker 1: there's a backup, Brandon Zarza, just just a sophomore. I
33:42
Speaker 1: think he's gonna he might be able to see some
33:44
Speaker 1: time and spell some of these guys that are playing
33:47
Speaker 1: running back on the offensive side of the ball.
33:50
Speaker 2: Talk about the secondary really. I mean, Jagger Fife is
33:53
Speaker 2: kind of the leader of the offense and also the
33:55
Speaker 2: leader of the defensive backfield, if you will. Thirty three
33:58
Speaker 2: and a half tackles one for a loss as a
34:01
Speaker 2: defensive back is always fun to see eleven passes defended
34:05
Speaker 2: in two interceptions. But I'm sure it's not just jaggerfive.
34:08
Speaker 2: I'm sure they don't just run a one man defensive
34:10
Speaker 2: back group.
34:10
Speaker 1: Tyler. So who else are we talking about here? Yeah,
34:13
Speaker 1: And he's played both safety and corner in the past,
34:16
Speaker 1: and he's a very willing tackler. I think that he's
34:19
Speaker 1: he likes playing defense. There's some quarterbacks that don't like
34:23
Speaker 1: playing defense. There's quarterbacks that love playing defense, but their
34:26
Speaker 1: coaching won't allow them to play defense. In this case,
34:30
Speaker 1: he likes playing it and coach will put him back there.
34:32
Speaker 1: And like you said, rattling off the numbers, he's very
34:34
Speaker 1: very good at it. He's getting close to you know he.
34:39
Speaker 1: I think at this point, or at some point the season,
34:42
Speaker 1: will probably break thirty passes defended, which only a handful
34:45
Speaker 1: of kids in Walking County history have done. And so
34:48
Speaker 1: he's got a lot of experience back there. I remember
34:50
Speaker 1: when he had two picks in one game as a freshman,
34:53
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you started hearing the
34:55
Speaker 1: chance he's a freshman, yeah, and so he's he's been
34:58
Speaker 1: doing it a long time in this secondary Casey Brennan
35:02
Speaker 1: came in late last year as a freshman and started
35:04
Speaker 1: at corner at the end of the year, had a
35:06
Speaker 1: couple interceptions late, and it was just like, man, this
35:08
Speaker 1: kid is all over the place. I think he'll lock
35:11
Speaker 1: down a corner spot. I could see Daniel Larson, all
35:13
Speaker 1: six five of them at the other corner and being
35:16
Speaker 1: a little bit more of that physical corner and and
35:19
Speaker 1: maybe take like the like the narrow side of the field,
35:22
Speaker 1: what Casey could take the wide side where there's more
35:24
Speaker 1: room to roam there. Again, those those sophomores Trey Alexander
35:28
Speaker 1: and Pierce Brozowski really really smart football players and very athletic,
35:34
Speaker 1: and you could see maybe some rotation with them at
35:37
Speaker 1: the safety spot. Maybe if Jager needs to take a break,
35:40
Speaker 1: they could both be at safety. Caleb Young is another kid,
35:43
Speaker 1: the track kid that could play some corner perhaps. So
35:46
Speaker 1: there's a lot of again it's a lot of these
35:48
Speaker 1: same names, but there's just so much to work with
35:52
Speaker 1: River Todd is a kid that is just a freshman
35:55
Speaker 1: that I don't know if he's Friday Night ready, you know.
35:59
Speaker 1: But he's a kid that's close and he's got the
36:03
Speaker 1: older brothers that are twins that are soccer players, and
36:08
Speaker 1: I wish they were playing football. But River is going
36:10
Speaker 1: to be pretty darned good. And I think he's a
36:12
Speaker 1: kid that might be able to push a little bit
36:15
Speaker 1: of these older guys in the secondary for some playing time,
36:17
Speaker 1: and and and yeah, maybe at receiver as well. So
36:21
Speaker 1: there's a lot of depth here and a lot of
36:24
Speaker 1: names to look forward to in the future.
36:26
Speaker 2: Talking special teams now, kickoff returning. They returned four guys
36:30
Speaker 2: that returned to kick at any point. Granted, I got
36:32
Speaker 2: a feeling Rossteriscals was probably maybe a sure kid. Yeah,
36:37
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, well one return for seven yards.
