Former Husky Anthony Kelley brings his energetic style to Garfield

Keeping up with Anthony Kelley, Garfield's new defensive coordinator, can be a dizzying experience.

And not just for the football players.

"It's like he's pumped up on Red Bull. He's buzzing around all day," said Mikal Bailey, Garfield offensive and defensive line coach. "It's good, though. It's something that the kids need."

Kelley, 30, looks fit enough to still be playing linebacker for the Washington Huskies. He's 6 feet 2 and 280 pounds — about 40 pounds heavier than his playing weight — but is energetic on the practice field.

"We're controlled chaos!" he shouted to the defensive unit during one practice. "We cause havoc but we're in control."

Garfield head coach Anthony Allen, another former Husky, turns Kelley loose at practice and lets him run most of the drills. Allen said he "lucked out" by getting Kelley after another former UW linebacker, Marques Hairston, left Garfield after last season.

"He's great with kids," Allen said of Kelley. "He's not just talking. He coaches. I think the kids are really going to benefit from it."

Kelley had already been working with students in the city as part of his job as assistant director of diversity outreach and recruitment at the UW-Bothell. When the coaching position opened at Garfield, he was given the flexibility with his schedule to tackle both.

"A lot of people kind of like my style," Kelley said. "I have a lot of energy. I get a lot of things done. I connect with youth really well and I have a story that they can kind of relate to on multiple levels."

Kelley, who grew up in Southern California and attended eight different high schools, was a partial academic qualifier and sat out his first college season at Washington. He later thrived academically, studied abroad and was a part of the Huskies' 2001 Rose Bowl victory over Purdue.

He earned a master's degree and is preparing to go after his doctorate.

Kelley is up for the challenge at Garfield, where a three-win season last year was considered progress.

"I've got to set a bar that helps them understand (that) to be a champion, it hurts. It's not easy. It's not going to be by any means convenient. I want to break the idea of entitlement."

Simone steps up,

then cramps up

Heading into last week's season opener, Skyline coach Mat Taylor said he expected big things from receiver Jordan Simone.

The senior delivered, catching six passes for 207 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone.

"It was just fantastic," Taylor said. "We knew what he was capable of and we knew he was going to be a tremendous threat for us this year. Jordan was just unbelievable."

Then the senior cramped up and missed most of the second half.

"He's still very, very sore," Taylor said. "It was just kind of a freakish thing. He's in such good shape and his whole leg cramped up from the waist down. He tried to go back out there in the third quarter. Even on the sidelines, just walking, he could feel it. It was unfortunate."

Taylor said his staff works to keep his players hydrated, including providing Gatorade at both practice and games. Seeing so many Spartans struggle with cramps against the Patriots was a surprise. It was especially puzzling with Simone, who is in excellent shape.

Simone is expected to be back in action Saturday when Skyline plays Bellevue at Memorial Stadium.

Issaquah airs it out

Issaquah wasted little time establishing its passing game last week against Heritage (Vancouver).

Quarterback Ethan Kalin found receiver Evan Peterson for touchdown strikes of 50 and 69 yards in the first quarter.

Peterson, who also had a 75-yard score called back after a holding penalty, finished with nine catches for 209 yards. Kalin, who takes over this season after Ryan Bergman graduated, completed 14 of 27 passes for 286 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

"They've done a nice job of getting to know each other and understanding where they're going to be and coming up with a good feeling for each other," coach Chris Bennett said. "I hope that continues."

Laufasa starts fast

After one week, Juanita running back Jerimiah Laufasa is well on his way to another 1,000-yard season.

The senior picked up 160 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries in the Rebels' win over Redmond. He was also the team's leading tackler with 8.5.

"He's had such a great offseason," Juanita coach Shaun Tarantola said. "He's really worked hard and really been focused. We got a lot out of him. He played a lot."

M-P not

looking back

Jarret Finau, a Washington recruit, and four other players who would have played big roles for Marysville-Pilchuck this season abruptly transferred last spring — all moving into the Juanita attendance area.

"I don't have the answers," said Tomahawks coach Brandon Carson. "It's out of my hands. I've heard so much about it, I don't even want to talk about it any more.

"I've got a bunch of kids here that want to be in Marysville, and I am going to coach them."

Last week, the Tomahawks erased a 14-0 halftime deficit to beat Jackson, 27-22.

"We're a long ways away from where we want to be," Carson said. "But these kids are going to give us everything they have."

Carson knows one thing. When the nonleague portion of his team's season ends in a couple of weeks, he will have a good idea of how good his team is.

On Friday, Marysville-Pilchuck plays the WesCo South preseason favorite, Edmonds-Woodway. The Tomahawks then play Cascade before beginning their league schedule.

Jefferson breaks through

Dean Peck saw this coming.

