Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 353 - 2025 Meridian Trojans Football Preview

Transcript

Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 353 - 2025 Meridian Trojans Football Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey guys, this is Meridian senior Daniel Larson and you're
0:03
Speaker 1: listening to the Meridian football preview on the Walkam Press
0:05
Speaker 1: podcast with Tyler Anderson. Go Trojans.
0:17
Speaker 2: Readings in Welcome to the Wakam Preps podcast. This is
0:21
Speaker 2: episode three hundred and fifty three. It's the twenty twenty
0:24
Speaker 2: five Meridian Trojan football preview. I am Tyler Anderson of
0:29
Speaker 2: Walkham Preps and here we go talking football again. It's
0:32
Speaker 2: great if you joined me. Earlier in the day I
0:37
Speaker 2: broke down the Blaine border rights for the upcoming season.
0:41
Speaker 2: This episode it will be about the Meridian Trojans. There
0:43
Speaker 2: will be two more tomorrow, which I believe will be
0:47
Speaker 2: Bellingham and Squalicum, so get ready for that. But we're
0:50
Speaker 2: gonna be talking Trohan football in this one. I want
0:53
Speaker 2: to give a big thank you to Meridian senior Daniel
0:56
Speaker 2: Larson for the intro. Really intrigued that kid about six
1:01
Speaker 2: five two and ten pounds looks the part. He could
1:04
Speaker 2: have one of those great seasons. And Meridian has been
1:09
Speaker 2: known to have those kinds of tight ends that just
1:12
Speaker 2: you know, just go out and just do some great things.
1:14
Speaker 2: I mean going back to you know Dean Norris back
1:18
Speaker 2: in the eighties, and Jared Carusa in the nineties, and
1:21
Speaker 2: and Patrick Wells and Mac van Deste and you know
1:25
Speaker 2: Cam Webster and you know Tony Schlimer, and there's just
1:29
Speaker 2: been a lot of them that have been put up
1:31
Speaker 2: some big, big numbers in the over the past. And
1:36
Speaker 2: so really excited for Daniel Larson to see what he
1:38
Speaker 2: can do and and be a part of this Meridian
1:41
Speaker 2: team that's gonna you know, I think they could put
1:44
Speaker 2: the ball up in the air a little bit. And
1:45
Speaker 2: we'll talk about that in just a second. First one
1:48
Speaker 2: to give a shout out to Kirk Mayberry Farm as
1:52
Speaker 2: they are the main sponsor of the podcast. Kirk Mayberry
1:55
Speaker 2: Farm is a family farm committed to developing innovative agronomic
1:59
Speaker 2: and business practices to grow, process, and market high quality berries.
2:04
Speaker 2: Kurt Mayberry Farm is the Northwest berry supplier of choice.
2:07
Speaker 2: Visit them online at Kirtmayberry Farm dot com. That's Kirt
2:10
Speaker 2: with the C M A B E r R Y
2:14
Speaker 2: farm dot com. So yeah, let's get into it. I mean,
2:20
Speaker 2: it was a it was a rough season last year
2:22
Speaker 2: for fir Meridian that they started pretty well and it
2:26
Speaker 2: and there's some things that didn't happen at the end
2:29
Speaker 2: of the season, and it kind of just kept tailing
2:31
Speaker 2: off and they found themselves in that three way tie
2:35
Speaker 2: for third place. Head coach Patrick Aames is now in
2:39
Speaker 2: his sixth season as the head coach of Meridian. He's
2:42
Speaker 2: been with the program, my goodness, this whole life. I
2:44
Speaker 2: mean talking ball boy, you know, back in the eighties,
2:48
Speaker 2: playing in the nineties, he went off and played running
2:51
Speaker 2: back in college, and then he came back and he's
2:53
Speaker 2: a teacher and he's been an assistant ever since, and
2:56
Speaker 2: then six years ago became the head coach. So he's
2:59
Speaker 2: got a record of twenty one and twenty in the
3:03
Speaker 2: first five years. I think that first year was the
3:05
Speaker 2: COVID year, so thely got you only got to play
3:07
Speaker 2: two games, went went one and one, and it's just
3:09
Speaker 2: kind of been five hundred ever since. Of course, uh
3:14
Speaker 2: you know, they play at Meridian High School. But I
3:18
Speaker 2: think the field will have a new name once it
3:20
Speaker 2: comes into about week three or four, and we'll we
3:22
Speaker 2: can talk about that in a little bit as well.
3:24
Speaker 2: Last season they went five and five. You know, when
3:28
Speaker 2: you look at their their schedule from last year, they
3:31
Speaker 2: they were their first five. You know, their five wins
3:34
Speaker 2: came in the first six games, so things were looking
3:37
Speaker 2: pretty pretty good. I mean, they beat Deer Park to
3:39
Speaker 2: start it off, and they crushed Omac forty eight to twenty.
3:42
Speaker 2: Omak was a team that you know, did some things
3:45
Speaker 2: in the In the postseason, they lost a heartbreaker to
3:49
Speaker 2: Camac thirty five thirty four, a four A school. Then
3:52
Speaker 2: they beat Forks fifty four to seven, and South We
3:54
Speaker 2: would be fifty six to nothing. And then they got
3:58
Speaker 2: into the league schedule and they're the team in the
4:01
Speaker 2: one a's that they play five non league games before
4:05
Speaker 2: they even play a league game, so they're the last
4:07
Speaker 2: team to actually play a league game. They started it
4:10
Speaker 2: off against Mount Baker and got them twenty seven to fourteen,
4:14
Speaker 2: took a thumping in the rainstorm against Nikxac Valley twenty
4:18
Speaker 2: nine zero. Then that was and that's kind of set
4:21
Speaker 2: up that next game against Lyndon Christian where Meridian was
4:24
Speaker 2: up twenty two to zero halfway through the third and
4:28
Speaker 2: Elsie had some things go their way and they were
4:30
Speaker 2: able to get back into it and they ended up
4:33
Speaker 2: beating Meridian thirty to twenty nine in overtime and then
4:36
Speaker 2: Meridian finished out the regular season with the twenty seven
4:39
Speaker 2: to twenty two loss at Blaine. That was a pretty
4:42
Speaker 2: thrilling game. I was at that one as well. And
4:44
Speaker 2: then which set up the three way tie where they
4:48
Speaker 2: got that they actually got the buy so they got
4:50
Speaker 2: to play the winner of the first matchup, which was
4:54
Speaker 2: Blaine and Mount Baker. It ended up being Mount Baker.
