High School Football | Bellevue takes a different route to semifinal game

LAKEWOOD — For many Bellevue football players, the most nervous moments were getting on a bus again, not playing a state semifinal football game.

"It was real scary," said junior lineman Julious Moore of getting aboard the bus. He made it a point to sit in a different seat on the ride to Harry E. Lang Stadium than he had sat in Friday when a different chartered bus crashed en route to the Tacoma Dome.

Moore said when the bus crashed Friday, he thought he was about to die. He stayed inside the bus by grabbing a seat as the bus overturned.

The accident involving two cars, a semitruck and the bus carrying Bellevue's starters was caused by a ladder coming off a pickup truck.

Friday's game was postponed until Monday night and top-ranked Bellevue advanced with an easy 28-6 victory over Capital of Olympia.

Bellevue took a different route to Pierce County this time, traveling down Highway 167 instead of I-5. Unexpected traffic volume delayed the Wolverines' arrival about 25 minutes and there were only 35 minutes until kickoff when the team arrived.

The lack of speed on the trip didn't bother junior lineman Jake Hiller who said, "It felt good to be going slow."

Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff said the game proved that "kids are resilient." He said the team's Saturday morning practice was a turning point and the "best thing we did" in getting the undefeated team ready.

He said the practice started with an instruction that "anybody who has sore necks or sore backs get on this side of the 50-yard-line."

Senior quarterback Tommy Castle said he was "a little uneasy" getting on the bus but figured, "What are the chances of it happening again?"

Castle said when players saw each other Saturday morning "we felt overwhelmed how blessed we were that it was something we could move on from without serious injuries or death. That so easily could have happened."

Goncharoff suffered a separated shoulder, bruised vertebrae and cuts on his back when he went flying out a bus window in the accident.

Bellevue was without starting defensive end Alex Gray Monday because of injuries suffered in the crash but everyone else was able to play. Goncharoff said 15 players were day-of-game decisions but all were cleared by medical personnel.

"They were nervous to get on the bus for sure," Goncharoff said of his players, who now face Union of Vancouver for the state title Saturday. "If you hit a semi at 65 miles an hour and flip over, you're lucky to be here no matter what. The fact we are walking, let alone playing, is the main thing."