Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 430 - 2026 Meridian Trojans Football Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 430 - 2026 Meridian Trojans Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:14
Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome into the Walkin' Preps podcast. This is
0:17
Speaker 1: episode 430, the 2026 Meridian Football Preview, and I am
0:24
Speaker 1: Tyler Anderson of Walkin' Preps. You know, I'm really excited
0:27
Speaker 1: about this one because there's just something about these Trohans
0:32
Speaker 1: as I look at them. I was out there for
0:36
Speaker 1: their crossover Week 10 game. last year where, you know,
0:40
Speaker 1: it was just kind of get a game in, you know,
0:43
Speaker 1: you're not making the state playoffs and they played with
0:46
Speaker 1: a purpose. And I really felt like they right away,
0:49
Speaker 1: they were like already ready for next season. Having gone
0:53
Speaker 1: seven and three last year, beating multiple teams that went
0:56
Speaker 1: to the state playoffs, you know, it was, it was,
1:02
Speaker 1: it was a rough one for them. I mean, it was,
1:04
Speaker 1: I mean, all, all three losses were against, teams in
1:09
Speaker 1: their own conference, but beating teams, other teams that got
1:15
Speaker 1: to go to the 1A state playoffs because they're in
1:17
Speaker 1: inferior leagues. I think they just have a little bit
1:22
Speaker 1: of a chip on their shoulder and they return so much.
1:24
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about this year's Trojan team. So
1:29
Speaker 1: let's kind of get into it, talk about them a
1:31
Speaker 1: little bit. Head coach is Patrick Ames, who's in his
1:34
Speaker 1: seventh season As the head coach with Meridian Trojans, he
1:38
Speaker 1: is 28-23 in his career. And last season, we talked
1:43
Speaker 1: about it earlier, going 7-3. Yeah, it was just one
1:52
Speaker 1: of those, I mean, by far the best 1A team
1:54
Speaker 1: to not make the state playoffs. And I think they
1:58
Speaker 1: are on a little pendulum right now, going the correct way,
2:03
Speaker 1: going up. They didn't have a ton of seniors last year,
2:07
Speaker 1: but they did lose some key players, obviously, starting off
2:11
Speaker 1: with tight end Daniel Larson, who went to Central Washington
2:15
Speaker 1: University to go play tight end. He was All-State first
2:18
Speaker 1: team tight end. Meridian seems to just have a slew
2:20
Speaker 1: of those over the years. They know how to get
2:26
Speaker 1: a tight end to play the right way, and they
2:28
Speaker 1: find mismatches, and he was phenomenal last year. Linebacker Xavier Perrin,
2:33
Speaker 1: who just racks up tackles after tackles. Cooper Marum on
2:36
Speaker 1: the offensive line, defensive end. And then their kicker and punter,
2:39
Speaker 1: Sagar Virk. Those are the big losses from last year,
2:42
Speaker 1: but they return a ton of players, and we'll get
2:45
Speaker 1: into that in a little bit. Let's go through the
2:47
Speaker 1: schedule from last year's season. Started off in a big,
2:51
Speaker 1: big way, beating Deer Park 28-7, and then going on
2:55
Speaker 1: the road and beating OMAC 22-14. OMAC proving to be
2:59
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in the state. Then Meridian
3:02
Speaker 1: hosted Kamiak, which I believe is a 3A or 4A school.
3:08
Speaker 1: They're a big, big school. They beat them 33-20. And
3:10
Speaker 1: then they were supposed to play Forks at home, Forks Forfeited.
3:16
Speaker 1: So Meridian gets the win there. That was the dedication
3:19
Speaker 1: of the field to Bob Ames. That was really fantastic
3:23
Speaker 1: to be at. Just so glad I was able to
3:25
Speaker 1: be in attendance for that. And then the next week
3:28
Speaker 1: they beat Kingsway Christian 49-7. So going 5-0 in the
3:32
Speaker 1: first five weeks heading into league play. First league game,
3:37
Speaker 1: they play against Mount Baker on the road. We all
3:40
Speaker 1: know what kind of season the Mountaineers had last year.
3:43
Speaker 1: And it was a really close game. It was an
3:45
Speaker 1: interesting game because both teams were without their starting quarterbacks.