4:57
Speaker 2: Meridian gets their chance and it didn't happen for him,
5:01
Speaker 2: and this season ended well, it didn't end. They did
5:03
Speaker 2: play Marysville Getchell and the Crossover for Week ten. They
5:07
Speaker 2: lost that one twenty seven to twenty against the three
5:09
Speaker 2: A Chargers. So a great start of the year, not
5:14
Speaker 2: the kind of finish that they wanted. And you look
5:17
Speaker 2: back at last year and there's a lot of guys
5:19
Speaker 2: that had a ton of experience throughout the years. So
5:23
Speaker 2: you say goodbye to the Landon Downey and Lincoln Hofer,
5:25
Speaker 2: Jager Fife, Kelly Gray, Jackson, hurl But, Carson Campbell, James
5:29
Speaker 2: head All, Ross Driscoll. These are guys that have been
5:32
Speaker 2: in the program forever. You know, some of them four
5:36
Speaker 2: year starters, and it's so it's gonna be a lot
5:40
Speaker 2: of big time shoes to fill a lot like Blaine
5:43
Speaker 2: if you if you joined me in the podcast earlier
5:45
Speaker 2: listening about the Blaine border rights, it's they're in a
5:49
Speaker 2: very similar situation. Both schools, I think only have four seniors,
5:53
Speaker 2: a lot of underclassmen so and and a good freshman group.
5:58
Speaker 2: So it's they're very very similar to to each other
6:02
Speaker 2: and really excited to kind of see how, you know,
6:07
Speaker 2: I mean, how it's all gonna turn out. It's the Trojans.
6:11
Speaker 2: You just you kind of you kind of know they're
6:13
Speaker 2: gonna you know, they're gonna be so well coached and
6:16
Speaker 2: and uh, they're gonna they're They're not gonna be an
6:19
Speaker 2: easy out, that's for sure. And that's what's that's what's
6:21
Speaker 2: fun about it. And when you get this new group,
6:23
Speaker 2: it's eager to to show what they can do. Some
6:26
Speaker 2: guys are gonna be new, moving it back into their
6:28
Speaker 2: natural positions. It's gonna be it's gonna be really cool.
6:30
Speaker 2: So so let's look over kind of who I have
6:35
Speaker 2: as the featured four on the website here from Meridian.
6:39
Speaker 2: And you know, the first one is is Casey Brennan,
6:42
Speaker 2: just a junior listened at one hundred and twenty seven
6:46
Speaker 2: pounds and that's not a Meridian roster one twenty seven,
6:48
Speaker 2: that's a legit one twenty seven. But man, is he fast.
6:52
Speaker 2: He's gonna be able to make some special things happen,
6:55
Speaker 2: uh good in the return game. And he's got some moves,
7:00
Speaker 2: but that straightaway speed is the real, you know, game
7:03
Speaker 2: breaker there, and that's that's kind of what Meridian has
7:06
Speaker 2: been known for. And when you look, you know, you
7:08
Speaker 2: look back at Meridian all time fastest guys. You think
7:11
Speaker 2: of guys like Corey Kolp and Cale Sour and these
7:15
Speaker 2: guys were burners that you saw a lot of times
7:18
Speaker 2: on the box scorer on Saturday morning. The first score
7:21
Speaker 2: of the game was an eighty yard touchdown pass to
7:23
Speaker 2: that kid. And that's because they had no qualms about
7:26
Speaker 2: just throwing deep on the first play of the game.
7:28
Speaker 2: And sometimes it worked and that could happen with Casey Brennan.
7:32
Speaker 2: So team's got to be on the lookout for that.
7:34
Speaker 2: The next one is Xavier parent now a senior. Last
7:37
Speaker 2: year he had a breakout year as an inside linebacker.
7:41
Speaker 2: I'm hoping he continues that. I think he's he's kind
7:44
Speaker 2: of Johnny on the spot did some good things, fumble recoveries, interceptions,
7:47
Speaker 2: tackles at the right time. The next is Trey Alexander
7:51
Speaker 2: now getting moved into quarterback spot. That's his natural position.
7:56
Speaker 2: He's he's grown, he's you know, five ten, five eleven now,
8:00
Speaker 2: and I think he is going to put up some
8:02
Speaker 2: pretty big numbers. And he's just the right guy the
8:06
Speaker 2: right time to come along in that program and such
8:09
Speaker 2: a smart kid, through sport athlete and he you know,
8:13
Speaker 2: it's a kid that you trust out there. And then
8:15
Speaker 2: River Todd is a sophomore wide receiver, defensive back. He's
8:19
Speaker 2: probably gonna kick a little bit. You know, it's rare
8:23
Speaker 2: when you see a kid as a freshman play at
8:26
Speaker 2: the varsity level that could run routes like that. And
8:29
Speaker 2: I think that his change of direction, he's so smooth,
8:33
Speaker 2: he's got good size. You know, Trey's going to have
8:37
Speaker 2: a lot of guys out there that he can look
8:39
Speaker 2: at and then they all kind of do different things,
8:41
Speaker 2: and so I think River Todd's going to have a
8:43
Speaker 2: pretty big year. My pick for the breakout player is
8:48
Speaker 2: Pierce Brozowski. And I know that's a name that people know,
8:51
Speaker 2: so it might not be you know, Vallid of a
8:54
Speaker 2: breakout player. But you know, football wise, he hasn't been
8:57
Speaker 2: able to do much. I think he broke his collarbone
8:59
Speaker 2: laslast year, so they missed a big chunk of the season.
