South Sound Confidential: toughest coaches to game plan against, underrated players
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High school football is back
The News Tribune is visiting schools in the area and previewing local leagues as the first week of games approaches.
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The 2023 high school football season is nearly here in the South Sound. The News Tribune’s sports and visuals crews have been hard at work with our preseason practice tour, visiting local programs around the South Sound, providing photos, videos and insight on what to expect during the 2023 season.
This year, we surveyed dozens of coaches in August and asked them about their respective leagues. Who’s the toughest team to game plan against? Which coach in the league consistently gets the most out of their roster? Which team in their league runs the most difficult offensive scheme to simulate in practice? Who’s the most underrated player in their league? Which team could surprise people this year?
Here’s what they said.
Who’s the toughest coach to game plan against in your league? Why?
The school mentioned the most by coaches was Graham-Kapowsin coach Jeff Logan. For good reason, too. Since the school opened in 2005, Graham-Kapowsin has seen nothing but football success, first reaching the state tournament in 2007. Since then, the Eagles have qualified for the state tournament nine times, highlighted by an undefeated season and the program’s first state championship in 2021. The season before that, G-K went undefeated during the spring covid-shortened season. Last year, G-K posted a 10-3 record, advancing to the 4A state tournament semifinals.
Again this year, they’re projected as one of the favorites to win it all. Suffice it to say, few teams have had answers for Graham-Kapowsin over the years, especially recently.
4A SPSL coaches: “Offensively, they’re very multiple.” “They’re balanced and well coached.” “Offensively they can spread you out and throw the ball, but they can also line up in I-formation and play power football. Tremendously hard to prepare for the multiple looks you get on defense.”
Other teams mentioned by multiple coaches: Auburn, Tumwater, Lincoln, Fife, Yelm, Kennedy Catholic, Sumner.
Which coach in your league consistently gets the most out of the talent on their roster?
They say you can only coach who shows up at your high school. Some programs are routinely blessed with high-end, Power Five talent, but most others have to work with what they have. Peninsula coach Ross Filkins (3A South Sound Conference) and Bellarmine Prep coach Brian Jensen (4A South Puget Sound Leagues) were the two names mentioned most by coaches.
Filkins, in his 29th season as the head coach of the Seahawks, has been a model of consistency in his nearly three-decade stint. Peninsula has made the playoffs 16 of the past 17 years, the byproduct of quality coaching, a dedicated staff of assistant coaches and a winning culture. While Peninsula has had some solid recruits and plenty of Big Sky-level talent over the years, most of that winning has come without blue chip caliber players.
Bellarmine faces an uphill climb to be competitive every year in the 4A SPSL, since the school’s enrollment would actually have them playing at the 2A level. Jensen doesn’t have the numbers or depth other schools have, and Bellarmine has seemed less inclined than other private schools further north to assemble star-studded rosters. Still, Jensen’s teams always play hard, are well coached and give the league’s top-tier teams challenging games.
3A SSC coach on Filkins: “Always has his guys well prepared and they are highly physical. They always have an expectation of winning and the coaching staff always finds small wrinkles that surprise you.”
4A SPSL coach on Jensen: “He does an outstanding job at Bellarmine with his athletes. His guys, especially on defense, are always extremely well coached and they play a difficult style of defense. It has always screwed up our blocking rules/responsibilities and creates problems for us. Players are not always lined up in typical areas but they always play well.”
Other coaches mentioned multiple times: Keith Ross, Sumner; Jason Silbaugh, Bonney Lake.
Which team in your league runs the most difficult offensive scheme to simulate in practice? What makes it difficult?
From the Wing-T to the Air Raid, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Some offenses are so unique or so seldom used, coaches aren’t used to having to prepare for them.
The school mentioned most often here? Franklin Pierce, which runs a Power T offense and hardly ever passes. In fact, Franklin Pierce coach Trevor Hanson welcomes former Tenino coach Cary Nagel as the new Cardinals’ offensive coordinator. Nagel’s teams racked up gobs of yards on the ground while he was the head coach.
“Are you familiar with Tenino?” Hanson asked during a visit to Cardinals practice this week. “The offense we’re running, basically, is the Tenino offense. Cary averaged like 500 yards a game with it. We’re looking to have two 1,000-yard rushers this season.”
2A SPSL coaches: “Power T, Zero Splits is really hard to simulate in practice.” “Not that many teams run that style of offense or have the personnel for it.”
Other teams mentioned multiple times: Emerald Ridge, Bonney Lake, Kennedy Catholic
Excluding players from your own team, who do you think is the most underrated player in your league? Why?
The answers varied quite a bit on this question, which I kind of expected. The name mentioned most often? Graham-Kapowsin quarterback Daveon Superales, who completed 69 percent of his passes as a junior last season, passing for 2,367 yards and 21 touchdowns to four interceptions.
Going into his second season as the starter, Superales is poised for a huge season with returning all-state receiver Jabez Woods, junior Khris Norris, tight end Noah Flores returning from injury and Puyallup transfer Malachi Durant now in the fold.
4A SPSL coaches on Superales: “He is a very good QB. Could be the best one ever from Graham-Kapowsin.” “He’s just as good as (Emerald Ridge quarterback Jake Schakel).”
Others mentioned: Jonathan Epperson, Auburn Riverside; D’Aryhian Clemons, Spanaway Lake; Cedric Ragland Jr., Timberline; Sean Ponce, Sumner; Gio Kafentzis, Emerald Ridge; Rocco Koch, Curtis; Brison Bailey, Mount Tahoma; Antoine Lee, Kentwood; Paris Saunders, Thomas Jefferson; Micah Volavola, North Thurston; Timothy Sousou, Central Kitsap; Christian Goode, Franklin Pierce; Darrell Gipson, Timberline.
Which team from your league do you think could surprise people this year?
The school mentioned most often was Curtis. Curtis features two of the area’s most dynamic athletes in senior quarterback Rocco Koch — the league’s co-offensive player of the year and TNT All-Area selection in 2022 — and all-league selection Xavier Ahrens, a 6-foot-4 receiver and defensive back who led the league with 11 receiving touchdowns and had four interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns last season. Koch, a bruising dual-threat quarterback, passed for 1,460 yards and 21 TDs and rushed for 1,076 and nine more scores in 2022.
Curtis made the playoffs last season but couldn’t slow down Federal Way in districts, losing 37-17 and falling one game short of reaching the 4A state tournament. The Vikings could make a state tournament run this year.
4A SPSL coach on the Vikings: “They’re a snake in the grass and will catch people off guard early.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