3:49
Speaker 1: And it wasn't really known until, I don't even know
3:52
Speaker 1: if either team knew that about the other team. until
3:56
Speaker 1: warmups or kickoff or whatever. Um, so it was kind
3:59
Speaker 1: of an interesting game. Mount Baker wins 21 to 13. Um,
4:05
Speaker 1: and then Meridian ended up playing a Nooksack Valley the
4:09
Speaker 1: next week, lost 47 to 20 in quite a shootout there. Uh,
4:15
Speaker 1: then they lose to Linden Christian 48 to seven. So
4:17
Speaker 1: losing three games all in a row right there, boom, boom, boom.
4:21
Speaker 1: And then they turn around and beat Blaine 43 to 25, uh,
4:25
Speaker 1: And finish the season with a 38-7 win over Cedar
4:29
Speaker 1: Park Christian to go 7-3 on the year. Looking at
4:32
Speaker 1: this year's schedule, it's a little different with the non-league schedule.
4:36
Speaker 1: Got some bunch of new opponents starting off the year
4:38
Speaker 1: at Liberty Bell on Friday night at week one at
4:42
Speaker 1: 7 o'clock. Keep in mind, as you're listening to this,
4:47
Speaker 1: this will be coming out on Saturday. So the game
4:53
Speaker 1: is less than a week away at this point. Now,
4:56
Speaker 1: if the smoke is really bad over there, this game
4:59
Speaker 1: could get moved to Meridian. And if that's the case,
5:02
Speaker 1: it would be played on Saturday afternoon. So just keep
5:04
Speaker 1: that in mind. As of now, it's still going to
5:08
Speaker 1: be at Liberty Bell on Friday night at 7 o'clock.
5:11
Speaker 1: In week two, they'll be on the road at Cascade
5:14
Speaker 1: Christian on Saturday afternoon at 1 o'clock. Then they will
5:17
Speaker 1: be back home the next week to host Colville at
5:20
Speaker 1: 1 o'clock. So a couple Saturday games there. Then they'll
5:24
Speaker 1: be on the road on Alaska for a 7 p.m.
5:27
Speaker 1: game on that Friday night. On Alaska, if you've seen
5:32
Speaker 1: their offense, you will not forget it. Nooksack fans, Linden
5:38
Speaker 1: Christian fans, you've seen that offense recently in the last
5:43
Speaker 1: so many years, and now Meridian fans will see it.
5:45
Speaker 1: It is a throwback to 1930s football, and they do
5:48
Speaker 1: it really well, and you have to be ready. You
5:50
Speaker 1: have to kind of tackle everything. that comes out because
5:53
Speaker 1: you just, you sometimes it's really hard to tell who
5:55
Speaker 1: has the ball. So that'll be on the road. And
5:58
Speaker 1: then they kick off their league schedule. They will be
6:00
Speaker 1: at Linden Christian was for their first league game starting
6:03
Speaker 1: in October. Then there'll be at Blaine. Then they will
6:06
Speaker 1: come back home for the last three games of the season. Well,
6:10
Speaker 1: they will host see home in a non-league game. I
6:12
Speaker 1: love that matchup Meridian and see home. I love when the,
6:15
Speaker 1: when this happens, when it's a non-conference game, but it's
6:19
Speaker 1: two local teams playing. they get to play each other.
6:22
Speaker 1: I always loved that. Then they will host Nooksack Valley
6:26
Speaker 1: in week eight and then host Mount Baker in week nine.
6:29
Speaker 1: You know, it's, I just have a really good feeling
6:33
Speaker 1: about this Meridian Trojan team. I, you know, I, I,
6:38
Speaker 1: I don't know how to explain it. I mean, there's
6:41
Speaker 1: a lot of other teams in 1A that I don't
6:43
Speaker 1: have a quite, I feel like I don't have a
6:44
Speaker 1: great grasp on. They're kind of a mystery to me,
6:47
Speaker 1: but I feel like Meridian is not a mystery. I
6:49
Speaker 1: really do feel like they're, on the upswing and, and
6:53
Speaker 1: I would be surprised if they're not one of the
6:55
Speaker 1: top three teams and, and, you know, that to land a,
7:01
Speaker 1: a post-season berth. I just, I feel like this, this
7:04
Speaker 1: is kind of where Liz looking right, right now. And
7:08
Speaker 1: then I went out to practice and just to kind
7:09
Speaker 1: of check and they look good. I mean, it's, I
7:13
Speaker 1: really like what I saw. So, so yeah, we'll be,
7:17
Speaker 1: it'll be, it'll be pretty interesting. Let's talk about kind
7:21
Speaker 1: of positions here, go position by position, start off at
7:24
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Not many teams in Whatcom County are returning
7:28
Speaker 1: their starting quarterback, and Meridian is with Trey Alexander. He's
7:34
Speaker 1: the guy. I mean, he was a captain as a junior.
