Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 428 - 2026 Bellingham Bayhawks Football Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 428 - 2026 Bellingham Bayhawks Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:14
Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome into the Whatcom Preps podcast. This is
0:19
Speaker 1: episode 428, the 2026 Bellingham football preview. And I am
0:25
Speaker 1: Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps. Really excited to kick the
0:29
Speaker 1: new season off. A lot of podcasts to do. There's
0:31
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of podcasts coming your way
0:33
Speaker 1: in the next week or so. Two of them a day.
0:38
Speaker 1: They'll be coming at you rapid fire with all these
0:41
Speaker 1: football teams. Each one's going to have their own individual
0:45
Speaker 1: season preview podcast. So really excited about that. Also, the
0:49
Speaker 1: Bellingham football season preview is brought to you by the
0:52
Speaker 1: Bellingham Youth Football Club. So many great players have come
0:56
Speaker 1: through that program and have played for multiple varsity football
0:59
Speaker 1: teams over the years. And if you have a little
1:01
Speaker 1: one that is ready to start playing football at the
1:03
Speaker 1: youth level, go to bellinghamyouthfootball.com today. and get signed up.
1:10
Speaker 1: All right, so let's talk about this year's Bayhawks. They've
1:15
Speaker 1: been back in the conference now for a while, and
1:18
Speaker 1: now it'll be a full conference schedule with only one
1:21
Speaker 1: non-conference game. Coach Adam Leonard is back for his fifth
1:24
Speaker 1: season with the Bayhawks. He's got a career win-loss record
1:28
Speaker 1: of 16-24. They play their home games at Civic Stadium.
1:32
Speaker 1: Last season, they went 5-5. Some of the key players
1:36
Speaker 1: that will not be there anymore due to graduation, of course,
1:39
Speaker 1: Joe Harward, the record-breaking and record-setting, I should say, wide receiver,
1:45
Speaker 1: Josh Kroll at center and nose tackle, Owen Hanstead, Sonny Powell,
1:50
Speaker 1: Eli Goodbuffalo, Constantine Franz, who was, I don't think he graduated,
1:56
Speaker 1: I think he just moved back to Europe. He was
1:58
Speaker 1: a foreign exchange student, the big left-footed kicker. So those
2:02
Speaker 1: are the key losses for them. And the top returning players,
2:09
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the big four right here, the featured four,
2:13
Speaker 1: as I like to say, Calvin Van Hofwegen, Ben Leonard,
2:17
Speaker 1: Matthew Steele, all seniors, and Aaron Chassé, the junior. And
2:22
Speaker 1: the breakout player, I believe, will be Julius Seyfried, the
2:25
Speaker 1: junior tight end and defensive end. We'll talk about those
2:29
Speaker 1: players in a little bit. Last season, Bellingham players, Started
2:33
Speaker 1: off 2-0 on the year with a win over Linwood
2:36
Speaker 1: on the road, 19-7, and then a huge shutout win
2:39
Speaker 1: over Lakewood, 42-0. But then they had to play the
2:44
Speaker 1: two top teams in the conference, which was Anacortes and
2:49
Speaker 1: Archbishop Murphy. Anacortes defeated Bellingham 68-0, and then they lost
2:54
Speaker 1: to Archbishop Murphy 61-28. A good turnaround, though, as they
2:59
Speaker 1: came back and beat Granite Falls 20-14, lost to Burlington
3:03
Speaker 1: Edison 41-7, lost to Sehome 56-7, beat Marysville Pilchuck 7-0,
3:11
Speaker 1: lost to Squalicum 44-0, and then ended the season on
3:14
Speaker 1: a high note with a win over Oak Harbor 24-19
3:16
Speaker 1: to end the year with a 500 record. So the
3:21
Speaker 1: schedule's a little different this year. Last year was the
3:24
Speaker 1: second of a two-year cycle where you play pretty much
3:27
Speaker 1: the same opponents home and away, back and forth each year.
