Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 359 - 2025 Lynden Lions Football Preview
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: This is Lyndon senior Max Austin, and you're listening to
- 0:03Speaker 1: the Linden football preview on the WALKAM Preps podcast with
- 0:06Speaker 1: Tyler Anderson. Go Lions, Greetings, and welcome into the WALKAM
- 0:14Speaker 1: Preps podcast. This is episode three hundred and fifty nine.
- 0:19Speaker 1: It's the twenty twenty five Linden Lion football preview. I
- 0:23Speaker 1: am Tyler Anderson of WALKOM Preps. And if you can
- 0:26Speaker 1: hear the smile on my face, yeah, then you know why.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Because we're talking football, and we're talking Linden Lion football,
- 0:34Speaker 1: which is year in and year out, such a blessing
- 0:38Speaker 1: to have up here. And I learned very early. I
- 0:42Speaker 1: mean I think the first year I was really doing
- 0:44Speaker 1: a deep dive into this with previews was twenty sixteen,
- 0:47Speaker 1: and I went into that year going, man, they you know,
- 0:52Speaker 1: they have so many brand new guys I've never heard of.
- 0:56Speaker 1: It could be a down year. The you know, the
- 0:59Speaker 1: year prior, I think they missed the state playoffs and
- 1:02Speaker 1: I was kind of thinking, man, is this the start
- 1:04Speaker 1: of the slide for them? And they get to the
- 1:06Speaker 1: semi finals. Of course, so it is about reloading, not
- 1:12Speaker 1: rebuilding with Lindon and speaking of reloading, I want to
- 1:16Speaker 1: give a thank you to Lynden senior Max Aussink for
- 1:19Speaker 1: the intro that young man. When you look around the
- 1:23Speaker 1: rest of the county, there were so many of the
- 1:27Speaker 1: starting running backs that all graduated. I mean every single
- 1:30Speaker 1: school their main running back graduated except London, and so
- 1:35Speaker 1: really cool for him to come back. And boy, I
- 1:37Speaker 1: saw him at the Arlington scrimmage and back in late June,
- 1:43Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna tell you one thing right here.
- 1:47Speaker 1: I am was so impressed. I think he's got, you know,
- 1:51Speaker 1: a big, big season ahead of him. So I am
- 1:54Speaker 1: really really impressed with just the physicality, the speed and
- 1:59Speaker 1: the determination and running behind that line. I mean, you
- 2:01Speaker 1: can't ask for anything more. So I want to give
- 2:04Speaker 1: a shout out to Kurt Mayberry Farm. Kurt Mayberry Farm
- 2:07Speaker 1: is a family farm committed to developing innovative agronomic and
- 2:11Speaker 1: business practices to grow, process, and market high quality berries.
- 2:16Speaker 1: Kurt Maybery Farm is the Northwest berry supplier of choice.
- 2:20Speaker 1: You could visit them online at Kurtmaybury Farm dot com.
- 2:23Speaker 1: That's Kurt with A C, M, A B E R
- 2:26Speaker 1: R y farm dot com. And I tell you what
- 2:33Speaker 1: you know Lindon. I mean, they just every year and
- 2:37Speaker 1: a year out have been doing some great, great things.
- 2:40Speaker 1: Back to back state champions a while ago the last
- 2:42Speaker 1: two years or not a while, but you know three
- 2:45Speaker 1: years ago, four years ago, and then the last two
- 2:47Speaker 1: years back to back appearances in the quarterfinals with both
- 2:51Speaker 1: games heartbreakers. You know, so they're not an easy out,
- 2:56Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that. And it all starts with
- 2:59Speaker 1: Blake Van Dalen, who was in his ninth season as
- 3:01Speaker 1: the head coach, and my goodness, a lot more is
- 3:05Speaker 1: being in the program you're taught. He was started I
- 3:09Speaker 1: think in ninety eight, so you know, getting close to
- 3:11Speaker 1: thirty years in the program, an overall record of seventy
- 3:15Speaker 1: three and eighteen. When you start looking at just win
- 3:19Speaker 1: percentages in Walkin County history, how crazy is this? I
- 3:24Speaker 1: mean it's basically him and Kirk Kramey and really to
- 3:28Speaker 1: cost so that are all in that eighty percent. They
- 3:32Speaker 1: win eighty percent of their games or close to it.
- 3:34Speaker 1: And you know that's the progression, right. I mean, and
- 3:39Speaker 1: Blake played under roly to Coster, he assisted with Kirk
- 3:43Speaker 1: Crame and now he's the head coach. So it's a
- 3:45Speaker 1: really really cool deal. Of course they play at roly
- 3:47Speaker 1: To coster Field. Last season they went ten to two,
- 3:50Speaker 1: so really really good year. Once again, it wasn't a
- 3:55Speaker 1: large senior class as far as quantity goes, but the
- 3:59Speaker 1: quality was there. It was just one of those anomalies
- 4:03Speaker 1: almost with Linden football where you didn't have you know,
- 4:08Speaker 1: twenty plus seniors in recent history, sometimes thirty plus seniors,
- 4:13Speaker 1: you know, the big ones that will miss. Obviously, Brent
- 4:16Speaker 1: Hepner brought a lot to the table, both you know,
- 4:19Speaker 1: physically on the field, but as a teammate, as a leader,
- 4:23Speaker 1: you know, so many different things. You know. Coach Ben
- 4:26Speaker 1: Dalan said he's never put so much on the plate
- 4:28Speaker 1: of a player that he did with Brent Hepner. And
- 4:31Speaker 1: and he, you know, he responded with greatness. He was
- 4:35Speaker 1: the Class two A State Player of the Year. And
- 4:39Speaker 1: so he's obviously he's graduated. He's going to go play basketball.
- 4:43Speaker 1: Isaiah Audman was tremendous for three years, i mean All
- 4:46Speaker 1: Conference first team tight end all three years. He's at
- 4:49Speaker 1: Eastern Washington now. Parker Williams was a great story last
- 4:53Speaker 1: year that really came on strong and was one of
- 4:56Speaker 1: the best defensive linemen in the league and Blake Holeman,
- 4:58Speaker 1: who was a three year guy. Those are kind of
- 5:00Speaker 1: the main guys that they will have to replace. But
- 5:04Speaker 1: because it's not many of them, yes, they were very important.
- 5:08Speaker 1: They you know, there's a lot of guys coming back
- 5:11Speaker 1: and that's what's gonna make it really fun for the
- 5:14Speaker 1: Green and Gold this year. You look at the top
- 5:17Speaker 1: attorneys and there's a lot of them, and it's it's
- 5:19Speaker 1: so funny because sometimes when I do the featured four
- 5:23Speaker 1: for all these schools, you know, to come up with
- 5:26Speaker 1: a couple is pretty obvious, and then I'm like, yeah,
- 5:28Speaker 1: him too, and yeah, I guess him. And with Linden,
- 5:32Speaker 1: it's like Feature four, it's like only four. There's so
- 5:35Speaker 1: many guys here that I could choose from. But I'm
- 5:40Speaker 1: going to start it with Max Aussik, who I was
- 5:42Speaker 1: talking about him earlier. You're talking the size, the speed,
- 5:48Speaker 1: the strength, I mean, you know, the stuff he put in.
- 5:52Speaker 1: Perfect attendance in the weight room all summer, perfect attendance.
- 5:56Speaker 1: Him and Zachdikstra and these guys are work out a hall.
