High school football season preview: Mount Tahoma T-Birds
The high school football season begins in early September and The News Tribune has been all over the South Sound, visiting local programs at practices before games begin. Up next, we’re previewing a handful of teams individually before the season kicks off.
Here’s how things are shaping up for the Mount Tahoma T-Birds this fall.
Editor’s note: The “outlook” section for each program is pulled from the TNT’s preseason practice tour. Find the full practice tour story here, complete with insight on over 20 teams in the area, quotes, photos, videos and more.
MOUNT TAHOMA T-BIRDS
Head coach: Keith Terry, fourth year
2024 results: 7-5, Class 3A state tournament quarterfinals
Offensive coordinator & base scheme: Keith Terry, Spread Pistol
Defensive coordinator & base scheme: Dion Alexander, 4-2-5
OUTLOOK
Mount Tahoma coach Keith Terry knows his roster is talented enough to make a deep postseason run this fall. He knows he has the athletes and experience. The next step, he thought, was mental.
So he put his team through leadership training over the summer. One of the activities? An escape room.
“Just putting those guys in situations that put you in critical thinking,” he said. “When you’re in that situation, how do you deal with things?”
One team made it out of the escape room. The other did not (we won’t name names). But Terry think he has a mentally stronger, mature group this year. And the football talent, of course, isn’t a question.
Mount Tahoma returns two-way WR/DB star Elijah Durr, a UW commit, who figures to be a terror for teams on both sides of the ball this year. Senior quarterback Mikkah Cordero is one of the area’s best dual-threat QB’s. He’ll have a solid line blocking for him, returning running back Felix Diaz and senior receiver Anthony Quintanilla Jr. complementing Durr. There’s a lot to like on this team, which has made it to the 3A state tournament quarterfinals two straight years.
“The expectation is to dominate fully,” Durr said.
Cordero has no shortage of talent to feed the ball to this fall.
“We can do some damage,” he said. “I feel like we have the best athletes in the state at every single position.”
It’ll be another tough non-league schedule with games against Yelm, Camas and Mount Si. The T-Birds wouldn’t have it any other way.
“From us being freshmen, what we’ve built, we’ve built from 4-6 to now back-to-back Elite 8, state quarterfinal appearances,” Cordero said. “We’ve been knocked out by teams that went to the state finals and now I think it’s our year.”
KEY PLAYERS
WR Elijah Durr, sr.
QB Mikkah Cordero, sr.
RB Felix Diaz, sr.
LB Shan Jones, sr.
DL Andrew Asaeli, sr.
SCHEDULE
Sept. 5: vs. Yelm
Sept. 12: at Camas
Sept. 19: vs. Mount Si
Sept. 26: vs. Central Kitsap
Oct. 3: at Lincoln
Oct. 10: vs. Bellarmine Prep
Oct. 17: at Gig Harbor
Oct. 24: at Silas
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