7:37
Speaker 1: Everybody knows when he's there, he's in charge. He does
7:41
Speaker 1: a great job, three-sport kid, works hard, all those things.
7:46
Speaker 1: And so this is kind of, you know, that's a big,
7:49
Speaker 1: big part of it. especially in this kind of offense.
7:51
Speaker 1: So him at quarterback, backing him up, Pierce Brzozowski, he's
7:56
Speaker 1: going to be on the field no matter what. He's
7:58
Speaker 1: not just a quarterback, but he would kind of be
8:01
Speaker 1: that next man up. He might take a possession here
8:03
Speaker 1: or there. He presents a different kind of style. He
8:06
Speaker 1: might take off and run a little bit more. And big,
8:11
Speaker 1: strong kid, about 200 pounds. So you've got to be
8:14
Speaker 1: ready for that. Next up in line would be Phoenix Castaneda.
8:17
Speaker 1: So you got those guys kind of at that quarterback spot.
8:21
Speaker 1: I really like that, that room as a whole. And
8:23
Speaker 1: then you talk about a lot of depth here on
8:25
Speaker 1: the offensive, you know, side of the ball, starting off
8:28
Speaker 1: at running back Pierce Brzozowski, you know, not maybe a
8:33
Speaker 1: traditional running back, but he kind of took the reins
8:35
Speaker 1: in that final game of the year and had a big,
8:37
Speaker 1: big game ran for a hundred yards and four touchdowns
8:41
Speaker 1: finished the year with 156 yards and six touchdowns to
8:44
Speaker 1: actually lead the team. Um, But there's a lot of
8:47
Speaker 1: other guys that got a handful of carries last year.
8:52
Speaker 1: Sawyer Strunk had 28 carries. Ethan Valich had 24 carries.
8:56
Speaker 1: Ryan Wynn had 24 carries. Blake Manzer had 15 carries.
8:59
Speaker 1: Jackson Fanninsteel got 11 carries. All these guys are back.
9:04
Speaker 1: And so it's kind of nice that they got those
9:07
Speaker 1: carries last year to kind of see what it's all about.
9:10
Speaker 1: And I think they're all going to be bigger and stronger.
9:13
Speaker 1: And it's going to be finding... roles for all these
9:17
Speaker 1: players because they're all capable players and you just you
9:21
Speaker 1: never know there might be you know they might take
9:24
Speaker 1: Sawyer Strunk and say you know what we love you
9:26
Speaker 1: on the defensive line we just want you to do
9:28
Speaker 1: that and then he and then he would be out
9:31
Speaker 1: of the mix there I mean who knows what it's
9:33
Speaker 1: going to be you know Ryan Wynn might be playing
9:35
Speaker 1: a lot more linebacker now so he might get less
9:37
Speaker 1: carries as a running back maybe the same with Blake
9:40
Speaker 1: Manzer it's really hard to say kind of where this
9:43
Speaker 1: will all fit and you know If you've watched a
9:47
Speaker 1: lot of Meridian football, you know this, that a lot
9:50
Speaker 1: of different formations, they might have three backs in the backfield,
9:52
Speaker 1: they might have zero backs in the back, in the backfield.
9:54
Speaker 1: So you kind of never know what's, what it's going
9:57
Speaker 1: to be. And having a guy like Pierce Brzozowski who
10:00
Speaker 1: can line up at running back or split out wide
10:02
Speaker 1: receiver or be connected as a tight end is going
10:05
Speaker 1: to be valuable. You could imagine he's probably never going
10:07
Speaker 1: to leave the field when the team has the ball.