- 6:00Speaker 1: I mean they are constantly in there. And here's the here.
- 6:02Speaker 1: You want to know what makes Lynden great Yeah, the
- 6:04Speaker 1: youth football program is amazing. The junior high program is amazing.
- 6:08Speaker 1: It's the weight room commitment there. There was an average
- 6:13Speaker 1: of seventy kids in there every day over the summer.
- 6:17Speaker 1: And there's just schools, especially two way schools, just can't
- 6:20Speaker 1: say that, and they know what it takes and parents
- 6:25Speaker 1: understand that. You know, we can go on vacation at
- 6:29Speaker 1: this time because this is what it takes to be
- 6:32Speaker 1: great and and you know, it's the dedication to the
- 6:36Speaker 1: weight room and all that stuff is it really comes through.
- 6:38Speaker 1: And Max Austink is a perfect example of that. He
- 6:42Speaker 1: ran a laser timed four point four to eight forty
- 6:46Speaker 1: yard dash. So you talk about that kind of speed
- 6:49Speaker 1: with that size, the rest of the league better take note.
- 6:53Speaker 1: The next one in the featured four is Zachdikstra, the
- 6:55Speaker 1: junior left tackle. He is on a trajectory much like
- 7:00Speaker 1: so many of these great offensive linemen from Linden and
- 7:04Speaker 1: I really think he can play at the next level
- 7:08Speaker 1: and we'll do just great things. Get some time in
- 7:11Speaker 1: a defensive line as well. There's picking the spots that
- 7:14Speaker 1: work out best, you know, much like a Kiper Rossinc.
- 7:18Speaker 1: Kuiper Awsinc. Was a you know stalwart at left tackle,
- 7:21Speaker 1: hicked his spots to play defensive line, and all of
- 7:23Speaker 1: a sudden he becomes, you know, one of the best
- 7:25Speaker 1: defensive line in the Northwest Conference. So Zach Dikscher kind
- 7:29Speaker 1: of falls under that mold. Hey too, perfect attendance, you know,
- 7:32Speaker 1: all summer in the weight room and these things are
- 7:35Speaker 1: starting to happen right where you see how it kind
- 7:38Speaker 1: of goes and and that's why Linden's fantastic. The next
- 7:42Speaker 1: one in the feature four, Brody Price. He really came
- 7:46Speaker 1: on strong last year as a safety. He was just
- 7:50Speaker 1: always in the right place at the right time. You know,
- 7:53Speaker 1: it could really was a physical, you know, intimidating type
- 7:56Speaker 1: player across the middle, but can make plays once he interset.
- 8:00Speaker 1: He had that pick six in the state playing game,
- 8:03Speaker 1: and yeah, and then he may he had moments too
- 8:07Speaker 1: as a receiver. What's great about Lindon is, you know,
- 8:11Speaker 1: guys don't have to play so many snaps. You have
- 8:14Speaker 1: the depth, especially this boy. They're loaded with depth. So
- 8:18Speaker 1: and it's very seamless. Coach used that word seamless. He
- 8:21Speaker 1: wants it to be seamless when if backups come in
- 8:24Speaker 1: or whatever, and it's been that way and they're very,
- 8:26Speaker 1: very pleased with that. And Brody Price, although he would
- 8:30Speaker 1: you know, be the probably one of the main targets
- 8:32Speaker 1: in most of these other schools as a wide receiver,
- 8:35Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be here, but when he is,
- 8:37Speaker 1: he can make plays happen. So but known more as
- 8:41Speaker 1: a safety. And then the fourth one here is Malachi Canaan,
- 8:45Speaker 1: who you know, played as a freshman, kicked and punted,
- 8:48Speaker 1: played a little bit of running back, a little bit
- 8:50Speaker 1: of linebacker. Last year he got thrust into the spot
- 8:53Speaker 1: as the main guy, as the inside linebacker, and he
- 8:56Speaker 1: responded with huge numbers. I'll never forget that first quarter
- 9:00Speaker 1: against Lakewood, maybe the best quarter of football the high
- 9:04Speaker 1: school kid has ever produced. I want to get this
- 9:07Speaker 1: right here. This is just off the top of my head.
- 9:09Speaker 1: He intercepted two passes, he ran in a touchdown, kicked
- 9:14Speaker 1: three extra points, and kicked a field goal in the
- 9:17Speaker 1: first in one quarter, and holy cow, it was. It
- 9:22Speaker 1: was crazy. And I was there for like the first
- 9:25Speaker 1: that was basically there just for the first quarter that
- 9:26Speaker 1: I went to another game, so I saw it all
- 9:28Speaker 1: right there. I just stayed on that side of the field,
- 9:31Speaker 1: and boy, it was it was it was something, and
- 9:35Speaker 1: it was twenty four to nothing, you know, at the
- 9:37Speaker 1: end of the first quarter, and he was a big,
- 9:39Speaker 1: huge reason why, right. I mean, he kicked all three
- 9:42Speaker 1: extra points and a field goal, scored one of the touchdowns,
- 9:44Speaker 1: but his two interceptions on that side of the field
- 9:47Speaker 1: enabled for short drives and and what a great, great player,
- 9:51Speaker 1: and he's just so physical. He only knows one way
- 9:54Speaker 1: he might get a little bit more reps at running
- 9:56Speaker 1: back dangerous blockers are running back, and of course his
- 10:00Speaker 1: at punning is well known. So so those are my
- 10:04Speaker 1: featured four. When asked to who my breakout player will
- 10:08Speaker 1: be for Lyndon, Holy cow, there's a lot to choose
- 10:13Speaker 1: from here, you know. I think I think Gordy Bedlington
- 10:16Speaker 1: is a great option here just because of what he
- 10:19Speaker 1: what he is as an overall three sport athlete and
- 10:21Speaker 1: his ability to do lots of things at different positions.
- 10:24Speaker 1: I think Trey Williams is gonna is an exciting addition
- 10:27Speaker 1: as a tight end outside linebacker type just a sophomore.
- 10:31Speaker 1: But I'm gonna go with Lucas Lolgy. He's going to
- 10:34Speaker 1: be the starting quarterback and I think he's ready for it.
- 10:38Speaker 1: He is a dual threat if there ever was one.
- 10:42Speaker 1: And it's been a while since Lyndon's had that super
- 10:46Speaker 1: speedster guy behind center. You know, you look back and
- 10:50Speaker 1: they've had this multiple quarterback thing going. And Brent Hepner
- 10:53Speaker 1: could run, but you know, he was gonna power through
- 10:57Speaker 1: guys and lean forward and get that his extra yarded.
- 11:01Speaker 1: But he wasn't gonna run away from people necessarily. Uh
- 11:04Speaker 1: you know, Baylor Errors could run, but he wasn't running
- 11:07Speaker 1: away from people. Brock Hepner could run, but he what
- 11:10Speaker 1: you know what you know, you see what I'm saying.
- 11:12Speaker 1: But they you know, back when they had the Josh
- 11:14Speaker 1: Crafts of the world and and guys like that that
- 11:17Speaker 1: could take off and go. That's what's gonna happen here
- 11:22Speaker 1: with with Lucas Lodgy, Uh, extremely fast, you know, went
- 11:26Speaker 1: to stay in track and but throws a great ball.