3:30
Speaker 1: So now it's a lot of the same opponents, But
3:33
Speaker 1: the order is a little different. So they're going to
3:35
Speaker 1: start off the season with the home game on Thursday night,
3:40
Speaker 1: the third against Archbishop Murphy, the defending state champions at
3:44
Speaker 1: seven o'clock. That'll be a tough one. I mean, you
3:47
Speaker 1: start off with the defending state champions and it's on
3:49
Speaker 1: a Thursday night. So good luck to the Bellingham Bayhawks
3:54
Speaker 1: in that one. And then they will face Sultan in
3:57
Speaker 1: week two. The Sultan Turks are new to the Northwest Conference.
4:02
Speaker 1: Not exactly new to Whatcom County. They used to be
4:05
Speaker 1: in the North Cascades Conference back in the day. And
4:10
Speaker 1: they were playing a lot of the smaller schools, you know,
4:14
Speaker 1: the 1As now. They were all 2A back in the
4:18
Speaker 1: late 90s and early 2000s. So, yeah. So yeah, so
4:23
Speaker 1: Sultan is in the Northwest Conference now. And so that'll
4:27
Speaker 1: be a home game for Bellingham there in week two.
4:29
Speaker 1: Then they will go to Lakewood and then they will
4:33
Speaker 1: be at Linden. And that's exciting because they haven't played
4:36
Speaker 1: Linden since 2017. So it's been nine years. And they
4:39
Speaker 1: played like 2017, 2016. And before that, it was like
4:42
Speaker 1: 2013 or 12. So they haven't played them a lot
4:43
Speaker 1: recently yet. So that'll be cool to see that rivalry renewed.
4:54
Speaker 1: That'll be at Linden on a Thursday night. Then they
4:56
Speaker 1: will be at Marysville Pilchuck. And then they will host Seaholm,
5:01
Speaker 1: be at Anacortes, at Burlington Edison, and then finish the
5:05
Speaker 1: season at home against Squalicum. So the two games against
5:10
Speaker 1: the city opponents, Bellingham will be the home team in
5:13
Speaker 1: those games. So... Yeah, it's going to be interesting to
5:20
Speaker 1: see how they do. There's a lot of talent that
5:22
Speaker 1: they lost from last year, but they do bring back
5:25
Speaker 1: some key pieces. Let's go over the statistical leaders from
5:31
Speaker 1: last year. Anybody carried a ball for Bellingham or took
5:37
Speaker 1: a handoff for Bellingham, they're all gone now. But you
5:40
Speaker 1: do have two players that have ran the ball before.
5:44
Speaker 1: Of course, Ben Leonard, who's not taking handoffs, he's running
5:47
Speaker 1: on his own, is back for his third year. But
5:53
Speaker 1: there is, I don't know if there's scuttlebutt or if
5:57
Speaker 1: there's rumor and innuendo or whatever you want to call it,
6:00
Speaker 1: but it sounds like DJ Hill, the former Squalicum Storm
6:04
Speaker 1: running back, will be playing for Bellingham this season. And
6:08
Speaker 1: so he brings a little bit of thump to the
6:12
Speaker 1: running back position. He's about 5'6, weighs about 220 pounds.
6:18
Speaker 1: And if you remember Natron Means, who used to play
6:21
Speaker 1: for the San Diego Chargers, if you remember Bam Morris,
6:24
Speaker 1: if you remember Kevin Mack, you know, these big fullbacks
6:29
Speaker 1: from the 80s and 90s, that's kind of his style.
6:34
Speaker 1: He will run through you. And so he could be
6:37
Speaker 1: a big-time featured back. But other running backs in that
6:43
Speaker 1: spot– MJ Maena is a quicker back. Nick Malone is
6:49
Speaker 1: another one. And Kian Rich is an incoming freshman that
6:53
Speaker 1: has done some great things at the junior high level
6:56
Speaker 1: or middle school level, whatever you want to call it.
6:59
Speaker 1: So there's a handful of guys back there that they
7:02
Speaker 1: could go to. Of course, at the quarterback position, Ben
7:05
Speaker 1: Leonard returns after being named all-conference second team last season.