10:10
Speaker 1: So you got a lot of guys there at that
10:13
Speaker 1: running back spot. You know, I talked about Trey Alexander
10:16
Speaker 1: returning at quarterback, just going over the numbers really quickly.
10:19
Speaker 1: last year, um, threw for 2,190 yards, 22 touchdowns to
10:24
Speaker 1: just nine interceptions. Um, so they, they, and he missed
10:29
Speaker 1: a game. Actually, he missed two games because they, they
10:31
Speaker 1: had one game that was a forfeit. He did not
10:34
Speaker 1: play in the Baker game and he actually missed another game,
10:36
Speaker 1: like half a game because of an injury. So he
10:38
Speaker 1: really just played in seven and a half games and
10:41
Speaker 1: to put up that many yards is pretty impressive. Um,
10:46
Speaker 1: And the receiving core looks maybe even deeper, if you
10:50
Speaker 1: can imagine that. Pierce Brzozowski last year caught 33 passes
10:54
Speaker 1: for 408 yards and four touchdowns. He was named all-conference
10:58
Speaker 1: first team as a wide receiver, even though he played
11:02
Speaker 1: all over the place. So you'll see him split out
11:04
Speaker 1: quite a bit. I know I've already talked about him
11:06
Speaker 1: in multiple positions. Casey Brennan was an all-conference first team
11:10
Speaker 1: receiver two years ago, and he's still there. And talk about...
11:16
Speaker 1: as someone who's extremely lightning fast, uh, last year, 29
11:20
Speaker 1: catches for 516 yards, averaging almost 18 yards of catch
11:24
Speaker 1: and six touchdowns and doing it pretty much while playing
11:28
Speaker 1: injured last year. So if he's a hundred percent, uh,
11:31
Speaker 1: other teams better take notice pretty quickly. River Todd is
11:35
Speaker 1: a kid that I think everybody is probably aware of
11:38
Speaker 1: by now, but I think I thought last year he
11:40
Speaker 1: was going to take the league by storm. He gets
11:42
Speaker 1: hurt earlier in the year before the league play even happens. Um,
11:46
Speaker 1: Last year he had 18 catches for 264 yards and
11:48
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. And, you know, kind of a later surgery
11:54
Speaker 1: than probably he would have wanted and still hoping to,
11:58
Speaker 1: you know, be on the field, you know, at some
12:02
Speaker 1: point early on in the season. But, man, when he plays,
12:04
Speaker 1: he is a dynamic player. So that's just another weapon.
12:07
Speaker 1: And then Braden Fisher, talk about a guy, a 6'2, 6'3,
12:10
Speaker 1: kid that's just a sophomore who They got a lot
12:13
Speaker 1: of playing time last year as a freshman where he
12:15
Speaker 1: caught 17 balls for 191 yards. So there you go.
12:19
Speaker 1: That's four major, major weapons right there on the outside
12:24
Speaker 1: that they could have. And you got a lot of
12:26
Speaker 1: other guys, too. Trevin Crabtree had nine catches last year
12:28
Speaker 1: for 106 yards and a touchdown. Cason Culp caught a
12:32
Speaker 1: touchdown last year, and he's much improved now. starting to
12:36
Speaker 1: look like that varsity football player, reminiscent of his dad.
12:42
Speaker 1: I was waiting for Kaysen to get a little taller
12:44
Speaker 1: and stuff, and he's done that, and he's going to
12:46
Speaker 1: be a big-time weapon. And then you've got a lot
12:49
Speaker 1: of other guys. Josiah Harris is a kid on the
12:52
Speaker 1: basketball team that we've seen do some great things. He's
12:54
Speaker 1: out right now. Dakota Ng, one of the best soccer
12:57
Speaker 1: players with unreal athleticism. He's out to play right now.
13:01
Speaker 1: Frankie Araica is another kid. that I am really curious
13:06
Speaker 1: about to see how he does. So that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
13:11
Speaker 1: nine wide receivers that I've named already. And that's just,
13:16
Speaker 1: and you know, that's how deep it is right now.
13:18
Speaker 1: And there's going to be hopefully packages for all these guys.