- 11:30Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's very it's it's just it's
- 11:36Speaker 1: it's a catchable ball. It's a very pretty past, it's
- 11:38Speaker 1: very easily and that's that's what's really cool. Uh So, yeah,
- 11:43Speaker 1: he's who I choose to be as my breakout player.
- 11:47Speaker 1: And those are gonna you know, those are my featured
- 11:49Speaker 1: form breakout player. I do this with every school that's
- 11:51Speaker 1: mine for Lindon and uh, let's go ahead and look
- 11:54Speaker 1: at last year's results, starting off with you know, the
- 11:57Speaker 1: traditional rivalry game to start off the year, Linden versus Ferndale.
- 12:01Speaker 1: You know, it's so fun. It's kind of like you know,
- 12:04Speaker 1: they they've been doing this in college football recently. I
- 12:06Speaker 1: mean even this year Week one Texas versus Ohio State.
- 12:10Speaker 1: That's a great, great matchup. Now by the time I'm
- 12:12Speaker 1: recording this, the game hasn't happened yet, but I think
- 12:15Speaker 1: by the time this comes out, the game will have
- 12:17Speaker 1: already happened. But I'm talking about the Texas Ohio State.
- 12:21Speaker 1: But that's what's been fun the last I don't know
- 12:23Speaker 1: four years or so with Lynden Ferndale and Week one
- 12:28Speaker 1: kick it off, right, you know, the NFL always has
- 12:30Speaker 1: a great match up on that opening Thursday night game
- 12:32Speaker 1: and and so it's fun. I'm glad that they do
- 12:35Speaker 1: it this way. It's not you know, if they were
- 12:38Speaker 1: if there was a league opponent, both teams would probably
- 12:41Speaker 1: hate doing it this way because you don't really have
- 12:43Speaker 1: much film on them to open up the year, and
- 12:46Speaker 1: it's it'd be such a you know a lot of
- 12:48Speaker 1: times those two teams were playing for the old Northwest
- 12:51Speaker 1: League championship, so a Week one game would be really tricky.
- 12:55Speaker 1: But because it's a non conference game now and you know,
- 13:00Speaker 1: it's still a rivalry though, so it's fun that they
- 13:02Speaker 1: played Week one. Of course, last year Lindon they got
- 13:06Speaker 1: Ferndale twenty eight twenty four. Isaiah Albman had a huge
- 13:09Speaker 1: game in that game, you know, with the with a
- 13:12Speaker 1: long touchdown reception and winning that game for Linden. That
- 13:16Speaker 1: was that was really really cool. Then they played Mariner.
- 13:20Speaker 1: They won fifty six to zero in that one. It
- 13:22Speaker 1: was you know, it wasn't even that close, to be
- 13:25Speaker 1: honest with you, just a complete difference in skill and
- 13:29Speaker 1: you know, skill sets. Then they played mary Ziel Pilchuck
- 13:32Speaker 1: and I believe that was like on a Thursday night
- 13:34Speaker 1: and Lyndon just got off to a rough start where
- 13:37Speaker 1: I believe the Tomahawks were up early. They may have
- 13:40Speaker 1: even been up at halftime, and Linden came out I
- 13:43Speaker 1: think they on site kicked this, you know, the second
- 13:45Speaker 1: half kickoff, got it and they just rolled from there
- 13:48Speaker 1: and won forty two to twenty one. Then they played
- 13:51Speaker 1: Anna Chordis and that was you know, everyone looked at
- 13:54Speaker 1: that game as this is this is it, this is
- 13:55Speaker 1: the big one. You know, Anna Cordis was coming up
- 13:59Speaker 1: a state champion. Chip Linden had won the two before that,
- 14:02Speaker 1: and Anacortus won that game thirty five twenty one. But
- 14:05Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, I believe that Lynnon played one
- 14:09Speaker 1: of their better games that that night. There were some
- 14:12Speaker 1: moments where there was a pass that was just barely
- 14:16Speaker 1: overthrown that would have been a touchdown early for Lyndon.
- 14:19Speaker 1: That could have swayed a little differently, but you know,
- 14:22Speaker 1: what's done is done. Anacortus won that game, and then
- 14:25Speaker 1: Lynnen after that played two crazy games, but they won
- 14:29Speaker 1: them both in dramatic fashion, beating c Home thirty one
- 14:33Speaker 1: to thirty and then beating Squalkum thirty six to thirty,
- 14:37Speaker 1: and it was kind of, you know, it was kind
- 14:41Speaker 1: of there's some question marks in my mind anyways about
- 14:44Speaker 1: how Linnen was doing after that. It's weird because I
- 14:47Speaker 1: thought that, especially in the Squalkam game, I thought they
- 14:49Speaker 1: would have won by a few touchdowns and so I
- 14:53Speaker 1: didn't know if you know, things were not going well
- 14:56Speaker 1: or it was hard to say, because when you win
- 14:57Speaker 1: in dramatic fashion, that could really you know, lift up
- 15:02Speaker 1: your team and and so and they needed it the
- 15:06Speaker 1: next week against Archbishop Murphy and that was that torrential
- 15:09Speaker 1: downpour week all across the county and it was at Linden,
- 15:14Speaker 1: thank goodness, because Archbishop just had trouble with those polling guards.
- 15:19Speaker 1: They could not get any footing and so the run
- 15:22Speaker 1: game was not there for the Wildcats. And when the
- 15:24Speaker 1: run game wasn't there, especially that last year, when they
- 15:27Speaker 1: weren't much of a throwing threat, you could really, you know,
- 15:32Speaker 1: that was your chance to take advantage, and Linden did.
- 15:35Speaker 1: Lynden wins seven to three in that one, and that
- 15:37Speaker 1: was of course last year. Because of that win right there,
- 15:40Speaker 1: it kind of caused the three way tie for the
- 15:42Speaker 1: U League championship. They all beat each other. Lynden beat Archbishop, Archbishop,
- 15:48Speaker 1: Archbishop beat and Courts and a Courtus beat Lynden. So
- 15:51Speaker 1: those were all just the one loss that each team
- 15:54Speaker 1: had in the conference. So and then they all went
- 15:56Speaker 1: on to the state playoffs and did some really good things.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Linden followed that up with a fifty to eight win
- 16:02Speaker 1: over Lakewood. That was the game I was talking about
- 16:04Speaker 1: with Malachi Canan doing all that stuff in the first quarter.
- 16:08Speaker 1: And then they beat a longtime rival, Burlington Edison thirty
- 16:12Speaker 1: one to seven to close out the regular season and
- 16:15Speaker 1: so by that they were co league champions. They played
- 16:21Speaker 1: Nathan Hale in the state playing game and that was
- 16:24Speaker 1: you know, poor Nate on that one, because Lynnon won
- 16:27Speaker 1: sixty six to seven. I believe that was out of
- 16:29Speaker 1: Ferndale High School. I was there for a chunk of
- 16:31Speaker 1: that game, first half at least, and yeah, it was
- 16:36Speaker 1: you know, pretty easy, easy pickings. But that's what the
- 16:40Speaker 1: round of thirty two does is there's the haves and
- 16:41Speaker 1: the haves nots, and you're going to get the best
- 16:43Speaker 1: sixteen teams in the state playoffs after that. So they
- 16:47Speaker 1: get in the state playoffs. First round, they take On five,
- 16:50Speaker 1: they win thirty eight to six there, and then in
- 16:52Speaker 1: the next round they played Archbishop Murphy in that rematch.