7:09
Speaker 1: This will be his third year as a starter. He's
7:11
Speaker 1: the only quarterback third-year starting quarterback in the county, not
7:16
Speaker 1: the conference. You know, Anna Cordes brings back Ryan Harrington,
7:20
Speaker 1: and there might be other teams as well. I don't
7:22
Speaker 1: follow them as much. But as far as Whatcom County goes,
7:25
Speaker 1: Ben Leonard brings the most experience to the quarterback position.
7:28
Speaker 1: I think he broke some school records last year, including
7:32
Speaker 1: most completions in a game. Very, very accurate quarterback, makes
7:36
Speaker 1: very quick decisions, knows what he wants to do with
7:40
Speaker 1: the ball, can read defenses really well. So when you
7:43
Speaker 1: have a young team, that's a great thing to just
7:46
Speaker 1: have is that quarterback that has the knowledge where you
7:48
Speaker 1: can open up the playbook a little bit, do all
7:52
Speaker 1: those things, and just kind of go from there and
7:58
Speaker 1: feel confident about what you're bringing to the field. And
8:03
Speaker 1: so really, really excited about that. And he'll have some
8:06
Speaker 1: good targets to throw to. Calvin Van Hoffwegen, who was,
8:11
Speaker 1: you know, mainly a tight end last year, who will
8:13
Speaker 1: likely be split out wide this year. He had 31
8:15
Speaker 1: catches for 326 yards and two touchdowns last season. You know,
8:21
Speaker 1: they bring back 33 catches. He had 31 of them. So,
8:25
Speaker 1: I mean, that tells you right there how big of
8:27
Speaker 1: a target he's going to be. Very athletic kid, supremely
8:32
Speaker 1: talented kid and awesome person, too. So I really like
8:36
Speaker 1: him split out wide. That's going to be great. Matthew Steele,
8:39
Speaker 1: who has been a mainstay on the defense the last
8:42
Speaker 1: few years, will step into a bigger role on the
8:45
Speaker 1: offensive side. You're talking about one of the best athletes
8:48
Speaker 1: in the entire school, great route runner speed, hops, everything.
8:53
Speaker 1: So that's a good group to have on the outside.
8:57
Speaker 1: Other guys that could get some run, Fisher Wilson, and
9:00
Speaker 1: then a couple of freshmen, Jaden Delaney and Bryce Shupak
9:04
Speaker 1: are both guys that, you know, again, did a lot
9:07
Speaker 1: of good things at the junior high level. And then
9:11
Speaker 1: at tight end, you know, you think about if you're
9:14
Speaker 1: moving Calvin Van Hofwagen from tight end to wide receiver,
9:20
Speaker 1: you got to feel pretty good about your tight end
9:22
Speaker 1: group in order to do that. And they have some guys,
9:26
Speaker 1: I mean, Julius Seyfried is, he looks the part of a,
9:30
Speaker 1: I mean, he looks the part of a college tight end.
9:32
Speaker 1: You're talking six foot three, six, four, 225, 230. So big,
9:37
Speaker 1: strong kid that'll help in the run game, but could
9:41
Speaker 1: be a weapon on the outside and mismatch running routes
9:44
Speaker 1: against linebackers. Danny Falafel is another kid that got some running,
9:49
Speaker 1: got some play last year, more probably on defense. But
9:55
Speaker 1: he's another really good athlete, that can jump and he'll
10:00
Speaker 1: be a second tight end. And Silas McGurr is a
10:03
Speaker 1: basketball player that we've seen, three-point specialist. He's back out
10:07
Speaker 1: playing football. So you've got a lot of different guys
10:10
Speaker 1: there that kind of fill that tight end spot that
10:13
Speaker 1: I'm really curious about. And you don't know with their offense.