In his second season at Jefferson in 2008, Peck was impressed with a strong group of ninth graders. That freshman team went 7-2, losing only to Tahoma and Curtis.

Many are now starters on the varsity, which beat Tahoma last Thursday, 21-7 — Jefferson's first victory over the Bears in seven tries.

"We have a lot of really good players in one group. We saw it when they were freshmen and now they're juniors," Peck said.

Leading the way is junior quarterback K.W. Williams, who rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown and passed for 106 yards and another TD.

The two big keys against Tahoma were the rushing offense (223 yards, 116 by senior Keegan Giles) and total defense (144 total yards allowed). Last year, the Raiders ranked next to last in rushing (66.9 yards per game) and dead last in defense (360.1 yards per game).

Peck credits new defensive coordinator Scott Morgan, a former assistant at West Seattle.

Next up is an even bigger challenge: Kentwood Thursday night at French Field. Jefferson is 0-14 against the Conquerors.

"They're a force," Peck said. "I told the guys, 'They're bigger than you, they're faster than you and they're stronger than you, but who's going to play as a team better?' "

Huard record broken

Puyallup quarterback Erin Barber broke Luke Huard's record for touchdown passes in a game with seven against Spanaway Lake last week. That's as many as he threw in eight regular-season games last season.

Barber completed 18 of 33 for 391 yards with two interceptions. Dom Holub caught seven for 215 yards and four scores.

Mariner pays tribute

Mariner paid tribute Friday to Brad Agerup, who had been the team's trainer since 1981, along with Agerup's wife Melissa, and Tom and Hilda Woods. All four were killed by a drunken driver Nov. 29.

With 19 members of the Agerup family watching, the school retired jersey No. 1.

"Brad was a No. 1 teacher, a No. 1 supporter of kids here," football coach John Ondriezek said. "The jersey will hang in the training room."

In addition, the Marauders booster club had rubber wrist bands made with the slogan "Don't drink and drive" stenciled into them, and rubber rings with "Don't text" on them made for distribution to the crowd.

"We had a number of ex-athletes and ex-officials in attendance," Ondriezek said. "What we were trying to do was convey a serious message to the students and anyone else in attendance.

"People were very respectful, very considerate of the 19 members of Brad's family. It was quick, but it was a serious, somber time."

Lake Stevens survives

Several players were academically ineligible for Lake Stevens' season opener. Despite the absences, the Vikings beat Cascade 21-13.

All are expected back for Friday's game at Kamiak.

"Our standards at Lake Stevens are even a little more rigorous than the WIAA's," Vikings coach Tom Tri said. "Part of our problem, we were still waiting on summer-school grades.

"In past years, I was able to check on all our kids over the spring and find out who needed to go to summer school. It's not part of the job, but you just want to make sure who's eligible, and who I can jump down their throats and say, 'You've got to get this done, buddy.' "

Lake Stevens also was without three injured players last week.

"That was the problem last year," Tri said. "We had seven knees (injured). This year, for the first time, it was 'Wham,' six or seven kids with academic issues. You just hope they learn from it."

Notes

• Austin Embody, one of Auburn's three 1,000-yard rushers last season, will miss Friday's game with Mount Rainier with a sore shoulder, which he reinjured last week against Kentridge. The top-ranked Trojans still have speedy Alphonse Wade, another 1,000-yarder. Coach Gordy Elliott said three players will fill in for Embody — Tarin MacDonald, Daryl Hasinto and Willie Pinada, who combined for 83 yards on 14 carries against Kentridge. Lincoln Burt will fill in at cornerback for Embody.

• QB David Jones rushed for 114 yards in the first half of Kent-Meridian's 38-27 victory over Foss of Tacoma. He finished with 168 rushing yards, including a 36-yard TD, and completed 12 of 18 passes for 172 yards with two TDs and one interception.

• Ten players scored in Kentwood's 69-0 win over Mount Rainier. Coach Rex Norris said no starters played in the second half and no running back got more than four carries. The outmanned Rams had one net yard of total offense.

• Beamer beat Emerald Ridge 42-7 despite losing seven turnovers (three interceptions, four fumbles). ER turned it over five times.

• Lakes' big junior tackle, Zach Banner, also played defensive end last week in a rout over Clover Park, something he didn't do last season. He made a backfield tackle early in the game and had three tackles total. "It was fun," he said.

• Inglemoor's 48-0 win over Snohomish was the Vikings' largest margin of victory in school history.

• Newport set a school record for points with 70 in a win over Interlake.

• The Metro League suffered a tough first week, winning only three of 12 games and being on the wrong end of four shutouts. One of those wins came against a fellow Metro team — Eastside Catholic's 51-6 victory over Cleveland. Junior RB Chevy Walker ran eight times for 94 yards and a touchdown against Cleveland.

Times staff reporters Mason Kelley and Sandy Ringer, and freelancer Doug Drowley contributed to this report.