- 16:56Speaker 1: You know, the first game was seven to three, this
- 16:58Speaker 1: one was ten to nine in favor of the Wildcats,
- 17:02Speaker 1: and that ended Lindon's season. So a lot of guys
- 17:06Speaker 1: are coming back with that taste in their mouth right now,
- 17:09Speaker 1: and I'm looking for some big, big things. You look
- 17:12Speaker 1: at the schedule, it's almost identical from last year. It's
- 17:16Speaker 1: not a complete flip flop as far as homes and
- 17:19Speaker 1: aways games. They are going to open up against Ferndale
- 17:23Speaker 1: that will be at roly to Costerfield week one, seven
- 17:26Speaker 1: pm Friday night, and of course that will be the
- 17:28Speaker 1: big game of the week in Walkin County. But Week
- 17:32Speaker 1: two is a little different, which I love. I mean,
- 17:34Speaker 1: instead of playing Mariner again, which you know was kind
- 17:37Speaker 1: of it's hard to get better. Yeah, you get a
- 17:39Speaker 1: lot of youngsters in that game, which is great. But
- 17:42Speaker 1: they're gonna play on the road at Franklin Pierce, who
- 17:45Speaker 1: did some great things last year, and another strong two
- 17:48Speaker 1: eight team, So you're kind of showing, you know, they're
- 17:52Speaker 1: gonna play a lot of the best two eight teams
- 17:55Speaker 1: in the state. They're gonna be playing Franklin Pierce and
- 17:57Speaker 1: accord as Sea home Archbishop Murphy. So you're talking and
- 18:02Speaker 1: along with Lindon, those could be the five best teams
- 18:05Speaker 1: in two A and well Tom Waters in there too,
- 18:08Speaker 1: so five of the best six and so they'll be
- 18:12Speaker 1: well tested and U and early too, because you got
- 18:16Speaker 1: Franklin Peerson week two and at quarters in week four,
- 18:19Speaker 1: then you go to see him in week five. H
- 18:22Speaker 1: That's that's a lot to handle in the first half
- 18:25Speaker 1: of the season, and so you know, playing Ferndo week
- 18:29Speaker 1: one is obviously gonna be tough too. You just kind
- 18:31Speaker 1: of never know with that game. So it's it's a
- 18:35Speaker 1: really tough schedule for Lindon, but you know, if anyone's
- 18:39Speaker 1: gonna get through it, it'll be coach Van Dalen and
- 18:42Speaker 1: his guys. So so let's look at the quarterback posit
- 18:47Speaker 1: or no, I'm sorry, well we will look at quarterback,
- 18:49Speaker 1: but we're gonna look at the position groups now, starting
- 18:52Speaker 1: with quarterback. And obviously, you know, replacing Brent Hepner's no
- 18:56Speaker 1: easy task. And if you look kind of especially during
- 19:00Speaker 1: Brant's sophomore year, they had that dual threat quarterback. They
- 19:04Speaker 1: had Caden hermanouts along with Brent Hepner, and they would
- 19:08Speaker 1: play both of them a lot, and they were doing
- 19:10Speaker 1: that for you know, many years, and so don't be
- 19:15Speaker 1: surprised to see that kind of thing brought back into
- 19:19Speaker 1: the fold now with Lucas Lolgy and Gordy Bedlington. You know,
- 19:24Speaker 1: both are running threats, no doubt about that. And Gordy
- 19:30Speaker 1: Bedlington has the ability to play a lot of other
- 19:32Speaker 1: positions as well, so you could see him play like
- 19:35Speaker 1: a brock Hepner, you know, back in the twenty eighteen season.
- 19:39Speaker 1: I believe I want to make sure that's right. Lindon
- 19:43Speaker 1: got to the state championship game with that kind of
- 19:47Speaker 1: that dual threat thing they had going on in brock
- 19:51Speaker 1: Heppner when he wasn't playing quarterback, was the best receiver
- 19:54Speaker 1: on the team. And you know, Gordy Bedlington when he's
- 19:58Speaker 1: not playing quarterback, he has the ability, even though they
- 20:01Speaker 1: returned some great receivers, of being a big time target
- 20:04Speaker 1: for Lucas Logy. And they have a sophomore Austin Postmas.
- 20:08Speaker 1: So you got three guys there that are all running
- 20:11Speaker 1: threats and they're all underclassmen. I mean, it is what
- 20:16Speaker 1: what a luxury? And you know it's ah As coach
- 20:21Speaker 1: Van Dalen says, you know the return on investment will
- 20:25Speaker 1: be large, and that's so true, and that's gonna be
- 20:28Speaker 1: kind of a theme when you look around a lot
- 20:29Speaker 1: of these position groups is sometimes you look at it
- 20:32Speaker 1: and you go and they're all underclassmen and that's kind
- 20:34Speaker 1: of like holy cow. So the quarterbacks will be just fine.
- 20:38Speaker 1: You know, Lucas Logi played a little bit last year.
- 20:41Speaker 1: Uh he threw three he completed three touchdown passes last year,
- 20:45Speaker 1: so and he did them in you know, playoff games.
- 20:48Speaker 1: So he is, he's ready. And I think that, you know,
- 20:52Speaker 1: from what I've seen in footage of you know, him
- 20:55Speaker 1: coming up and the first thing that jumps off the
- 20:57Speaker 1: page is just how fast he is. But boy, he
- 20:59Speaker 1: throws a pretty ball and he does it. It's in
- 21:01Speaker 1: a way where and a lot of quarterbacks that haven't
- 21:04Speaker 1: started at the varsity level yet don't have this, but
- 21:07Speaker 1: he already has it where he's throwing to us like
- 21:10Speaker 1: he's throwing it before the receiver looks, and it makes
- 21:12Speaker 1: it so great where the receiver is looking, goes to
- 21:14Speaker 1: the right spot and boom, there it is. And you
- 21:17Speaker 1: have to have that. You got to throw in tight
- 21:18Speaker 1: windows at the varsity level, and Lolgi will be able
- 21:21Speaker 1: to do that. You go to the running back spot,
- 21:23Speaker 1: and again, out of all the teams in Walkin County,
- 21:26Speaker 1: Lyndon returns the most at the running back spot, and
- 21:29Speaker 1: a lot of it is Max aussinc. Max ran for
- 21:32Speaker 1: nine hundred and fourteen yards last year and thirteen touchdowns,
- 21:35Speaker 1: averaging six yards of carry. And I'll tell you this,
- 21:39Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, he looks so much even bigger and
- 21:43Speaker 1: stronger right now. And I just I keep saying to myself,
- 21:46Speaker 1: I think he's really gonna go off. He's something, and
- 21:51Speaker 1: I expect some big, big things. And then you got
- 21:53Speaker 1: Malachai Canaan, who he ran for three touchdowns himself, but
- 21:57Speaker 1: it was kind of more of that blocking tight back,
- 21:59Speaker 1: so it could be a little bit more evened out.
- 22:04Speaker 1: You know, when you look think back at the of
- 22:06Speaker 1: the Laine HERRINGA Campbell Nolty days, that was pretty even.
- 22:11Speaker 1: I mean it might not have been fifty to fifty,
- 22:13Speaker 1: but it was pretty close to sixty forty. And you know,
- 22:16Speaker 1: last year was kind of more ninety ten with Austin
- 22:19Speaker 1: and Canaan, but that could be start to maybe two
- 22:22Speaker 1: thirds one third, You'll see. It's really hard to say,
- 22:25Speaker 1: but you know, both those guys play defense as well,
- 22:27Speaker 1: so giving each other a break every once in a
- 22:29Speaker 1: while will be kind of the right thing to do.