10:17
Speaker 1: I mean, Coach Leonard likes to throw the ball. He
10:19
Speaker 1: likes to throw it deep. But he has no problem
10:23
Speaker 1: going big and going two backs and just pounding the
10:27
Speaker 1: ball as well. So you kind of never really know
10:30
Speaker 1: with the Bayhawks how they're going to go. They usually
10:34
Speaker 1: go in shotgun or pistol. And so you kind of
10:37
Speaker 1: know that. But after that, it's all kind of up
10:40
Speaker 1: in the air. And I think he likes it like that.
10:43
Speaker 1: Keep the other team guessing. and try to stay ahead
10:47
Speaker 1: of them, you know, multiple plays at a time. You
10:51
Speaker 1: look up front on the offensive line, you bring back
10:55
Speaker 1: a few starters on that left tackle, Aaron Chassé, who's
10:59
Speaker 1: coming off an injury. Don't know when he'll be ready
11:01
Speaker 1: to play. Hopefully it'll be early in the season, but
11:05
Speaker 1: he's kind of that, he's kind of that main returner
11:09
Speaker 1: on the offensive line. Like I said, starting at left tackle.
11:12
Speaker 1: Jack has Love Rodson is a, big strong senior back
11:16
Speaker 1: at guard and those are the two that have the
11:19
Speaker 1: most snaps I guess you could say at the varsity
11:23
Speaker 1: level on the offensive line you know Josh Kroll graduating
11:29
Speaker 1: that's a huge you know huge spot to fill but
11:32
Speaker 1: Josh Stoddard is a big strong center I think he's
11:37
Speaker 1: a sophomore and he's kind of taking over that spot
11:41
Speaker 1: and you have another guy that be there for three
11:43
Speaker 1: more years, like Josh Kroll was, that could be a
11:46
Speaker 1: huge benefit. You're talking about 6'3, 295, big, strong kid.
11:52
Speaker 1: He can fill that spot. Isaac Garcia is a senior.
11:56
Speaker 1: He'll probably be at the other guard position. And then
12:00
Speaker 1: you got some other kids that, some younger kids that
12:02
Speaker 1: might be looking to fill that other tackle spot, whether
12:06
Speaker 1: it's Cam Berg, Kyron Kraft, Uh, we'll just have to
12:09
Speaker 1: wait and see there. It's going to be, you know,
12:12
Speaker 1: we'll have, you know, and plus with Aaron Shaw say
12:14
Speaker 1: not a hundred percent just yet, uh, both those kids
12:18
Speaker 1: might be starting at tackle going into week one against the, uh,
12:22
Speaker 1: defending state champions. So we'll just have to wait and
12:24
Speaker 1: kind of see how it shakes out. I mean, you know,
12:27
Speaker 1: I'm interviewing all these coaches and I'm going to practices
12:29
Speaker 1: pretty early in the season. So obviously, you know, starting
12:33
Speaker 1: lineups aren't exactly set yet and different things like that. So, um,
12:37
Speaker 1: So we'll just have to wait. But, you know, I
12:40
Speaker 1: kind of would lean on Aaron Chasse, Jacquez, Lev Rodson
12:43
Speaker 1: as kind of the main guys. But I'm really curious
12:46
Speaker 1: about Josh Starter at center. I think that he could
12:51
Speaker 1: be a future, you know, all-league type player. And Isaac Garcia,
12:55
Speaker 1: I love when, you know, a senior, when it's his
12:59
Speaker 1: turn and he gets to go out and play and
13:02
Speaker 1: show that, He's one of the better players on the team,
13:05
Speaker 1: and he'll be able to do that, which is awesome
13:07
Speaker 1: to see as well. We go over to the defensive
13:10
Speaker 1: side of the ball. And on the defensive line, it's
13:16
Speaker 1: got a lot of the same names. You know, Aaron
13:18
Speaker 1: Chassé and Jacques Levrodson, probably more in the middle. You
13:21
Speaker 1: can look at like a Julius Seyfried or Kyron Kraft
13:24
Speaker 1: at the ends. But one player I'm really excited about
13:27
Speaker 1: is sophomore Rylan Clausen. We saw him early in the
13:31
Speaker 1: year make all sorts of crazy plays. plays behind the
13:34
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage against Linwood. And that was as a freshman,
13:38
Speaker 1: I guess, first ever game at the varsity level. And
13:41
Speaker 1: he was making multiple stops behind the line of scrimmage.
