High school football season preview: 3A South Sound Conference
High school sports have returned in the South Sound. After a shortened spring football season, we’re back to a normal calendar in 2021, with the fall football season now underway. The News Tribune is previewing different high school football leagues around the area as games continue. Up next: The Class 3A South Sound Conference.
WHO’S THE FAVORITE?
Early on, it looks like defending league champion Yelm (that was without Peninsula, which won the league the year before. The Seahawks played as temporary members of the 4A SPSL last spring). Jason Ronquillo, in his ninth year as the team’s head coach, has this program rolling right now. Yelm won its first game of the season, 34-18 against visiting Lincoln on Sept. 3.
Reigning league MVP Kyler Ronquillo, now a junior, is electric in space and is a threat to score any time he touches the ball. Junior linebacker Ray Wright, the league’s reigning defensive MVP, is complemented by linebacker Brayden Platt, who’s already turning heads as a sophomore. Platt, who holds an offer from UW, is a hard-hitting, fast, 6-foot-1, 220-pound tone setter for the Tornados on both sides of the ball. He’s also one of the state’s top javelin throwers. Add in a pair of senior defensive ends and all-league returners in Logan Platt and Cooper Cleveringa, and all-league linebacker William Carreto, and there’s a lot to like on this roster.
Yelm has churned out some quality players in recent years. Offensive lineman Dylan Jemtegaard is currently a freshman at Cal; defensive end Bradley McGannon walked on at UW a year earlier. In the 2019 class, offensive lineman Jacob Dimon went to Idaho State. ‘Buying in’ to the culture a coach is selling is a tired cliche, but it rings true at Yelm. Watch a Tornados football game and it’s clear how hard the players play on Friday nights.
WHO ELSE COULD BE A CONTENDER?
Peninsula, which won the league in 2019, before competing last spring as a temporary member of the 4A SPSL. Peninsula was impressive playing up a classification, too. The Seahawks went 5-1, losing only to Graham-Kapowsin, which would’ve been a 4A state championship contender (and is again this fall). The Seahawks lost some key pieces from last spring, though. Landon Sims and Sean Skladany (Eastern Washington) were one of the area’s best running back duos last spring, and have both since graduated. Defensive back Chase Coalson, another first-team all-league selection in the 4A SPSL, also graduated.
Some of that youth showed in Peninsula’s season-opening 51-13 loss to a very good Bellevue team last week, in which the Seahawks were short on answers to slow down Bellevue’s running game. But Ross Filkins (now in his 26th season as the head coach of the Seahawks) and his staff are some of the best around at player development, so we’d expect to see plenty of improvement over the course of the season. Senior quarterback Jake Bice has settled in as the starter and senior offensive tackle and Boise State commit Hall Schmidt leads another typically physical Peninsula line that will look to establish the run.
SAVE THE DATE
Peninsula at Yelm — Friday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m.
TOP 20 PLAYERS TO WATCH
WR Kyler Ronquillo, Yelm, jr.
OL Kollin Gifford, Yelm, sr.
RB Brayden Platt, Yelm, soph.
LB Ray Wright, Yelm, jr.
DE Logan Platt, Yelm, sr.
DE Cooper Cleveringa, Yelm, sr.
LB William Carreto, Yelm, jr.
QB Jake Bice, Peninsula, sr.
OL Hall Schmidt, Peninsula, sr.
OL Taylor Jones, Peninsula, sr.
LB Josh Hinkel, Peninsula, sr.
RB Jake Kennedy, Capital, sr
DB Deonte Burns, Capital, sr.
OL Cooper Carlson, Capital, sr.
TE Hudson Cedarland, Gig Harbor, sr.
DB Christian Parrish, Gig Harbor, jr.
WR Dontae Robinson, River Ridge, sr.
LB Johnny Mapu, River Ridge, jr.
LB Elijah Iosefo, River Ridge, sr.
LB Kaleb McNeely, Timberline, jr.
PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH
Yelm, Peninsula, Gig Harbor, River Ridge, Capital, Timberline, Central Kitsap, North Thurston
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