- 22:33Speaker 1: But yeah, and then you got a lot of younger
- 22:34Speaker 1: guys that you know, and even some seniors that would
- 22:39Speaker 1: have that chance, but they're you know, they're playing behind
- 22:41Speaker 1: a couple of dudes right there, al Varo Mendoza, Dawson
- 22:44Speaker 1: Van Dalen, you know, Marcus Kanan, uh, you know, different
- 22:48Speaker 1: guys that could be landing Tolzma, different guys that you
- 22:51Speaker 1: know have the ability to do it. But they'll get
- 22:53Speaker 1: they'll get spots in other places to play because they're
- 22:57Speaker 1: that good. And the running back is kind of sow
- 23:00Speaker 1: up if you look at the receivers. But the one
- 23:04Speaker 1: thing that stands out as far as the wide receivers,
- 23:08Speaker 1: not necessarily the tight ends, but the wide receivers is
- 23:10Speaker 1: in years past, you've had some you know, Lindon's had
- 23:13Speaker 1: the you know, Chas Cock and and Ryan Sido, and
- 23:17Speaker 1: you know, you've had these guys Scooter Hastings that were
- 23:20Speaker 1: six six, you know, six seven, and they just don't
- 23:25Speaker 1: have that guy this year. But you know, that spread
- 23:29Speaker 1: offense sometimes. You know, originally when they brought that over
- 23:33Speaker 1: from South Lake Carrol, Texas, was to have four quick,
- 23:38Speaker 1: you know, sure handed receivers, and they're gonna have those
- 23:42Speaker 1: guys this year. Obviously bringing back Sam Morango is huge.
- 23:45Speaker 1: He won a breakout year he had last year forty
- 23:48Speaker 1: two catches for eight hundred and ninety three yards and
- 23:50Speaker 1: eight touchdowns, averaging over twenty one yards a catch. This
- 23:54Speaker 1: is an incredible year last year, at this at this
- 23:57Speaker 1: time last year, I had no clue who he was,
- 24:01Speaker 1: and he just went off and had this monster year.
- 24:04Speaker 1: That's what I love about sophomores. There's always that kid
- 24:07Speaker 1: that My only reason I know him is because I
- 24:10Speaker 1: took his picture and that's it. That's all I know.
- 24:13Speaker 1: And then and then all of a sudden in week
- 24:15Speaker 1: one or week two, I'm like, who is that? And
- 24:18Speaker 1: then he just goes off and that's so much fun.
- 24:20Speaker 1: And sam Orango was that guy for me last year.
- 24:22Speaker 1: I heard great things after practice. He can run great routes,
- 24:26Speaker 1: he catches everything he puts in the time, him and
- 24:28Speaker 1: Bran Hepner are on the same page. I said, great,
- 24:32Speaker 1: and then can't wait to see him and he delivered
- 24:36Speaker 1: and put up that big, big year last year. Danny Bowler,
- 24:39Speaker 1: I mean he's been doing it for a couple of
- 24:40Speaker 1: years now. You're talking crazy straight line speed. Twenty six
- 24:44Speaker 1: catches for three hundred and eighty two yards and a
- 24:46Speaker 1: touchdown last year, even had a bigger year as a sophomore,
- 24:49Speaker 1: So I'm expecting some big, big things both those kids.
- 24:52Speaker 1: I think Danny Bohler is three yards away from a
- 24:54Speaker 1: thousand career receiving yards, and you know Sam Orango is
- 24:58Speaker 1: one hundred and seven yards away that same number. So
- 25:02Speaker 1: it's possible they could both do it in Week one
- 25:04Speaker 1: against Ferndal. Wouldn't that be cool? Other guys, I mean
- 25:08Speaker 1: Brody Price. Brody Price had one hundred and sixty receiving yards,
- 25:12Speaker 1: having twenty yards of catch last year and scored a touchdown.
- 25:16Speaker 1: He could be in that mix. Low Fatiguelau he had
- 25:20Speaker 1: four catches last year, and I know those are both
- 25:22Speaker 1: your starting safeties, but they have the ability on offense.
- 25:25Speaker 1: And then of course Gordy Bedlington is that wild card
- 25:27Speaker 1: where he could, you know, really make some plays as
- 25:31Speaker 1: a receiver and so you have to account for him
- 25:35Speaker 1: at all times. And then you know Max Austink did
- 25:38Speaker 1: really well catching the ball out of the backfield. He
- 25:39Speaker 1: had thirteen catches last year, and it's very possible that
- 25:42Speaker 1: they could go four wide with Austin in the backfield,
- 25:45Speaker 1: and then Austin could go in motion. Now you got
- 25:47Speaker 1: a fifth guy out there, so you just never know.
- 25:50Speaker 1: Lucas Lodge is going to have a lot of toys
- 25:52Speaker 1: to play with at the tight end position. You know,
- 25:55Speaker 1: you graduate Isaiah Audman, who had a huge year last
- 25:58Speaker 1: year over one thousand yards received being as a tight end,
- 26:01Speaker 1: which I want to say is the first time in
- 26:03Speaker 1: Walkam County history but a tight end reached that number
- 26:06Speaker 1: in yardage. And and you know, Linden's had some amazing
- 26:10Speaker 1: tight ends over the years. I mean, you go back
- 26:12Speaker 1: to Eric Peterson in the eighties, Chad Barr in the nineties.
- 26:16Speaker 1: You know, I brought up Ryan Sido. They've just had
- 26:21Speaker 1: some big time players play that tight end spot. And
- 26:25Speaker 1: brock Hepner was an All state tight end and of
- 26:29Speaker 1: course Isaiah Audman recently now all stayed as well, and
- 26:32Speaker 1: so they have they have a sophomore Trey Williams, who uh,
- 26:36Speaker 1: you know, physically looks the part, six foot three, two
- 26:40Speaker 1: hundred pounds, you know, reminds me a lot of Isaiah
- 26:42Speaker 1: Audman as a sophomore. So that's the thing is now
- 26:46Speaker 1: he's and he's a kid that's dominated at every level
- 26:49Speaker 1: that he's played. But now as a sophomore in varsity.
- 26:52Speaker 1: It's it might be a little bit of a wake
- 26:55Speaker 1: up moment. But if he does really well and he's
- 26:58Speaker 1: going to be coached the right way with that in program,
- 27:01Speaker 1: h sky's the limit for him. Another kid that I'm
- 27:04Speaker 1: really curious about at the tight end spot, Isaiah Harris,
- 27:08Speaker 1: known more as a defensive lineman, but because of an injury,
- 27:11Speaker 1: he got put into play tight end when they played
- 27:14Speaker 1: down at Tumwater for their scrimmage and uh and he caught.
- 27:20Speaker 1: He scored two touchdowns and he never practiced tight end before.
- 27:23Speaker 1: So you're talking to someone that's with some really raw
- 27:26Speaker 1: ability that is learning the position and at six two
- 27:30Speaker 1: two and twenty five pounds, you know, can probably do
- 27:34Speaker 1: some run blocking too, and that's that's really exciting. And
- 27:38Speaker 1: you know, you throw in a Weston card who at
- 27:41Speaker 1: six seven two and forty pounds, you know, it depends
- 27:45Speaker 1: what jersey they put on him. They put on a
- 27:47Speaker 1: jersey with an eight, with an eighty number, they'll be
- 27:49Speaker 1: playing some tight end. If you do it with a
- 27:51Speaker 1: fifty through seventy number, he might be playing some offensive tackle.