13:44
Speaker 1: I think he made like four of them. And, um,
13:47
Speaker 1: he is just, he's one of those players that, you know,
13:51
Speaker 1: plays with so much tenacity and, and, and so much aggression. And, uh,
13:57
Speaker 1: he's kind of a coach's dream is like a defensive end,
14:01
Speaker 1: you know, uh, wiry, strong body, probably about 6'2 or 6'3.
14:10
Speaker 1: He's a kid that's going to get bigger and bigger
14:11
Speaker 1: and stronger. Last year, he finished with three tackles for loss,
14:16
Speaker 1: three sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery. He just
14:21
Speaker 1: made plays last year. Once they got into league play,
14:25
Speaker 1: it was a little different. Linwood was not ready for
14:30
Speaker 1: the Tasmanian devil that is Rylan Clausen. But the rest
14:36
Speaker 1: of the league kind of was. And so I think
14:39
Speaker 1: Rylan will be able to up his game and make
14:41
Speaker 1: more plays against these bigger opponents. And, you know, we'll
14:46
Speaker 1: have to wait and see, but I think he's one
14:48
Speaker 1: to watch, you know, he's, he's a kid that might
14:51
Speaker 1: be in that tight end position, group a little bit
14:53
Speaker 1: as well, but I think his biggest asset will be
14:57
Speaker 1: on the defensive line and just causing disruptive plays and
15:01
Speaker 1: doing that kind of stuff. You know, another guy you can,
15:05
Speaker 1: you might see on the defensive line or as an
15:08
Speaker 1: outside linebacker would be Danny Falafel who had eight and
15:12
Speaker 1: a half tackles last year, a fumble recovery, a pass
15:14
Speaker 1: broken up. So you could see that as well. Aaron
15:18
Speaker 1: Shaw say last year had two tackles for loss. He
15:20
Speaker 1: had a forced fumble. Um, and so he did some
15:24
Speaker 1: things down there. Jock has loved rods and also had
15:27
Speaker 1: a tackle for a lot. So a lot of guys
15:28
Speaker 1: in that inside, um, you know, the interior of the
15:33
Speaker 1: defensive line, uh, looked pretty good. Julius Seafree last year
15:36
Speaker 1: had a tackle for loss seven and a half tackles overall. Um,
15:40
Speaker 1: so you got some, you got a little bit of
15:41
Speaker 1: experience up front, not a ton, but Where you have
15:44
Speaker 1: the most experience is more in the linebacker and secondary.
15:49
Speaker 1: So at linebacker, obviously Calvin Van Hofwegen returns. He was
15:53
Speaker 1: an all-conference second team player there last year. He posted
15:56
Speaker 1: 56 and a half tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks,
16:00
Speaker 1: two passes broken up, and a forced fumble. So he
16:04
Speaker 1: is kind of that defensive leader at the linebacker spot.
16:09
Speaker 1: He's just in on a ton of plays. And so
16:12
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see what he brings again this
16:15
Speaker 1: year as a senior now at the linebacker spot, Silas McGurr, uh,
16:20
Speaker 1: who played some linebacker as a sophomore, uh, that year
16:23
Speaker 1: he had six tackles. He had a sack, a tackle
16:25
Speaker 1: for loss. He's back now for his senior year. So
16:28
Speaker 1: I think he can, he, he got two seniors right
16:31
Speaker 1: there at the linebacker spot. And then, you know, I
16:33
Speaker 1: said this earlier, um, in the month on the zone
16:36
Speaker 1: on KPUG 1170, um, where, um, I was asked or no,
16:42
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. It wasn't on the zone. It was the,
16:44
Speaker 1: it was the, it was the podcast with Rylan Spencer
16:48
Speaker 1: where he asked me which position group in the entire
16:52
Speaker 1: County looks the best. And after thinking about it, I
16:56
Speaker 1: really stood, it really stood out to me that it's linebacker.
