Football Notebook | Roosevelt kicker comes clean

Sarah Klein chose football over soccer this fall and is handling extra-point and field-goal kicking duties for Roosevelt.

Coach Jeff Ware said he saw her practicing field goals from his classroom window last spring, then introduced himself while extending an invitation to try out this fall. She was one of three kicking finalists and "impressed us as being the most consistent," Ware said.

Klein, a sophomore, has made 13 of 14 extra-point attempts and one of three field-goal tries, hitting from 29 yards. She has missed from 22 when she didn't have her regular holder, and from 35. Ware said she has hit a 40-yard field goal in practice.

"Her teammates razz her a little bit from time to time," Ware said, "but they respect her as an athlete and, for the most part, see her as just one of the guys."

She's not just one of the guys in her laundry habits, though.

"The other day we had a team discussion about the dangers of staph infection," Ware said. "We mandated that all the players take home their practice uniforms and wash them. She stared at her teammates with a look of disbelief and said, 'You guys don't wash your stuff?' "

Little sister gets her kicks

Celina Mortensen knew Franklin Pierce would be looking for a kicker this fall.

Her brother, Dirk, was an all-league kicker as a senior for the Cardinals last year, helping the Parkland school march to the state semifinals.

She knew she had the credentials to succeed him.

"I figured I did it [kicked] in eighth grade, I could probably do it again," said Celina, a premier soccer player who chose football over high-school soccer this fall.

Wearing her brother's jersey No. 12, she has connected on 9 of 11 PATs.

She can tackle, too, as evidenced on YouTube.com, a clip Dirk posted after she made a touchdown-saving tackle after a kickoff against White River (reference MrMortensen).

And there's another sibling kicker in the wings. Megan Mortensen is co-captain of the Ford Middle School eighth-grade team.

Lineman answers the call

West Seattle senior lineman Drew Savas missed last Friday's upset victory over O'Dea with an injury. He helped as a spotter in the press box.

A friend who isn't much of a football fan called him in the second quarter and asked, "Where are you?"

"At the football game," Drew said.

"Are you playing?" the friend asked.

Drew replied: "Do you think I'd answer the phone if I was playing?"

Roosevelt riding high

Through three decades and three leagues, no Roosevelt team has gotten this far since 1981. With a team chock full of seniors excited about a new spread offense, the Roughriders are 3-0. And they've made it there convincingly, winning by an average of 25 points.

But the real test of how far the Roughriders have come will be Friday, when No. 6 Woodinville visits Memorial Stadium. It's the first game of the KingCo 4A Crown Division season, and the Roughriders can become the first 4-0 Roosevelt team since 1978.

And with a win, the Teddies can start getting serious about their first playoff berth since 1984.

"Everybody's looking to this Woodinville game," said Ware, "and looking to see how good we are."

The Roughriders have never beaten Woodinville since joining KingCo 4A in 1997, but they came close a year ago. They led 10-0 at half and 10-7 after three quarters. But too many mistakes led to a 21-10 loss.

"We didn't know how to win the game," senior lineman John Yuzyvak said. "This year, when we go into the locker room, people are hyped up, people know this is our game."

Ware switched from the wing-T offense to the shotgun spread this offseason, and watched as more than 100 players turned out this summer.

"They liked the sound of that," Ware said. "When word got out that we were running the shotgun, there was a lot of interest."

No one was more interested than senior quarterback Nick Foster, who threw only five touchdown passes out of the wing-T last season. In an offense Ware says "is made for him," Foster has already thrown eight touchdown passes and run for two more.

"It's a lot of fun," Foster said.

Eastside Catholic home at last

Twenty-eight years after it opened, Eastside Catholic will play a true home football game. No wonder fireworks are scheduled after the game!

EC moved onto its new, 50-acre Sammamish campus last month. The Crusaders will play undefeated Lakeside at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Among the home fields EC "borrowed" over the years were those of Lake Washington, Interlake, Redmond, Juanita and Newport high schools, plus Renton Stadium.