9:02
Speaker 2: We did see him do some great things in basketball,
9:05
Speaker 2: you know, point guard on that team that took fourth
9:07
Speaker 2: in state last year. Baseball, you know, playing playing shortstop,
9:13
Speaker 2: and and you know at the last couple of years,
9:16
Speaker 2: you know, two years ago was on the team that
9:17
Speaker 2: took second in state. So he's he's just one of
9:21
Speaker 2: those kids that could do a lot of different things.
9:25
Speaker 2: I mean he could. He'll probably be the backup quarterback,
9:27
Speaker 2: He'll be split out wide receiver, he might take some
9:29
Speaker 2: reps at tight end. We'll just have to see a
9:32
Speaker 2: really smart kid, you know, understand situations. You don't have
9:36
Speaker 2: to tell him something twice. Coaches dream basically. So those
9:39
Speaker 2: are those are kind of my featured four plus my
9:42
Speaker 2: pick for the breakout player of the Year for the
9:45
Speaker 2: Meridian Trojans. We go by that go down the positions,
9:50
Speaker 2: which we've kind of talked about that a little bit.
9:52
Speaker 2: You know, he started the quarterback position. Trey Alexander takes over,
9:55
Speaker 2: you know as a freshman he did a few things
9:58
Speaker 2: where they got some you know, Meridians known for that
10:01
Speaker 2: double pass play and you always get you know, they
10:04
Speaker 2: always would put their backup quarterback in that spot, split
10:07
Speaker 2: out wide, catch the first pass, you know that it's
10:09
Speaker 2: a lateral and then he throws it down the field.
10:11
Speaker 2: Traded great with that. Last year, played a lot more
10:15
Speaker 2: actual receiver and uh yeah, he caught twenty seven passes
10:21
Speaker 2: last year as a receiver, knowing the whole time he
10:23
Speaker 2: was a backup quarterback. He would come in and some
10:26
Speaker 2: you know late in some games, and he did pretty well.
10:28
Speaker 2: Completed eleven out of sixteen passes for one hundred and
10:31
Speaker 2: ninety three yards and a touchdown. So I think that
10:35
Speaker 2: he's gonna have that experience enough to where he can
10:41
Speaker 2: he can lead the team and they don't have to
10:43
Speaker 2: change the playbook a whole lot from what they've done.
10:46
Speaker 2: They might even open it up a little bit and
10:48
Speaker 2: just and let them sling it. I mean, you have
10:50
Speaker 2: the guys out there, and as the backup goes, it's
10:53
Speaker 2: probably gonna be Pierce Sprezowski. I think he's played some
10:56
Speaker 2: quarterback in the past, and you know Meridian is known
11:01
Speaker 2: for that. You think of all these guys that are
11:03
Speaker 2: the backup quarterback as somebody who's probably already on the field,
11:06
Speaker 2: whether it was Dawson Logan or Cameron Webster. Wade Kooning
11:10
Speaker 2: was a tight end before he was the starting quarterback,
11:13
Speaker 2: and you know, they always had those kinds of guys.
11:16
Speaker 2: And you know, Trey Alexander last year, you know, was
11:19
Speaker 2: the backup quarterback playing receiver, and this year it'll probably
11:22
Speaker 2: be Pierce Sprezzowski. So a couple of guys that they
11:25
Speaker 2: could rely upon as quarterbacks. You go to the running
11:28
Speaker 2: back spot, and again this is this is kind of
11:30
Speaker 2: a theme. Meridian does not return a ton of varsity carries.
11:36
Speaker 2: Xavier Paran, Xavier parent had seventeen yards last year, Ethan
11:40
Speaker 2: Valich had fourteen. Each scored a touchdown. And those are
11:43
Speaker 2: the only guys with positive yards that return to the
11:46
Speaker 2: varsity level. So it's it's gonna be who knows who
11:52
Speaker 2: it's gonna be. You could see a myriad of guys.
11:57
Speaker 2: Ethan Balach I think, you know, in my eye is
12:00
Speaker 2: probably the guy is going to get the first shot
12:03
Speaker 2: at it. Tough kid wrestler, you know, running between the tackles,
12:07
Speaker 2: stronger than his height, weight, but you know, looking at him,
12:11
Speaker 2: he's stronger than you would think, which is you know,
12:15
Speaker 2: obviously you need that as a running back. It takes
12:17
Speaker 2: a pounding Sawyer strunk as a kid, another junior, he's
12:20
Speaker 2: a little bigger that could get some carries in between
12:23
Speaker 2: the tackles as well. You might see Pierce Berzowski back there,
12:27
Speaker 2: because he's going to be that jack of all trades
12:29
Speaker 2: that could do a lot of stuff. And I mentioned
12:30
Speaker 2: Xavier Parrin as well, who had five carries in a
12:34
Speaker 2: touchdown last year at the varsity level. Two years ago
12:37
Speaker 2: he played for Seahome. I remember he had like a
12:39
Speaker 2: fifty yard touchdown that was called back due to a
12:42
Speaker 2: due to a penalty. He was right before the half.