16:59
Speaker 1: I have, I think every team brings back, you know,
17:02
Speaker 1: a dude at linebacker. And I think that's, that's great
17:09
Speaker 1: because you know, you see some, you see some really
17:11
Speaker 1: good high school football players playing that position. So I
17:14
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a fun season to watch,
17:16
Speaker 1: especially on the defensive side of the ball. Other linebackers
17:19
Speaker 1: that look good. Cam Chartier, who's a wrestler. He's kind
17:24
Speaker 1: of getting in the mix there as well. And you
17:26
Speaker 1: might see DJ Hill there who played at Squalicum last year.
17:30
Speaker 1: He had a pick six in week one. That, that
17:34
Speaker 1: pick six against Burlington Edison, that was up in the
17:36
Speaker 1: running for, for the Pepsi Play of the Week, which
17:39
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Walton Beverage. So, you know, he's a
17:44
Speaker 1: playmaker back there, and he's a thumper. So there's a
17:47
Speaker 1: lot of different guys that could fit that linebacker spot.
17:51
Speaker 1: In the secondary, you know, Matthew Steele coming into his
17:54
Speaker 1: third year as a starter. He's been a corner the
17:57
Speaker 1: last couple years, but he's bigger, he's stronger, he's more aggressive.
18:01
Speaker 1: So they're probably going to move him to, like, that
18:03
Speaker 1: strong safety spot where, He's coming up in the box
18:06
Speaker 1: and playing quite a bit more. And he's a thumper
18:11
Speaker 1: as well. And like I said, he's a little bigger
18:12
Speaker 1: and stronger now. So he could really do some stuff.
18:16
Speaker 1: Last year, he had 17 tackles. He had seven passes
18:19
Speaker 1: broken up, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery. I want
18:23
Speaker 1: to say one of his interceptions went for a touchdown.
18:25
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it did. And so... He's a playmaker.
18:30
Speaker 1: He's a difference maker. And you could expect him to
18:33
Speaker 1: make more tackles in the box this year, probably getting
18:37
Speaker 1: moved to that strong safety spot. But that opens up
18:39
Speaker 1: some spots at corner. Could be Max Pham out there.
18:44
Speaker 1: Could be Ben Leonard out there. Really hard to say.
18:47
Speaker 1: There's some freshmen, again, that might be in the mix
18:50
Speaker 1: as well with Jaden Delaney. We'll have to wait and see.
18:56
Speaker 1: At safety, I get free safety. You might see Cooper Brown,
19:00
Speaker 1: Cooper Brown, backup quarterback. That's just one of those kids
19:03
Speaker 1: that you want to get on the field that could
19:05
Speaker 1: do a lot of different things. Probably long snap. But
19:08
Speaker 1: you could probably see him at safety. You might see
19:11
Speaker 1: Ben Leonard move, you know, go from corner to safety.
19:14
Speaker 1: Really kind of hard to say where they're all going
19:18
Speaker 1: to end up. And, you know, a lot of it
19:20
Speaker 1: depends on how much they're playing on offense or maybe
19:23
Speaker 1: the circumstances of your opponent and different things like that.
19:28
Speaker 1: So it's going to be really interesting to see how
19:32
Speaker 1: that all works out. And when you look at the
19:37
Speaker 1: kicking game, they don't bring back kickers that have done it,
19:43
Speaker 1: but they did get a couple kids out of practice,
19:45
Speaker 1: Diego Diaz and Alejandro Pringle, who I saw at practice yesterday.
19:50
Speaker 1: do pretty well kicking off, getting the ball into the
19:53
Speaker 1: end zone. So there could be a battle there. One
19:57
Speaker 1: might kick, one might punt. We'll just have to wait
20:00
Speaker 1: and see. You know, Ben Leonard might be punting. Sometimes
20:04
Speaker 1: a lot of teams just put their quarterback back there.