The new EC campus is between Skyline and Eastlake, which means there are three high schools in a one-mile stretch.

Lakeside has nonleague wins over Lakewood, Coupeville and Vashon Island. EC's season has included an impressive win over 4A Eisenhower of Yakima and a 26-23 loss to 2A power Archbishop Murphy.

EC was founded in 1980 and the first campus was across from Bellevue Square in the old Bellevue Junior High School building. The school moved to the former Rindall Middle School in Newport Hills in 1988.

Lake Stevens' Dickinson out

Bo Dickinson, Lake Stevens running back and safety, could be out for the season with two broken vertebrae in his back suffered during a punt return in the ninth-ranked Vikings' 35-0 win over Stanwood last week.

Dickinson, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior, is the team's leading rusher and has scored seven touchdowns. He's scored on rushing and receiving plays and on punt, kickoff and fumble returns.

"We're losing our captain, our senior leader and our best all-around player," said Vikings coach Tom Tri.

Surgery is not required, but Tri said doctors have said Dickinson could miss anywhere from three to 10 weeks.

Good news, bad news

Meadowdale running back Naji Moore-Taylor returned from a suspension this week, but leading rusher Sam Werner is out for the season.

Werner, a 6-1, 180-pound junior, suffered a broken foot last Friday against Mountlake Terrace.

"I was going to look like a really smart coach with both of them in the backfield," said Meadowdale coach Mark Stewart. "This will be a good test for us."

Moore-Taylor, the team's leading rusher in 2007, had served a three-week suspension for an athletic code violation last fall.

Arlington offense starts fast

Arlington, which upset Jackson last week, is 3-0 for the first time since 2005, when the Eagles went 10-2 and made the 4A state quarterfinals. Arlington was picked sixth of seven teams in a preseason poll of WesCo North coaches.

First-year coach Greg Dailer implemented a spread-option offense similar to that of former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, and is getting solid quarterback play from Jake Parduhn. The dual-threat junior completed 17 of 25 passes for 261 yards and three TDs and rushed for 97 yards last week.

"He's a good athlete," said his coach.

"I knew what we were doing was going to work," Dailer said. "I didn't think it would start working so well, so quickly."

Arlington hosts No. 9 Lake Stevens Friday night.

Terrace upset creates a buzz

No one is sure the last time Mountlake Terrace had beaten a top-10 team.

"Rumor has it was in 1973, over Meadowdale," said fifth-year Hawks coach Tony Umayam.

Mountlake Terrace ended the drought with a shocking, 23-17 overtime win last Friday against -- once again -- Meadowdale, then ranked third in Class 3A.

The Hawks are 2-1 for the first time since 2002.

"The players are excited," Umayam said. "There's a buzz going around the school."

Notes

• Edmonds-Woodway RB Tony Heard, who missed last week's win over Lynnwood, is questionable for Friday's game against Jackson for undisclosed reasons. His replacement, Jimmy Spears, rushed for 241 yards and four TDs last week.

• West Seattle senior Aaron Grymes (knee) will be a game-time decision Friday against Nathan Hale. Wildcats RB/LB Marshall Hance, who had to leave the game last Friday against O'Dea, is available.

• O'Dea will be without senior lineman Danny Kistler for the second straight week, and junior FB Zach Fogerson is expected to be a game-time decision. Both have ankle injuries.

• Billy Lechtenberg, Mountlake Terrace WR and DB, is out for at least a week with a lower leg injury.

• Monroe QB Brian Sonneveldt set school records with 401 passing yards and five TDs in a 39-27 win over Sedro-Woolley last Friday. "Brian made good decisions and put balls where kids could catch them," said first-year coach Dave Telford. "It was fun to watch." The 2-1 Bearcats were winless last year.

Times staff reporters Craig Smith and Tom Wyrwich and freelancers Joshua Mayers and Zach Landres-Schnur contributed to this report.