- 27:56Speaker 1: So it's kind of hard to say where he'll be
- 27:58Speaker 1: at the moment. But it's nice that Lindon had those
- 28:00Speaker 1: kinds of options, those kinds of kids, which they always
- 28:03Speaker 1: do have those those kinds of kids. Right, So the
- 28:05Speaker 1: tight end spot looks pretty good as well. You go
- 28:08Speaker 1: to offensive line, and you know, it looks like a
- 28:12Speaker 1: Linden offensive line. Zachdikstra at left tackle, you know, six three,
- 28:16Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty five pounds. You got Carter Reeling
- 28:19Speaker 1: at left guard. He's right at three hundred pounds. Just
- 28:22Speaker 1: a man mover. I mean, he just moves people. And
- 28:26Speaker 1: they always have that guy at left guard that can
- 28:28Speaker 1: do that in the run game. Logan O Street. My goodness,
- 28:34Speaker 1: the toughness is off the charts for him. He's been
- 28:37Speaker 1: playing center in years past, was going to be moved
- 28:40Speaker 1: to right tackle this year, and he tore his ACL
- 28:44Speaker 1: at the Tomb Water the Tombwater scrimmage, and and you're
- 28:49Speaker 1: talking about another one of those weight room warrior guys.
- 28:52Speaker 1: And you know, they've decided with his family that they're
- 28:56Speaker 1: going to do surgery after the season. So he's got
- 28:58Speaker 1: a giant brace on his left got moved back to
- 29:01Speaker 1: center to kind of protect him. Doesn't have to you know,
- 29:03Speaker 1: it doesn't have to poll as much and stuff like that,
- 29:06Speaker 1: and he will be playing offensive line this year with
- 29:09Speaker 1: a torn acl and Lindon legends have done this, you know.
- 29:14Speaker 1: Jacob Kettles did this when they got to the state championship.
- 29:19Speaker 1: Taban van Dalen did this and they won a state championship.
- 29:22Speaker 1: And he's been in touch with both of those guys,
- 29:24Speaker 1: and that's part of the Linden legacy that, you know,
- 29:28Speaker 1: is such a unique thing for that program where they
- 29:32Speaker 1: can talk to him and say, hey, this is what
- 29:34Speaker 1: you can expect. You know, this is what can happen.
- 29:39Speaker 1: But you only get to play your senior year once
- 29:41Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And so Logan Ostry is gonna play.
- 29:45Speaker 1: He'll be at center and we'll see what happens. It's
- 29:48Speaker 1: it's a you know, it's it is what it is.
- 29:52Speaker 1: A lot of kids would would it would just say,
- 29:55Speaker 1: you know what, that's too bad, I can't play. But
- 29:58Speaker 1: there's something about you know, Charlie Err said it best.
- 30:01Speaker 1: He's like, I've never had dreams of playing college football.
- 30:04Speaker 1: I've always had dreams of playing for Lindon And that's
- 30:08Speaker 1: a pretty pretty cool thing in this area. On then
- 30:11Speaker 1: on the right side, there's still a few question marks.
- 30:14Speaker 1: You've got a few sophomores younger guys that are competing
- 30:16Speaker 1: for the right guard spot, and then you got a
- 30:19Speaker 1: couple a couple of seniors competing for the right tackle spot.
- 30:22Speaker 1: I'm not quite I'm not even quite sure who the
- 30:24Speaker 1: sophomores are. I have a few in mind, but I
- 30:26Speaker 1: don't want to say the wrong name if I'm wrong,
- 30:28Speaker 1: But I think got the right tackle spot. You're looking
- 30:31Speaker 1: at maybe Weston Card or Jacks Barr in that spot there.
- 30:34Speaker 1: So Jacks Barr is beefed up, looks pretty pretty solid,
- 30:38Speaker 1: is about two fifty right now, so you could you
- 30:42Speaker 1: could probably see him there, and especially with that could
- 30:45Speaker 1: help out because Western Card could be like a second
- 30:47Speaker 1: tight end blocking tight end if that's the case. So,
- 30:51Speaker 1: so yeah, really exciting. I mean, they always have a
- 30:53Speaker 1: great offensive line. I don't expect to see anything different.
- 30:56Speaker 1: That's just always been the way for them. On the
- 30:59Speaker 1: deep end the side of the ball, you can start
- 31:01Speaker 1: on the defensive line, and they returned quite a bit.
- 31:05Speaker 1: And that's what's really fun is they're easily gonna be
- 31:09Speaker 1: six deep, which like you know, they it looks like
- 31:12Speaker 1: a hockey change, right and they will they could change
- 31:15Speaker 1: all three guys they play a three four, they could
- 31:17Speaker 1: they could change all three guys every three plays, keep
- 31:20Speaker 1: them fresh. You know, guys that did the most damaged
- 31:24Speaker 1: last year were Jack's barr nose tackle, Varro Mendoza. He
- 31:30Speaker 1: had four quarterback sacks, came on really strong as just
- 31:34Speaker 1: a guy that's just hard to block and you know,
- 31:36Speaker 1: shifting and stuff like that. And Isaiah Harris. I mean,
- 31:38Speaker 1: Isaiah Harris was a beast back there. Two and a
- 31:42Speaker 1: half tackles for loss. He had a sack of forced fumble,
- 31:44Speaker 1: fumber recovery, twenty tackles. And so those are kind of
- 31:48Speaker 1: the four or I'm sorry, the three that I could
- 31:51Speaker 1: see starting. But then you got some veterans that could
- 31:54Speaker 1: come in. I think Carteriff Reeling will start playing some
- 31:57Speaker 1: more defense. Uh, and you could see Western Card in there.
- 32:01Speaker 1: Well maybe Western cardibly more of an outside linebacker, but
- 32:03Speaker 1: Zachdikstra will obviously be in that fold, and Logan Oastrie
- 32:07Speaker 1: could as well. Probably gonna try to protect Logan a
- 32:11Speaker 1: little bit as much or a little bit as they
- 32:13Speaker 1: can and have him just play center. But he's you know,
- 32:16Speaker 1: he'll definitely get in there on defensive line here and
- 32:19Speaker 1: there when when it calls for it. There might be
- 32:21Speaker 1: some backup running backs too that get some you know,
- 32:24Speaker 1: that end up working their way into the fold, you know,
- 32:27Speaker 1: three or four weeks into the season, because that's just
- 32:29Speaker 1: how it works with Lindon, That's just that's just what
- 32:32Speaker 1: they've done, and they've found some gems doing that. So
- 32:36Speaker 1: that defensive line looks very, very solid. The linebacker spot,
- 32:40Speaker 1: you know, the two inside linebackers really they returned three.