13:22
Speaker 1: And I know they'll find a way to keep everybody fresh. And, and,
13:26
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of guys there that I'm pretty
13:28
Speaker 1: excited to see at the tight end spot. And, you know,
13:30
Speaker 1: Meridian plays a tight end, almost as much as anybody. Obviously,
13:36
Speaker 1: the big running teams, the Mount Bakers, the Ferndales, they
13:39
Speaker 1: will have a tight end on every play, but Meridian's
13:41
Speaker 1: right up there. Losing the All-State Daniel Larson is huge,
13:48
Speaker 1: but you put in a Lincoln Burgess at tight end
13:51
Speaker 1: who's 6'3, 210 pounds, grew up playing quarterback, so he
13:56
Speaker 1: knows football. He knows how it goes. As a backup
14:00
Speaker 1: last year, six catches for 48 yards. Now he'll be
14:03
Speaker 1: that main target at tight end. If they go double tight,
14:06
Speaker 1: don't be surprised to see, again, Pierce Brzozowski be that
14:09
Speaker 1: other tight end, and he could be a big-time weapon.
14:11
Speaker 1: But then you've got other guys. You've got Jamison Alexander,
14:14
Speaker 1: who could do that, and Phoenix Castaneda as well, who's
14:18
Speaker 1: another quarterback, but he could play some tight ends. So
14:21
Speaker 1: that's four guys right there that could play tight end. Again,
14:24
Speaker 1: like I said, very deep and very impressive group. I'm
14:29
Speaker 1: really excited to see kind of what they can do.
14:32
Speaker 1: And in years past, it's been, well, yeah, you got
14:35
Speaker 1: all these athletes, but do you have anyone to block
14:37
Speaker 1: for them? They basically have their whole offensive line back.
14:41
Speaker 1: They did lose Cooper Marum, who did start on the
14:44
Speaker 1: offensive line the whole year. But because of injuries early
14:47
Speaker 1: on in the year, and then another big one halfway
14:50
Speaker 1: through the year, there was a lot of other guys
14:52
Speaker 1: that got a lot of playing time. So you got
14:54
Speaker 1: five varsity veterans returning at offensive line. Landon Rowley kind
14:59
Speaker 1: of leads that group. He had that nasty injury against
15:02
Speaker 1: Mount Baker in week five, missed the rest of the year.
15:06
Speaker 1: But he's going to be kind of that senior leader
15:09
Speaker 1: in there. And Isaac Cypress as well. I think he's bigger, stronger.
15:14
Speaker 1: He'll be a little bit more dominant, I think. I'm
15:16
Speaker 1: excited about that. And then you've got some younger guys
15:19
Speaker 1: that played a lot. Griffith Ingram. I'm really, really excited
15:23
Speaker 1: to see what he does. Mason Simmons as well. And
15:26
Speaker 1: Ma'afala Patea. All of these guys played a lot. And
15:32
Speaker 1: you're talking an average of probably 240 across that line, 235,
15:38
Speaker 1: 240 between those five guys. And Meridian, when they have
15:44
Speaker 1: guys that are bigger like that, some good things happen.
15:46
Speaker 1: It doesn't always happen for them. But again, like I said,
15:49
Speaker 1: there's no holes on this team. So that's the thing
15:52
Speaker 1: you got to really look out for. On the defensive line,
15:54
Speaker 1: you're probably going to see a lot of the same guys,
15:56
Speaker 1: maybe Griffith Ingram and Isaac Cypress. But you might be
16:01
Speaker 1: able to really expect Sawyer Strunk, who comes back. He's
16:04
Speaker 1: a wrestler. Put him at nose tackle, kind of do
16:07
Speaker 1: those things. I think that he could have a much
16:12
Speaker 1: bigger impact than he did last year. Meridian has no
16:15
Speaker 1: problem putting backup running backs and stuff and throwing them
16:19
Speaker 1: right in the mix there and get some speed on
16:21
Speaker 1: that defensive line. The linebacking core is going to look
16:25
Speaker 1: a little different with Xavier Perrin gone, Daniel Larson gone.