12:44
Speaker 2: I remember it very very well. So he is a
12:47
Speaker 2: guy that has that kind of speed. He had a
12:49
Speaker 2: kick return for a touchdown last year. But he's such
12:51
Speaker 2: a he's such a weapon on defense that they might
12:54
Speaker 2: just have him focus on defense. So there are some
12:57
Speaker 2: guys there. It's really hard to say who the who's
13:01
Speaker 2: gonna stand out. And again with five, you know, non
13:05
Speaker 2: league games to start the season, you got time to
13:08
Speaker 2: figure out who your guy is gonna be. As the
13:10
Speaker 2: main running back. And and there have been years when
13:13
Speaker 2: Meridian has put up great numbers and their leading Russia
13:16
Speaker 2: ran for three hundred yards. You know, they're not shy
13:18
Speaker 2: about throwing the football, you know, especially especially with beaver
13:22
Speaker 2: Ellen Boss coming back into the fold as an offensive
13:26
Speaker 2: play caller. Uh. He is extremely innovative. Uh. And you
13:31
Speaker 2: know when when Meridian was putting up those big numbers
13:34
Speaker 2: late nineties, early two thousands, you know, him and Patrick
13:38
Speaker 2: together were coming up with all sorts of things offensively
13:42
Speaker 2: that really opened eyes around not just the county, but
13:46
Speaker 2: the state. So you could probably see that kind of
13:52
Speaker 2: thing happening again this year. And because of that, or
13:55
Speaker 2: you know, because of their their their strengths. We're gonna
13:58
Speaker 2: talk about the wide receiver now and that will be
14:01
Speaker 2: a strength of the team. You start off with Casey Brennan,
14:03
Speaker 2: who I mentioned earlier, just a junior now twenty nine
14:08
Speaker 2: catches for four narn sixty five yards and three touchdowns
14:11
Speaker 2: last season. Probably needs to get a little bit more
14:14
Speaker 2: consistent and just catching the ball. There's so many times
14:19
Speaker 2: when you know, I think that it's where I thought
14:22
Speaker 2: he had a really good chance for a breakout play,
14:25
Speaker 2: but the ball would be dropped, and I was like, man,
14:29
Speaker 2: and I know he's going to be the harshest critic
14:31
Speaker 2: of himself and he's probably kicking himself, going, oh, I
14:34
Speaker 2: could have scored a touchdown on that, because he's that
14:36
Speaker 2: kind of explosive kid, and so if he catches the
14:40
Speaker 2: ball on a more consistent basis, it's going to be scary.
14:43
Speaker 2: And I really think he's going to I am really
14:47
Speaker 2: excited for his future. River Todd again going into his
14:53
Speaker 2: sophomore year. Last year, he had sixteen catches for two
14:55
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty three yards and two touchdowns as a freshman.
14:59
Speaker 2: You don't see that very often. He's gotten bigger, stronger, faster,
15:03
Speaker 2: and like I said, I'm just an amazing route runner
15:07
Speaker 2: and Meridian's gonna have some really interesting schemes offensively where
15:13
Speaker 2: he's gonna find ways to get open and then Alexander's
15:16
Speaker 2: gonna get him the ball. Expect to see Brazowski split
15:19
Speaker 2: out wide. I know this is the third position I've
15:21
Speaker 2: talked about him in, but I would not be surprised
15:25
Speaker 2: if that's the case. He can do some things on
15:28
Speaker 2: the outside and it's gonna be a lot of fun.
15:30
Speaker 2: I mean, he's just there'll be more of like that
15:34
Speaker 2: possession guy, stronger guy too close to two hundred pounds now,
15:38
Speaker 2: so he's gonna be tough to bring down. You cover
15:41
Speaker 2: them one on one, he might be able to catch
15:42
Speaker 2: that ball, break a tackle and then go. So I'm
15:48
Speaker 2: really excited about that as well. And then there's a
15:50
Speaker 2: couple other kids that could fall into this mix as
15:53
Speaker 2: a wide receiver. One of them is Colby Egger. He's
15:56
Speaker 2: a trap kid. He's a senior, one of the few
15:58
Speaker 2: seniors on this team. And last year late in track
16:01
Speaker 2: and field, he started doing I want to say it
16:05
Speaker 2: was either triple jump or long jump, and my goodness,
16:10
Speaker 2: he just picked it up really fast and he went
16:11
Speaker 2: to State. And so that's the kind of athlete that
16:15
Speaker 2: this kid is. I think I think he could, you know,
16:18
Speaker 2: make a name for himself. And especially when opposing coaches
16:22
Speaker 2: are you know, they know about Casey Brennan, they know
16:24
Speaker 2: about River Todd, you live this kid that they'd never
16:27
Speaker 2: heard of, they leave him open. It could it could
16:30
Speaker 2: really pay off for the Trojans. And another kid that
16:33
Speaker 2: might not be ready yet but could be quickly is
16:35
Speaker 2: Braiden Fisher. He's just a freshman tremendous size, multi sport
16:41
Speaker 2: athlete and over the you know, in the over the
16:45
Speaker 2: especially in the past like five years, Meridian has not
16:47
Speaker 2: been shy about using freshmen and as you know, starting
16:51
Speaker 2: lineup varsity, especially split out wide, so you could see
16:55
Speaker 2: Braiden Fisher get some catches. These are all wide receivers
16:58
Speaker 2: that can make a difference. And you know, don't be
17:01
Speaker 2: surprised if they go five wide just because of the
17:05
Speaker 2: guys that they have there at the tight end spot.
17:08
Speaker 2: I brought it up a little earlier. Daniel Larson looks
17:10
Speaker 2: the part six five two pounds basketball player in the post,
17:15
Speaker 2: good hands, good feet, a goalie on the soccer team,
17:20
Speaker 2: and he's this is his year, one of the few
17:22
Speaker 2: seniors to make a difference as as a tight end.
17:26
Speaker 2: Meridian will use a traditional tight end, hand in the ground,
17:30
Speaker 2: all that stuff, but he will be split out wide
17:32
Speaker 2: from time to time. You know, I think back again,
17:36
Speaker 2: like I said, like mac van Diste and those kinds
17:38
Speaker 2: of guys when they split out, it was a problem.
17:41
Speaker 2: Andre Linz, Jeez, Louise, I forgot about Andre Lynz talk
17:44
Speaker 2: about the mismatched problem of the year. I mean, he
17:46
Speaker 2: had a he played preseason games with the Seattle Seahawks.
