Cascade Christian’s Flattum, Seaton sign letters to play college football

The Cascade Christian High football program, which has enjoyed quite the run of championship-level football over the past four years, is sending off two more players to play at the next level.

In a small ceremony Feb. 22 at the school, Jared Flattum inked his commitment to being Whitworth’s future center on the offensive line. Flattum joined teammate Josh Seaton, who signed on as a safety with South Dakota School of Mines and Technology earlier in the month, as the latest players to continue their playing careers.

“I’m really excited. Working really hard in high school, I mean, it’s paid off for me and Josh especially,” Flattum said. “Last year, we had a ton of guys go off to play (in) college. It’s going to be a ton of fun.”

Flattum joining Whitworth is continuing on the family tradition of sorts, as Flattum joins his father, Brian, in playing center in the Division-III Northwest Conference. Homecoming will be one of fractious time inside the Flattum household.

“Well, I’ll for sure be supporting my son. It will be a tough day, (but) I’ll layer it up,” said Brian, who played center at Pacific Lutheran University, one of Whitworth’s top rivals. “Going over there last spring, the coaches were really great with him. (I) just love what the program stands for over there.”

Though a bit undersized at 5-foot-10 and 218 pounds, Flattum’s tenacity in the weight room matched with his fury on the field earned him this offer from the Pirates.

Now, like any other challenge before him, Flattum wants to prove he is the right choice for Whitworth after a season where the Pirates finished 9-2, good for second place in the NWC.

“I like center a lot. My dad played center in college, so it will be cool to be able to play that too,” Flattum said. “I love football, so it’s going to be fun playing it for a few more years.”

Matter of respect

Last season, Seaton was thrown through a little bit of a ringer. After early-season quarterback troubles, Cascade Christian relied on its top athlete to get through the season.

“I told the coaches that they could rely on me to get the job done,” Seaton said of his approach to coach Randy Davis and offensive coordinator Brian Flattum. “I wanted to be there for the team, knowing that we needed someone to play quarterback. I wanted to put my teammates first.”

Seaton was a great receiver playing opposite Bryce Powers his junior season, but it was his play on defense that helped the Cougars win the Class 1A state championship that year.

But when things got tough for Cascade Christian last season, Seaton stepped up.

Quarterback is usually being the position teams often coddle, as the fragility of the position could mean playoff life come November. But the staff respected Seaton and his athletic ability, especially the playmaking skills he displayed out in the open field while playing safety.

“Not a lot of quarterbacks get the chance to play both sides of the ball. Teams want to protect them, which is understandable with what happened last season,” Seaton said. “But the coaches respected my skills enough to let me play both sides of the ball.”

And when Seaton went looking for colleges, respect was what he wanted in return. Especially when his intent is to go into the engineering field.

“Many of the schools that were looking at me wanted me to go into something else,” Seaton said of the difficulty college teams feel about the tough academic engineering students are put into. “I knew grades wouldn’t be a problem for me.”

So in stepped South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, which has half the team in either engineering or mining technology academic programs.

“The coaches said they believed I’d fit in with the team, and once I took my visit, I knew I wanted to go there,” Seaton said. “They showed me respect in what I wanted to do beyond football. I couldn’t ask more from a program.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Cascade Christian’s Flattum, Seaton sign letters to play college football."