36:39
Speaker 2: I hope that wasn't They actually caught it in the
36:41
Speaker 2: air and had a shot. But yeah, Casey Brennan, Landon Downey,
36:46
Speaker 2: Kelly Gray. I mean those are some serious, some serious
36:48
Speaker 2: athletes there with an opportunity to return kicks on the
36:51
Speaker 2: punting side. Landon Downy, I mean again, Landon Downey does
36:54
Speaker 2: a little bit of everything. As far as the kicking
36:56
Speaker 2: game goes, it seems like here, but and I mean
36:59
Speaker 2: does a little bit everything in general. That's why I
37:01
Speaker 2: picked him in three different spots last year. But yeah,
37:04
Speaker 2: Tyler in the return game, what are we looking at here?
37:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's you know, I could I could see
37:09
Speaker 1: Casey Brennan for sure. I mean, he's he could be
37:12
Speaker 1: the fastest kid in the county. So you want to
37:14
Speaker 1: get him the ball where he can make some plays
37:17
Speaker 1: the kick kick return game. That might be when you
37:20
Speaker 1: can finally have Landon Downey take a break for a
37:23
Speaker 1: little bit. I would see I could see like a
37:26
Speaker 1: Caleb Young back there, the track kid. If you can
37:29
Speaker 1: get him to catch a football that's being kicked, then
37:32
Speaker 1: you might see some pretty exciting things on the return.
37:35
Speaker 1: Maybe up Pierce Berozowski could be back there. So we'll
37:38
Speaker 1: see about that. Landon down who does return as the punter.
37:41
Speaker 1: I believe it's his third year as the punter. He's
37:43
Speaker 1: going to return as the kicker as well. He had
37:45
Speaker 1: that game winning field goal against Bellingham in the closing second,
37:48
Speaker 1: so you know he's and he's kind of like that,
37:51
Speaker 1: like he's you know, it's a. It's a really unique combo.
37:55
Speaker 1: He's a football player, a wrestler, and a soccer player.
37:58
Speaker 1: They don't see that combo too much. And every time
38:00
Speaker 1: I see him, two things that stand out. He always
38:03
Speaker 1: seems to get bigger, and he always just has that
38:07
Speaker 1: that you know that's dead not dead stare, But you know,
38:11
Speaker 1: he just he looks serious all the time. He has
38:14
Speaker 1: a very serious look all the time, and so you know,
38:18
Speaker 1: I would not want to face him on the wrestling
38:19
Speaker 1: matt and he just you know, he's he looks he
38:22
Speaker 1: looks very intimidate. And he's up to about two oh
38:24
Speaker 1: five right now, looking pretty good. And I know he's
38:27
Speaker 1: getting a little bit of looks for college football, which
38:29
Speaker 1: is fantastic. And uh just a great, great kid and
38:33
Speaker 1: has shown that he could do a lot. I mean
38:35
Speaker 1: that game against Belling him he was playing with a
38:37
Speaker 1: cast on and so he could really wrap up and
38:39
Speaker 1: tackle very well. So he would just kind of lower
38:41
Speaker 1: his shoulder and I think he got flagged twice for
38:43
Speaker 1: unnecessary roughness. But he he because he hits so hard.
38:46
Speaker 1: I mean, he he you know, he kuld have put
38:48
Speaker 1: his hands up, like what am I supposed to do?
38:49
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't really wrap up. You know, he
38:52
Speaker 1: might even had an interception in that game with the
38:54
Speaker 1: cast on. I mean, he just he's one of those
38:56
Speaker 1: guys that can just do so many things and and
38:59
Speaker 1: he's gonna put the team on his back as far
39:00
Speaker 1: as the skill positions go, and and he's got but
39:03
Speaker 1: he's got these great veterans around him as well. It's
39:06
Speaker 1: it'll it might be pretty darn.
39:08
Speaker 2: Special when we start talking about breakout to player of
39:11
Speaker 2: the year here, Tyler. This is interesting because it's a
39:14
Speaker 2: name we've talked about a lot today.