17:49
Speaker 2: For crying out loud, he went to Wazoo as a
17:51
Speaker 2: tight end. He was a he was a great, great one.
17:54
Speaker 2: Mitchell Tripp was another one that was a you know,
17:56
Speaker 2: kind of a tight end wide receiver hybrid. So there's
18:00
Speaker 2: been a lot of them. And Daniel Larson provides a
18:04
Speaker 2: giant target right in the middle of the field, and
18:08
Speaker 2: you know, you see Alexander throwing it to Larson. You
18:10
Speaker 2: might see that in the winter time when the Alexander's
18:14
Speaker 2: the point guard bringing it and then finds Larson in
18:17
Speaker 2: the post. So it'll be very, very similar. And again
18:21
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it again, Pierce Bearzowski he could
18:23
Speaker 2: be a tight end as well, just because of his size, smarts,
18:27
Speaker 2: and of his ability to play multiple positions. You look
18:31
Speaker 2: at the offensive line and it's gonna be a lot
18:35
Speaker 2: of new guys. That veteran line they've had over the years,
18:39
Speaker 2: you know, headed by Lincoln Hofer and Carson Campbell and
18:42
Speaker 2: Jackson Hrbat and those guys, those you know that's been
18:47
Speaker 2: those guys have been on the line for some of
18:49
Speaker 2: them for all four years. So it's a lot of
18:52
Speaker 2: new faces. But it's a really fun group, but it's
18:55
Speaker 2: a good group that's that makes the right decisions and
18:59
Speaker 2: I think they're to come together pretty quickly. Landon Rally
19:03
Speaker 2: probably the heads that group, you know, the big junior
19:07
Speaker 2: h you know, place first base on the on the
19:10
Speaker 2: baseball team, pitches a little bit as well. He'll probably
19:13
Speaker 2: be that main guy on the offensive line. But there's
19:16
Speaker 2: a lot of other guys that are very intriguing, especially
19:19
Speaker 2: to me. Mafala Pataiah is a really strong kid. He
19:26
Speaker 2: could fill in it like a guard spot. I believe
19:28
Speaker 2: he's just a sophomore. Griffin Ingram is a freshman and
19:31
Speaker 2: is already looking to probably start in one of those spots,
19:35
Speaker 2: whether that's garter tackle. I think Cooper Mariam, who is
19:38
Speaker 2: a former tight end, did some good things on defense
19:41
Speaker 2: last year. He could be slid in to play an
19:43
Speaker 2: offensive tackle spot. Isaac Cypress is another one that is
19:48
Speaker 2: ready to be a starter and is you know, can
19:52
Speaker 2: play multiple positions on the offensive line. Mason Simmons, Okay,
19:56
Speaker 2: will probably be the center. I think he might. I
19:59
Speaker 2: think he's like a maybe a sophomore, so it's going
20:01
Speaker 2: to be young, but it's a group that that they
20:05
Speaker 2: really like you know, I was talking to the line
20:08
Speaker 2: coach Mike Boothorne out there, and Big Mike was saying
20:11
Speaker 2: that he really likes this group. Coach James really likes
20:14
Speaker 2: this group, so I I'm excited for that. They do
20:19
Speaker 2: have some good size with those guys. I'm not saying
20:23
Speaker 2: it's Linden size across from tackle to tackle, but at
20:26
Speaker 2: the one A level, it's pretty darn good. And you know,
20:31
Speaker 2: it's great when you have a freshman come in and
20:34
Speaker 2: play immediately like a Griffin Ingram. And from what I've heard,
20:38
Speaker 2: this freshman class that Meridian has, although it's not big
20:41
Speaker 2: in quantity, the quality is great. It's a lot of
20:46
Speaker 2: guys that I like, Coach James said, it's a lot
20:48
Speaker 2: of guys that are just wired the right way. And
20:51
Speaker 2: that's that's gonna go a long way for that Meridian program,
20:54
Speaker 2: especially for the future. You know, they're probably not going
20:56
Speaker 2: to be able to field three teams. They just don't
20:59
Speaker 2: have the bodies for it. But the team, the two
21:02
Speaker 2: teams that are gonna field are going to be very
21:04
Speaker 2: competitive and that's what's exciting. So that's kind of rounds
21:09
Speaker 2: out the offensive line, you know, and a lot of
21:12
Speaker 2: it might be given trade time to throw because when
21:17
Speaker 2: you look at the skill sets of their athletes, it
21:22
Speaker 2: makes you go, man, they could really sling it around
21:25
Speaker 2: the defensive side of the ball. You know, it's again
21:28
Speaker 2: land and Rally Griffin Ingram kind of in the interior there.
21:31
Speaker 2: To get some push would be great. And you know,
21:36
Speaker 2: the big losses that you have here are the two
21:38
Speaker 2: edge guys, Lincoln hoer and and Landon Downey. They were
21:42
Speaker 2: so valuable over the years and they were both kind
21:46
Speaker 2: of those stand up edge guys and Meridian has had
21:48
Speaker 2: a ton of those over the years. One of the
21:51
Speaker 2: best defensive ends they've ever had, Steve Bernardi is back
21:54
Speaker 2: out there coaching, which was great to see. And they're
21:58
Speaker 2: gonna need him because there's gonna be some new faces
22:01
Speaker 2: on the on that edge, and I'm not quite sure
22:03
Speaker 2: exactly who they're gonna be. I think Daniel Larson will
22:06
Speaker 2: get a crack at it. He fits the bill, you know,
22:10
Speaker 2: size wise, is he is a dude out there, and
22:13
Speaker 2: I think that he could really I think that position
22:17
Speaker 2: could really be great for him because if he if it,
22:20
Speaker 2: if he latches onto it right away, especially being a senior,
22:24
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a huge boost for the Meridian defense.