16:29
Speaker 1: So you've got some kind of new ways you're going
16:32
Speaker 1: to go. Also, Cooper Merrim was kind of on the
16:34
Speaker 1: other side of that outside spot. So a lot of
16:36
Speaker 1: new faces here. Expect to see Pierce Brzozowski, who's been
16:40
Speaker 1: a fantastic safety the last couple years, actually has more
16:43
Speaker 1: interceptions than any current player right now. Varsity interceptions, I
16:48
Speaker 1: think he's got six in his career so far. He's
16:50
Speaker 1: probably going to move up to be one edge, one
16:52
Speaker 1: of the outside linebackers, the other one being Lincoln Burgess.
16:55
Speaker 1: So you got a couple of good sized kids there
16:57
Speaker 1: on the outside. Ethan Valich returns on the inside. He's
17:01
Speaker 1: a tackling machine. He's a no nonsense kid wrestler. I
17:04
Speaker 1: love that. And he might be paired with Ryan Wynn.
17:07
Speaker 1: Look for him to, to take over one of those
17:09
Speaker 1: linebacker spots, but you know, You might see a rotation.
17:12
Speaker 1: You might see Blake Manzer get in there and Jackson Fansteel,
17:15
Speaker 1: Trevin Crabtree, all these guys getting reps at linebacker. Or
17:19
Speaker 1: maybe those those other three guys that I just mentioned,
17:21
Speaker 1: maybe one or two of them might get thrown in
17:24
Speaker 1: at defensive tackle. You never know. It's about, you know,
17:27
Speaker 1: what kind of team you're playing against. If you want
17:29
Speaker 1: speed or you want size or what do you want?
17:31
Speaker 1: Meridian has that ability to adapt to whatever the game
17:35
Speaker 1: calls for and they'll be able to do that. And
17:38
Speaker 1: defensive back, again, it's a lot of those same receiver guys.
17:41
Speaker 1: So you got a lot of guys with experience. On
17:43
Speaker 1: the outside, that corner, Casey Brennan and Braden Fisher have
17:47
Speaker 1: probably done it the most. They bring back the most experience.
17:50
Speaker 1: River Todd was playing there a ton last year until
17:52
Speaker 1: he got hurt. So when he's completely healthy, he'll be
17:55
Speaker 1: able to come back. Cason Culp is another guy that
17:57
Speaker 1: I expect some pretty good things out of that defensive backfield.
18:01
Speaker 1: And when you have all these guys, it kind of
18:02
Speaker 1: allows you to you know, not have to play Trey
18:06
Speaker 1: Alexander back there, although he definitely can. And it allows
18:09
Speaker 1: you to move Pierce Brzozowski to an outside linebacker spot.
18:12
Speaker 1: Those two have been stalwarts in the secondary for years.
18:16
Speaker 1: And now, uh, they don't have to be, you got
18:19
Speaker 1: other guys that are ready to kind of take over
18:21
Speaker 1: as well. So lots of really good depth here. Um,
18:25
Speaker 1: they have to replace Sager Verk at kicker and punter. Um,
18:30
Speaker 1: And they have their– I mean, that soccer team they
18:32
Speaker 1: had this past year was amazing. They get second place
18:35
Speaker 1: in state. And the goalie came out, Luke Kohalnik. So
18:40
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for him because he might kick and punt.
18:43
Speaker 1: That would be really, really cool to see. Very, very
18:46
Speaker 1: good athlete. He might work in with some receivers. He's
18:49
Speaker 1: that kind of athlete. But, you know, River Todd, Dakota Ng,
18:52
Speaker 1: Josiah Harris, all these guys have soccer backgrounds. And you
18:57
Speaker 1: might see them kick as well. So you got a
18:59
Speaker 1: lot of, like, again, it's a lot of these same
19:01
Speaker 1: guys that are very, very athletic in the return game.
19:04
Speaker 1: Casey Brennan has done some great stuff in the past.
19:07
Speaker 1: Pierce Brzozowski as well. You might see River Todd, Cason Culp,
19:11
Speaker 1: a lot of these same names. So, yeah, it's pretty
19:15
Speaker 1: crazy when you look at it, all this returning talent.
19:19
Speaker 1: They actually return one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
19:24
Speaker 1: 10 different players that have scored a touchdown in varsity,
19:29
Speaker 1: like a varsity touchdown in their, like just, just last season, 10.
19:33
Speaker 1: So again, that's something you do not see very often.