39:16
Speaker 1: Casey Brennan, sophomore wide receiver, cornerback. Yeah, I just think
39:20
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at his numbers. They were pretty
39:22
Speaker 1: good last year, extremely good for a freshman. But he's
39:25
Speaker 1: one of those kids that I could see him scoring
39:28
Speaker 1: double digit touchdowns this year just because of his explosiveness
39:31
Speaker 1: and uh, you know whether that's you know, definitely a
39:35
Speaker 1: handful on the offensive siety. You might have could have
39:36
Speaker 1: some kickoff returns, he might have a pick six. He's
39:39
Speaker 1: just one of those guys that he just runs differently,
39:43
Speaker 1: like it might have been you, it could have been
39:45
Speaker 1: somebody else. Like I saw a video of him just
39:47
Speaker 1: running like at you dubbed a camp at you dub
39:50
Speaker 1: and and I sent in there and it was like, yeah,
39:53
Speaker 1: he's a he is a it's it looks easy like
39:56
Speaker 1: he's a natural runner, and you know it's it's I know,
40:00
Speaker 1: coach James wishes he wasn't five six, one hundred and
40:03
Speaker 1: twenty six pounds, but but boy, he is just so
40:07
Speaker 1: efficient and so quick and and you know, when you're
40:11
Speaker 1: that small, you can you can run scared, you know
40:15
Speaker 1: what I mean. And you can make some you can
40:16
Speaker 1: make some things happen. And you and you and you
40:19
Speaker 1: you you play smart, You run out of bounds if
40:21
Speaker 1: you have to. You know how to take a hit.
40:23
Speaker 1: You've been doing it your whole life. You've always been
40:24
Speaker 1: the smallest guy out there, but he's probably always been
40:27
Speaker 1: the fastest guy too. So I really think that he's
40:30
Speaker 1: going to have a big breakthrough season. And uh man,
40:34
Speaker 1: it's just electric when he gets the ball in his hands,
40:37
Speaker 1: and and so don't be surprised to see some big,
40:39
Speaker 1: big numbers coming out of him this year.
40:42
Speaker 2: When we look at the schedule, Tyler, I don't know
40:45
Speaker 2: if there's anybody that has a more random schedule than Meridian.
40:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I couldn't wait for this part. Yeah, I mean
40:53
Speaker 1: it is.
40:54
Speaker 2: I mean, first off, they they're the team in the
40:56
Speaker 2: in the conference that gets four in a row right
40:59
Speaker 2: at the end. So when you when you look at
41:02
Speaker 2: the schedule, it is just it's wild. I mean it
41:06
Speaker 2: really is wild. They start at Deer Park, which is
41:09
Speaker 2: a long ways away. I mean that's north of Spokane.
41:12
Speaker 2: I don't know if that game is going to be
41:13
Speaker 2: played somewhere else or what, but six pm start at
41:16
Speaker 2: Deer Park. Then they come home to Omak. Who Omak's
41:20
Speaker 2: gonna be making a decent little drive themselves. I assume
41:24
Speaker 2: what is the what is the the highway that's up there,
41:28
Speaker 2: the North Cascades or whatever? The two no, not two
41:32
Speaker 2: that goes through Everett or starts in ever it is
41:35
Speaker 2: it twenty twelve?
41:36
Speaker 1: No twelves down south?
41:38
Speaker 2: You know the one that goes like up past uh,
41:42
Speaker 2: you know up like what the heck is the name
41:44
Speaker 2: of that area where you like where you go camping,
41:46
Speaker 2: Tyler or whatever it is?
41:47
Speaker 1: Oh it's Silver Lake, Yeah, like out that way.
41:50
Speaker 2: But like you know what I mean that that road
41:52
Speaker 2: that goes doesn't isn't doesn't it go all the way
41:54
Speaker 2: over to eastern Washington from there. I don't I don't
41:56
Speaker 2: think it goes through. Oh I thought it did well.
41:58
Speaker 2: Either way, They've got a heck of a right from Omak,
42:01
Speaker 2: I can tell you that much. So that's a So
42:03
Speaker 2: they start their season with two six pm games. Then
42:06
Speaker 2: they go down and they play at for A camea Act.
42:10
Speaker 2: Then they got to go all the way out to Forks,
42:13
Speaker 2: which is way out there, go.
42:15
Speaker 1: Loop around the sound, you know.
42:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then then they got to go to South Widby,
42:22
Speaker 2: which is funny because it's like on the very end
42:25
Speaker 2: of Woldby Island. So it's like you got to drive
42:26
Speaker 2: the whole length of the of the island.
42:29
Speaker 1: And that's the close game. Yeah, that's the yeah, exactly. Now.
42:33
Speaker 2: The thing that's interesting here, Tyler, four of yeah, four
42:37
Speaker 2: of their first five games are on the road.
42:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're talking on the road like a gasoline.
42:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not they're not playing you know, Ferndale, they're
42:48
Speaker 2: not playing you know, Sea Home, they're not playing you know,
42:51
Speaker 2: they're playing way out there. So they're gonna log some
42:55
Speaker 2: serious miles.
42:57
Speaker 1: Now.
42:57
Speaker 2: The crazy thing is their second home game of the
43:00
Speaker 2: year isn't until October eleventh, right from Mount Bagger High School. Well,
43:06
Speaker 2: that's who's coming over. They'll be traveling over.
43:08
Speaker 1: From Mount Bagger High School from Mount Baker.
43:10
Speaker 2: High School, and then they go on the road at
43:13
Speaker 2: Knooksack home for Lynn and Christian, which I would assume.
43:16
Speaker 2: I mean, they're basically gonna have homecoming senior night and
43:18
Speaker 2: the first game, first home game of the year, and
43:20
Speaker 2: that's all they got for home games. I mean, it's
43:22
Speaker 2: pretty wild. But then at Blaine to finish it off.
43:25
Speaker 2: So I mean, they're gonna have a They're gonna be
43:29
Speaker 2: serious road warriors if you will, through the first five weeks,
43:33
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, it's four straight against
43:36
Speaker 2: the league, and that's your chance. You know, that's that's
43:39
Speaker 2: what you're working for now. The crazy thing is is
43:41
Speaker 2: next door when we do this, we're gonna go. Can
43:43
Speaker 2: you believe they get.
43:45
Speaker 1: Four games at home through.
43:47
Speaker 2: The first You know it's gonna be crazy. But yeah,
43:50
Speaker 2: I mean, Tyler, you look over the schedule and I
43:52
Speaker 2: mean I see some names that like like Deer Park. Obviously,
43:56
Speaker 2: I don't think we've talked about them other than maybe
43:58
Speaker 2: when LC played them in the in the semi finals
44:00
Speaker 2: or I think it was a semi finals at one time.
44:04
Speaker 2: And shoot, I don't even know if we were doing
44:05
Speaker 2: a podcast back then, you know what I mean. Like,
44:07
Speaker 2: that's the only time I can remember Deer Park popping
44:10
Speaker 2: up with Wakam County O Mack, I mean, Camiac.
44:13
Speaker 1: These You never hear of these Forks? Come on, man,
44:16
Speaker 1: what are we talking about here? Yeah? South would be
44:18
Speaker 1: used to be in the conference back in the old
44:20
Speaker 1: late nineties, the North Cascades Conference. They were in there
44:23
Speaker 1: for a little bit, So there is some rabbit, there's
44:26
Speaker 1: some history there. You're right about Deer Park a game
44:28
Speaker 1: against ELC. That's the last time I remember hearing anything
44:30
Speaker 1: about them football wise, as I'm very you know, Walkome
44:33
Speaker 1: County centric O Mack and Forks. It brings me back
44:37
Speaker 1: to the two thousand state playoffs. I remember Meridian playing
44:41
Speaker 1: Forks in the quarters at Civic against you know, when
44:45
Speaker 1: the score was seven to six, Forks came down. They
44:48
Speaker 1: had at Bennett. Do you remember Pat Bennett? No, not
44:51
Speaker 1: off the top of my head. Oh my goodness. He
44:52
Speaker 1: was like a six three, two and forty pound running back.
44:55
Speaker 1: He carried the ball like thirty eight times for two
44:58
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yards or some crazy thing, and he was.
45:00
Speaker 1: It was just a power offense constantly and it was
45:04
Speaker 1: just given the ball. He end up playing linebacker at
45:06
Speaker 1: wa Zoo. As I say, I just looked him up.