22:28
Speaker 2: You know, the linebackers on the inside, Javier perroen Ethan
22:31
Speaker 2: Valach Uh, you know, both played quite a bit defensively
22:37
Speaker 2: and so they can get you know, they'll get a
22:40
Speaker 2: handful of tackles. Paren had sixty and a half tackles
22:43
Speaker 2: last year, four and a half tackles for loss so
22:46
Speaker 2: and Valach had a couple of sacks breaking through the middle.
22:49
Speaker 2: So those two guys I think kind of be the
22:51
Speaker 2: main guys. I think Cooper Marham could be like a
22:54
Speaker 2: kind of an outside linebacker type. So I think he's
22:58
Speaker 2: even scored a defense he was on a block pun
23:00
Speaker 2: or something like that. He scored. He scored a touchdown somehow,
23:03
Speaker 2: was earlier in the year. So those are kind of
23:06
Speaker 2: the guys as far as the the linebacker spot goes. Uh.
23:10
Speaker 2: You look in the secondary and it's again looks very
23:14
Speaker 2: very strong for the Trojans. At the corner spots. You
23:18
Speaker 2: can see River Todd, Trey Alexander. You know, Casey Brennan
23:23
Speaker 2: has started there the last couple of years. You got
23:26
Speaker 2: a lot of options there. Casey had eight passes broken
23:29
Speaker 2: up last year, River Todd had four. Trey Alexander had three.
23:33
Speaker 2: These guys have played a lot of varsity. Alexander had
23:35
Speaker 2: a couple of interceptions. So these guys can do a
23:40
Speaker 2: really good job. Pierce Berezowski has a safety. Is the
23:43
Speaker 2: the kind of guy you want. He's tall, he's smart,
23:46
Speaker 2: he's strong, he's quick, and that's that's exactly what you
23:52
Speaker 2: want in a high school safety. Last year he had
23:54
Speaker 2: a couple of interceptions, but he did also have three
23:56
Speaker 2: tackles for loss, coming up in the box making plays.
23:59
Speaker 2: And this is a very very limited playing time, you know,
24:02
Speaker 2: Like I said, I think he missed probably more than
24:05
Speaker 2: half the season. So this is a big, big, you know,
24:09
Speaker 2: a really great thing for the Meridian defense. And and
24:13
Speaker 2: and Colby Aeger again I brought him up on the
24:16
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball. He could be someone that
24:18
Speaker 2: could you know, a lot of these guys River Todd, Trey, Alexander,
24:24
Speaker 2: Casey Brennan. These guys are guys that are gonna be
24:26
Speaker 2: on the field a lot. And Colby Aeger could spell
24:29
Speaker 2: one of those guys, give them a break every once
24:31
Speaker 2: in a while. It could really work out well. And
24:35
Speaker 2: you know Meridian in the past, and they're they're they're
24:38
Speaker 2: just gonna put their best eleven out there. You know,
24:40
Speaker 2: they're not gonna, you know, fiddle around too much about it,
24:46
Speaker 2: but it's gonna be They're gonna do you know what,
24:50
Speaker 2: like what needs to be done and and I. But
24:53
Speaker 2: they will also if there's a luxury where you can
24:56
Speaker 2: sit a guy on defense. You know, they did that
25:00
Speaker 2: with Simon Burkette when Simon was a senior. They got
25:02
Speaker 2: all the way and almost won this the the state championship.
25:05
Speaker 2: Simon was an All conference defensive back as a junior.
25:08
Speaker 2: It didn't even play defense as a senior. So you know,
25:12
Speaker 2: when you have that kind of depth, it's great. And
25:14
Speaker 2: Meridian looks like it's starting to build that kind of
25:17
Speaker 2: depth right now, especially with a strong freshman class coming in.
25:20
Speaker 2: It's gonna be pretty It's gonna be pretty big. The
25:23
Speaker 2: kicking game, you don't they don't return a ton in
25:25
Speaker 2: the kicking game. You know, Landon Landon Downey took care
25:29
Speaker 2: of that. Jagr Fife punted, so Gonner those guys. River
25:35
Speaker 2: Todd most likely will be the kicker at least get
25:38
Speaker 2: the first nod at it. Uh Cigar Verk is probably
25:44
Speaker 2: gonna do the punning and at least he's it sounds
25:48
Speaker 2: like that's what he's asking to do, and we'll we'll
25:52
Speaker 2: see kind of how that goes. And uh yeah, And
25:55
Speaker 2: though those would be probably the main guys, a couple
25:57
Speaker 2: of guys that haven't done it at the varsity level.
25:59
Speaker 2: But I think I remember watching River Todd kick in
26:04
Speaker 2: junior high and thinking, my goodness, he looks like he
26:06
Speaker 2: could kick in high school. So I'm sure he'll do it.
26:08
Speaker 2: Just a fine job. And then in the return game,
26:11
Speaker 2: you know, Meridino is always very, very good in the
26:14
Speaker 2: return game with setting up their blocks, strong strong special teams.
26:17
Speaker 2: Casey Brennan last year had a kickoff return for a touchdown.
26:20
Speaker 2: Xavior Paren had a kickoff return for touchdown. I don't
26:23
Speaker 2: even think Paren was back deep. He was just one
26:25
Speaker 2: of the up guys and he took it and went
26:28
Speaker 2: and that's you know. I talked about this a little
26:30
Speaker 2: bit in the Blame podcast, where you know, a lot
26:33
Speaker 2: of teams just don't kick deep too much, so you
26:36
Speaker 2: got to have some guys closer up every once in
26:38
Speaker 2: a while that could be a threat or know what
26:41
Speaker 2: to do. Don't let the ball, you know, fall on
26:44
Speaker 2: the ground. That's a live ball on a kickoff, you know,
26:47
Speaker 2: so you could expect Casey Brennan, River Todd, those kinds
26:51
Speaker 2: of guys to be to be back there again. You know,
26:54
Speaker 2: a Trey Alexander might get a little bit of a run.