- 32:44Speaker 1: Malachai Canaan, who had a just a giant year eighty
- 32:48Speaker 1: eight and a half tackles, nine tackles for loss, half
- 32:50Speaker 1: a sack, fumble, recovery, two interceptions like I said, he
- 32:54Speaker 1: did in both in the same quarter against Lakewood. He
- 32:56Speaker 1: also had a pass broken up that might have been
- 32:58Speaker 1: in that Lakewood game as well. He returns as an
- 33:01Speaker 1: inside linebacker, and then he had two different guys play
- 33:04Speaker 1: next to him. It kind of went back and forth
- 33:06Speaker 1: throughout the year. Adam Holman, he had thirty six and
- 33:10Speaker 1: a half tackles, a forced fumble, and Landon Tolsba. Landon
- 33:14Speaker 1: told me I had thirty two and a half tackles,
- 33:16Speaker 1: two tackles for loss of fumble recovery. And so you
- 33:18Speaker 1: got three guys there for two spots and they're all juniors.
- 33:23Speaker 1: So my goodness. Uh, you know, coach Blake Whitman's listening
- 33:27Speaker 1: to this goes and he's probably saying itself, you darn right,
- 33:29Speaker 1: they're all juniors. Yeah, that's right, baby, And uh so
- 33:33Speaker 1: that's you know, that's a that's a luxury. Again. It's
- 33:36Speaker 1: kind of like those quarterbacks, right, they're all underclassmen and
- 33:38Speaker 1: it's it's, ah, what a great thing it is for them.
- 33:42Speaker 1: And then the outside linebacker spot or the defensive ends
- 33:46Speaker 1: as they call him out in Lindon. Uh, but they
- 33:48Speaker 1: have to be able to play in the flat quite
- 33:50Speaker 1: a bit. They've got all they've got six guys, you know,
- 33:53Speaker 1: for two spots, and you could see a lot of
- 33:55Speaker 1: rotation there. You know. Max Austink and Dane Marty have
- 34:00Speaker 1: probably the most experienced there at the varsity level. Dan
- 34:03Speaker 1: Marty last year at two and a half sacks, two
- 34:05Speaker 1: and a half tackles for lost, he forced a couple fumbles,
- 34:07Speaker 1: twenty eight tackles. When he comes off the edge, he
- 34:10Speaker 1: hits with a purpose. So I really like him coming
- 34:14Speaker 1: off the edge. I think that's a great great spot.
- 34:16Speaker 1: I could see him kind of having a breakout year
- 34:19Speaker 1: as well. Max Oscink last year at seventeen and a
- 34:22Speaker 1: half tackles, he recovered three fumbles, one of them he
- 34:25Speaker 1: returned for a touchdown. He also had a sack, but again,
- 34:28Speaker 1: starting a running back, you might need to give him
- 34:30Speaker 1: a break every once in a while. So he got
- 34:31Speaker 1: all these other guys. You could see Weston Card go
- 34:34Speaker 1: out there at six seven, two and forty pounds. You
- 34:38Speaker 1: could see Dawson Van Dalen, who was in the mix,
- 34:40Speaker 1: is more of an inside linebacker, but they're all the
- 34:42Speaker 1: same grade. So you put him as an outside linebacker
- 34:46Speaker 1: and he could do some good stuff. He had a
- 34:47Speaker 1: couple tackles for loss last year plus twenty stops. Lincoln
- 34:51Speaker 1: van Rye is another kid that fits that bill. And
- 34:54Speaker 1: then Trey Williams, who I talked about earlier, the sophomore.
- 34:57Speaker 1: So you got six guys right there for the two
- 35:00Speaker 1: outside linebacker spots, and Linden wouldn't want to have it
- 35:02Speaker 1: any other way. They want lots of guys that they
- 35:05Speaker 1: could rely upon and make it seamless, and that's what
- 35:08Speaker 1: they'll do. And you know it's always tricky at the
- 35:11Speaker 1: end of the year when I'm doing the top one
- 35:13Speaker 1: hundred list, because I mean not only because Linden usually
- 35:17Speaker 1: is very successful, but I always have so many Linden
- 35:21Speaker 1: players because they play so many kids, and it's so
- 35:26Speaker 1: it's crazy. That's just the way it is. Every year,
- 35:28Speaker 1: like all have like seventeen or sixteen Linden kids on
- 35:31Speaker 1: the top one hundred list. And not only is it
- 35:34Speaker 1: because they probably made a deep run in the playoffs,
- 35:36Speaker 1: but that's just you know, they have seventeen to the
- 35:41Speaker 1: best hundred in the in the county and they and
- 35:44Speaker 1: they show them, you know, on the field by getting
- 35:48Speaker 1: playing time and they're not hiding guys, and they all
- 35:51Speaker 1: you know, and that's what you get when you have
- 35:53Speaker 1: one hundred kids in the program at the two way level,
- 35:55Speaker 1: and it's it's pretty it's pretty crazy, but it's a
- 35:59Speaker 1: lot of fun to be a part of and see
- 36:01Speaker 1: up close and personal when I head out to that
- 36:03Speaker 1: first Saturday practice in the morning with pads. It's a
- 36:06Speaker 1: really really fun deal. I'm just blessed to be able to,
- 36:10Speaker 1: you know, be a fly on the wall at these
- 36:11Speaker 1: places at the cornerback spot, you know, Danny Bohler returns.
- 36:15Speaker 1: He's been doing that for a while. He had twenty
- 36:17Speaker 1: eight tackles last year, broke up five passes, also had
- 36:20Speaker 1: an interception. But that other corner spot is kind of
- 36:24Speaker 1: up for grabs. You had, you had a you know,
- 36:26Speaker 1: a few different guys that got some run. Sam Arango,
- 36:30Speaker 1: you know, played a little bit there when when Jade
- 36:35Speaker 1: Noakes had the injury. Marcus Kanan played there as a
- 36:38Speaker 1: freshman last year in the playoffs, he had eight and
- 36:41Speaker 1: a half tackles plus a tackle for lost and a
- 36:43Speaker 1: pass broken up. He could be in there. Then other guys,
- 36:45Speaker 1: you know, Grady Van Dalen, Gordy Bedlington, Kay Smith. You
- 36:49Speaker 1: got a lot of different guys kind of competing for
- 36:51Speaker 1: those defensive back spots. And the two safeties return and
- 36:55Speaker 1: I tell you what, anytime Lyndon returns to safeties, they
- 36:59Speaker 1: have a heck of a year. That's just kind of
- 37:02Speaker 1: a fact, you know, It's just the way that it is.
- 37:04Speaker 1: And when you bring back Brody Price, who was All
- 37:06Speaker 1: Conference last year, first team, sixty one and a half tackles,
- 37:10Speaker 1: three tackles for loss, a force fumble, two interceptions, one
- 37:13Speaker 1: of them which I believe he returned for a touchdown
- 37:15Speaker 1: and ten passes broken up. And you team them up
- 37:18Speaker 1: with low Fatigulaw who's in his third year as a starter.
- 37:21Speaker 1: Two years ago we started as a linebacker. Last year
- 37:24Speaker 1: as a safety, he had fifty nine tackles, two and
- 37:26Speaker 1: a half tackles for loss, four passes broken up, and
- 37:28Speaker 1: an interception. That is And there's a lot of schools
- 37:32Speaker 1: that have these this duo at safety that's gonna be scary,
- 37:37Speaker 1: but you know it's hard. It's gonna be hard to
- 37:39Speaker 1: say which one is the scariest. And I think Linden
- 37:41Speaker 1: might take the cake there because they've got a couple
- 37:44Speaker 1: of guys with a lot of firsty experience putting up
- 37:47Speaker 1: big time numbers. And Linden's defense when they've got a
- 37:51Speaker 1: couple of safeties, like I said, it's just when they
- 37:53Speaker 1: especially when they return to safeties, it's scary. So it's
- 37:59Speaker 1: looking really really good on the Linden defense this year.