45:08
Speaker 1: Linebacker at Wazoo. Wow, Like not so many guys going
45:11
Speaker 1: to Wazoo from Forks, right, and he was so he
45:14
Speaker 1: was their whole team and they just rode him and
45:17
Speaker 1: they just drove down and scored right off the bat
45:19
Speaker 1: and then missed the extra point, and then Meridian scored
45:22
Speaker 1: later and they made the extra point, and then Forks uh,
45:25
Speaker 1: you know, they they they came down late in the
45:27
Speaker 1: game and I think they threw an incomplete pass, they
45:30
Speaker 1: didn't throw a ton and I think Doug Miller made
45:33
Speaker 1: a play in the end zone and then that was
45:34
Speaker 1: that for Meridian and they won. It was seven to six.
45:37
Speaker 1: It was crazy. And I remember I was riding for
45:39
Speaker 1: the Herald at the time, but I didn't I wasn't
45:41
Speaker 1: covering a game that night, so I just went to
45:43
Speaker 1: there that day. It was a day game. I just
45:44
Speaker 1: went to the game. And then they ended up playing
45:46
Speaker 1: O Mak in the championship game that two weeks later,
45:49
Speaker 1: and they lost that game. It was you know, there
45:52
Speaker 1: was like a thirty game win streak or some crazy
45:54
Speaker 1: thing that Meridian was was was writing it at that point,
45:57
Speaker 1: and and Omak beat him. And Omax had coach was
46:01
Speaker 1: Galen Kaming, former Lindon Christian player. So it was just
46:06
Speaker 1: it was just, you know, there are some ties there.
46:08
Speaker 1: When I saw the schedule, it was the first thing
46:09
Speaker 1: I thought of was the two thousand state playoffs. So
46:13
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's gonna be. It is crazy, you know,
46:16
Speaker 1: like like you said, only three home games. I think
46:18
Speaker 1: Knuksac Valley only has three home games. And that's the
46:21
Speaker 1: trouble too, is is for a good you know, a
46:26
Speaker 1: well known one. A team is just finding games to
46:29
Speaker 1: schedule because well you know, it's like, uh, what's the
46:34
Speaker 1: what's the best thing? I mean, yeah, well we will
46:36
Speaker 1: play you a home and home, but what's in it
46:39
Speaker 1: for us? Because if we beat you, we were supposed
46:41
Speaker 1: to beat you, and if we lose to you, it
46:43
Speaker 1: looks really bad. And you know, I know Baker had
46:46
Speaker 1: trouble getting games, and Baker, you know, coach leaps like
46:48
Speaker 1: we were three and seven last year, Like what do
46:50
Speaker 1: you know? What do you what do you want me?
46:52
Speaker 1: To say, you know, Meridian could could could be saying
46:54
Speaker 1: we didn't win a league game last year. What do
46:56
Speaker 1: you want me to say? You know so, and I
46:58
Speaker 1: know Nuksact really had trouble by games. You know, they
47:00
Speaker 1: had to schedule tumb Water for crying out loud. You know,
47:03
Speaker 1: it's just just kind of the way it goes. But yeah,
47:07
Speaker 1: came Act. I mean, that's just I don't know. I
47:10
Speaker 1: know Ferndale's played them, I think at some point somewhere,
47:14
Speaker 1: but it's it's going to be interesting. It's a it
47:17
Speaker 1: is a different schedule, so I probably won't see them
47:21
Speaker 1: very much. I'll probably maybe i'll head over and see
47:23
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the Omac game because it's starting early,
47:25
Speaker 1: but I probably won't see them until conference schedule starts
47:29
Speaker 1: in person.
47:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you that was just crazy, Like I
47:33
Speaker 2: can't imagine there's been too many times that you haven't
47:36
Speaker 2: maybe seen the team until October.
47:40
Speaker 1: October Acts absolutely, yeah, yeah.
47:43
Speaker 2: I mean obviously, I'm sure you'll try to get out
47:45
Speaker 2: there for a little bit of the Omac game, but
47:47
Speaker 2: you just never know.
47:48
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, with the O Mac game starting early,
47:50
Speaker 1: you know I could look, I could say, Okay, I
47:52
Speaker 1: can be out there for you know, a good chunk
47:54
Speaker 1: of it and somewhere else probably.
47:56
Speaker 2: But yeah, but I mean it's it's definitely not a
47:58
Speaker 2: not a guarantee as when I'm saying, but right right, yeah, Tyler,
48:03
Speaker 2: is that.