26:56
Speaker 2: But now playing the quarterback position, you it's rare. You
27:00
Speaker 2: see the quarterback return kicks, you do see it. I know,
27:03
Speaker 2: Bishop Boots he did it. You know, Jake Locker did it.
27:08
Speaker 2: You know, even going back to Grant Turpstra, he was
27:11
Speaker 2: returning punts and then it was just it's funny when
27:13
Speaker 2: you see a kid return a punt and then he's
27:15
Speaker 2: you know, playing quarterback on the next play. But that's
27:18
Speaker 2: high school, baby, I mean that especially one A. That's
27:20
Speaker 2: just kind of the way it goes. So so yeah,
27:24
Speaker 2: I mean you look at the stats coming back from
27:27
Speaker 2: last year. You know, it really piles up in the receiving.
27:30
Speaker 2: Casey Brennan had twenty nine catches, Trey Alexander had twenty seven.
27:33
Speaker 2: Of course he'll get moved to quarterback now, so you
27:35
Speaker 2: kind of take those away. But Daniel Larson had seventeen
27:38
Speaker 2: and River Todd had sixteen. So you know, you put
27:42
Speaker 2: Trey at quarterback and you still have three guys that
27:44
Speaker 2: had sixteen or more catches, and they all score touchdowns
27:48
Speaker 2: in the receiving game, as did Pierce Berezowski. That's a
27:51
Speaker 2: pretty nice thing you got going on there. James and
27:54
Speaker 2: Alexander had a catch last year, you know, so there
27:57
Speaker 2: are guys that have that have done some things. There's
28:00
Speaker 2: also one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight guys
28:04
Speaker 2: that scored a touchdown last year that is returning this year.
28:08
Speaker 2: And I don't think a lot of schools can say
28:10
Speaker 2: that Blaine just had the one. They just had Kai
28:14
Speaker 2: Kai Kerwin. The Meridian's got eight different guys that have
28:17
Speaker 2: scored touchdowns or they scored a touchdown last year that's
28:20
Speaker 2: coming back at the varsity level. So that's that's a
28:23
Speaker 2: very very promising thing. You know, talking around with different
28:27
Speaker 2: media members and stuff, and a lot of people are
28:30
Speaker 2: asking me about about Meridian and saying like how down
28:33
Speaker 2: are they? And I just I'm like, man, they're they're
28:38
Speaker 2: gonna be all right. They're gonna be uh, you know,
28:41
Speaker 2: they're gonna be fun to watch. I think I think
28:44
Speaker 2: they're gonna air it out. You might see some like
28:46
Speaker 2: I said, some five wide they used to do that
28:48
Speaker 2: the diamond formation. Uh, and this is this was fun.
28:53
Speaker 2: I mean, you get you know, you got the shotgun
28:55
Speaker 2: and sometimes they'd be under center with it. You'd have
28:57
Speaker 2: a tight end on one side, or guys split on
29:00
Speaker 2: one side, and then on the other side you had
29:02
Speaker 2: a diamond where you know, you'd have a player in
29:04
Speaker 2: a three point stance split all the way out and
29:07
Speaker 2: you got two guys kind of flanking him behind him,
29:10
Speaker 2: and then one guy directly behind him making a diamond.
29:12
Speaker 2: And if they you know, if they saw fit and
29:15
Speaker 2: there was only two defensive backs out that way, he's
29:18
Speaker 2: gonna he's gonna hurry up and throw it to that
29:19
Speaker 2: guy so he can catch it and make some moves.
29:23
Speaker 2: If it was if they had they're overloaded on that
29:26
Speaker 2: side and they can go to the opposite side. Or
29:28
Speaker 2: sometimes the quarterback would just take off and run if
29:30
Speaker 2: it was if the field was spread, and then all
29:34
Speaker 2: of a sudden, they'd go to two back, two tight
29:36
Speaker 2: end on the next play. You just never know. And
29:38
Speaker 2: that's what's so fun about Meridian football is boy, you
29:43
Speaker 2: could see, you know, over the course of sixty offensive plays,
29:48
Speaker 2: you might see you know, forty or so formations, but
29:52
Speaker 2: you might only see fifteen different plays and it really
29:56
Speaker 2: gets the high school defender thinking because you know, it's
30:01
Speaker 2: just it's just it's just it's tough. It's tough because
30:06
Speaker 2: if you're not used to certain things like that, it
30:10
Speaker 2: could be really, really tricky. I do want to bring
30:12
Speaker 2: up the game on September twenty seventh. That'll be a
30:16
Speaker 2: home game against Forks, and it'll be on Saturday afternoon
30:20
Speaker 2: at one pm. It's the fourth game of the year,
30:22
Speaker 2: Week four, and they're gonna be dedicating the field to
30:26
Speaker 2: Bob Ames, which is, you know, tremendous and and you know,
30:32
Speaker 2: I kind of want to say it's about time, but hey,
30:35
Speaker 2: you got to give things time. And and Bob Ames
30:37
Speaker 2: is a Wakam County treasure, you know. He he started
30:41
Speaker 2: coaching at Meridia in nineteen seventy four and was the
30:45
Speaker 2: head coach from then on till all the way to
30:48
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen and man three state championships, three more state
30:53
Speaker 2: championship appearances. Uh, he's seen it all, he's done it all.
30:58
Speaker 2: What a what a character, but what a fun guy.
31:00
Speaker 2: I love going out to marine practice. He's an assistant now.