20:06
Speaker 1: So we'll just kind of have to wait, wait, wait
20:08
Speaker 1: and see. You know, you might see where if Ben
20:10
Speaker 1: Leonard is playing more on defense this year, then you
20:13
Speaker 1: might see him, you know, come out on punt. You know,
20:17
Speaker 1: it's about resting your players and being strategic and doing
20:20
Speaker 1: those kinds of things. And then in the kickoff return game,
20:25
Speaker 1: you know, Julius Siegfried returned eight kickoffs last year for
20:28
Speaker 1: 124 yards. He's a big, strong kid. I'm not sure
20:31
Speaker 1: if you'll see him back there again, but you might
20:34
Speaker 1: see like a Matthew Steele, Calvin Van Offwagon. But then
20:37
Speaker 1: you look at those freshmen that are pretty impressive, the
20:40
Speaker 1: Jaden Delaney's and Bryce Shupox and Kian Riches and stuff
20:43
Speaker 1: like that. So you just have to kind of wait
20:46
Speaker 1: and see. It's going to be an interesting year. I
20:52
Speaker 1: look at the schedule. I love that they finish off
20:56
Speaker 1: with Squalicum. That's kind of a cool thing. It looks
20:59
Speaker 1: like it's supposed to be a double header out at
21:01
Speaker 1: civic stadium. And that's the nightcap Bellingham squalicum. So that
21:05
Speaker 1: game is actually slated for seven 30 instead of seven o'clock.
21:11
Speaker 1: You know, the one non-conference game is, is at Marysville
21:14
Speaker 1: Pilchuck who's been in the conference the last few years.
21:18
Speaker 1: So there's no real opponents. That's a mystery to them,
21:21
Speaker 1: except for maybe Lakewood or I'm sorry, Linden, but that's
21:24
Speaker 1: just because they just haven't played in the last couple
21:26
Speaker 1: of years, but there's a long standing tradition. of Linden
21:29
Speaker 1: and Bellingham playing each other going back a long, long ways.
21:34
Speaker 1: I think the last time Bellingham beat Linden was in 1993.
21:39
Speaker 1: That was the first year Linden jumped up from a
21:42
Speaker 1: to two way. So, so yeah, a lot of fun
21:46
Speaker 1: things there. It's going to be, it's going to be
21:50
Speaker 1: an exciting year. You might see a lot of freshmen playing.
21:54
Speaker 1: It's a really strong freshman group. Um, and, but it's a,
21:59
Speaker 1: it's a, it's a really fine line because you don't
22:02
Speaker 1: want to throw them to the wolves, but you want
22:04
Speaker 1: to put your best 11 out there. You want to
22:06
Speaker 1: give them playing time and, you know, so how do
22:09
Speaker 1: you do that? And it's just, it's really, really interesting.
22:13
Speaker 1: So coach Leonard's got, um, you know, a lot of
22:16
Speaker 1: these fun things to play with, but it's how he
22:20
Speaker 1: plays with it. That's going to work. And it's not
22:24
Speaker 1: the biggest, strongest team. it's a lot of athleticism. And
22:28
Speaker 1: so a defense might be more predicated on quickness than
22:32
Speaker 1: it is just bulk up front, you know, instead of
22:35
Speaker 1: the big giant defensive lineman, you might see more of
22:39
Speaker 1: the Ryland Clawson kind of guys that are more wiring
22:44
Speaker 1: strong and quick and stuff like that. So there's a
22:47
Speaker 1: lot of guys that, you know, I'm really, really curious about.
22:50
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see how Silas McGurr, because I
22:56
Speaker 1: don't know if he just didn't play last year or
22:58
Speaker 1: if he was injured last year, but I don't remember
23:02
Speaker 1: seeing him last year. I want to say maybe he
23:04
Speaker 1: got hurt in the beginning of the year or something.