48:03
Speaker 1: In that we done there pretty much. I I just
48:07
Speaker 1: want to say that I think, you know, when you
48:09
Speaker 1: start looking at all these teams. I think we talked
48:11
Speaker 1: about it, you know earlier today with the with the
48:14
Speaker 1: Squalicum as well, is that you start looking at teams
48:16
Speaker 1: that might have the biggest jump. I think Squalicum can
48:19
Speaker 1: have a big jump. I think Meridian can have a
48:20
Speaker 1: big jump. And that's uh. And last year was very
48:24
Speaker 1: interesting year for Walkam County as a whole, where every
48:26
Speaker 1: team lost at least three games every team, and every
48:29
Speaker 1: team won at least three games. So there was very
48:32
Speaker 1: very you know, there was a lot of what's the
48:37
Speaker 1: word the NFL loves use parity, you know, it was
48:39
Speaker 1: it was everything was kind of jumbled in the middle.
48:42
Speaker 1: And I think especially for the one A Conference, it
48:44
Speaker 1: will be even more jumbled in the middle, as far
48:48
Speaker 1: as the high end teams might be brought down a
48:51
Speaker 1: little bit, the lower end teams might be brought up
48:53
Speaker 1: a little bit, and it's going to be that's going
48:55
Speaker 1: to be a dogfight. I mean, it's going to be
48:57
Speaker 1: crazy when those in October, when all those one A
48:59
Speaker 1: teams are playing each other, and Meridian will should be
49:02
Speaker 1: right in it. With their talent level, their coaching staff,
49:05
Speaker 1: their tradition, everything about it. It's gonna be some really
49:09
Speaker 1: really good football being played.
49:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean that's one of those things where
49:14
Speaker 2: you could you could end up with a league champion
49:18
Speaker 2: with one loss. I mean, it really wouldn't surprise me
49:22
Speaker 2: this year because there's just like you said, there's parody.
49:25
Speaker 2: But tell you what, man, you could end up with
49:27
Speaker 2: a couple of teams with a couple of losses that
49:29
Speaker 2: you know might move on. You know, just you just
49:32
Speaker 2: don't know. I mean, Blaine and Meridian, you know they
49:35
Speaker 2: were and Baker's obviously always Baker, you know, And Nooksack
49:40
Speaker 2: Valley has a lot of top end talent. Lennon Christian's
49:42
Speaker 2: got some top end talent, Meridian's got some top end talent,
49:46
Speaker 2: Blaine's got some serious beef.
49:47
Speaker 1: And you know we got Ron Lepper from Mount Baker
49:51
Speaker 1: High School.
49:52
Speaker 2: Over there doing his thing. I mean, yeah, I'm excited.
49:56
Speaker 2: I'm excited for this one A. I mean it just
49:58
Speaker 2: plus one A is the best level football in the state.
50:00
Speaker 1: I mean that just is.
50:02
Speaker 2: It's nobody has more fun than the one a's, other
50:04
Speaker 2: than maybe the A man's. But I don't even know
50:06
Speaker 2: if that's real football. I still yet to even figure
50:09
Speaker 2: out the strategy of it. Get the ball of the
50:11
Speaker 2: fast guy and watch them go. That's kind of what
50:13
Speaker 2: I've kind of what.
50:14
Speaker 1: I learned there.
50:14
Speaker 2: But all right, Tyler, well we've gotten anything else. We
50:19
Speaker 2: wrapped it up here. I think we're good already. One
50:22
Speaker 2: more shout out to Kurt Mayberry Farm. Be sure to
50:24
Speaker 2: check them out Kurt with A C, M, A B
50:26
Speaker 2: E r ry Farm dot com. Thank you to them
50:29
Speaker 2: for their con continued support of watcomb Preps. He's Tyler
50:32
Speaker 2: Anderson of watcom Preps walkompreps dot COM's website. I'm Royland Spencer.
50:36
Speaker 2: You've been listening to episode two hundred sixty nine to
50:37
Speaker 2: sixth of ten football team previews. As we get closer
50:41
Speaker 2: to the season here on the WALKAM Preps podcast, we
50:44
Speaker 2: will talk to you tomorrow