From the Sidelines

Football season is back and area teams kickoff the 2011 season tomorrow with a host of intriguing match-ups headlined by Bellevue’s trip to play Oaks Christian in what some outlets have tabbed the national high school football game of the week. Issaquah Reporter sports writer Kevin Endejan and I are continuing on the path he and my predecessor Joel Willits started out on by predicting KingCo games along with games for the two private schools in our coverage area with football teams, Eastside Catholic and Bellevue Christian.

A few games each week will get the spotlight and have a more in-depth look, but we will have score predictions and polls for all games so you can chime in.

And away we go.

Interlake will not have the luxury of breaking in its new quarterback against a cupcake- the Knights walloped the Saints 70-14 in 2010 and made the 4A state quarterfinals- and how well Adriano adjusts to the intensity and pace of play will be critical early. If he can get himself on the edge and make some plays with his feet, those passing windows may open up as the game moves along. But if the Saints’ offense spin its tires early, it could be a long night against a bulked-up Newport front seven.

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Here are the preseason state rankings as voted on by sports reporters in the Reporter news group.

CLASS 4A
1. Skyline
2. Eastlake
3T. Ferris
3T. Bellarmine Prep
5. Chiawana
6T. Olympia
6T. Kentlake
8. Skyview
9. Issaquah
10. Federal Way
Others receiving votes: Kentwood, Richland, Union, Bethel, Curtis, Bothell, Mead, Jackson

CLASS 3A
1. Bellevue
2. Lakes
3. O’Dea
4. Mount Spokane
5T. Kamiakin
5T. Camas
7T. Timberline
7T. Capital
9. Mount Si
10. Ferndale
Others receiving votes: Liberty, Juanita, Peninsula, Kennedy Catholic

CLASS 2A
1. Tumwater
2. Lynden
3. Archbishop Murphy
4. Burlington-Edison
5. Othello
6. Prosser
7. W.F. West
8. East Valley
9T. Sequim
9T. Mark Morris
10T. North Thurston
10T. Anacortes
Others receiving votes: Lindbergh, Interlake, Washington

Football practices around the state open today and the Bellevue Reporter will be heading out to all five football programs in Bellevue to get the run down from those on the inside. Our football preview section will run in print on August 26 and the online version will include team capsules, extra cuts from interviews and much more. As of week 1 of the season, we will take a look at each of the five games on the slate for that night every Friday and will have one in-depth feature plus recaps from each of the other games being played. The season kicks off on Sept. 2, but we’ve been thinking football since spring sports concluded. Here are a few items from the spring and summer.

I spoke with all five football coaches in Bellevue beginning with Bellevue Christian’s Greg Schneider. Schneider will lead the Vikings in their innagural gridiron campaign, a process he believes will be aided by his work in the GEJFA with the Bellevue Wolverines’ junior football program, where he led his teams to league championships at multiple levels.

Schneider and the Vikings will play their home games at Lake Washington in 2011. Photo Credit Josh Suman, Bellevue Reporter

Volunteer assistant and former professional football player Jeff Kemp should be able to lend some expertise if necessary.

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Football practice and other fall prep sports are just over a week away, but a couple of familiar local faces will be on-hand Wednesday in Bellevue to give away a VIP fan experience to one die-hard Hawks fan (or a fair-weather fan with a strong and accurate throwing arm).

On August, 10 at 3:30 p.m., former NFL and University of Washington quarterback Brock Huard, along with KIRO 710 radio voice (and 97.3 talk show host…and girls basketball coach at Shorecrest High School) Dori Monson will be on the football field at Newport High School for their “Free Agent Fly In”.

The competition will be to see who can hit the goal post by throwing a football from increasing distances on the field, beginning at the 10-yard-line. The prize is a Seahawks VIP fan experience that includes a Kenmore Air Seaplane arrival to training camp practice on August 17 at VMAC, complete with hospitality tent, a personalized Seahawks jersey and 2 tickets to the August 20 preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Huard and Monson will be judging the event and anyone over the age of 18 is allowed to partake, after signing a waver form. The gates will open at 3:30 but anyone who arrives before 5 p.m. should be allowed to participate, according to a promotions spokesperson from mynorthwest.com.

David DeCastro, who spent his prep days as a Bellevue Wolverine, was named one of the top 25 Pac-12 players of 2011 by ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger Ted Miller recently.

DeCastro took in a Bellevue practice during the Spring

One guy who preceded DeCastro at Bellevue is now taking on a career as a rapper.

Tracy Ford, who finished his only season at Bellevue in 2004, went on to play collegiately at Idaho and then Portland State. Now, Ford is going by “Young Trace” and is making a run at a career in the music industry. He collaborated on a track with Jason Derulo recently and you can follow him on Twitter @youngtrace1

DeCastro and Ford’s alma mater is garnering some attention from the national media and has been ranked #47 by one online outlet.
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Shooting sports photos is always an adventure, especially since I’m not a photographer. That isn’t to suggest I can’t shoot photos, only that it would be an insult to work done by guys like our resident photo guru Chad Coleman if I called myself a photographer because I’m simply not on that level (few are).