23:07
Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see how he fits in as
23:09
Speaker 1: a senior. I think it's going to be great. If
23:11
Speaker 1: DJ Hill does transfer over, then I'm curious how he
23:16
Speaker 1: gets used and how much he gets used. I want
23:18
Speaker 1: to see this MJ Maena at running back. I want
23:22
Speaker 1: to see And I've heard about some pretty good speed there. Um,
23:27
Speaker 1: you know, and it's going to be awesome. It's going
23:29
Speaker 1: to be great to see Ben Leonard at quarterback because
23:32
Speaker 1: it seems like we've been seeing him a long time.
23:35
Speaker 1: And it's great to know that we'll, there'll be at
23:37
Speaker 1: least another 10 games to watch him play. Um, and
23:41
Speaker 1: he's just, he's so thoughtful when he plays, he makes,
23:45
Speaker 1: like I said, he makes quick decisions. Um, and you
23:48
Speaker 1: got capable backups with Cooper Brown and Nick Leonard as well. So, um,
23:53
Speaker 1: So we'll just kind of see how it all plays out.
23:56
Speaker 1: But right away, I mean, they're going to get tested
23:58
Speaker 1: immediately by the defending state champions, the Wildcats. And I'll
24:04
Speaker 1: be out there for that one because it's Thursday night.
24:07
Speaker 1: And so there will be a game out at LC.
24:10
Speaker 1: I believe that's going to start at 6. So I'll
24:12
Speaker 1: probably start out there. I'll end up going out to
24:15
Speaker 1: Civic for the game against Archbishop for a little bit.
24:18
Speaker 1: And then I'm probably going to end by going to
24:19
Speaker 1: a volleyball game because it is a Thursday night. So
24:22
Speaker 1: I have to catch a volleyball game as well. I
24:24
Speaker 1: haven't looked at the schedule to see which one yet.
24:28
Speaker 1: But I do know, I did look at the schedule
24:29
Speaker 1: enough to know that there will be a game that night.
24:33
Speaker 1: So that's pretty interesting. I just kind of popped over
24:36
Speaker 1: and looked at it right now. And the games that
24:38
Speaker 1: are in the county, well, Squalicum's hosting Oak Harbor. So
24:42
Speaker 1: that's right down the road. So that's probably where I'll
24:45
Speaker 1: end up on Thursday night at the volleyball game. But,
24:50
Speaker 1: you know, it's... When I look at the league, the
24:54
Speaker 1: conference overall, as far as with Bellingham being involved and
24:59
Speaker 1: playing all the conference games now, and the round of 32,
25:04
Speaker 1: which means I think five teams will probably get into
25:07
Speaker 1: the round of 32. It's a very top-heavy conference as
25:13
Speaker 1: far as Archbishop and Anacortes and Linden. And so it's
25:17
Speaker 1: really those two other spots that a lot of teams
25:20
Speaker 1: are going to be fighting for. Will Bellingham be in
25:23
Speaker 1: that mix to fight for that? You know, to do that,
25:26
Speaker 1: you have to beat Solton. You have to beat Lakewood.
25:29
Speaker 1: I think those are more likely to be done than not.
25:34
Speaker 1: But then it turns into the games against Burlington, Edison, Sehome,
25:38
Speaker 1: and Squalicum. And those are three of the last four games.
25:42
Speaker 1: So I kind of like that with the schedule making
25:46
Speaker 1: where the importance really lies on those games and it's
25:51
Speaker 1: going to be who's hot, who's healthy, all that stuff. So, um, yeah,
25:56
Speaker 1: it's going to be, it's going to be another fun season.
25:58
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the, for the Bayhawks coach Leonard, like
26:02
Speaker 1: I said, in his fifth year and, uh, yeah, it's
26:06
Speaker 1: going to be, it's going to be awesome. I can't
26:08
Speaker 1: wait to talk about more of these teams, but, uh,
26:12
Speaker 1: but that is your, uh, 2026 Bellingham football preview. Um,
26:17
Speaker 1: I am Tyler Anderson of Wacom Preps, and I will
26:19
Speaker 1: talk to you a little later today.