Joey Thomas said his first year as head coach at Ballard has had plenty of peaks and valleys.

"It's kind of like I always say: We're not where we're going to be, but we're not where we were," Thomas said. "That's a positive."

The Beavers opened the season with back-to-back wins against Sammamish and Franklin, but No. 10 Issaquah turned the tables in Week 3, routing Ballard, 55-15.

Thomas called the defeat "the best thing that could have happened to us." It became a teaching tool, he said.

"Sometimes it takes playing against a good team to expose you, and they exposed us," Thomas said of Issaquah. "I'm very thrilled about it. I'm very excited about it, because now we get to go back to the drawing board as coaches and players."

Ballard is 1-2 because the Beavers forfeited their 34-27 win over Sammamish after using an ineligible player. Thomas said it was a paperwork issue.

It is the second straight year Sammamish has recorded a victory by forfeit, after Garfield used ineligible players against the Totems in 2010.

Vanwinkle's foot a weapon for Mount Si

When Mount Si crosses an opponent's 40-yard line, coach Charlie Kinnune believes his team is in scoring position.

That's what happens when a program boasts a kicker capable of splitting the uprights from 50 yards.

Junior Cameron Vanwinkle, who has been kicking for the Wildcats since his freshman year, set a school record for longest field goal with a 49-yarder against Lake Washington last week. He tied the record the previous week, knocking one in from 47 yards. He also has the school record for career field goals (15). He kicked four against Bothell, three against Lake Washington and has eight this season.

"I have quit all my duties and I am just concentrating on the kicking. You can see what my coaching has done for this kid," Kinnune joked. "It's just unbelievable."

Notes

• Garfield coach Kelvin Goliday appears to be in limbo after missing his second straight game since the Bulldogs' forfeited their season opener at Lake Washington in the third quarter. School officials instructed the program's first-year coach to not speak with the media.

• Eastlake coach Gene Dales, in his seventh season with the Wolves, is 50-18, the winningest football coach in school history. He has led the program to the playoffs each of his first six seasons.