- 38:01Speaker 1: You know, last year they had a lot of brand
- 38:03Speaker 1: new guys, this year not so much. So you bring
- 38:06Speaker 1: back the experience and it's gonna be needed in this
- 38:08Speaker 1: crazy difficult Northwest Conference two way division. In the kicking game,
- 38:13Speaker 1: I was joking with fan data, and I said, boy,
- 38:15Speaker 1: you've really suffered the last few years with kickers, haven't you.
- 38:19Speaker 1: And it's obviously he just laughed because it's the exact
- 38:22Speaker 1: obvious opposite. You know, he got the Canaan brothers, Malachai
- 38:25Speaker 1: and Marcus. They're both very very talented. They can both
- 38:29Speaker 1: hit from fifty yards out, they're both great punters, they
- 38:32Speaker 1: can both kick off, put it in the end zone.
- 38:36Speaker 1: And you know it's it's Malachi's job. But there could
- 38:39Speaker 1: be times because he's gonna be playing on the field
- 38:41Speaker 1: quite a bit both ways where you know, after a score,
- 38:46Speaker 1: if he's you know, if he needs a blow for
- 38:49Speaker 1: just a little bit, then his brother Marcus can come
- 38:50Speaker 1: out and kick just for that one and maybe kick off,
- 38:53Speaker 1: and then Malachi can get back out there. And there's
- 38:56Speaker 1: nothing wrong with that. There's there's not really a drop off.
- 38:59Speaker 1: You know. I would say Malachi might have more power
- 39:04Speaker 1: and Marcus might be more accurate, but boy, it's it's
- 39:07Speaker 1: very very close on both accounts. So it is like
- 39:13Speaker 1: I said, there are no holes here. There is just
- 39:16Speaker 1: pure you know, Linden football. You look at the return
- 39:21Speaker 1: game Danny Bowler, he had a punt return for a touchdown.
- 39:24Speaker 1: Last year, Brody Price returned some punts as well. You
- 39:27Speaker 1: could see Sam Arango back there. Uh, you know, you
- 39:30Speaker 1: could see Dawson van Dalen perhaps in the kickoff returns
- 39:33Speaker 1: Max Ostink as well. But I think Danny Bowler is
- 39:37Speaker 1: gonna is kind of your you know, leader in the clubhouse,
- 39:41Speaker 1: if you will, in the return game. And and what
- 39:44Speaker 1: a what a great one to have the Linden program.
- 39:47Speaker 1: It's just it's football, man, I mean, it's uh, I
- 39:55Speaker 1: think I could I could say easily that they will
- 39:58Speaker 1: be in the top four again at that Northwest Conference
- 40:02Speaker 1: two way and it's just will it be one of
- 40:05Speaker 1: those where they all beat each other again? You know
- 40:07Speaker 1: who knows? You know, it's uh, it's it's gonna be crazy.
- 40:15Speaker 1: I can't wait until they start playing each other. And
- 40:18Speaker 1: out of those four teams, I think the first time
- 40:21Speaker 1: one of those two play each other will be that
- 40:24Speaker 1: Seahome and a Chorus game. That'll be week two. So
- 40:27Speaker 1: that kind of starts it out as far as okay, well,
- 40:29Speaker 1: which one has a win, which one has a loss,
- 40:31Speaker 1: and then going from there, you just have to take
- 40:33Speaker 1: care of business, you know. Lynnon kind of gets into it.
- 40:38Speaker 1: Pretty early, you know, with Anti Quartus week four, Sea
- 40:40Speaker 1: Home week five, and then Archbishop there in week seven.
- 40:46Speaker 1: But it's one of those things where you just won't
- 40:48Speaker 1: know until the season's getting really close to being over.
- 40:51Speaker 1: Then the beautiful thing is is that there will be
- 40:54Speaker 1: you know, the top four will move on to the
- 40:57Speaker 1: round of thirty two, and that's where you know, North
- 41:00Speaker 1: Post Conference will shine it once again and then you know,
- 41:03Speaker 1: go on to the state tournament and then make deep
- 41:06Speaker 1: runs because they're just they're that good. And I think
- 41:09Speaker 1: the rest of the state understands that. And I'm so
- 41:11Speaker 1: glad that the two way has gone to the round
- 41:14Speaker 1: of thirty two. And there's been some great, great teams recently.
- 41:18Speaker 1: I mean just a few years ago, Seahome was really good,
- 41:21Speaker 1: but they missed out on a playoff spot. You know,
- 41:23Speaker 1: there were teams there were years when Sedrow Woollie was
- 41:25Speaker 1: really good, but they just missed out on a playoff
- 41:27Speaker 1: spot where they could have handled a lot of teams
- 41:30Speaker 1: that were in the state playoffs. But now with a
- 41:32Speaker 1: round of thirty two, I mean, I can't stress it enough.
- 41:35Speaker 1: It is such a good thing to get the best
- 41:38Speaker 1: sixteen teams into the state playoffs and you know state playoffs.
- 41:44Speaker 1: That's kind of where Lindon lives. And it's been really
- 41:48Speaker 1: tough exits the last two years. And you know it's
- 41:55Speaker 1: it's one little minor thing and it's different, you know.
- 41:59Speaker 1: I mean last year it was a turnover. Two years
- 42:01Speaker 1: ago it was you know, twelve men on the field
- 42:04Speaker 1: when you know by the other team that wasn't caught
- 42:06Speaker 1: and it's ah Man and those things that you remember.
- 42:11Speaker 1: The two years part of that they win state championships.
- 42:14Speaker 1: So we'll just have to see. It's gonna be, you know,
- 42:18Speaker 1: a fun year for Lindon. I'm excited to see the
- 42:21Speaker 1: Lucaslogy at quarterback. I think that's gonna be. We'll learn
- 42:25Speaker 1: a lot there in week one and you know, how
- 42:29Speaker 1: will it be defended when you have a quarterback that
- 42:31Speaker 1: can just take off and go and as a home
- 42:33Speaker 1: run threat. So anyways, thank you very much to Kurt
- 42:37Speaker 1: me Bray Farm once again for being a sponsor of
- 42:41Speaker 1: the Walk and Preps podcast. This has been episode three
- 42:44Speaker 1: point fifty nine, the twenty twenty five Linden Lyon Football
- 42:48Speaker 1: preview and if you're gonna be listening for the next view,
- 42:53Speaker 1: there are still two more previews to go. Knooksack Valley
- 42:55Speaker 1: will come out tomorrow morning and Mount Baker will be
- 42:58Speaker 1: tomorrow afternoon. If you missed any of the previous ones,
- 43:01Speaker 1: you're talking Blaine, Meridian, Bellingham, Squalicum, Lynden, Christian Seom and Ferndale.
- 43:07Speaker 1: Those are already been out. You can listen to those
- 43:10Speaker 1: there right here wherever you get your podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
- 43:15Speaker 1: you know all those things. Or you can go to
- 43:17Speaker 1: walkompreps dot com and click on the Walkom Preps podcast
- 43:20Speaker 1: tab and every single episode is right there for you
- 43:24Speaker 1: to listen to. So again, thank you to Kirk Baberry
- 43:27Speaker 1: Farm you've been listening to the walker Preps podcast. I'm
- 43:30Speaker 1: Tather Anderson and I'll talk to you tomorrow morning.