With that being said, getting great shots that are worthy of going online and in print is still a major part of my job in this, the age of the do-it-all reporter.

Equipment obviously helps- the still images I can shoot on my personal point-and-shoot are nowhere near the quality of those I get with our office camera. Environment is another huge factor. Stadium lights at a high school football field aren’t always bright enough at field level to capture that moment of gridiron gallantry at its peak. Baseball diamonds are like cages from the outside and shooting through a chain link fence is a fickle and trying process. Essentially, every sport presents a unique set of challenges to getting that one impact photograph that will catch a readers eye and draw it in to my Pulitzer worthy writing.

More times than not, one or more of these factors will conspire against me, meaning I end up with a great action shot that is far too dark, or a perfectly lighted photo of a completely inconsequential moment of the contest. But once in awhile, I catch a break.

That was the case on Tuesday, when I was at Bannerwood Park to watch a AA American Legion tournament game between two local teams, Lakeside Recovery and Bellevue Legion.

In the bottom of the first inning, as I watched from the field-level scorers box, a play at the plate began to take shape. There obviously isn’t a ton of outstanding action during the average baseball game, especially that can be effectively shot from outside the cage. A guy might make a diving catch in the outfield and lose his cap in the process, but if you’re anywhere other than down that baseline towards the outfield, the distance from the action is going to limit the impact of the photo.

For that reason, I knew I had to get this play, even if it didn’t result in a collision. Luckily for me though, it did.

As the ball is relayed from the outfield, the catcher takes his post on the third base side of home plate. In this shot, he does not yet have the ball, an important fact we will get to in a second.

Seeing the catcher preparing to receive the relay throw, the baserunner now knows to brace himself as well. In his mind at this time, the plate belongs to him and not the catcher and if the remains where he is, a collision is almost unavoidable. Before the ball arrives, the two collide as both are unwilling to give up position in an effort to make the play.

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Fall camp opens August 17 and the regular season kicks off September 2 with a full slate of games. We have schedules for all five football programs in Bellevue, including the maiden voyage for the Bellevue Christian Vikings, the three-time defending 3A champs from Wolverine Way, 2010 2A quarterfinal playoff team Interlake, 4A state playoff team Newport and Sammamish.

Bellevue

9/3 Oaks Christian @ Mission Viejo, CA

9/9 @ Skyline

9/16 Interlake

9/23 Lake Washington

9/30 @ Mercer Island

10/7 Juanita

10/14 @ Sammamish

10/21 @ Mount Si

10/28 Liberty

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Glendale Country Club held their Member-Guest Invitational on July 16 and one man, Ted Weill of Southern California, walked off the course with a new car.

Weill, who hails from near Palm Desert, CA, recorded a hole-in-one on number two at Glendale and in the process won himself a 2011 Honda Pilot EX-L from Honda Auto Center of Bellevue.

A hole-in-one on any other hole would have been an outstanding feat nonetheless, but only an ace on number two could won the Honda. Weill could not be reached for comment, but an official from Honda said this is only the second time someone has won the giveaway.

One day after pounding the Tacoma Cobras 12-0 to remain in the winners bracket of their super-regional tournament, the Lakeside Recovery Senior Legion baseball club dropped consecutive games to the Spokane Blue Devils and Kennewick Bandits,missing out on a state tournament berth in the process.

In its first game of the evening, Lakeside carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning before watching the Blue Devils knot things up with a pair of singles and a critical error in the outfield.

Thomas Townsend then led off the top of the 10th with a base hit and eventually came around to score the go-ahead run and Sean Scholer shut things down in the bottom half of the inning to preserve the win and send the Blue Devils to the Senior Legion State Tournament as the champs of the sub-regional tournament.

Mike Paulson, a 2010 graduate of Issaquah, went nine innings and allowed only a pair of runs (one earned) for Lakeside on the mound and did not factor in the decision. The loss ends the year for Lakeside, which finishes with a 21-23 record.

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The Junior Softball World Series begins on August 14 at Everest Park in Kirkland and one group of local girls will be there to make a run at a World Championship. The combined squad from Bellevue West, Thunderbird and Mercer Island Little Leagues won the District 9 title with a 1-0 victory over Redmond/Eastlake on July 13 and since District 9 is the host of the tournament, also earned a spot in the 10 team field for the World Series.

In addition to teams from five geographic regions (Central, East, Southwest, Southwest and West regions, plus the hosts from District 9) of the United States, teams from Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Latin America will converge on Kirkland to represent their respective Little Leagues from around the world.

From L-R: Leslie Harris, Madelyn Shelby, Brooke Baumgartner, Morgan Peyou, Carly Pim, Sydney Hopper, Sydney Tomlinson, Megan Page, India Gants, Kathryn Wood, Maggie Pana & Claire McCarthy. Courtesy, Pamela Wood.

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