Offenses, beware: Yelm’s defense is getting even nastier this fall

It’s not a bad way to start building a defense.

Take two all-league linebackers, add the league’s defensive most valuable player, who’s also a linebacker. Then, add a 6-foot-2, 230-pound junior linebacker who already has two Pac-12 offers.

Start them all and let opponents figure out how to get past your second level. That’s exactly the problem Yelm’s Stack 4 defense will pose this season.

“It’s a complete package at linebacker,” Tornados coach Jason Ronquillo said.

Ray Wright (listed at 5-10, 200) was the Class 3A South Sound Conference defensive MVP for the second time last season as Yelm finished 10-1, losing in the state quarterfinals — perhaps only because they ran into Marysville-Pilchuck’s Air Force Academy-bound running back Dylan Carson on a 400-yard rushing day.

A second senior, William Carreto (5-10, 185) was a 3A SSC second-team selection. Junior Brayden Platt, a two-way and three-sport star, is being recruited coast-to-coast by national powers, and was a 3A SSC first-teamer. Junior Isaiah Patterson was a 4A Greater St. Helens League second-team pick at Skyview last season, before transferring to Yelm mid-school-year.

Wright and Platt have played football since kindergarten, and all four have been linebackers since middle school.

“The four of us are in charge of the defense. We can set an example and lead,” Patterson said. “We can lay the boom whenever we want to, so it’s really fun.”

Some of the numbers the group piled up defy belief.

Wright recorded an astonishing 129 tackles, 19 for losses including nine sacks. Platt — a 1,152-yard rusher on offense who also won the 3A shot put state title after a runner-up finish in wrestling — made 78 tackles, including two sacks, and had two interceptions.

Wright’s versatility allowed him to rush for for 441 yards and six touchdowns on 55 carries last season. He also caught 14 passes for 120 yards and four touchdowns. But, he and Platt both express a preference for defense.

“It’s high energy,” Platt said.

“They have speed, they’re super athletic for the size that they all are,” Ronquillo said. “They’re kids that you see them on the field and you know they’ve been working out since the eighth grade. They’ve put in so much time year round. They’re physical, they’re fit.

“As years go by and they gain experience, they become a lot more instinctual.”

As if the four linebackers weren’t enough, Yelm also returns Ronquillo’s son Kyler, a two-way all-league player at defensive back and wide receiver who has committed to Portland State, and 3A SSC second-team defensive back Paavan Bankston.

“Our back end defense is really a tight unit with experience not only from last year, but the year before,” Jason Ronquillo said.

Though he’d been told when he came over from Hoquiam a decade ago that the experience of building Yelm’s program would be one of fits and starts with big leaps forward countered by frustrating dips, Ronquillo has instead been able to create a gradual uptrend that, now, has his team in contention for a 3A state title.

“Every spring and summer we always have a sense that, ‘Man, we’re going to be a little bit better than we were last year.’ Ever since I’ve got here I’ve had that exact same feeling,” he said. “The culture’s continued to build and grow.”

Carreto points to the commitment of Tornado players as the reason.

Said Platt: “Coach Q has the mentality to make you get better throughout the years. Since he’s been here, we’ve slowly been on the come up.”

Patterson, who arrived at Yelm in December, found early acceptance from his new teammates.

“This is a really hard-working team,” he said. “Everyone really busted their butts during the offseason. We compete with each other hard in whatever it takes to build toward a state championship.”

With longtime power Bellevue picked ahead of the Tornados in preseason polls, players say they’ll need to stick together to outdo the Wolverines and other contenders such as O’Dea, Kennewick and Lincoln.

“To me, from an outside perspective, these guys have had the tools to win,” said Patterson, an edge rusher at Skyview whose strongest college interest to date has come from Oregon and Washington State.

“This year, if we make sure we’re finishing games, being assignment-sound, and work to the best of our abilities, I don’t think anyone can touch us.”