High School Sports
Notebook: De La Salle all business on Seattle trip

By Matt Peterson
Seattle Times staff reporter

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De La Salle High School of Concord, Calif., kept it simple on the football team's first visit to Seattle, opting to forego many of the area's traditional tourist traps while in town for last night's Emerald City Kickoff Classic at Qwest Field.

That meant no group trips to the fish market, no lunches at the Ballard Locks, no stops at the Space Needle.

The one exception was a team dinner at a "family friend's" house on Lake Washington, according to athletic director Terry Eidson, who has roots in the area.

Herb Mead, the local businessman and prominent University of Washington booster who helped arrange the game, said Spartans head coach Bob Ladouceur told him this summer that the Spartans wanted to keep their focus on football.

"He said, 'We're coming up there to play football, and we're not interested in any Chamber of Commerce activities,' " Mead recalled with a laugh several weeks ago.

The Spartans, who flew in from Oakland Friday, were scheduled to leave town this morning.

"Gimme a 3A!"

The two 3A teams did more than hold their own against 4A opponents. They won.

Kennedy, ranked No. 5 in 3A, beat Tahoma 47-27. Camas, almost written off as a 3A playoff contender when five starters elected not to return this season, shocked Mead of Spokane, 27-14. The Panthers came in rated No. 8 in 4A.

"I think on a given night, a lot of 3A teams can compete with 4A schools," Kennedy coach Bob Bourgette said. "Like I've said many times, the difference between Kennedy and a 4A school is that ... when we get a kid hurt, we're going to a sophomore with big eyeballs, and they're going to go to another junior or senior. But I think a lot of the 3A schools have good enough talent to play with them."
 
Fake punt a faux pas

Nobody was more surprised by Kennedy's fake punt yesterday than Bourgette, who profusely apologized to Tahoma coach Tony Davis.

The Lancers led 41-20 with less than five minutes to play. On fourth-and-inches from the Kennedy 35-yard line, quarterback Tyrese Lopez called for a fake. He took the snap as the up-back and threw to a wide-open Nate Williams, who turned it into a 65-yard touchdown play.

Bourgette could be heard lamenting the call from across the field. He later said that while his players are taught to look for such opportunities, they should know better than to use it late in a lopsided game.

"That is not how we do things at Kennedy," Bourgette said. "I was so upset, and the boys will know how upset I am when we get back out to practice. We'll run for that."

Davis said he wasn't bothered and was more upset that his team did not defend the play.

Eagle lands in Camas

Former Redmond coach Jon Eagle made a triumphant return to Seattle as defensive coordinator for Camas. The Papermakers, unranked in Class 3A, shocked Mead of Spokane, ranked eighth in 4A, 27-14.

Eagle attended high school in Southwest Washington and coached at Evergreen of Vancouver before coming to Redmond before the 2001 season.

"I love it," said Eagle of his current post. "Southwest Washington is underrated, plays good football, and is getting bigger and stronger every year. I hope we showed that today — earned some respect."

Eagle said he had planned to take in Friday night's game between Redmond and Garfield — won by the Mustangs, 41-7 — but fell behind schedule and was unable to attend.

"I met with the coaches afterward and saw some of my old buddies," Eagle said. "They (Redmond) won big, and they've got it going. They've got a good team."

Eight schools invited for 2005

Eight teams have been invited to next year's Emerald City Kickoff Classic on Friday, Sept. 2, but only one matchup has been set: Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma vs. Gonzaga Prep of Spokane.

Evergreen of Vancouver, Mercer Island, Prosser, South Kitsap, Wenatchee and White River also are scheduled to participate.

Schools from California and Hawaii have shown interest in joining the event, but no official commitments have been made, according to Mike Colbrese, WIAA executive director.

Notes

• Tyrone Davis, Olympia's senior defensive end, draws comparisons to NFL star Jevon Kearse and has been labeled with Kearse's nickname, "The Freak," for his passing rushing skills. Davis combines speed, athleticism and leaping ability into a lethal on-field edge. The 6-3, 225-pound Davis got off the corner quickly yesterday, wreaking havoc for Walla Walla quarterback Kenny Baisch in Olympia's 20-13 win. Davis had seven tackles, seven assists and a sack.

• Kennedy and Tahoma were without players they had been counting on coming into the season. Bourgette said Ezra Swann and Gates Bonynge, returning defensive starters, are no longer with the team and might not return. Swann is the nephew of Lynn Swann, the Hall of Fame receiver who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Derek Terry, who started at receiver and cornerback for Tahoma as a junior, withdrew from school about a week ago.

• Kennedy's Bourgette took unusual steps to prepare his Lancers for yesterday's 10 a.m. kickoff. He scheduled the team's last intrasquad scrimmage at 9 a.m., then had the Lancers practice during the mornings in the days leading up to the game.

• Fans observed a moment of silence before the start of the Ballard-Bothell game in honor of Drew Albrecht, who would have been a sophomore in the Bothell football program this fall. Albrecht, a lineman/tight end, died on July 7 from bacterial meningitis. He was 15.

• Kennedy's Austin Hendrix, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior, is the nephew of late rock legend Jimi Hendrix.

Times staff reporter Sandy Ringer and correspondent Matt Massey contributed to this report.