31:04
Speaker 2: I just love talking to him because I could what
31:06
Speaker 2: usually happens is I'll ask him about you know, guys
31:12
Speaker 2: coming back, or what he likes about the defensive line,
31:16
Speaker 2: and it ends up us talking about his trip to
31:19
Speaker 2: Europe and his favorite John Wayne movie. And I don't
31:22
Speaker 2: know how we got there, and but I don't care,
31:25
Speaker 2: because it's just it's just so much fun. Coach Bob Ames,
31:32
Speaker 2: he's he's a he's just the best. And so it's
31:36
Speaker 2: really a great thing that the field is going to
31:38
Speaker 2: be dedicated to him. And I people could probably see
31:43
Speaker 2: this coming decades ago, and so now I'm I'm so
31:48
Speaker 2: happy that I'll actually be able to be in attendance
31:51
Speaker 2: for this, and that's those are the kinds of things
31:54
Speaker 2: that I'm so lucky for. I didn't get to meet
31:58
Speaker 2: you know, Rolie Decost before he passed way, and I
32:03
Speaker 2: you know, I wish, I wish I could have it,
32:06
Speaker 2: just it just never worked out. And so I really
32:11
Speaker 2: take these things seriously when they're doing a special thing
32:14
Speaker 2: like this, and so to be able to you know,
32:17
Speaker 2: I grew up with co James. Our families were close,
32:22
Speaker 2: you know, I know, I know you know his wife
32:25
Speaker 2: and all his kids and very very well, and so
32:28
Speaker 2: I always felt a great connection with him, and and
32:32
Speaker 2: and so I I'm just really proud to be associated
32:37
Speaker 2: with him in a small way and be able to
32:39
Speaker 2: be there when this really fun event takes place. It's
32:43
Speaker 2: going to be fantastic. That'll be on September twenty seventh,
32:47
Speaker 2: and the game will be at one o'clock against Forks.
32:51
Speaker 2: And and of course when I think of Maridian and Forks,
32:54
Speaker 2: I think about the year two thousand when they played
32:56
Speaker 2: each other in the quarterfinals at Civic Stadium. That was
33:00
Speaker 2: a heck of a game, I think. I want to
33:02
Speaker 2: say Meridian won seven zero, and and Forks had an
33:06
Speaker 2: all state running back named Pat Bennett. He was about
33:09
Speaker 2: six three two and forty pounds and they basically gave
33:12
Speaker 2: the ball to him forty times a game, and it
33:15
Speaker 2: was all about can you stop Pat Bennett? And I
33:17
Speaker 2: remember right off the bat he had a long run,
33:20
Speaker 2: but they kept the whole They kept the team out
33:21
Speaker 2: of the end zone the entire time, and they ended
33:24
Speaker 2: up winning that game, got all the way the state
33:26
Speaker 2: championship game they lost to Omac, but but that was
33:31
Speaker 2: I always remember that game. Whenever I think of Forks
33:33
Speaker 2: High School, I think of Pat Bennett. My goodness, he
33:35
Speaker 2: went on to Washington State University to play linebacker. But
33:39
Speaker 2: what a great, you know, small school athlete he was.
33:43
Speaker 2: And Meridian did what they needed to do to win
33:46
Speaker 2: that game. And Bob Ames has won a lot of them.
33:48
Speaker 2: So three hundred and thirty three wins in his career
33:51
Speaker 2: in Wakin County a record that will be really really
33:55
Speaker 2: tough to grab. I mean, we're talking Coach Leppert just
33:58
Speaker 2: got over two hundred, you know. I think Coach Cramey
34:03
Speaker 2: he's you know, sad, sadly he passed away young, but
34:07
Speaker 2: he was in he was over two hundred wins. You know.
34:11
Speaker 2: Coach k Mak was just under two hundred. Coach Plankovich
34:14
Speaker 2: might reach number two hundred this year. That's two hundred,
34:17
Speaker 2: you know. Coach James had three hundred and thirty three.
34:19
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of basketball coaches that have never
34:22
Speaker 2: had that many wins and they play twice as many
34:25
Speaker 2: games a year, so very very impressive. I'm so glad
34:29
Speaker 2: he's still at it. And yeah, and of course at
34:33
Speaker 2: Meridian High School. That another thing that I love is
34:35
Speaker 2: going to the games and smelling that food. They got
34:38
Speaker 2: the barbecue going and it is just holy cow. It's
34:43
Speaker 2: it's it's it's my favorite place to eat at a
34:46
Speaker 2: football game, like at the actual game as Meridian High School.
34:50
Speaker 2: Those burgers are amazing, So I can't wait to get
34:53
Speaker 2: back out there. I love that they got some of
34:55
Speaker 2: these Saturday games at home that allows me to because
34:59
Speaker 2: I know I'll be freed, I know I'll be able
35:00
Speaker 2: to go, and that's very very heartwarming. I think Meridian
35:05
Speaker 2: it's gonna be really interesting because with three allocations at
35:08
Speaker 2: the one A, I think that I think that they
35:11
Speaker 2: are right there trying to get you know, I think
35:15
Speaker 2: if you, you know, you kind of looked at it,
35:17
Speaker 2: you say, well, can they get that third spot? I
35:20
Speaker 2: think they have the athletes to do it, and it's
35:25
Speaker 2: it kind of works out well for them because they
35:27
Speaker 2: have so many young kids and so many first year
35:29
Speaker 2: varsity guys that the first half of the schedule, first
35:32
Speaker 2: five games are all non league games. You get everything
35:35
Speaker 2: figured out there and then you just go at it.
35:39
Speaker 2: It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a great, great year.
35:42
Speaker 2: Meridian football is just it's always fun to to see
35:46
Speaker 2: how things are going there and yeah, it's not going
35:50
Speaker 2: away anytime soon. So anyways, that kind of wraps it
35:54
Speaker 2: up there for the Meridian Football Preview. Again, I want
35:59
Speaker 2: to thank Daniel Larson for the intro. He's going to
36:01
Speaker 2: be a big, big part of the team and excited
36:04
Speaker 2: to see what he can do. And of course I
36:05
Speaker 2: want to thank Kurt Maybury Farm once again for being
36:08
Speaker 2: the main sponsor of the Welcome Preps podcast. So until then,
36:13
Speaker 2: I will talk to you tomorrow morning when we're talking
36:16
Speaker 2: about some of the city schools, and I'll talk to
36:18
Speaker 2: you then