19:36
Speaker 1: And when you do, it usually means they are on
19:40
Speaker 1: the inside track to do something pretty great. And then
19:45
Speaker 1: on defense, yeah, they're returning one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
19:50
Speaker 1: 10 players again with at least 10 tackles. So a
19:54
Speaker 1: lot of good stuff there. Pierce Brzozowski and River Todd
19:57
Speaker 1: each had five tackles for a loss. Sawyer Strunk had
20:00
Speaker 1: four sacks last year. Griffith Ingram had three and a
20:02
Speaker 1: half sacks last year. Pierce Brzozowski picked off four passes.
20:06
Speaker 1: Casey Brennan picked off two. Braden Fisher had 11 passes
20:10
Speaker 1: broken up. He was named all-conference first team as a
20:14
Speaker 1: freshman as a defensive back. I mean, this is what
20:19
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. If you sleep on the Trojans,
20:24
Speaker 1: you better wake up because this is going to be
20:26
Speaker 1: a different team, and they're going to put up a
20:29
Speaker 1: lot of points, and it's going to be exciting. I
20:32
Speaker 1: really think that they have a good group. It's a
20:35
Speaker 1: great mix, too, just so many different kids. Um, and
20:40
Speaker 1: a lot of these kids are multiple sport athletes. And
20:44
Speaker 1: so that's always fun too, because, you know, talking to
20:47
Speaker 1: coach Patrick games about this and, and he's, you know,
20:50
Speaker 1: he loves that. He loves it when kids are competing
20:53
Speaker 1: year round and all these different things. And you'll learn
20:55
Speaker 1: from other coaches and you have different teammates and you just,
21:00
Speaker 1: and then when it's football season, you play football and
21:02
Speaker 1: that's fairly, that's really old school. And you go out
21:04
Speaker 1: to meridians practice and it is old school. you know,
21:07
Speaker 1: that same practice field they've been on forever. They all have,
21:10
Speaker 1: you know, different practice jerseys on. You know, you can't
21:13
Speaker 1: tell who's who from what. But the coaches know. And
21:17
Speaker 1: it's just so much fun going out there and seeing
21:20
Speaker 1: what they have. And I can't wait, you know, to
21:22
Speaker 1: check them out during the season. It's nice that they
21:26
Speaker 1: have some Saturday games. Friday nights I will be locked
21:30
Speaker 1: up in the new studio. for the, for the new
21:35
Speaker 1: show for walk and preps, which I'm really, really excited about, uh,
21:39
Speaker 1: giving you some live updates around the County every Friday night. And,
21:43
Speaker 1: but yes, that means I can't be at games on
21:46
Speaker 1: Friday night, but on Thursdays and Saturdays, I'm going to
21:48
Speaker 1: make as many as I can. So I kind of
21:50
Speaker 1: look around and I see that Meridian's got some Saturday
21:52
Speaker 1: games early. Uh, so really, really excited about that. Um,
21:57
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean, it's, there's a lot to look
21:59
Speaker 1: forward to for the Meridian Trojans, uh, They have a
22:02
Speaker 1: tremendous fan base, a great history. That barbecue will be
22:06
Speaker 1: going and smelling fantastic. There's just so many fun things
22:10
Speaker 1: about that. You know, looking on the sidelines and seeing
22:13
Speaker 1: all these great players of the past that are coaching now.
22:17
Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun
22:19
Speaker 1: going out there. And it's weird to say that because
22:21
Speaker 1: growing up, that was the big rival when I played.
22:24
Speaker 1: It was Meridian. And so I never thought I would say,
22:27
Speaker 1: you know, I love Meridian football. This is fantastic. But
22:30
Speaker 1: I do. And I can honestly say that it's so
22:34
Speaker 1: much fun and I can't wait to be a part
22:36
Speaker 1: of it and, and bring you all the info that
22:40
Speaker 1: I can. It's going to be fantastic. Woo. That is
22:44
Speaker 1: the 2026 Meridian football preview. This has been episode 430
22:47
Speaker 1: of the Wacom preps podcast. Stay tuned for a little
22:55
Speaker 1: later today as the Ferndale football preview will be coming
22:59
Speaker 1: out in a few hours. So be ready for that.
23:01
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you then.