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FOOTBALL
2001
Tony
Overman/The Olympian
Alex
Pittelkau returns, but he'll have a new offensive line as
North Thurston attempts another playoff run.
Wide
open Pac-9 should be fun
Several
teams have legit shot at league crown
DARRELL
ROOT, THE OLYMPIAN
Ask Pacific-9 League football coaches around South Sound who
they think the best team is.
You get four
answers, in varying order -- last year's top three of North
Thurston, Tumwater and Timberline, plus a Chehalis team
that just missed.
Then somebody
says "Really, a lot of the other teams have improved over
last year. There aren't many teams that couldn't beat anybody
else on a given night."
That makes it
tough for anyone to pick a team to win the Pac-9 championship,
but one question brings it down to one team.
Who has the
fewest question marks?
That team is
Timberline.
The Blazers
have a huge line that averages 243 pounds per player --
including a 205-pound center -- and features college prospects
Mike Oliveria and Aaron Ware.
The Blazers
return quarterback Tony Rapaglia, kicker supreme Rob Foppiano,
a couple of effective running backs in Joe Smith and Dan
Rough, and a good receiver in Nic Iverson.
The players
should have a full grasp of second-year Timberline coach
Kevin Young's program and what he expects of them this time
around.
Young said it
will be crucial the Blazers stay focused and avoid injuries
because of a lack of depth in some places.
The rest of
the prime candidates come with big question marks.
North Thurston
returns the league's premier running back in Alex Pittelkau
and has a stable of skill players back.
But coach Rocky
Patchin lost virtually all of his linemen from last year's
state playoffs team.
Tumwater returns
just two starters on each side of the ball plus a kicker,
which doesn't bode well for a program that wants to win
a league title.
But coach Sid
Otton and his staff do such a good job of what Otton calls
"reloading, not rebuilding," that the Thunderbirds can never
be ignored.
Chehalis has
one of the state's top quarterbacks in Sawyer Smith.
But the Bearcats
lost Smith's favorite target, Andy Olson, who also was a
top defensive player and kicker-punter.
Coach Ivor Hoglund
still has a number of skills players back from last year's
team, but his biggest chore is much the same as North Thurston's
-- replacing linemen.
Black Hills
is the darkhorse of the rest with 14 returning lettermen
and some key transfers.
Centralia is
also a consideration with a strong linebacking crew that
features all-state selection Brycen Wesen and an innovative
coach in John Schultz.
River Ridge
has plenty of talent, but the bulk of it is very young.
That's a precarious situation in a league that is always
tough.
Aberdeen rebounded
a bit last year from an absolutely abysmal season the year
before, and the Bobcats have been too good over the years
to not be improved.
Finally, Yelm
competes against Pac-9 teams for the first time since leaving
for the Pierce County League 16 years ago.
The Tornados
are replacing 15 of 22 starters from last year's team that
tied for third in the PCL, so they will likely be learning
about themselves as everybody else is learning about them.
The
Olympian Copyright 2001
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